Mr.Hovis

I also cut my own hair, no need to pay someone else to do a buzz cut. Got to keep it short or it grows into the "Reverse Mohawk". Try to do as much as I can in the way of repairs for home, autos, power equipment and such. Don't eat out near as much as we used to and always looking to save dollars when grocery shopping. Mrs. Hovis is a coupon freak. Have also eaten lunch at Costco on a few occasions, their pizza slice or foot long and drink has to be one of the cheapest meals around. Hate cheaply made clothes though, so I would rather spend more for something that won't fall apart or shrink 2 sizes after the 1st wash. I have clothes that I know are older than some posters on here. Used to always stay in budget motels when vacationing/ business travel. That's getting dicey though , for a lot of reasons. After my dad passed away we tried to give his car away to any of the grandkids. No takers, none of 'em wanted to be seen in it. So I got a sweet 90's Geo Prism. Excellent gas mileage.

I couldn't make it out to the matches today, so thought I might catch some of the action on the live feed. No luck today after using it before. Glad to see the men come back to win it to go along with the women's strong showing against Tech. Will be watching for the NCAA early round match ups and grab some tickets if the Horns do indeed get to host.

Ahhh, I now see the CAGE FREE WHOLE EGGS label. Game changer, say no more.

I have no words for this.

For Queso or any other heavier dip I like HEB chips from the bakery dept. They are sturdy enough so not as to break off in the dip every damn time, and make good nachos as well. Pretty close to the thick ones you get at a tortilleria.

Damn, braunschweiger talk not going away, maybe my dad's choice of cheap grub wasn't as disgusting as I thought. Pretty sure his was not "higher quality" stuff that is being mentioned though. You can also put me down on team goulash. I liked my mom's and I do a version that the rest of the family enjoys and it's an easy fix on busy nights. If my picky as hell 14 year old cleans her plate I feel like I accomplished something.

"Goldenrod Toast" was a song from Jethro Tull, I'm pretty certain of this.

Is this the same as braunschweiger? (not sure if I spelled that right) my dad always had that around. Came in a tube package about the size of Owens Country Sausage. Saltines of course.

Not only was tuna casserole in our dinner rotation, sometimes my dad would step in to cook and he made creamed tuna on toast. Basically just canned tuna, mushroom soup and enough milk that when cooked in the skillet it took on a gravy looking appearance. Add it on top of toasted Wonder bread and viola, supper was served. Of course he also made S.O.S. on the regular, must have been a holdover from his army days.

HEB Circle C had 4 cases of Waldos left as of an hour ago.

Liver and onions. Only meal my mom ,or anyone else, would make that I refused to eat. I hate that shit with a passion.

