canned update: texas, chinese food, so forth

- Heading back to New Orleans tomorrow. Looking forward to a return to the usual jager-and-gumbo fueled sort of lifestyle, although I'll (as always) miss California. I hear the weather will actually be half-decent. It's been frigid, cold, and damp in California of late, although today actually did turn out to be nice - and there's a heck of a moon outside!

- Visited Texas to marry off my beloved auntie - we hit Houston, New Braunfels, and San Antonio. Did the usual El Patio run for chicken enchiladas, Texas style nachos, and an encounter with the most evil restaurant patron children the universe has ever conjured up. I made a pretty darn tasty lamb rogan josh one night. Texas's H.E.B department stores are terrifying giant monsters. But useful. We enjoyed German sausage and trout in New Braunfels - those transplanted desert-Germans know how to make a mean wurst. The San Antonio river walk is rather attractive in a Disneyland for grownups way.

The whole family drove 30 minutes to wonderfully balmy San Antonio. We stayed at the extremely run-down Riverwalk Hilton, although it did have a nice view. We didn't eat there: we had dinner at Paesanos: super buttery Shrimp Paesano and a really nice sea bass, spinach, eggplant, and blood orange dish (also with lots of butter.) Apparently everyone else's dishes were not as strong but I hit the menu jackpot. The only downside: I don't eat much butter in my daily life and was a rather queasy puppy later in the evening. Either I need to start eating a hell of a lot more butter or stashing Pepto-Bismol on my person.

We woke up to a curiously chilly day and wandered the Riverwalk for a bit, having lunch at State Line BBQ: decent smoked chicken and ginormous beef ribs. We drove over to the mall and I finally found the Perfect Pair of Cowboy Boots (to replace my six year old holdouts) - dark red Lucchese's, on sale! They fit perfectly and I love them very much.

We ate an early dinner at Pappadeux Seafood Kitchen near the San Antonio airport and were really impressed. I had a great Greek salad with capers, good feta cheese, and lots of fresh lump crab meat - the waitress brought extra because the kitchen was roughly two seconds slow. The gumbo and the boiled shrimp/raw oysters were also quite tasty. Not bad for a pre-airport meal. The Pappadeux outpost in the Houston airport is also a wonderful oasis from the usual crap airport food. Try it.

- Had another tasty dinner tonight at New Canton: black-bean crab (not spicy enough but no big), spinach and enoki mushrooms, and an interesting spare-rib and papaya number. That place rarely disappoints me.

- I'm going to bite the bullet and buy a new scanner so I can share my odd comics with the internet. I also like drawing pictures of food so some stuff may find its way over here.