Behind on blogging as always!  It’s been over a month since we got back from our Sedona trip and all sorts of stuff has been going on – all I have to do now is figure out what we all did and whether its worth recording.  Middle of June we went down to San Antonio to stay one last time with Jim and Jerrie before they finished packing out for the move to the New Braunfels house.  All their stuff was having to go into the garage of the new house while the contractors sorted out a few glitches like hot water, fitting the fridge, freezer, and wine cabinet, etc., etc. Ann fitted in a hair appointment with her hairdresser, and then we all went out for dinner to Cured, a really good restaurant in the old Pearl Brewery complex in down town SA. The restaurant is in what was the president’s office and admin building, so lots of character.  It is basically a meat place, with a couple of fish/veggie dishes for the wimps of the world.  The charcuterie was up to the Craig Diehl’s standard, and Ann’s steak tartare was rated one of the best ever.  I had Pigs Cheek Poutine!  Amazing! Came in a not so small cast iron pot and was enough for at least 3-4 people – truly delicious and a memorable dish to say the least.  We then did another 2 trips moving J&Js’ precious stuff in the Pathfinder to the New Braunfels garage, so by the end of June they were all moved; not actually in the house, but all moved!

Neal crossed the pond for Mark’s birthday and the bro’s had a week of bonding and playing golf.  Scott stood in for me in the Hendey Flask, and won.  Not sure how that happened as the boys normally enforce some pretty tough handicaps. Scott said we either had to rename the Flask or adopt him!  As he played in my place I think my name should go on the Flask with an asterisk!  Mark then pointed out there weren’t any names on the Flask as Neal (IC Flask engraving) has really fallen down on the job.  I bet Neal leaves it for me to do when we are in sunny England next year!!

Managed to tweak my back on the driving range – see what practising does for you – which rather hampered life – and one reason why the blog is so behind.  That’s my excuse anyway.

We attended the Fredericksburg 4th of July Parade which was great fun.  Small town America is live and well!  The parade runs down Main Street, which in the centre of town is highways 16, 87, and 290, so not sure where all the traffic went for 2 1/2 hours?  All the old streets are really wide as they were built to enable an ox span to turn round in one move, so the locals park their trucks along Main Street (diagonal parking no less) the night before, then come back in the morning and set up shop in the beds of their trucks – lawn chairs, coolers, flags, the works!  The bulk of the parade was a lot of old tractors and trucks, the local schools sports teams, and one very good jazz band.  However, the highlight was a chap in full cowboy gear riding a long horn steer – only in Texas!

Did another wine trip to visit the wineries of Fall Creek, Perissos, and Flat Creek – all around the small town of Tow on the banks of the Colorado River.  Of course we had to have one winery that decided to close for the days despite all information saying it was open, which was Perissos.  Drove up to their closed gate so it’s ticked off the list, even if we didn’t taste their wine.  Pretty country. and the wine we did taste was very good.  Fall Creek is one of the original Hill Country Wineries started in 1975.  Originally had 60 acres under vines, but that has now shrunk to about 20 acres as it is cheaper to buy from contract growers.  Good Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier at very good prices.  We tasted Flat Creek’s wines at their Enoteca in Marble Falls – the actual vineyard is about 25 miles west on the Colorado River.  A real enoteca as it is a tasting room, wine bar, and restaurant.  Had a super lunch of house made mushroom pate, and small “lunch” pizzas – super thin crust and really good.  During lunch we were introduced to the owner Rick Naber, who then did our tasting.  Rick was with Peter Kiewit a Texas oilfield engineering company which I knew from my Dresser days – so some oilfield bonding before the wine!  Rick was a great host and our shared tasting turned into a 2 hour sampling of all their wines, plus a number of South African and Italian wines he imported.  Like many wine makers Rick is proud of his wines, and once they find out you know about wine things develop!  But like all Texas wine makers he produces a number of semi-sweet, and sweet wines, as well as port, which are the real money makers for them.  Wonder how many years before that changes – if ever!!

Had a memorable dinner out on the farm under a huge oak tree with Kathy, Chuck, and our neighbour TJ.  The balls I had gathered from Farmer Kevin’s young cattle had been sitting in the freezer until we could find a time when we could all get together.  So Chef Chuck fried up a mess of balls – really!!  Marinated in buttermilk, then an egg wash, a dusting of flour, and into the frying pan.  Talk about crunchy, creamy, delicious balls!  Only way to describe them is a fried light foie gras. Hey, you can tell they were good because Ann even had some!  TJ who was a cowboy in his mad youth and had eaten prairie oysters many times, said they were the best he had ever had. The balls were followed by jalapeños wrapped in bacon and pork ribs – all done on the grill by Chef Chuck while we gave encouragement and drank lots of beer and wine!

