we are fresh back from our holiday trip to texas! we always leave there with our hearts (and stomachs) full and wonderful ideas for some great new dishes! we had an awesome pozole at my dad's house that my stepmom from mexico city made, some amazing squash fritters at my mom's, and some great cheesecake that my cousin from corpus christi made! we also made a stop in a place named "nuevo cafe" in corpus that is known for it's poblano soup that is killer! and for the life of their first born they will not reveal the ingredients, trust me, i tried! in san antonio we hit a place called paloma blanca in alamo heights that had some great guac, and cream of cilantro sauce that is addictive! we also made a stop in houston where they are doing some amazing things with mezcal at grand prize, and some equally great things with other spirits and fresh fruits! usually when you hear of texas, your mind does not jump straight to food, but it should! while still in houston, we made a stop into monica pope's (read about her here) new place called "beaver's". the fried pickles we had there are sinful, the kobe beef hotdog was to die for, and the black mission cup is a must try with pimm's no.1, gin, texas figs, lemon, and angostura bitters! it was equally as good as the michelada that i enjoyed on a sunny 70 degree texas december day! 

while in houston we visited the menil and caught some great artwork that inspired brian! he cannot get enough of cy twombly (see his work here) and his abstract organic patterns. we also were hugely inspired by the chapel of st.basil at university of st. thomas, it was gorgeous and done with such simplicity inspired by the catholic faith. simply breathtaking. the rothko chapel allowed us to sit and ponder the wonders of life, as well as where we were going to have dinner that evening. our mind always turns back to food, although we were still topped to the brim with our lunch at beaver's, we had to plan our move and make resos somewhere! the dinner at gravitas restaurant was decided on after much debate of one friend loving it, and the other just thinking it was okay. we kinda fell in the middle because the gin and local blackberry + gin drink was remarkable, the wine list they had was great (owen roe's sharecropper's cab was what we had), the food was just kinda "flat". you cannot win them all i guess, but at least the drinks were kicked in full gear that evening.

we wound down our trip with some great barbeque that my dad does for us every trip as well as watching of novellas with my parents in corpus christi. all in all it was a trip filled with food, drink and fun, just the way we like to live! a great way to have ended 2010, and start 2011 with some great ideas! that being stated, we are testing out some recipes and will be excited to share them with everyone on the 16th, so if you wanna taste some delicious food, and here some juicy texas stories!

2011 hopefuls, 

mikey + brian