Texas with beans

 I have a new cast iron pan. My brother knows I love cooking in cast iron. 

It has deep sides making it useful for just about everything.

It works great on my gas stove here in the camper.

Today I made Texas chili in it. It's not quite Texas style as I put beans in mine.

Whoever heard of chili with no beans? And Texas serves beans with just about everything else.

Is it just me or does everything taste better out of a cast iron pan?

~b

tin cup

 If you are a baby boomer you can probably remember drinking out of a 

rusted beat up tin cup while pumping water from the cistern.

Today I painted a memory.

~b

smoking hot

Yesterday we were in Lockhart Texas...the barbecue capital of Texas.

We had lots of choices of places to eat but we chose Kreuz Market.

In 1875, Jesse Swearington opened the first meat market in Lockhart - selling barbecued pork and beef. In 1900, Charles Kreuz Sr. purchased the store from Swearingen and renamed it Kreuz Market.

  As you can see it takes a lot of wood to keep smoking meat.

They serve your meat on butcher paper which was unique.

We enjoyed pork ribs and sausages. If these places could make potato salad and beans like your mother did I would give them 5 stars. But it was a 4.5 star establishment.

~ b is for barbecue

German

Yesterday we went on a road trip to Fredericksburg Texas where we channeled our German roots.

Fredericksburg is wine country so of course it involved a bottle of wine. It is also known for it's peaches so we made it a bottle of peach wine.

Then there was also peach salsa, peach cider, peach chipotle sauce and more. 

Fredericksburg is also where we buy pecan coffee. Needless to say it was a fun day.

We had lunch at a German restaurant...chickenschnitzel, schmorbraten, German potato salad 

and apple strudel.

Dakota Man was pleased to come back with a piece of cypress wood.

~b is for bratwurst

knitting, reading and painting

I have a new afghan on my needles and a new book beside my chair.

I hope it doesn't turn into a 20 year project.

I enjoy Jeannette Walls books. They are easy reading and hold my attention.

I like a smoothie when I'm painting.

I have a good smoothie maker here in our camper...

frozen fruit, yogurt, banana, orange juice and ice.

Mr. b draws the line at adding anything green.

Knitting, reading and painting pretty much sum up my life here in Texas.

Life is good.

~b