Happy New Year!

I am opening the New Year with the new Culinary Cowboy General Store. Please drop in for a look or two.

You have a host of a choice of aprons with all sorts of sayings or designs on them.

Maybe you need yet another cap or t-shirt. You can spruce up your place with a cowboy picture or two. Posters, notecards and even a design in German await your review, your pleasure and, it is hoped, your purse.

Photos come from real-life expeditions taken to the cowcamps before their demise.

Pleae take a look at it and I hope it pleases.

Click here to go to the store!

Last night, when I finally decided that 11 hours was enough, I stopped by the store on the way “home” (I am staying with a friend).  I wanted to pick up some chunks of pork.

My nearby HEB supermarke’s butcher has begun an interesting bit of marketing.  They take all the chunks left over after trimming and package them up.  They usually go for $1.69 a pound or something like that.  You can grill them or stew them or whatever.

I wanted brown and roast some.  I was up for some crusty, juicy meat.   There was none.

I was tired and got a bit grouchy when my mission failed.  So, I guess I was noticing little things more than usual.  I had no cart.  Two clueless and/or totally inconsiderate people had their carts up together and were chatting away, all but completely blocking the way.  Another women with a cart filled the void.  I pulled short and waited for her to pass.  She stopped.  She asked an employee where the bathrooms were, got her answer and was off like a shot to the bathroom, leaving her cart behind.  The employee and I looked at each other in disbelief and cleared the cart out of the way.

Damn, I was thinking.  This place seems crowded tonight.  I continued to bump and spin and reach around people pushing in front of me or blocking the way.   I was weary of it all.

Why, I asked myself, are there so damn many people here?

I kid you not, it took awhile to sink in.

Ya think it had something to do with Thanksgiving?  I’d completely forgotten it was upon us, despite the inordinate amount of turkeys on display.

Teapot Méxicana – Could not resist getting this for mother’s teapot collection. I picked it up at the Terlingua Trading Company in Terlingua, Texas. For pictures of the area click here.

As goofy as this might look, it is a great teapot. It’s big, but it is well balanced.

I first thought it was gaudy, but it quickly grew on me.,

Normally, when I find loose tea it is Twinnig’s tea. I am talking about regular supermarket shopping, mind you. This was at Wal-Mart, which featured loose Lipton, but bagged Twinnig’s.

Loose tea made a bit of a comeback with tea makers, akin to coffee makers. However, those do not seem to have taken off, and one has trouble finding the loose stuff.

So, what’s the big deal?

Well, a tea purist might tell you that the loose tea provides a much fuller flavor, as the leaves are not confined and get better immersion. You also have the ability to vary the amount, so you can make your tea as strong or as weak as you want.

All of that is important. However, one of the main reasons you might want to look for loose rather tea, rather than tea bags, is the price. Loose tea is about half the price, sometimes even less.

Yes, it takes a little – emphasize little – bit more work. You can just dump a teaspoon in loose (just have a strainer handy). Or you can use an infuser, such as the one shown here.

Finally, don’t forget to preheat the pot. Some hot water will warm the pot so the pot temperature doesn’t cool the water and it gets to the tea leaves piping hot.