and we're back! Two reviews, food and drink!

Cafe Montrose

Finally got a chance to check out Cafe Montrose and I have to say, the overall feel was wonderful! Very cozy and intimate, yet very friendly and open. You could tell that the staff has been working together for a while and they either ARE family, or have definitely become family at this point and that kind of service trickles all the way down to the customers, both new AND old!

You could most definitely tell that there were many many regulars and locals that frequented the place and that's always a good sign! Gwen, our waitress for the night, was amazingly friendly and had the most endearing accent and way about her!

Between Gwen and Sonia, we had excellent service. Sonia was not as personable, but you knew that she cared about the food, it's ok, she had a very european feel to her in the kind of no nonsense way about her. Again, Gwen was so downright friendly and inviting, it was like walking into their home.

Besides the excellent belgian ales ON TAP there (boy that could be dangerous for me), the food was very french-heavy, but quite tasty.

We started with Croquettes de Fromage that had sooo much cheesy goodness it was great! The mouthfeel was much more like a creamcheese as you would expect, but so much more complex in flavor. Much more meaty, yet silky creamy...

I had the Lapin aux Pruneaux (rabbit), and although I'm not generally a fan of fruits and such in my sauces, you really have to classically pair rabbit with that and it goes so well. The rabbit was not gamey in the least and cooked very well with plenty of fat still on to provide just that bit of mouthfeel that makes you go mmmm...

My friend had the Large Moules curry (large because I knew I'd be eating some!). I'm not a fan of curry and although I didn't really think the curry was all that fantastic, my friend enjoyed every bite she could until she was just too full to take any more. For me, the curry was pretty typical, with a bit too much salt, but otherwise good. I would like to try the cream sauce next time I go for sure as the mussels were very good underneath the curry!

13 Celcius
13 Celcius is a very trendy kind of wine bar that you would typically expect in midtown. Although there were plenty of the 'be seen, get seen' crowd here, I was unexpectedly surprised to see that the crowd was very diverse with older and younger, soccer mom, 20 something hipster...

The staff was very attentive and very accomodating. Mike took care of our wine selections and since I was there with a regular, he knew what she liked and hit it on the spot. We had a nice australian grenache that, although was a little sweeter than I typically like, was matched very well to the dry and breezy air of the night (it really was a beautiful night to sit outside and chat while uncorking a bottle).

One of the other staff, Shannon, was sooo nice and down to earth and she really felt like a bit of an oddity in the mix of people there that night. Everyone else felt a little on the snooty but still will talk to you side.

It was a nice surprise to have the owner of the bar greet us outside (Ian, with his gf Jennifer I believe it was) coming from a gala of some sort. I would have never known he was the owner, he put off a business friendly attitude and was more than happy to stop and say hello, never once mentioning and or acting like the place was his. I thought he was just another regular who had stopped in for a drink!

I would say it's not quite the down to earth spot that I really enjoy sitting around and chatting at, but for a slightly upper end affair, it would definitely fit the bill. The grenache was 30 bucks, so not bad on prices either.

If all the staff were like Shannon, that would definitely make the difference!

Mirror post from facebook: The glass half full; let yourself experience.

I'm sure there's a tool to mirror or put updates on facebook from xanga and this blog... gonna have to look into that at some point =P

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So the other day I was at a party talking with some people, who, like many in this huge city of ours, have had to transplant themselves from wherever they either are from, or want to be. The unfortunate attitude that comes with this type of move more often than not is, "Houston sucks, I'm leaving the city in X number of years once I get my chance."

Listen, I understand the problems that come with living in Houston. I understand traffic blows; I understand finding the cool things to do in this city requires effort and driving long distances; I understand that 'long distance' means something completely different to you if you're not from here; I understand the weather is HOT, your lawn may not be soft and cuddly, the world as we know it may be completely unbearable at times.

I get it.

I may not agree with you in all the things that suck, but I understand.

What I don't get is why continue down such a negative path and live your life hating everything around you in this city? Really, this isn't even a rant about my distaste in the 'houston sucks' attitude, it's larger than that. If everything sucks in whatever or wherever you are, why not find the things that don't suck and make some compromises in your life so that you can enjoy those things that could really make you happy?

I am of the opinion that no matter where I am, I believe I could find people and experiences that can really make me happy.

People. People make such a difference. You can stick me in the scariest, or most boring, or most terrible situation you can think of, and with people, I can find joy, happiness, love, life. No matter where you are, no matter what the language, the social barriers, the pedigree, you can find wonderful, wonderful people. How do I know? Because I have found it; found them in all that I do. A simple recalibration; a simple opening of your mind, attitude, and barriers, and something wonderful happens - people do the same for you.

Experiences. We fly through life from one experience to another. Whether small or grande, those experiences make life wonderful. Why take so much effort to identify or continue having a bad experience? A simple recalibration and you may not be able to get rid of a bad experience, but you can minimize them and hell, make them learning experiences. Is it simple semantics? No. It's how you live your life.

Let's make active choices to live as we want to live. If you truly want to continue to live in negativity, then that choice is yours, at least you've made it. But can you at least try to see the other side and let go? Let go, let yourself experience.

New Radiator for the Accord...

