Smokey Mo’s – Austin, TX

On a recent trip to Austin, Texas, we rediscovered a BBQ joint that we first tried in Conroe: Smokey Mo’s. While I may have been enjoying them for a while and somehow never managed to blog about them, they are still producing very appetising and satisfying meals in multiple locations around Texas.

The run of side dishes is pretty standard, and everything is complimentary to BBQ meats, of course. Fries, potato salad, beans, fried okra, corn on the cob, right down to the self-serve bread, onions, pickles and jalapenos.

Trust me, I helped myself to the pickles.

Two trays of pickles, just like this!

 

My partner helped himself to not one, but two chop sandwiches. The chop is loaded with sauce and chopped bits and pieces of meat. It’s mostly beef with the occasional turkey or sausage bits mixed in.

Chop Sandwich before any fixin’s were added.

 

The three meat plate is an indulgent sampler of meats and sides. There’s plenty to choose from, too. I picked the turkey-sausage-sliced brisket combination with a double side of slaw. The second slaw was really for Christopher, but it sure makes the plate look as full as my belly got after eating all this.

Three meat combo plate with two sides.

 

It’s always pleasant to find a bit of the familiar when travelling that’s not your run of the mill fast food. Visiting Smokey Mo’s was definitely a fit of comfort food in a weekend full of exploration.

Enjoy!

— Ann Cathey

 

Cost Plus World Market

Cost Plus World Market has become one of my favorite playgrounds. You just never know what you will find inside. On my last excursion, we found all things pumpkin, fall, and Halloween, from “Book of Life” rubber duckies to Chipotle Pumpkin soup mix. I passed on the former (though they tempted me with their cuteness) but purchased the latter. And it made a large pot of extremely tasty soup. So tasty, in fact, that I wish I had bought an extra mix for later on in the winter, but hopefully I will be able to make it back to World Market before it disappears for the season.

Most, but not all, of our purchases from World Market tend to be food or beverage. We buy the occasional soap or lotion there, and we’re often tempted by everything from housewares to furniture to clothing, but mostly we buy food and drink–specifically the imports, World Market brands, and oddities that we can’t find anywhere else.

Some of the many items we’ve purchased from World Market over the past two years of living near one are:

• Sticky Fingers Bakery’s scone mixes (we’ve tried a few of these, and they are all wonderful – and easy! And I just learned they have some varieties that are gluten-free.)

• Walker’s Chocolate Chip Shortbread (which is, sadly, better than my homemade shortbread, which is pretty darn good)
• Jones Soda Company’s Peanut Butter and Jelly soda (yep, it tastes just like pb& grape jelly. Really good grape jelly. This stuff is delicious.)
• Various and sundry types of chocolate, including Chocolate-Orange Kit-Kat bars, Chuao’s Maple Bacon chocolate bar (sinfully good!), World Market Chipotle Chili dark chocolate bar, WM Red Velvet milk chocolate bar, WM Sea Salt and Dark Chocolate bar, WM Strawberries & Champagne dark chocolate bar, and WM Chili & Lime dark chocolate bar.

• Pop! Rogue Blue popcorn – popcorn dusted with powdered bleu cheese from Rogue Creamery. Tasty, though the bleu cheese was so mild that it could have been mistaken for standard white cheddar.
• Coffee. World Market has some of the best flavored drip coffees I have ever tasted, with my personal favorite being the Texas Turtle blend (medium roast with chocolate, caramel, and pecan flavors – yum). They have a wide-range of flavored and coffee-flavored coffees, including seasonal offerings, and they have a selection of hot chocolates and teas, as well.

• La Lavande’s Water Lily soap bar
• Flying Cauldron Butterscotch Beer – this is an attempt to recreate the butterbeer from the Harry Potter series. It’s extremely sweet. It’s also all-natural, made with stevia, and caffeine-free. I think it would make a tasty ice cream float.

• An assortment of beers and ciders – World Market has the best hard cider selection I’ve ever seen and a good selection of craft beers, as well (they also have wine, but I’m even less of a wine drinker than I am a beer drinker). Unlike many stores, they allow the purchase of singles or mixed six-packs. This has allowed me and my evil twin to sample many ciders (Angry Orchard’s Cinnful Apple is still my favorite) and beers without overcommitting either our budgets or our refrigerator (or, for that matter, our livers). It also allows us to buy single beers to use in cooking and baking.

One of my favorite things about World Market is that, as I mentioned before, you never know what you will find inside. Our local WM has a fairly stable stock of certain items, but new items appear on a regular basis. Seasonal items change often. The Halloween items have by now given way to Thanksgiving and Christmas, including a host of item for holiday parties and gift-giving. Soon those will shift more toward Christmas, and then away again. This makes World Market a constantly changing adventure…and a great deal of fun to shop or window-shop (or both) with friends. I’m looking forward to having another fun shopping adventure with my evil twin very, very soon. I must remember to set aside an hour or more for that adventure because, as I learned not too long ago, one does not simply run into World Market for a few minutes.

–LB

Summer Spritzers

A spritzer is traditionally a mix of wine and sparkling water, soda, or some other carbonated liquid. There are so many different combinations that may be made that they defy being called “recipies”, really. It’s more a matter of “if it tastes good, drink it”!

Using a base of lemon-lime flavored soda or flavored sparkling water, pick a juice and a fruit or two for non-alcoholic beverages will please children and adults alike.

Lemonaide with raspberries and blackberries, or with peach slices is popular.

Grape juice combined with apple juice is also a nice, light combination. Black Cherry flavored sparkling water gives it a tasty twist from the spritzer standard of lemon-lime.

Watermelon and crushed pineapple are great with a pineapple or apple soda.

Try agave nectar, mint leaves, and pomegranite seeds together. Combine them with soda, sparkling water, or for a more adult twist add seltzer.

For the adult versions of spritzers, Moscato, Sangria, Merlot, or even a shot of peach schnapps, may be combined with the soda or sparkling water for an effervescent and festive drink on hot summer afternoons. Wine or fruit juices may also be combined with Champagne or Asti Spumante.

Let the kids help put them together for some family fun, too.

There are simply too many combinations to put all in one article. Don’t be afraid to try different pairings of flavors that you already and enjoy as well as new flavors. Be adventurous!

Henry Weinhard’s Black Cherry Cream Gourmet Soda

This weekend I got to try Henry Weinhard’s Black Cherry Cream Gourmet Soda. It’s made and bottled in Fort Worth, Texas. What really grabbed me was “hand-crafted with only the finest and highest quality ingredients, including the flavors of fresh Oregon Bing and Black cherries,  Black Raspberry, and Bourbon Vanilla.”  Of course, I had to try it.

It’s considered a carbonated beverage (because it is), though it tastes more like candy. If you like sweet, this is a good choice. The combined cherry flavors are very mild, almost velvety, while the raspberry bite is a background presence that hints rather than strikes at the tongue. The creaminess is obviously from the vanilla, making this beverage slide across your tongue in a pleasing fashion. Sadly, I detected no bourbon.

The carbonation, while present, is a gentle fizz rather than the scortching burn modern soda drinkers have become more accustomed to. It would combine well with sweet or dry wine for a spritzer.

The color is bright red on the dark cherry side, and very clear. It’s bottled in clear glass, so the color is easy to enjoy.

It’s well suited to warm or hot days, with a crispness that belies it’s soda fountain origins.

On a scale of 1-5 —
Appearance: 4
Scent: 4
Flavor: 3.5
Texture: 3.5

— Ann Cathey