Don't let mom know.

So here's the last of the Texas entries. Flew into Dallas and headed straight to a bar from the airport. Seemed the only logical destination after yet another annoying flight (even if I did get bumped up to first class).

From Dallas and Houston, Fourth of July

That's us sitting outside on a decently balmy night -- if 80 degrees can be balmy -- at The Old Monk. Drove down to Houston the next morning. Got in just in time for the barbecue at my oldest sister's place. Had fajitas for lunch the next day and took the kids to a Chuck E. Cheese type of place. Wanted to take them to Hermann Park for a little paddle boating, but one of my sisters poo pooed all over that idea. She felt it was too dangerous ... yet she let her kids run around with sparklers and firecrackers the day before. Go figure. Hung out with high school buddies Saturday night. Ate lunch at Pappadeaux on Sunday to get my cajun fix.

From Dallas and Houston, Fourth of July

And then it was back up to Dallas for the culinary highlight of the trip: dinner at Babe's.


Oh, man. That's gotta be the archetype of chicken fried steaks. See that creamed corn at the top of the plate? The butter-to-corn ratio is at very balanced 3 to 1.

Have you ever played that silly game in which you're asked to imagine yourself on a deserted island with access to only one dish? The point is to decide which dish you'd want to eat over and over again. Well, for a long while, my choice has been mom's beef noodle soup. But I may have to re-think that selection. (Good thing mom can't read English. And don't you go translating, neither.)

[Another reason to like Babe's: When I was there back in November, one of the waitresses told me that she liked my shirt. I happened to be wearing my British Sea Power t-shirt. Who knew that a waitress who performs the Hokey Pokey with her colleagues would be a BSP fan? Then again, I'm not sure whether she liked the "British Sea Power" or the butterfly images portion of the shirt. Oh well ... she liked the shirt. That's good enough for me.]