Blessed day, as it is, the Easter memory that I always enjoy recalling involves a special Easter egg hunt at Bastrop State Park.
Mom asked if we wanted to go on an Easter egg hunt. What kid says “no” to that? Even though we fully expected that a hunt would be in our plans that Sunday, we were jumping for joy, as if it were a surprise. I was already imagining (and salivating over) the kind of treats we’d find hidden inside the eggs. Mom is very creative!
As we rode along –– empty baskets guarded carefully on our laps –– time passed and eventually we started chiming in with “Are we there yet?” We were still clinging to our excitement of the hunt, but a little put out that we still hadn’t reached our destination.

It turns out Mom thought it’d be nice to do the Easter egg hunt at Bastrop State Park. Did I mention we were living in Houston?

What a blast we had, though, and what a great idea Mom had!  After nabbing the hidden eggs, we just enjoyed the park, and the picnic mom had prepared for us. I absorbed, as much as I could, this rare sight of fresh air and greenery in such a vast amount of space. This atmosphere was as much a treat to me as the one time I had seen snow (at the time). I remember how beautiful this was to me and the sound of pine needles crunching underfoot. I remember the CCC cabin, too.

Ever the rockhound, I found a rock that I thought was utterly fabulous and brought it home. I have it still. It’s special because it reminds me of that perfect day. Anytime I visit or drive past Bastrop State Park, that memory resurfaces.

As an adult, I still appreciate Bastrop State Park and its beautiful trails. I also now better appreciate that my widowed mom made time –– though I can’t imagine how she found it (or the energy) –– to do this for us four kids.
The deep-seeded pleasure and the lasting fond memory of this road trip is true testament that one can never forget the value of a simple road trip and quality family time.

The March issue of Bon Appetit features the best places for chili in the U.S. Writer Andrew Knowlton’s story includes Tolbert’s Restaurant in Grapevine as one of his top 10. “From the Chili Queens of San Antonio to the annual cookoffs, no state takes its chili as seriously as Texas. Halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth, Tolbert’s serves a classic bowl of Texas red, bean free and super-thick with beef chunks.” Makes me wanna have a bowl of chili right now. Let us know what your favorite is. Tolbert’s Restaurant is at 423 South Main Street; 817/421-4888; www.tolbertsrestaurant.com.

Spring is in the air, and so are pop flies and home runs at Round Rock’s Dell Diamond ballpark, home of the Triple-A Round Rock Express. The Express’ pre-season kicks off this weekend with an exhibition game against the Corpus Christi Hooks on April 5. The fabulous ballpark, included in ESPN’s Great Baseball Destinations, features seating options that range from rows closer to home plate than the pitcher’s mound, to big, comfy rocking chairs, to the Luxury Skybox Suite. And yes, you can even watch the ballgame from the pool beyond right field (I envy those pool people on hot summer evenings). My kid is too young to sit still through multiple innings, so we usually opt for general admission/berm seating ($6 adults, $5 kids under 12, free 2 and younger; remember the $5 parking fee), which allows us to roam carefree from the playscape to the Moon Jump to the snowcone machine. And there’s plenty of room on the berm for the occasional Chicken Dance and for kids to roll down the grassy hill. This year, we bought the Spike’s Kids Club package, which includes 20 tickets (pre-selected games) and a t-shirt, mesh bag, and other goodies. 

For a schedule, tickets, and more on special promotions and events (like giveaways and Friday-night fireworks), go to the Express Web site. And baseball buffs, be sure to check out Sheryl Smith-Rodgers’ Q&A with pitching legend Nolan Ryan in April TH.

I’m terrified of heights, so naturally, I wanted to go on an adventure that would challenge that fear. Yes, I’m a little insane. But isn’t that the way to conquer fears? Well, I suppose a healthy fear is good for survival, but I found what I thought would be a safe way to face that fear head-on – ziplining. I highly recommend the experience.

After revisiting an article that we ran in Texas Highways last August, I decided that this was the year I would brave it. Luckily, one of my best friends in Houston had the same idea (always on the same wavelength … that’s why we’re buds). Within a week’s time, we drummed up a group of 10 friends (me in Austin, the rest from Houston) to visit the Cypress Valley Canopy Tours in Spicewood. What fun!

I put on my brave hat while shaking inside, but after the first leap, I was having a blast. You’re so securely harnessed in and connected to the zip line that it’s hard to truly feel vulnerable. Plus, our trusted guides, Lindsey and Andi, used their expertise and a bit of humor to take the edge off and make it fun.  Granted, this probably isn’t as high or as long as zipling down a mountain in Costa Rica, but it’s a fun adventure just the same. And it was just my speed, so to speak.

