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We stayed up late last night so did not leap out of bed with the dawn to go to the Hill Country Lavender. But we did eventually get off our butts and get on the road. First, we took hub's car in for tires. He walked out yesterday to go to work, and had a big ol' flat tire (dead as Buffy's dead mom). It was bald on one side and had a screw in it besides, and hub admitted that he has been needing to replace all four tires but putting it off as long as possible because it's so farking expensive. Now it was time. So he took my car to work and looked up prices online. In the meantime, Ellen calls me to chat and continue a conversation we'd had the day before. Then she pops off with "oh, do you need tires? I have this card for 10% over cost at Firestone." Damn, talk about good luck! And there's one like 2 blocks from here so he doesn't have to drive on his donut very far.
So we get the penis car into the shop and head out to the farm. Past Dripping Springs we saw a sign that said 'fresh goat cheese' and lord knows everyone loves goat cheese! So we screeched around the turn and headed for the goaty goodness. We pulled up and a teen girl was trimming a bouquet of marigolds. She went to a little shed that had a fridge in it and got out about 5 different varieties of goat cheese for us to sample. We only had a little cash on us or we would have bought ALL of them, but we settled for the garlic and parsley. Goat cheese! Not that we saw any goats, just cats. That probably doesn't bear thinking about too much.
We got back on the road. The Texas Hill Country is beautiful, beautiful land, and it was a really gorgeous day in an interesting way- there were big thunderheads spaced apart by expanses of blue sky. So we'd be driving in sunshine then torrential rain then sunshine in the space of a few minutes. It gave everything a misty but bright sparkle. There were a million birds, butterflies, and we even saw a spotted fawn by the side of the road crawling into a thicket. We got to the farm a couple of miles outside of Blanco after driving beside the winding (and very swimmable and tubable looking) Blanco river. There were rows and rows of round bushes that looked like rosemary with leaves the color of silver sage, each bush between the size of a basketball and a beachball. We pulled in and grabbed a pail (a deeper but about a fourth as big around as the ones in the picture at the front of the website linked up there) and scissors and started snipping. While the field was not purple with flowers, there was still plenty and I soon had myself a nice little bundle. We 'rolled' it and paid our $4 (for as much as you can tie up in a standard twist tie; I probably could have gotten more). I also allowed myself to be tempted by their soap- they had 5 different flavors but I settled for lavender and patchouli, and lavender and chamomile. I normally hate chamomile, but when combined with lavender it smelled really fresh and wonderful. We also thought we'd try our hand at growing the stuff since the plants were on sale, and I picked up a t-shirt why not.
We headed out of Blanco and were feeling pretty hungry by then. Every time in the past when we've driven out west on 290 we always snicker like 5-year-olds at the 'Nutty Brown Cafe' sign, so we decided it was time to give them a try. They were a bit pricier than I expected, but rather than being a true small-town diner they were more of a funky Austin outpost; apparently they have live bands and KGSR sometimes broadcasts from there. But the food was really top-notch.
Since I exercised once this week (almost twice, but I had a long phone call yesterday) I decided it was time for a meal with as many carbs in it as I could possibly manage. So I ordered chicken fried steak (haven't had that in years) with jalapeno creamed corn and fried okra. Hub had a patty melt and jalapeno hush puppies. The chicken fried steak was about a whole foot long, and you could cut it with a fork. The creamed corn was obviously home-made, with cream that had a garlicky almost alfredo texture with a nice bite of fresh jalapenos chopped in. They bragged on their menu about 'all natural, free range Kobe beef'- no idea what that it, but it was wonderful. Hub's patty melt was basically a burger with sauteed onions and melted cheese, but the burger actually had flavor of it's own- not from spices or anything else but the beef. Most hamburger beef has a very faint taste of this, but that patty melt was the most beef-tasting flavorful hamburger I think I've ever tasted. His hush puppies were yummy too, basically fried balls of jalapeno cornbread, sweet and spicy.
I only ate half of everything and boxed it up. I was stuffed, but hub ordered a pecan praline for dessert. Usually you see them at Mexican restaurants, about as big around as a handball. They're usually gritty and way too sweet, but the sign said 'world-famous pralines' so it was worth a try, especially for a buck fifty. But we ended up with this giant brown confection about the size and shape of a cow patty. On the 25-mile drive home we munched on this delightful treat, which tasted of butter and brown sugar and pecans and a hint of what I think was coffee or kahlua, and hub suspects might be molasses (maybe both). It was obvious that these things were cooked long and slow, because the butter and sugar had this complex taste that you only get when you cook it for awhile. It was heavenly.
