We continue to explore the town and area and have notched up a few more restaurants and events.  May was the start of the local monthly Trade Days held outside of town on 290 east, so of course we had to check it out.  It was huge – must have been 500 cars parked in marshy fields – with the stalls housed in 6 massive barns, and bars, food stalls, coffee, and ice cream stands doing the in-filling. Antiques(?) predominated along with ladies clothing and cosmetics/lotions – I know, go figure!  We mooched around with good iced coffees doing a lot of people watching.  Found a Texas cheese company – Brazos Valley Cheese – who are producing some good stuff.  Next it was off to the Catfish Haven to get our fried catfish fix, and we succeeded.  I think we were the only non-locals in the place and there was a lot of toing – froing – hugging amongst the tables.  Strictly old school dining with the all-in salad bar, as well as a “hot bar” with pinto beans, corn on the cob, and fried okra.  Really good okra!  We pigged out on fried frog legs, fried oysters, and fried catfish all washed down with a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. I think we were only people in the whole place drinking wine!  In contrast we later went to August E’s, the most expensive restaurant in town, where the chef/owner is Thai.  We did the bar menu as eating in the restaurant would involve refinancing the house.  We had fried oysters (you might be seeing an Ann dining trend here) and Thai springs rolls with white and rose wines by the glass.  My rose was a bit nothing, but everything else was excellent, with great service.  The bar was doing a roaring trade, while the restaurant was virtually empty; tells you something!  We did some bonding with another mixed marriage couple – he’s a Brit and she a Texan – presently living in Dallas.They’re in the throes of building a retirement home outside Fredericksburg, and stay in town on their visits.  Were very interested in our travel and rent operations as they want to rent a flat in F/burg when their house is nearer completion, so contact details swapped for further bar meetings.  The Fredericksburg annual Crawfish Festival was held in Market Platz over the Memorial Day weekend, but we never made it due to the rain.  On the Saturday we did a run to Kerrville for their Arts Festival and arrived in time for the first wave of storms, so had a leisurely lunch at Francisco’s, and when the rain stopped we did a quick run through of the stalls – basically all arty junk apart from the wood carvers/furniture makers who had some superb pieces.  Picked up some cheese from the Brazos Valley Cheese stall – their Brie is really good – and headed back home.  We were in the flat when the really bad storms hit – great timing!  In contrast Sunday was beautiful – sunny, lovely breeze, white fluffy clouds, which was good as it was Alexander Vineyards wine club pick up day.  Alexander’s is all French wines, as you will remember from an earlier blog, and Claude produces excellent wines at reasonable prices; hence our joining the wine club.  A food truck was in attendance so we enjoyed a mezzo box of crab cakes, tabouli, humus, olives, and flat bread to go with our wine – now this is what the wine country is all about!!  Our next adventure was off to Hondo’s on Main – a bar with live music – with a couple we had met through the gym.  Once again one of those places where you queue to get drinks, and queue to get food – why do they do it?!  It’s always such a battle and waste of drinking time!  The one saving grace with Hondo’s is they have a thing called the The Three Crunchies – portions of curly potato fries, onion strings, and fresh fried parmesan potato chips served in a beer tray with dipping sauces – oh yes!  Their jalapeno poppers are pretty good as well. They had a country band and singers of course. The dance floor was always full with dancers ranging from about 2 years old – she never stopped – to a couple well into their 80s. We could just imagine Lizabell out there in her cute little cowboy boots!   Really fun people watching that’s for sure.

Then it was back to August E’s for Thai Tuesday.  This time we ate in the restaurant, which was quite busy.  Standard menu as well as the Thai menu, and of course we stuck with the Thai food instead of going for the $90 Akaushi steak, or the Axix, Nilgai, or Sika steaks at $60 a pop!  Must admit the food was pretty good though my stir fried noodles came in blocks rather than flat noodles – not what you would expect in a restaurant of this level.  The main course portions were enormous and could have easily served 2 people, so we went home with another meal each.  Also, we got out with a bill for the price of an Akaushi steak which covered 2 appetizers, 2 mains, and a rather good bottle of Bourgogne!

I manage to hit some balls and play 9 holes each week, so there might be a small chance of my game improving a tad before moving on in September.  This retirement thing is tough, what with the gym, jolking, golf, eating, drinking, etc., you really have to be fit to handle it!  Quick rant before I sign off.  Not sure what I hate the most in our local gym – the hat on backwards, mouth breathing, tadpoles, or the texting, music selecting nerds?  Both really are really annoying!