I didn’t even mind the three rope sky bridges we had to traverse (and I’ve never gotten on them, even at amusement parks, because I’m even more terrified of them!), but the harness helped quell that fear, too. We zipped along six lines from one tree platform to another (up to 40 feet high), passing up Lofthaven, the furnished tree house that you can zip to and rent for the night.

Thanks to the drought, there was little water running through the property, but I’m sure it adds an extra dimension of excitement and natural wonder, so, I definitely hope there will be water on my next visit.

When I go again – and I will – I will try the more challenging tour, which has longer zip lines, and challenges that they say ranges from “moderate to difficult.” I’m up for it!

If you’ve ever had a curiosity about ziplining, but are being held back by fear, I say DO it! If I can, you can.

If you’ve been, what was your experience like and where did you go?

Last weekend a friend and I attended the opening of Vietnam to Austin: Restoring Community, the first Asian-Amercian exhibit at the Austin History Center. The exhibit, with the help of the Vietnamese American Heritage Foundation, documents the struggles and accomplishments of Austin’s largest Asian community, and their contributions as Americans. My friend and her family were among the Boat People who came to the US in 1975 after Vietnam fell under Communist rule, and she was especially touched by the documents, photos and accounts from other Vietnamese during this period and afterward. One visually-fascinating and beautiful display is of the art of Tien Nguyen. While in prison after the fall of Saigon (Nguyen was a captain in the army and was sentenced as part of his re‑education), he laboriously painted and etched figures and landscapes onto grains of rice, using a found magnifying glass and whatever tools he could scavenge. One particularly striking image is of a group of galloping horses, all onto one grain of rice. The exhibit is free and on view until July 17.

For the July 2007 issue of TH, I wrote a story about the hour-long Hidden Kitchens Texas (HKTX) radio special that debuted on NPR a couple of years ago. Produced by The Kitchen Sisters in collaboration with KUT in Austin and narrated by Willie Nelson, the program described under-the-radar kitchens across the state, from a Dallas gas station that serves great tacos to the NASA lab in Houston that develops space food. It was fun writing about that project, and now I have an update: At a S X SW party in Austin a few nights ago, Nikki Silvia and Davia Nelson, aka The Kitchen Sisters, launched a new book based on the rollicking audio program—complete with colorful photos and recipes.

Physically, Hidden Kitchens Texas is a small book—about six inches square and only 120 pages—but it’s packed with stories about “tiny kitchen cultures, big cooking rituals, unsung kitchen heroes, kitchen traditions on the verge of extinction,” and more. The chapter about Stubb’s Bar-B-Que, in which musicians Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Joe Ely, and Joe’s wife, Sharon, reminisce about the Lubbock roadhouse that was a gathering spot for the emerging Texas music scene in the 1970s, spurred a few memories of my own. I saw Joe Ely perform for the first time at the original Stubb’s in the early ’80s. I don’t remember the barbecue very well—the joint was so dark that you could hardly see your plate—but the music was great, and I’ve been a Joe Ely fan ever since.

It just so happens that the ongoing Hidden Kitchens series (which inspired the breakout Texas radio special, which, in turn, inspired the book) aired the Stubb’s segment on NPR this morning. You can listen to it, along with other installments in the series, and also order the new book, at the Kitchen Sisters’ Web site.

For a birthday present, I treated myself to a brief, midweek, College Station road trip. Destination: Olsen Field on campus at Texas A&M for NCAA baseball between the nationally ranked #3 Aggies and #6 Cal State Fullerton Titans. What a gorgeous (80 degree), breezy late winter day! Cal State Fullerton won, 15-5, but the score was secondary to spending a pleasant evening at the ballpark. En route, I enjoyed a fantastic combo platter of barbecue (ribs, brisket, and sausage) at Southside Market in Elgin. Ya gotta try some. It’s so good. And topping it off with a double dip cone of Blue Bell peach/vanilla ice cream was sublime. Barbecue, baseball, and the highway—terrific Texas traditions. And, by all means, check out the 2 splendid barbecue features (Texas BBQ: The Meat of the Matter by Wyatt McSpadden; and John DeMers’ Follow the Smoke: 14,783 Miles of Great Texas Barbecue) in the March issue of the magazine.

