An Icy Fix for February Blahs

I have used the faux word “meh” three times today. Can’t say I’ve accomplished much else. Hmmm. Must still be February. Luckily, in response to my late January anti-meh measures, Chris Brown, the 2010 Flyover America Reader of the Year, sent some cool photos my way. The photos sharpened the edges of my meh a little–cause meh is just a blobular awful thing. I looked at that ice climber and thought…if he can make it up that sheet of ice, you can get through February. Yes you can! (And then I laughed because, clearly, I’ve gone insane.) Anyway, Chris caught this ice climber in action in Cheyenne Canyon, just outside of Colorado Springs, CO. Here’s hoping the photos give you a lift (if, indeed, you’re mid-meh yourself).

Doing well...

but a ways to go.

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Hey Steelers Fans, Eat This! (You Too, Packers Fans)

Sorry about this whole ice thing, Super Bowl visitors. Too bad they didn’t play the game last week, when temperatures were in the 70s.

But we know nothing will keep you away, once the airports are up and running again, so we’ll keep talking about the town. Well, at least my side of town. I live most of my life south of the Trinity River.

Here’s another nifty NY Times article about the Metroplex, this one about dining. I haven’t been all those places, but I’m a big fan of Bolsa (wish it weren’t so noisy, though). Fuel City’s tacos are excellent—although the little stand across the street from Bolsa, Taqueria El Si Hay, is also a favorite. For a little cultural excursion and take-out tacos and burritos as big as your head, Taqueria Chanos. (Or as the friend who introduced us to it calls it, “Goddam Fuckin’ Chano’s.” Because it’s that good.)

I’m not sure what to make of all the fuss about Babe’s Chicken Dinner House. I want to believe the one in Roanoke is better than the one in Cedar Hill, where I ate, because I found it kinda bland and unexciting. But I’m no foodie, perhaps I need a better palate to appreciate it. Call me crass, but I’d rather have Popeye’s.

Among my favorite places for inexpensive Tex-Mex is Gonzales, on Jefferson Blvd. (Jenna has been there and seemed to enjoy it.) Their flour tortillas are a meal in themselves, and I haven’t found a carne guisada I like as well anywhere else. We usually go there for Sunday breakfast. (By brunchtime it can be crowded.)

We’re ecstatic about Lockhart Smokehouse opening tomorrow (now today…and then we’ll call it Feb. 2, 2011) in the Bishop Arts District. You can get fancy-shmancy BBQ at Smoke, a restaurant of local acclaim—or you can do what we do, and go to the Belmont Bar next door (mentioned in my last post) and order a Smoke BBQ sandwich from the bar menu.

And for vegetarians and vegans and even carnivores like me who don’t mind a change, Spiral Diner is in Dallas and Fort Worth and I like it lots. Plus, on Fridays from noon until 3, my friend Laura Huebner gives chair massages at the Dallas Spiral and she is really really really good. And we’re supposed to get above freezing on Friday.

Mmm. Now I’m hungry. Let’s go to Gonzales. As soon as the ice melts.

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