Always buy whole bean and grind yourself immediately before preparation. As a general guideline, you should be consuming the coffee within a month of the roasted date. In addition to the country of origin, pay attention to the varietal (caturra, catuai, bourbon, harar, marargogipe, &c) and especially the bean processing type, of which there are three primary methods: dry/natural, honey/pulped, wet/washed. These factors have a big impact on the flavor profiles and body (viscosity) of the coffee and noting them will help you zero in on what types of coffees you will like. Water - Coffee is made from just two ingredients: coffee beans and water. Every type of unmixed brewed/extracted coffee beverage is over 95% water. Many people ignore it for some reason. The science behind what makes for ideal water is actually very complex. I'm not going to type out all the details because it would be a novel. If you think your water might be an issue, I'll save you some time and say just brew with Volvic water and see if you notice a difference. There is nothing magic about Volvic - it is just a commonly available water that has all the properties in the range suited for great coffee preparation and equipment protection (i.e. it won't scale). DO NOT use straight Texas tap water in an espresso machine. It will scale. http://volvic-na.com/ (disclaimer: I have no commercial investment or interest in Volvic and no affiliation with them). Drip Coffee Preparation - This is the typical way most Americans prepare and drink coffee. It's actually a pretty forgiving process and has a wide margin of error because it produces a dilute beverage at low pressure. Beyond the bean selection, the main things to focus on is the water to coffee mass ratio and extraction time. A good guideline to start with on ratio is a water to coffee mass ratio of 18:1 (55 g of coffee per liter of water). From there you can make it stronger or weaker to taste. Extraction time for drip should be between 4-6 minutes. Once you have the mass ratio you prefer, you control the extraction time with your grind level (finer grinds lengthen the extraction time). Water temps for extraction should be between 195 and 205 F. This should be controlled by your machine; this is pretty much the only thing a drip machine needs to get right (along with having a basket large enough to achieve the desired coffee to water ratio; sometimes they are too small); most are pretty decent at hitting this temp range, so if it's not it is either broken or just a crap machine. Either way, get a new one if this is a problem. If you want to get into more details on the brewing, visit the SCAA website: http://www.scaa.org/?page=resources&d=brewing-standards Espresso Preparation - Compared to drip coffee, proper espresso preparation is difficult and has a very small margin for error. This is because it is very concentrated (so any flaw is magnified) and it is brewed under pressure (8-10 atmospheres). The biggest thing to focus on is mass ratio and extraction time. For mass ratio, start with 7-9 grams per 30 ml (1 fluid ounce). Extraction time should be 25-30 seconds. Once you get the mass dialed in, you adjust extraction time by the grinder setting. You need a stepless burr grinder for good espresso preparation. I prefer conical burr grinders, but flat burrs work well too. At the house I use a Lelit PL53. Lots of folks focus on the espresso machine itself, but I've had great espresso from just about every machine imaginable. A high end machine gets you more thermal stability over a large number of shots (which is typically only needed in a commercial setting) and better milk steaming/texturing for making microfoam. Most home machines are crappy at making quality microfoam. Microfoam is the steamed milk that almost looks like wet paint that high end shops serve, typically with hearts and fern leaf art showing off the milk prep. This is very hard to reproduce at the house. But if you are interested in making a just few straight shots of espresso per day, almost any espresso machine will work and a high end machine won't produce a notable difference. On tamping, the main thing is that it needs to be level. Don't focus too much on the force; anywhere from 15-40 lbs is fine (I normally aim for the lower end because there is no need to go higher). Just do a good firm tamp. Again, focus more on it being level than the amount of force. Non-level tamps can produce channeling, which is when the water doesn't flow through the coffee cake evening and forms channels. I'm tired of typing and can't think of anything else at the moment. Ask me any questions if you like and I'll do my best to answer. I have no interest in promoting my products; in fact I will not name mine or promote them in any way on here, because then it would just become work and I don't come to the internet for work. I just like to talk coffee.

Yeah, how many times have you been told "You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here". I guess that's about to change.

Your right, it was the Dark Skies Pilsner, which my wife ordered on our second round and we both liked it. Tasted like a coffee porter. The saison was her first selection and I only had a sip, as I was sampling the Commencement- Bret Ale and Merriwether IPA . Those had a lot of different flavors going on. The 2.5 % was described as a cost saving method of a 2nd rinse(?) of the sugars from their Triple, which I didn't see on tap. I didn't look in the cooler by the bar so maybe it's bottled only. The layout of the place is great and it's only 10-15 minutes from our house. I could see it being a problem driving back into Austin though. I suppose that is a reason their website shows that rental Tiny Houses are in the works.

Well, while I was slowly buzzed typing Bottlecap gave a more refined review of Vista Brewing, I'll defer to his take on this.

Spent the afternoon day drinking close to home. Started at the new Vista Brewing in Driftwood on FM150 which is a really cool place. They seem to have gone out of the way to make their beers different , and they are. Had a hazy IPA which was ok, the porter was better though. Limited menu but what we tried was good , sausage & kraut and grilled beet goat cheese appetizers. Crowd was almost all family with dogs and lots of property for them to run wild. Small stage with an acoustic duo playing, very laid back place. In fact it was kinda like drinking on Walton Mountain. Went down the road to Hays City Store and it was packed, loud as hell and much more upbeat. They are up to 50 plus beers on tap, stuck with Yellow Rose and Mrs. Hovis(no pics, still haven't mastered the Surly download routine) had the Black Lab porter. That Sonora Burger is pretty damn good and always some interesting folk stumbling around.