Last week we went to New Braunfels to stay with J&J in their new house!  They have 2 guest rooms both with ensuite bathrooms, which are fabulous to say the least.  After we had checked in to Bethel Manor we took Jerrie out for lunch and left Jim slaving over a hot drawing board.  As Jim is not big on Asian cuisine we took the opportunity to try out a Japanese spot – A-Tan.  We did good as they say as the food was excellent.  We just ate a bunch of appetizers washed down with glasses of white wine; all very good but the stand out dish was Spicy Tuna Wontons – a flat square of crispy wonton layered with mildly spicy diced tuna, which had been torch seared – delicious!  Oh yes, we had Fried Oysters as well so as not to break the trend.  After lunch we raided Jerries favourite bakery for breakfast goodies. For dinner Chef Bethel worked his magic on the grill with salmon and fresh corn, while Jerrie whipped up a gratinated baby tomato dish that went so well with the salmon and corn. Such fun, and their new house is brilliant – just works so well.  We are now seeing how many times we can visit J&J before we leave!

On our way back from J&J’s to Fredericksburg we decided to visit a new winery – Lost Maple – just outside Bandera – The Cowboy Capital of Texas. Didn’t see a single, solitary, cowboy, but did see an Indian with a dog, and found a fabulous butcher.  Walked in to be faced with a tray of tomahawk steaks about 3 inches thick, 12 inch long bone, and weighing in at 2-3 lbs each, and Texas Akaushi rib-eye and fillet cut to order!  We walked out with 3 different types of house made sausages, and a pack of spicy jerky for Heath. (We always travel with a cool bag these days in case we come across such finds)  Then on to Lost Maple where we did a tasting.  There main grape is Lenoir, which in my opinion produces a pretty funky wine, and not something I would choose to drink.  However, it seems great granddaddy came from France and planted Lenoir (Black Spanish) for family consumption.  It’s a native grape that cross-pollinated with an unknown Vitis vinifera and is resistant to both Phylloxera and Pierce’s Disease, and was the root stocked that was sent from Texas to France when their vines were wiped out by Phylloxera in 1800s.  Lost Maple is very proud of their Lenoir wines, but their saving grace in our opinion was their Syrah – really good.  However, couldn’t buy any as the label had yet to be approve by the ATF!  We meandered back through the hills, really big hills as at one time we were at 2,200 feet. We drove over to Leakey, then north east and along the Guadelupe River through the picturesque little towns of Hunt and Ingram. Lovely trip until we tried a short cut on the outskirts of Kerrville where the GPS took us through a housing development. No problem getting in, but the exit gate required a security code to open. So frustrating!  We could see the road we wanted about 10 yards ahead, but there was no way around that gate and no emergency call button. We had no choice but to double back.

On one of our trips to Boerne we found a new restaurant called Valeria tucked away in a small strip mall on the outskirts of town.  What a find!  Chef Kuhn is a farm to table man, and actually draws his meat ( Mangalitsa pigs) and vegetables from the Kuhn Family Farm outside Boerne.  A fabulous lunch and an excellent wine list.  Had a chat with Chef and it turns out he worked in NY, San Francisco, and London before turning to wine and being the sales manager for a CA winery, when he travelled to London, HK, and S’pore.  What a background for a restaurant.  As a result of the lunch we were invited to their first wine dinner, which we attended with Jim & Jerrie.  Probably the best wine dinner we have had!  7 courses with wine for $85 pp, what a deal, food, and wine.  There were two outstanding dishes – Pork Belly with chicarone, and fresh tagliatelle with truffles!!  Everyone ooohing, slurping, and licking their plates!  Olivier Bougoin was the wine guy – a Frenchman from Paris who moved to Texas 15 year ago – I know, go figure!  All the wines were French from 3 different regions and all excellent.  Jim and I were not sure on a couple of the pairings, but when we had the dish with the wine they worked so well it was amazing.  Chef Kuhn is doing a cabrito dinner and another wine dinner before we depart for Sedona, so stand by for further hyperbole on his food and wine.

Just signed the notice to vacate our flat on September 30, so 2 months left before we head to Sedona!  It really is amazing how time flies when you are having fun, and we still have about 4 restaurants and few more wineries to try before we leave. Oh the pressure!!

Our Humming Bird feeder has been busy and there are birds on it constantly, complete with the territorrial dog fights. Some times we have 3 birds at once feeding – obviously a family dinner.

As we go to press we have our first day of 100’F – with 26% humidity!  As we are at 1700 ft it has got to be a tad warm down on the plains!!  Also, not a drop of rain in July!  Would be nice to have a Charleston style thunderstorm.