A Taste of Houston

We took a little summer vacay trip to down to Houston to visit the Devilish Nephew and oh what an adventure we had!  We stuffed ourselves with with Buc-ee's Nuggets from Denton all the way to Woody's in Centerville where we stopped for a barbecue lunch.  The only thing I can say about Buc-ee's is "It's SOOOO Texas."  It's my favorite place to stop and stretch my legs.  And Buc-ee's Nuggets are ADDICTIVE.  If you aren't making a road trip through the Lone Star State soon, you can find them on Amazon.  I don't know how to describe them other than a it's like eating the best piece of cereal-turned-snack you've ever had.  I recommend Woody's if you're a connoisseur of jerky.  I've never seen so much jerky in my life.  We were too stuffed on barbecue including "shrimp stuffed bacon wrapped smoked jalapeno poppers" to even look at the jerky.  Woody's is the Devilish Nephew's favorite stop for jars of Homemade Chow Chow Relish that he loves to bring home to his grandparents.  Now mind you Mr. Devilish Dish and I had all of these things before we even made it to Houston where the REALLY good food is.  I'm going to go ahead and spoil the surprise and tell you the highlight of my trip was CATCHING A SHARK!  Then I'll share all of the other fun we had:

In full disclosure I have to tell you this was
actually the nephew's shark.  We caught
three, but only kept one.  

I need to back up and tell you our first night in H-Town we
ate at UB Preserv.  Chef Chris Shepherd was recently named
The Best Chef in the World
He was actually IN THE RESTAURANT and we got to meet him.
A huge honor for a food nerd like me, and the food was
phenomenal.  We enjoyed the Tour of Houston, featuring the chef's favorites plus special dishes.  My favorites were the summer beans, the BLT salad and the Vietnamese Short Rib Fajitas.  WOW!

Historic Galveston, Texas in only a 54 minute
drive from Houston.  We've had our little fishing excursion
planned for months, so we made the short trip to enjoy
the beach, some great seafood and of course  some
ocean fishing.

I read a must do in Galveston is visit La King's Confectionery
which did not disappoint.  And old-fashioned
experience, we cooled off with the tastiest ice cream
and watched as they made salt water taffy. The Strand historic district featured lots of shopping, bars, and
restaurants nestled among beautiful old buildings with gorgeous architecture.  The best part? You can
just wander around drinking a beer. It's legal and no one
minds.  Plus we had to do it after riding around with the
tops off the Jeep!  I picked up the prettiest little
striped beach blanket shopping on The Strand.  It will remind
me of our trip whenever we have a picnic or a chilly
evening under the stars.

As I said earlier, the main part of our trip was a fishing excursion.
Here's Mr. Devilish Dish, now known as
Daddy shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Don't worry, we threw that cute little guy back.
(The baby shark, not the husband!)

Here's a bigger shark, also caught by Mr. Devilish.
It was a really exciting adventure.  We chartered the trip through
Reel Men Fishing Charters
and had SO MUCH FUN.
I loved our Captain, Vinny so much.  I wish he and Little Devil
would go on a date!  The guide service was fun, accommodating,
knowledgeable and super patient with folks of all fishing abilities.
The best part?  They clean your catch for you!

I've had shark steak before, but I've never cooked it myself.
Growing up in Oklahoma you get a lot of catfish.
We marinated this in orange juice, garlic, soy sauce, Worcestershire
sauce, salt and pepper. 

They guys cooked the shark on the grill.  Our captain told us
it is most like chicken in taste and texture.  He was right.
It was very much like grilled chicken only fresher.

While the boy sharks grilled, the girls made Mushroom Risotto
and a marinated tomato salad with fresh mozzarella balls "boccaccini"
from Central Market. (Visiting Central Market in Texas
is an adventure in itself.  It's like an amusement park for Foodies.)

Check out those gorgeous summer tomatoes!
I'm so glad my sweet nephew and his sweet wife
share our love of cooking and good food.
It's one of our favorite things to do together.

You may not be aware, but Houston has a huge Vietnamese community. It's colorful, diverse and home to some of the tastiest food I've ever eaten. Last fall, we enjoyed the best PHO I've ever tasted.  Since we were on the very end of crawfish season, we ate the famous Viet-Cajun Crawfish at Cajun Kitchen.  Our favorite was the house favorite, Thai Basil.  

Spicy, Salty and a little bit Sea-foody.
A true Houston experience!

After the rich, salty crawfish, you must cool your palate with
a Boba Tea.  I had the Brown Sugar Fresh Milk.
The little coffee-flavored pearls in the bottoms
are addictive!

Check out the live lotus plants growing in the water.
Houston's tropical climate is perfect for gorgeous gardening.

Houston's tropical climate also means HUMIDITY.
How do you spend a hot, sticky Saturday afternoon?
Drinking on a patio of course.
This cocktail was like an adult sno-cone featuring Coconut Rum.
I'll be replicating this soon in a future blog post.

I skipped over many of our adventures, including time on
Jamaica Beach in Galveston, grilling with friends and watching
the dogs enjoy a stock tank pool.  You can drive right on to the beach.  It was like a tailgate with a beautiful view.  For our last meal in town, we had steaks, baked potatoes and salads featuring my Homemade Parmesan and Cracked Peppercorn Dressing. 
Bringing this entire post full circle, the steaks were prepared Chris Shepherd style, seared in cast iron skillets, basted in grass fed butter, and seasoned with shallots and herb bundles.
A true culinary adventure.

To quote Anthony Bourdain:
"I think food, culture, people and landscape are all absolutely inseparable."