Picked up a six of Third Space today at Circle C HEB, was $12.50 and there a few left in the cooler. It's the only one of the Zilker beers I've tried and it is damn good. Guess I should try some of their other stuff. Didn't see any of the Waldos, so asked and was told it would be sometime next week before they got it. Furk.

Trudy's catching some shit and I get it, there is no reason to be that bad at something as simple/basic as Tex-Mex. The one on 290 West is scary bad. Would rather eat boiled owl than their crap. Salt Lick is 5 minutes from me and I can't remember the last time we were there. It's not that it's so overrated as much as it has become the Six Flags of Texas BBQ. Doing BBQ for that many people.... how the hell do you keep food quality up? Do the leftovers all get turned into a chopped sandwich the next day? The smoked turkey was the best thing I had. Kerby Lane has been hit or miss, the one on Wm. Cannon is the closest and there always seems to be a long ass wait to boot. Hard pass. Never thought Maudie's was anything but average I like Pious Pizza but they are always running out. WTF? Maybe that's on me, I should monitor their pizza making schedule more closely. Got to read more of the Shit I cooked Lately thread since apparently restaurants in general are overrated, they are just convenient and no clean up.

Lot of great movies listed here, I'm gonna throw in "The Westerner" as a true classic. Gary Cooper with Walter Brennan as Judge Roy Bean was great. The scene where they try to out-drink each other pouring whiskey in beer mugs, then wake up in bed was funny as hell. TCM still shows it on occasion, and I watch every time. Law west of the Pecos with some good humor thrown in.

Saw Gary Stewart a few times at Billy Bob's back in the day and pretty much every song was a drinking song. My favorite was She's Acting Single, I'm Drinking Double.

Moved to the Driftwood area 15 years ago with the idea that our youngest could finish school(Dripping Springs ISD) then we could sell the place for a reasonable profit and move after retiring. Austin has been coming to us at a pretty rapid rate and my daughter is 3 years from graduating. It was a great place to live and raise kids, glad we moved here but gotta get out. FM1826 traffic gets worse by the day and new subdivisions being built all around us. We'll stick it out until she is off to college then looking at maybe Kerrville, Llano or Marble Falls for a primary residence, and a small place to escape the hot months. As has been mentioned by others in this thread medical facilities, a decent grocery store and some good restaurants are a must. Considering smaller towns in other states as well.

Only on 2 acres but have trimmed my bladder on most of it. My experience with dogs is they will piss wherever you do, thus makes this a solid choice for house breaking pups as well. Just finished my third Haze County so ......

Love me some Burt, and Diana Krall will be doing a show at ACL Moody Theater this June. Ought to be a good one.

Not including the country and western acts at the Ft.Worth Stock Show & Rodeo, my first rock concert at Will Rogers Coliseum was a triple bill consisting of Dino ,Desi and Billy, then Paul Revere and The Raiders , with Herman's Hermits closing the show. I think it was '67 or '68, part of a Dick Clark Tour if I remember right. I was 14/15 and my friends parents dropped us off ,so we were on our on amongst a shitload of screaming teeny bopper chicks . Good time, and yes, I am old.

http://www.swordcane.com/countrycane.htp Long time lurker on the old site, decided to join the fun on the Surly rendition. Bought the cane sword that is shown in the link. It is really sturdy and the craftsmanship is top notch. Use it for hiking and walking the dog at night, though not intended as a self defense weapon. I have used the blade only a time or two, both on small rattlers that were too close to the house for comfort. Mr. Burger was super nice to deal with and they custom make their canes to your height.