Mexican Food

I was really looking forward to some good Tex-Mex when we moved here. Unfortunately, I’ve been a little disappointed. With one major exception, I find the Mexican restaurants in this area to be pretty much like the Mexican restaurants in the Portland area; lots of rice, beans, and cheese. Everyone serves chips and salsa, but the salsa IS different. I’ve yet to find any chunky salsa being served. Most places serve both red and green salsa. They are almost puréed. But the most unusual thing about the salsa is that the red salsa is usually served warm. I find this a bit odd, but it seems to be the norm here. The other major difference is the nachos. Instead of a heaping platter of chips covered with meat, cheese, tomatoes, sour cream, etc., you get a plate of 6 to 12 chips (thicker than the regular chips) each “decorated” with the standard ingredients. The first time I ordered a nacho, they asked me if I wanted 6 or 12. Boy was I confused! I had no idea what the waitress was talking about.

The one exception to the usual fare, is a place called Hugo’s on Westheimer in Houston. We went there for our anniversary in February. This is a NICE place, with the most interesting menu. It kind of reminded me of Andina’s in NW PDX. (My favorite restaurant ever!!) They serve things like Squash Blossom Soup, 4 kinds of ceviches, cabrito with nopales (roasted goat meat with prickly pear cactus), and pan fried grasshoppers, to name just a few dishes. When we went, I had a dish consisting of 3 little pastry-like shells with goat, rabbit, and lamb filling. Rick had roasted pork in plantain leaves. They also have a rather extensive vegetarian menu. A little on the expensive side, but if you go for lunch, it’s pretty reasonable for an upscale restaurant.

I’ve also been told that a place called Ninfa’s is pretty good too, but I haven’t tried it yet. (Sorry Bert.)

So now that I’ve established the overall mediocrity of the local restaurants, can someone please explain to me why I’ve gained 20 pounds since I moved here??

Things are different in Texas, Part II

OBSERVATIONS

I was rather pleased with my first post – the one about bugs. But unfortunately, when it came time to write another post, I felt somewhat paralyzed. I thought the next post had to be just as good as the first one, so I didn’t write anything! I finally decided to give myself a break, and just write SOMETHING… so here it is.

I make lots of observations each day, and mentally note them to include in a future blog. Before I begin, let me make one thing clear – my observations are of the part of Texas where I live. I’m in Spring, about 20 miles north of Houston, just inside the Harris County line. Fun Fact: Did you know there are 254 counties in Texas, and only 36 in Oregon. Considering the total square miles of each state, Oregon counties average more than two and a half times the size of Texas counties – 2732 sq miles vs. 1033 sq. miles.  (Please excuse the math geek in me.) So here we go....

Observation number one: Gutters

As I recall, gutters are REQUIRED in Oregon. I remember many a real estate appraisal that required gutters be repaired, replaced, or installed. Not so in Texas. Most houses either have NO gutters, or only have gutters on the front of their house. Some houses will have a piece of angle-iron on their roof to direct rain water away from the front door. You might find this odd, especially since the Houston area gets more average annual rainfall than the Portland area – 50 inches vs. 43 inches. The big difference is in HOW the rain falls. In Oregon, it will drizzle for days on end. In the year I’ve been here, I don’t think I’ve seen it drizzle more than once, and then for only a few hours. Instead, when it rains here you feel like you’re in a tropical monsoon. We can easily get 2 or 3 inches in a couple of hours. (Sometimes we have to drain water out of the pool so it doesn’t overflow.) Then when it stops, the sun comes out and it’s lovely again – although often quite humid. When the rain is its most intense, the gutters don’t really do much anyway – they ALL overflow. Another interesting difference is that the downspouts don’t tie in to any sort of storm management system. The water just gushes out on your lawn, into your flowerbed, or across your driveway. The streets, however, have huge curb cuts that allow for rain runoff to flow into the storm sewer. I swear, a small animal or child could get swept into these gutters!

Now if I continue here, I will be talking more about the weather and less about gutters, so I think I’ll stop. The weather will be another post for another time. I promise, I’ll try to post something much sooner this time and not wait 6 months. Let me know if there are specific topics you’d like me to discuss. I’d be happy to accommodate your interests.