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| Chevrolet 3100 Circa 1950's |
Because of the sweltering heat we’ve been having in Houston that usually keeps us inside during weekends or at best, hopping from one air conditioned building to another while running errands, I thought a day trip to one of the many small towns nearby would force us out of our air-conditioned hibernation. The fact that we had a long weekend for the July 4th holiday was also a motivator to do something more than merely try to avoid the high temperatures. So we decided to leave mid morning on Saturday and drive an hour and a half to Warrenton, known for it's many antique shops, and then to a few other towns nearby.
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| Old tractor and farming equipment |
The drive is a peaceful one, west on Interstate 10 and then northwest on State Highway 71. The miles of suburban sprawl quickly turn into rolling hills and farms once you make it to 71. Despite how dry and hot it’s been the past few months, the landscape still remains quite green, not yet looking overly parched from the constant scorching. With one farm after another, seeing the many horses and cows trying to stay cool in the shade, it’s hard to believe we are so close to such a huge city.
A turn right off of 71 to get to Warrenton takes you through a tiny place called Fayetteville. I should have snapped more pictures than just the old Gulf signs but the heat of course kept me in the car. A town square area with two restaurants and several old buildings begging to be renovated for occupancy hearken back to a time when there were probably a few more people than the 268 captured on the sign denoting the current population. We drove around for a few minutes before heading to Warrenton, admiring the beautiful turn of the century bungalows, many of them renovated, that line every street.
Just a short drive on to Warrenton, we were sad to discover the many antique stores and warehouses were closed. As we later discovered, they are open for an antique fair twice a year held in late March to early April and then again in late September to early October. So it was a veritable ghost town when we drove through... Needless to say, we'll plan another visit during one of those months and more importantly, do a little more thorough research for our next road trip. However, we were quickly rewarded for our efforts, as we continued 4 miles up the road to Round Top, where many shops and several restaurants were open for summer business. It was perfect timing for us to get out and stretch our legs a bit, so we parked and set ourselves to discovering this little gem.Our first stop was for something cold to drink at a tiny place called Royers Round Top Cafe. I also picked up a jar of their Peach and Peppers Preserves that I put on grilled salmon a few nights later, in a word - divine. At a little before noon, the cafe was completely full with more folks streaming in to get what must be some great food. Apparently, a day trip from Houston to Round Top to visit Royer's is quite a common occurrence. As you can see from the picture below, the inside decor of the cafe' is as interesting as the outside and is covered with all sorts of memorabilia and "cheeky" collections. Since we weren't quite hungry for lunch and the hearty fare they serve, we made a vow to return (probably in a cooler month when we are revisiting Warrenton) to sample this popular cafe.
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| Royer's Round Top Cafe |
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| Inside Royer's |
We continued on into several of the small unique shops and art galleries, taking our time perusing the merchandise and art work and enjoying the air conditioning. Our hunger tempered a bit by the heat, we stopped at a small pizza shop and shared a small pizza and a little fun with a cool photography app on the iPhone before heading toward home.
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| Fun iPhone photography app |
Heading toward Houston, we decided to make a stop in Brenham since it was on the way, and well, it is the home of Blue Bell Ice Cream. What better way to cap off a Saturday field trip than with a stop for ice cream? We stopped in the old downtown area of Brenham at a restaurant named "Must Be Heaven" and with air conditioning a plenty and Blue Bell ice cream to spare, I could not agree with that name more.
As I was savoring my scoop of oreo cookie ice cream, I thought about how something as simple as a local road trip can quite effectively remove you from life's distractions. If we'd stayed at home, even with intentions of relaxing, we would have probably ended up doing some sort of project around the house or running errands...all of which are always there to be done and can, for the most part, wait for a later time to be completed. Simply getting in the car with the only goal being to discover a small town gem and enjoy each others' company, was enough to put my spirit at ease and quiet the "to do list" noise.
Well, it's amazing how tiring a little road trip can be...upon arriving home, a cat nap was completely necessary to give me the energy required to make dinner, which I was looking forward to doing. But then buttermilk fried chicken, homemade mashed potatoes and some roasted green beans would probably motivate most cooking-crazed people like myself. The fried chicken is a recipe I've been wanting to try from a cook book I have by Thomas Keller, Ad Hoc at Home, and the chicken has been touted in several reviews I've read to be worth the entire cost of the book (well, the truth here, I bought mine at Costco, so that just might be true...).