Driving back to Austin from South Texas a few Sundays ago, I decided on a whim to take the business route of US 183 through Gonzales. I hadn’t gone very far before I saw a mass of cars on my left, at the Matamoras Taco Hut, and others were still pulling in. All this activity in a small town, and on a Sunday, to boot, was intriguing. What did these diners know about this modest little restaurant that I didn’t?

  It was a little after noon, so I decided to give the MTH a try. The parking lot was crowded, so I parked on a shady side street. Walking back to the restaurant, I met a few customers who had picked up their food to go, and I solicited a quick recommendation. “Is the food good?” I asked, already knowing the answer. “Oh, yeah,” came the reply. “We eat here a lot.”

The dining room was full, so I opted for a take-out order myself: something called Robert’s Special, a soft taco featuring potato, sausage, and cheese. While waiting for my food, I surveyed the patrons, who appeared to be locals, some of whom had obviously just left church, judging by their dressy clothes (a few even wore hats). I struck up a conversation with an elderly couple seated at a table near the register. They were waiting for their Mexican plates, which they assured me would be well worth the wait. They invited me to sit with them until my order came, but my number was called before I could accept.

  When I returned to my car, I rolled down the windows and savored my soft taco, which was delicious; the tortilla was so tender that it had to have been made from scratch that morning. On my way out of town, I pulled over twice more, to window-shop at Discovery Architectural Antiques (an upscale salvage business with a huge inventory) and The Hearty Gourmet (a culinary shop). I’ll check out those sites the next time I’m through. I have a feeling there are at least two more small-town gems in Gonzales. 

When my sister and I visited my daughter at Austin College in Sherman, we took the opportunity to explore nearby McKinney and have lunch at The Pantry Restaurant, in the historic downtown area. The spacious yet cozy cafe serves a variety of sandwiches, salads, soups, and other entrees, and also has a wide selection of creamy pies. I wish I could say I sampled one, and I really should have, but the tortilla soup/salad/cornbread combo was plenty for me as was the stuffed baked potato/soup combo was for my sister. My daughter, also full from her sandwich/salad combo, ordered a slice of chocolate-chip cream pie to take back to the dorm.

We sat by the front window and took in the street action, of which there was plenty despite the cold and windy day. There was a life-size carhop statue holding a sign board in front of the shop across the street that kept toppling over from the gusts, and we watched as passers-by picked up the statue only to see it get blown over again. There are a number of shops and restaurants, and even a spa or two, in McKinney’s meticulously-restored historic district.

On the way back to the college, we stopped for coffee at The Boiler Room (404 W Lamar St, 903-957-3815) in downtown Sherman. The Boiler Room, in a 2-story, vintage red-brick building, used to house a steam laundry long ago. The interior is warm, bright and modern, with many paintings adorning the walls, and stylish yet comfortable seating. I had a soy latte—with whipped cream—and, though it’s only an occasional drink for me, it was among the best lattes I’ve had. Now if I had only had some pie from The Pantry!

When the Blanton Museum of Art opened its new building in Austin a few years ago, I signed on as a member. It wasn’t long before I understood the appeal of supporting the arts. Philanthropy notwithstanding, members get discounted entry to special parties and events, a nicely designed monthly newsletter, free admission to exhibits, and discounts at the very cool gift store (which opened last month, along with the Blanton Café). Now that I’m a member, I definitely go to the museum more often—it’s free, fun, and philanthropic!

That’s how I found myself, gin martini in hand, at the opening a few weeks ago of the much-anticipated traveling exhibit Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury.  The show was organized by the Orange County Museum of Art and has garnered rave reviews on the East and West coasts. Judging by the crowd at the opening (where we enjoyed live jazz before taking in the show) and on a “regular” museum day this past Sunday (when the galleries were packed), it’s a big success in Austin, too.

I wonder how many of the museum-goers are also fans of the TV show “Mad Men,” the AMC drama that has shined a new spotlight on the artwork, furniture, architecture, and style of the 1950s.

At the Blanton, some 200 objects and “works” from the period—including graphic paintings by Frederick Hammersley, iconic furniture and films by husband-and-wife design team Charles and Ray Eames, fabulous coffee tables and lamps, album covers and musical instruments, and clips from television shows—paint a vivid portrait of the era, when technology and the discovery of new materials began to transform both industrial and home design.

Throughout, a swinging jazz soundtrack by Chet Baker, Miles Davis, June Christy, Dave Brubeck, and their contemporaries sets a mod mood.

One thing to keep in mind: Save your receipt, even if you’re a member and you get in free. It’s your ticket to discounts at Birth of the Cool partners throughout Austin, including half-price flights at Uncorked Wine Bar.