Brisket

Nathalie and I just got back from a short trip through Texas. In just four short days, we fit in 2 days at Schlitterbahn (the top rated water park according to the Travel Channel... to which we are in full agreement), a full day and a half of shopping at three very large Texas-sized shopping malls, and as many meals at various barbeque smokehouses as I could squeeze into those days.

The water park was fun, and the shopping wasn't bad (considering I got yet another power tool capable of easily severing a finger, and a new shirt), but the best part of the trip was the barbeque. Experiencing central Texas barbeque was an eye opening, near-religious experience. What I've seen, smelled, and tasted on this trip has logarithmically raised the level of how I will cook, eat, and judge barbeque.

Needless to say, we spent quite a bit of our trip smelling like a campfire. We also ate our month's worth of protein in these four days.

I also realized how wonderful my wife is. Most couples go on a winery tour. I took my wife on a BBQ tour. I don't know many girly girls that could stand for such a thing. Yet there was Nathalie, being a trooper, sitting down to eat at these hole-in-the-wall restaurants (where an Asian and a thin pretty blonde were as foreign as space martians), getting her hands dirty, and coming out with hair that will smell like a BBQ pit for the next several weeks.

God bless that woman.

This is yet another reason how I know I'm a lucky, lucky man. Anyway, I've got to get working on fixing my computer. Once I get my computer's harddrive all fixed up, I'll post some pictures from the trip.