I'm not going to detail the entire recipe here but I do want to give a few easy and worthwhile tips for home made fried chicken. First, brining is essential. A brine solution is a mixture of water with salt, sugar and other spices, that the chicken (or pork) soaks in for sometimes as little as one hour or up to 24 hours. Since 20 percent of the moisture of chicken (or pork) is lost in the cooking process (regardless of mode), brining will counter act about 10 percent of that loss, so you get much juicier chicken. Just make sure you rinse the chicken well after brining to remove excess salt. I brined a whole 3 pound chicken, already cut into pieces, for 12 hours.
Second, the breading step is also key. Two parts of this step are important. One is the seasoning of the flour and the other is that you use the flour twice. Depending on what flavors you like, many different spices can be added to flour that will greatly impact flavor. My flour for breading (Mr. Keller's recipe) had garlic and onion powders, cayenne pepper, paprika, black pepper and a little salt (not too much salt since the chicken brine contained a lot of it). So generously season your flour. As I mentioned, use the flour twice. You'll have three dipping stations for your chicken. Three bowls: one each in this order - flour, buttermilk, flour and make sure you've dried off your chicken pieces very well before dipping into the first flour station. And last, make sure you have at least 1/2 inch of oil in which to fry the chicken and that your oil stays around 320 degrees. Oh, two more little tips: a sheet pan with a cooling rack set inside and placed in a 200 degree oven is good for keeping your chicken warm as you continue to fry all the pieces. Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes - all meats are better with some resting to redistribute their juices that have been jostled around in the cooking process.
The chicken pictured below which was our dinner, was some of the best fried chicken I've ever had, if I may say so myself. The crust was ridiculously crispy and had great flavor. The potatoes and green beans were tasty as well. Good. Old fashioned. Comfort food. It was a great day.
As I was savoring my scoop of oreo cookie ice cream, I thought about how something as simple as a local road trip can quite effectively remove you from life's distractions. If we'd stayed at home, even with intentions of relaxing, we would have probably ended up doing some sort of project around the house or running errands...all of which are always there to be done and can, for the most part, wait for a later time to be completed. Simply getting in the car with the only goal being to discover a small town gem and enjoy each others' company, was enough to put my spirit at ease and quiet the "to do list" noise.
Well, it's amazing how tiring a little road trip can be...upon arriving home, a cat nap was completely necessary to give me the energy required to make dinner, which I was looking forward to doing. But then buttermilk fried chicken, homemade mashed potatoes and some roasted green beans would probably motivate most cooking-crazed people like myself. The fried chicken is a recipe I've been wanting to try from a cook book I have by Thomas Keller, Ad Hoc at Home, and the chicken has been touted in several reviews I've read to be worth the entire cost of the book (well, the truth here, I bought mine at Costco, so that just might be true...).
I'm not going to detail the entire recipe here but I do want to give a few easy and worthwhile tips for home made fried chicken. First, brining is essential. A brine solution is a mixture of water with salt, sugar and other spices, that the chicken (or pork) soaks in for sometimes as little as one hour or up to 24 hours. Since 20 percent of the moisture of chicken (or pork) is lost in the cooking process (regardless of mode), brining will counter act about 10 percent of that loss, so you get much juicier chicken. Just make sure you rinse the chicken well after brining to remove excess salt. I brined a whole 3 pound chicken, already cut into pieces, for 12 hours.
Second, the breading step is also key. Two parts of this step are important. One is the seasoning of the flour and the other is that you use the flour twice. Depending on what flavors you like, many different spices can be added to flour that will greatly impact flavor. My flour for breading (Mr. Keller's recipe) had garlic and onion powders, cayenne pepper, paprika, black pepper and a little salt (not too much salt since the chicken brine contained a lot of it). So generously season your flour. As I mentioned, use the flour twice. You'll have three dipping stations for your chicken. Three bowls: one each in this order - flour, buttermilk, flour and make sure you've dried off your chicken pieces very well before dipping into the first flour station. And last, make sure you have at least 1/2 inch of oil in which to fry the chicken and that your oil stays around 320 degrees. Oh, two more little tips: a sheet pan with a cooling rack set inside and placed in a 200 degree oven is good for keeping your chicken warm as you continue to fry all the pieces. Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes - all meats are better with some resting to redistribute their juices that have been jostled around in the cooking process.
The chicken pictured below which was our dinner, was some of the best fried chicken I've ever had, if I may say so myself. The crust was ridiculously crispy and had great flavor. The potatoes and green beans were tasty as well. Good. Old fashioned. Comfort food. It was a great day.
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