We picked up hub's car and got some useful electronic trinkets at Fry's such as a switchbox so we don't have to hit 18 different buttons if we want to switch from cable to the VCR to the DVD to the computer. If it stops raining, we might try to plant the lavender- apparently the stuff likes it hot and dry, so there's more than one place in the yard where they'll be happy. Hey, want to see souvenirs?
So we get the penis car into the shop and head out to the farm. Past Dripping Springs we saw a sign that said 'fresh goat cheese' and lord knows everyone loves goat cheese! So we screeched around the turn and headed for the goaty goodness. We pulled up and a teen girl was trimming a bouquet of marigolds. She went to a little shed that had a fridge in it and got out about 5 different varieties of goat cheese for us to sample. We only had a little cash on us or we would have bought ALL of them, but we settled for the garlic and parsley. Goat cheese! Not that we saw any goats, just cats. That probably doesn't bear thinking about too much.
We got back on the road. The Texas Hill Country is beautiful, beautiful land, and it was a really gorgeous day in an interesting way- there were big thunderheads spaced apart by expanses of blue sky. So we'd be driving in sunshine then torrential rain then sunshine in the space of a few minutes. It gave everything a misty but bright sparkle. There were a million birds, butterflies, and we even saw a spotted fawn by the side of the road crawling into a thicket. We got to the farm a couple of miles outside of Blanco after driving beside the winding (and very swimmable and tubable looking) Blanco river. There were rows and rows of round bushes that looked like rosemary with leaves the color of silver sage, each bush between the size of a basketball and a beachball. We pulled in and grabbed a pail (a deeper but about a fourth as big around as the ones in the picture at the front of the website linked up there) and scissors and started snipping. While the field was not purple with flowers, there was still plenty and I soon had myself a nice little bundle. We 'rolled' it and paid our $4 (for as much as you can tie up in a standard twist tie; I probably could have gotten more). I also allowed myself to be tempted by their soap- they had 5 different flavors but I settled for lavender and patchouli, and lavender and chamomile. I normally hate chamomile, but when combined with lavender it smelled really fresh and wonderful. We also thought we'd try our hand at growing the stuff since the plants were on sale, and I picked up a t-shirt why not.
We headed out of Blanco and were feeling pretty hungry by then. Every time in the past when we've driven out west on 290 we always snicker like 5-year-olds at the 'Nutty Brown Cafe' sign, so we decided it was time to give them a try. They were a bit pricier than I expected, but rather than being a true small-town diner they were more of a funky Austin outpost; apparently they have live bands and KGSR sometimes broadcasts from there. But the food was really top-notch.
Since I exercised once this week (almost twice, but I had a long phone call yesterday) I decided it was time for a meal with as many carbs in it as I could possibly manage. So I ordered chicken fried steak (haven't had that in years) with jalapeno creamed corn and fried okra. Hub had a patty melt and jalapeno hush puppies. The chicken fried steak was about a whole foot long, and you could cut it with a fork. The creamed corn was obviously home-made, with cream that had a garlicky almost alfredo texture with a nice bite of fresh jalapenos chopped in. They bragged on their menu about 'all natural, free range Kobe beef'- no idea what that it, but it was wonderful. Hub's patty melt was basically a burger with sauteed onions and melted cheese, but the burger actually had flavor of it's own- not from spices or anything else but the beef. Most hamburger beef has a very faint taste of this, but that patty melt was the most beef-tasting flavorful hamburger I think I've ever tasted. His hush puppies were yummy too, basically fried balls of jalapeno cornbread, sweet and spicy.
I only ate half of everything and boxed it up. I was stuffed, but hub ordered a pecan praline for dessert. Usually you see them at Mexican restaurants, about as big around as a handball. They're usually gritty and way too sweet, but the sign said 'world-famous pralines' so it was worth a try, especially for a buck fifty. But we ended up with this giant brown confection about the size and shape of a cow patty. On the 25-mile drive home we munched on this delightful treat, which tasted of butter and brown sugar and pecans and a hint of what I think was coffee or kahlua, and hub suspects might be molasses (maybe both). It was obvious that these things were cooked long and slow, because the butter and sugar had this complex taste that you only get when you cook it for awhile. It was heavenly.
We picked up hub's car and got some useful electronic trinkets at Fry's such as a switchbox so we don't have to hit 18 different buttons if we want to switch from cable to the VCR to the DVD to the computer. If it stops raining, we might try to plant the lavender- apparently the stuff likes it hot and dry, so there's more than one place in the yard where they'll be happy. Hey, want to see souvenirs?
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Also, zee lavender... I've got a neighbor who grows it (and Russian sage, which has a similarly nice scent), and western Oregon isn't very much on the "hot and dry" side of things, so it must be a pretty adaptable plant. :)
--yansa!
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Date: Jun. 29th, 2004 12:03 pm (UTC)From: