[insert appropriate clever title having to do with Spring, or Texas, or both]

 So, just like that, it's our last night.

Since last I reported in we had a crappy brunch; visited KG's course; picked up barbq, returned to KG's course; went to baseball game (yeah, rah, Cardinals won); played golf in mild "Houston" conditions this morning, then went to dinner tonight at a place chosen by KG. 

Baseball game pic first:

Astros park is always a good place to see a game and we got pretty much right into central Houston and into our parking space, across the street from the park, easily.  St. Louis scored early and often in winning 9-4, in a game that took longer than games should. 

A significant portion of going to a baseball game is the other goings-on.  At Phillies park, it is often the Phanatic that highlights things.  Daikin Park, aka "the Juice Box" as Dbrolaw claims it'll always be known, no matter who the sponsor it (from its opening till recently the title sponsor was MinuteMaid) has a railroad car (you can see it just below the windows) that blows it's whistle and rolls if the 'stros hit a home run.  They hit 3 last night. Whoopdy doo. 

The funniest people around us were either the women behind us who never stopped talking, or the family of 3 to my right who came in late.  It made for interesting talk: KG and I were sure it was a grandfather, his daughter, and her son.  Multi-generational.  Gramps sat next to me and was definitely older and was not patient with the game.  After the second review of the inning, he said to me "I have to get out of here" and he and the grandson got us all to let them out of the row.  They were gone and gone and gone.  K asked at one point if they were coming back.  🤷. Then she got up and wanted out and said something like "I guess I have to go find them now..." and, with that attitude, left.  

They came back an inning or two later, not long before we left.  I told him we had an early tee time and he said "good for you."  Fast friends. 😁

I won't bother with pictures of yesterday morning's breakfast.  We discussed where to go; K said "they have one of those broken eggs like we liked in Siesta Key."  When we got in the car I put it in the google maps and we pulled in the parking lot.  K said "it's supposed to be 'Another Broken Egg'" and this was the broken yolk.  😁. They need to break their yolks better.  Meh. 

Lunch from the Corkscrew was delicious.  Corkscrew BBQ in downtown Spring has a Michelin recommendation (not an actual star).  It claims to be first BBQ joint to have such status.  And it is a joint!  There are maybe 10 tables inside, and it's very wood everything interior, dark and (hee hee) smoky, and there's a big covered lot with picnic tables.  They serve on trays and paper plates.  

The upside is the bbq is smoked with red oak that gives it a distinctive color and flavor.  Here's a stock shot of my plate. 

It's okay if you get meat sweats from looking at it.

For reasons no sane person understands, KG took today off BUT set up our tee time for 7:56.  You may understand that most days, almost EVERY day, I am not UP at 7:56, let alone dressed and at the golf course, ready to go.  It was a struggle. 

But we had a good time.  The course was jam packed so we didn't get to go quickly, but the weather was okay (started at 7:56 around 75, got into the low 80s, with high humidity and cloud cover).  It started raining right after we finished (whew!)...

It's funny hanging around KG's work and the staff trying to be nice to you and say nice things about him (he's the GM and they all talk about him being "the boss").  The marshal today told me that we had done a good job raising him, which is always nice to hear.  There was discussion of his golf game, which none of them has seen since he hasn't played there since he started work there last June.  He was given shit several times about hitting from the back tees. 😂 I told the starter that I'd hit from the middle of the fairway if he'd let me, but I could get no takers on that. 

We returned to Thursday's brunch place for brunch, which was again good.  Here's a pic of what KG had, which you can figure out because I didn't hear what he ordered and couldn't tell what it was.  He and I were fan of their pineapple mimosas, though. :)

Okay, we didn't really come all this way to JUST eat, no matter what this blog indicates. 😂

Tonight's dinner was at a place called Chef's Table, which was about 25 minutes southwest of where we are staying.  KG knew of it because one of his staff members used to work there.  

Our server was Denise.  I'm not saying I had my A-game, but even before dessert Denise said she had put my picture up over the door on the way out (so I knew I wasn't allowed back 😂),  The "chef" is a guy named Paul, who is South African and so one of the things he does is South African game.  This was, OC, a setup for multiple jokes, which Denise went along with. 