So last thursday, 3/27/08, my poor car's radiator developed a crack on plastic upper reservoir portion and was leaking like a sieve under pressure =(

I tried to do a temporary fix with JB Weld, but under pressure, even the JB weld wasn't able to contain the crack (it wasn't even that big a crack!!). You can see the JB Weld mess in the pic (and my blue coolant):
Well, I've now had this car 10 years, so I figured I could forgive one cracked radiator in 10 years. haha.

Unfortunately, I was without a car for a full week though while waiting for the parts to come! I called a couple of local dealers and they wanted $370 + tax for the radiator alone, AND I had to wait 3-4 business days because it was special order!!!! x-(


Since those were the numbers, I decided I'd just buy from the place I always buy online and just have it express shipped. hondaautomotiveparts.com to the rescue (Majestic Honda up in RI)! Not only did I buy the radiator for way under $370, I also got new upper and lower hoses, clamps, and radiator mounts upper and lower, AND 2 DAY SHIPPING for $345!
(Here's pics of the new spankin and old cracked radiators)

Got the new stuff in on Wed 4/2 and had it all installed that night! Not bad!


The operation was really pretty simple! Undo the mounts, pull the hoses, pull the whole assembly up and out of the car! The fans and stuff all went over to the new radiator while out of the car which made things very simple:



Here's the engine bay all ready to accept a new radiator!

I'll upload finished pics in a day or two after I've been totally sure there's no leaks! haha

Galveston: Leon's World's Finest BBQ!!

Ok, finally got a chance to head down to Galveston for Leon's World's Finest!

This place was EXACTLY like I pictured it! It's basically out of a worn down building, with non-matching chairs and benches inside, and locals abound! Everyone knows everyone!

The GREAT thing though, is that Pam, Leon's niece was a hoot (gold teef and all!)! Leon himself even made it around to say hello and make sure everything was good! You cannnnoooot pay for that kind of service and ambiance!

Pam cajoled a few extra things out of us when we ordered, but it was sooo worth it!

The chipped beef was excellent! I'd eat that again fo sho!

The brisket? meh. Not anywhere close to my gold standard Rudy's, BUT the smoky flavor was very good, I just need more fall apart goodness and extra moistness!

I was able to get a few samples of the spareribs outta Pam and although the flavor was very good, I'd say it needs to be a little bit more moist and a little bit more tender...

The kicked up rice was good! I could actually use even more spice for sure, and I love me some homemade mustard potato salad!

So once we got up to pay, what do I see at the counter? I mean I thought I heard the hallelujah chorus when I saw the cracklins!!!!!!! Hog chips baby!! YUMMMM-OOO... I HAD to get me a bag of those too!

all in all, a couple of plates of BBQ, drinks, and some cracklins cost 21 bucks out the door and I didn't feel bad at all!

I would recommend Leon's, definitely get the chipped beef, and DEFINITELY say Hello to Pam and Leon! They'll make you feel at home and make you wanna stay and eat all day long!

OH, and if you DO go to Leon's, please tell Pam that it's all her fault there's no cornbread =P just say you were told to say that to her... ;)

Houston Press's 2008 Menu of Menu's Extravaganza

So apparently every year the Houston Press puts on a charity function called the Menu of Menu's Extravanganza at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

I got word of it late, but still was able to pick up tickets, and I'm glad I did! Although I heard that the food was better last year and it was still pretty crowded, I hear it was much more crowded last year due to some efforts byt he organizers to limit the number of tickets. kudos.




Dinosaurs, live music, free food and drink; ingredients to a pretty darn fun night!

Unfortunately, due to some car issues I've been having (will blog on that later), I was on the motorcycle and so I had to be very mindful of how much alcohol I was imbibing (kept it to 2 drinks over a 4-5 hour period). For all those of you out there who know I have a ZERO tolerance policy on the bike, due to the extenuating circumstances, I cheated a little.

There was definitely WAY more alcohol booths than food booths! And although I am never one to complain about such a setup, due to the whole motorcycle thing, it kinda sucked!

So the setup is this, 40 someodd restaurants from the Houston area come out and give you free food and drink for $30 bucks a ticket to get in the door! What a concept! Although not all the food was so great, I definitely got full and there were some wonderful surprises along the way.

Two of my favorites? The greek tzaziki and lamb meatballs, and the Mango Italian Ice! The mango italian ice had such a wonderful mouth feel, silky, smooth, and just the right amount of mango goodness!

The lamb meatballs were juicy and slightly sweet, with a very light and refreshing tzaziki to go along, nice!

One thing I did notice (and luckily I decided to dress at least somewhat nice) was that most of the people there were most definitely there to be seen! Talk about a meat market! haha. But seriously, people were there to definitely meet new folks and have a good time doing it. Who am I to complain!?

Not only were there a LOT of people I didn't know, there were some crazy randomness going on seeing people I haven't seen for a long time too!

Overall, I would definitely say it's worth your efforts to try to go next time! Stay tuned...

Houston's got the ingredients (part deux)

My friend just sent me this article on Houston. It falls in line with my, Discover Houston, it's great, theme these days... take a peek:

http://www.american.com/archive/2008/march-april-magazine-contents/lone-star-rising