Texas Land & Cattle Co.

 After a hot day at the ball game back in May with Andreas' parents, we ate at Texas Land & Cattle Co in Arlington at my mother's suggestion.  It's a steak chain, and evidently their signature preparation of steak is to load it with pepper.  We didn't know that walking in.  Had fried pickles, of course, and they had been soaked in jalapeno juice.  While I like hot food, I've got a pretty low pepper tolerance.  So I ordered the only steak on the menu that did not have the word "pepper" in its description.  Nevertheless, it tasted like it was coated in pepper.  It was also overcooked, but the lighting made that hard to see when the server insisted I immediately cut into the steak to check as she was there.  No pressure, or anything, right?


Andreas had a hamburger.  I think he was consciously trying to satisfy that craving during our trip.  His parents had turf and surf type plates, and said the shrimp was wonderful.  The French onion soup I had was also good, and didn't have too much pepper.


I just wish that a steakhouse would let the quality of their meat shine through instead of drowning it in pepper.  In doing the latter, they're bringing into question the source of their steaks.

Bluing Out The Sky

I've begun stitching the treetop at the back top of the house, and I added more dark blue to the sky.  Other than that, the house is still taking shape.  Slowly, I'm edging to the end of this set of two pages.  I've been on the same ones since I took this back up.  Lots of stitching to do!

Jack Frost On A Hot Day

 After a walk through the zoo on a weekday, we had lunch at Pappas Burgers in Fort Worth.  Their signature drink is a Jack Frost - imagine a Jack and Coke slushie.  It was goooood, too, especially in the hundred degree heat.  We also had nachos (loaded with everything, but nothing special) and burgers - huge and excellent.  The place as a 1950's feel to it, and most of the wait staff goes to Texas Christian University.  Tips go toward college students.

Putting In The Bricks

Bricks and bits of house led to more than usual progress this week.  Maybe if I can keep working on this on the side, I can have a finish soon!

One More Row

Only one more row to go to finish part five on the third corner.  I'm also almost done with part six on this corner too.

Yay, Finally!

I finally made it through my second square! Looking at the diagram, I think this was the largest piece of the whole sampler.  And now, it's done.  Off to catch up on the rest.

Barbecue!

 On our last evening in Louisiana in May, we went to Silver Star Barbecue.  I'm always up for barbecue, and, even though they weren't photographed, we had fried pickles too.  If you haven't tried fried pickles dipped in ranch dressing, I recommend you do so!  Both Andreas' parents had ribs.  I had sliced beef with onion rings, and Andreas had sausage.


The sliced beef was well smoked, if a little dry, so I just used more sauce.  It wasn't too peppery and had a slightly spicy flavor.  Onion rings were on the sweet side, which is the way I like them.