Start with the appetizers, garlic naan and braised porkbelly:

For entrees we had Beef Wellington, summer squash ravioli, and KG had the South African lamb, plated to supposedly look like it was high in the mountain clouds. 🙄

It was excellent.  I made the appropriate "not boot" comment about the Wellington. :)  At one point Denise let someone else serve us and I wondered if I had scared her off.  This is when I got the "your picture is up already" comment. :)

We finished with dessert, the most distinctive being their toffee cheesecake.  Here: 

There were tearful good-byes as we have a very early flight tomorrow morning (talk is of leaving the airbnb at 5!!! there was also talk about what I was thinking when I booked it :)), so we are about done with this trip.

Although much shorter (we stayed a full week in September), we enjoyed this trip because we were 4 minutes from KG's, which made meeting, etc, a lot more convenient.  And we got to know the part of town that he calls home, at least some.  We plan on being back for Christmas.  Be ready, Denise! 

Till next time...your intrepid blogger. 

Return to Houston (not like the astronauts) and food porn

 Hey, everyone!

Yes, we're in Houston for a few days, visiting KG; his mother hasn't seen him since December 😢 

OK, let's start with oddity #1: the "flight" from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton airport, aka Avoca (the small town between that the airport is actually in, thus the airport 3LC -- AVP), was a bus ride to Philly. 

Turns out this is a new thing.  American, and a couple other airlines in places, have started bussing people from nearby regional airports to bigger hubs.  The one story was about a guy getting on a bus at O'Hare thinking it was taking him to the plane to South Bend.  And then he was on the road to South Bend. 

It's a thing.  Like us yesterday (and the trip from O'Hare to South Bend), I would think traffic would be an issue, but what do I know?  We got stuck on 476 for awhile, but made it in plenty of time. 

It was 5 o'clock, so we tried to figure out what to grab for our flight for "dinner" (there wasn't really lunch) -- we ended up getting sandwiches at the place pretty much nearest our gate.  I looked longingly on down the concourse at the place with cheesesteaks...😢

By the time we at them, mine was a chicken parm, K's was a meatball sub, they were not good.  And the side of fries were cold cardboard.  Not a good start to eating experiences on this trip. 😢

But today we made up for it.  First, I found this place called the Craft Beer Breakfast Club and their food was great.   I had the chiliquiles and K had the chicken fried steak (the fact the chicken wasn't frying a chicken was probably a sign of a good restaurant)

Then we went out and saw KG at his course and looked over the new parts -- they've almost finished a new restaurant there.  We were told we could see him at dinner and off we went on a minor adventure. 

Stop one was College Station, about 90 minutes away, home of Texas A&M.  I had heard people say it might be the ugliest college town in America and today I don't doubt it.  It wasn't as bad as I had heard it depicted, but it's a pretty blah topography and you come in past the golf course, which looks like the ag school should put more work into.  

The dominant building is, OC, the stadium, which is very much looming over campus.  It is about the size of the one at Penn St, but it is a bit out away from campus.  The other buildings are modern looking and made a a brownish stone or brick that is...well, not charming.  Here's your requisite Kyle Field shot.

Next stop was Blue Bell creamery.  I've never been a huge fan of their ice cream and today sealed it.  It was okay, but I now know why Ben & Jerry and Haagen Daz became a thing with their much more intense flavors.  The Dutch chocolate definitely didn't have enough chocolate kick. 

FYI the blue bells were gone for the season, which I think was the real reason we were there. 

Back to "Houston" (KG lives in Spring, which is a northern suburb, so we don't often go into Houston proper) and as I drove, then napped, KG and K made dinner plans. 

Turned out to be a place we had eaten before.  I'm not going to look it up to see what I thought last time, but this time the waiter, Celso, tried to be entertaining.  He really wasn't.  The banter about "I will get you whatever you want and don't be in a hurry" was okay, but only needed to hear it once.  

K had the huge special, a bone-on filet (yes, you got that right), with a cherry and cab sav reduction.  KG had the strip "oscar style"....I had chicken with risotta, which was good, but not worth a picture. 

Tomorrow we are having Michelin star barbq from Corkscrew (you have to order ahead), and then going to the Cardinals-Astros baseball game.  Maybe the center piece of the trip?

Manana.