Monthly Archives: July 2009

We are definitely currently wanting more Houston.  It’s nice to be back in Wisconsin, but I think Julie and I would have liked some more time spent in Houston.  There is a surprising amount of stuff to do and explore, and we look forward to going back.  Travel back to Madison was much better than going to Houston last week.  No delays and smooth flights.

Here are some photos that didn’t make it in the first time through:

Today was our last full day in Houston, and it was a little slower than the previous days, which was definitely a good thing, as Julie and I are starting to tucker out a bit.  Today we started out at the Ecclesia plant in the Woodlands where Katie and Emily go to church.  It is a very cool church, currently housed in a space rented on Sunday mornings from another church.  They have a separate building that was originally used for just the youth.  The worship was definitely nice and loud and contemporary and the pastor had a good message.

After church we went back to Katie and Emily’s apartment for lunch and some time in the pool.  Trav is nursing a sunburn, so he wanted to wear a T-shirt in the pool to make sure it didn’t get any worse, but he forgot to bring one to their apartment, so he borrowed one from Emily.  His first attempt at finding the correct shirt didn’t go too well.

Luckily, he found something more appropriate and we got to hang out in the pool and then headed back to the Maddock’s for Tikka Masala – a new recipe recommended by Maggie and Beth, from the Pioneer Woman.  This was a fantastic recipe and is something you should try immediately.  Tonight we are turning in early, as we have a full day of travel back to Stevens Point tomorrow.  I wish we could stay longer….

Today was another packed day in Houston.  We got up and ate breakfast and talked with Joann and Jim for a little while and then met some friends of Emily and Katie (Joe, Allison, Ashley), and Emily’s cousin Shawn and went to downtown Houston for the afternoon.  The first stop was a place called Central Market, where we got an infamous sandwich.  Julie mentioned this same sandwich when she was here in March. Definitely worth the pilgrimage.  This was another crazy cool market with all sorts of specialty foods, including an entire row of olives, and tiny pineapples.

We got our sandwiches, ate them at the store, and then transitioned over to the Fine Art Museum.  At only $7 ($3.50 for students like Trav), it was definitely worth it.  They had tons of historical and regional art, and although Julie and I aren’t exactly art experts, there was new stuff to look at and appreciate, and recognizable artists like Monet and Pollock.  Very cool to see this stuff in person.

There was tons of sculptures from 1000 B.C to 500 A.D., and it was really cool to see art that old.  There was also a ton of religious art from Italy, 1400-1700 or so.  The next picture is extremely sacrilegious, but I just couldn’t resist giving Jesus a high five.  Can’t leave a Savior hanging like that.

The artwork was pretty amazing throughout.  I definitely liked the more modern, stylized stuff better than the older art.

The art museum is actually stretched between two separate buildings, with an art installation “tunnel” connecting them.

After the art museum, it was back to the Woodlands for a dinner at the Guadalajara.  I had empanadas to start, and beef tacos for the main course.  Julie had an enchilada and a tamale.  All pretty good, with a definite Tex Mex slant to things.

After dinner it was off to the Target parking lot to watch fireworks.  It was kind of weird that everyone sat in the parking lot to watch the show, but it definitely was a good vantage point.  Katie had the best seat in the house.

Overall another jam packed day.  Kind of went south at the end as Trav, Emily, Katie and Julie watched “One Tree Hill” and I was stuck having to endure it.  I am still bitter, but I consider it payback for the “Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus” debacle.

Today was another awesome day in Houston.  This morning, Julie made French toast for everyone while Trav and I played the Wii.  I totally whooped him at curling and figure skating.  We then went to the pool and hung out for a few hours in the water and thoroughly enjoyed the hot weather.  For dinner, we went out for sushi at “Uni Sushi”, in downtown “The Woodlands”, the community where Emily and Katie live.  We had a few rolls and some tuna sashimi.

After dinner we went to the “Hubbel & Hudson” grocery store.  One nice thing about larger cities is the variety of things offered in grocery stores, and the availability of “boutique” stores like this one.  The inside was packed with all sorts of specialty foods and was fun to walk through

In addition to the main store area, they have a second floor dedicated to a cooking classroom.  There was a “date night” class going on that had a “Rio de Janiero” theme tonight.

We grabbed some after dinner treats and headed down to a nice area by a man-made river area and hung out for a little while

Part of the treats we got were some specialty sodas that I hadn’t had a chance to try yet.  So, here’s a mini-taste test of the selection we grabbed.

The first one I tried was the Fentiman’s “Curiosity Cola”.  This one intrigued me because it was pretty expensive ($3), and because it is a “fermented soda”, it actually had a small alcohol content (<1%).  This one was easily the best of the bunch, with a really nice, sweet cola flavor, reminiscent of Boylan’s, but a little less fizzy and easier to drink.  I would drink one of these every day, if it was available.  It also had a really cool shaped bottle.

While we watched TV (Wipeout again) tonight, I divvied up the others for people to try.  Fitz’s Cream Soda was up next, and it was a pretty weak offering.  It wasn’t very creamy and had kind of a weak taste that definitely wasn’t appealing.  I would not recommend this one.

The “oogave Watermelon Cream” went over better, and Julie actually liked this one.  Normally Julie doesn’t like any of the weird sodas that I pick out for us to try, but she didn’t mind this one.  It was definitely not my favorite, as it was very pink (girly), and didn’t taste all that great.

The “Kutztown Red Cream Soda” was pretty standard red cream soda.  It wasn’t disappointing, but it didn’t really stand out as above average at all.

Overall, you can’t go wrong with the Fentiman’s, and the Kutztown one wasn’t bad either, but I would personally avoid the other two.

We finally made it to Houston.  After some travel troubles and switching of planes in Dallas, we made it into Houston last night a couple of hours later than planned.  After some time spent talking, laughing, and enjoying an absolutely ridiculous movie, we got some much needed rest and enjoyed the day today.

Today started with a quick breakfast (at 11 AM) and then an afternoon spent lounging in the pool at Emily and Katie’s apartment complex.  It was well over 100 degrees today, so the time in the water was definitely appreciated.  We then ran some errands, grabbed some lunch fixings, and spent the rest of the time before dinner hanging out in the apartment watching some TV and Emily and Julie whipped up some bars.

Next we were off to pizza, with myself, Julie, Trav, Emily, Katie, Emily’s cousin Shawn, and Emily’s parents Jim and Joann.  The pizza was great, and we followed it up with a couple of games of bowling at a local bowling alley.

I warmed up my “strike pose”, and we were off with two games of guys versus girls.  Turns out the girls had a faulty score machine that kept giving them pins they didn’t knock down, so it wasn’t much of a fair fight, but the guys still managed to eak out a couple of wins.

My main achievement for the night was to beat Trav in the second game.  For those of you who don’t know, Trav is somewhat of a bowling savant.  His friends in NZ have deemed him the Rain Man of bowling, so to manage to beat him at bowling meant two things – he had to not bowl to his best game, and I had to bowl a near flawless one.  Here’s the scorecard to prove it (He’s N, and I am V).  The turkey I had definitely helped.

It definitely was a heated battle, with a lot of gamesmanship and intimidation used to try to throw the other team off.  Here was are at the end making sure Emily feels the full pressure of the situation.

We finished up the night with a couple of episodes of Wipeout, to cap off an absolutely fun-filled day.