Snow Day #4... more unprecedented!

Wow! Last night 3-4 inches of powder fell in the Big D, which means Snowpocalypse... as someone else has dubbed it... lives on.

View from my door at 11 am, which is about as far as my wussy butt wants to go (last one's fuzzy because IT WAS COLD!) -- below 21 degrees... oh, now I see it is 25!

And of course all that snow lies on top of the sheeted ice which never melted.

Have at it, Big D!

Of course... since being snowed in I have managed to:

• empty 2 inboxes
• read and correct 2 assignments and finish putting comments on last semester's student plays
• baked blueberry and cranberry muffins
• decluttered several stacks of papers
• burned a pile of CDs to laptop; CDs now ready for selling
• written 20 pages on my newest novel (which fits my goal of 5 pages per day)
• sent completed novel to my publisher
• filled 2 boxes with discarded books
• caught up on Hulu queue of new shows
• talked to my retirement investment counselor by phone and changed allocations
• continued to organize project at school
• had two hot baths
• washed loads of dishes
• revamped one syllabus for this semester
• play with Jack daily
• and plan today to continue with 2 more stacks of papers, books, CDs, and DVDs for big sale, maybe bake banana bread, post pictures to Flickr account, unload dishwasher for third time, and take third hot bath...

Got anything more, weather gods?

Bella

My beautiful bike Bella has been having a hard time of it.

She spent the summer outdoors while I was away, and now is the beginning of the rainy season in our fair city.  Unfortunately, when I was out back last, she also had a flat. The bike store where I bought her, which specializes in cruisers, has moved downtown, and there is no other place nearby.

Which means buying a bike rack for my Ford Escort, so I can transport Belle to the bike shop for her check-up and possibly a new tire (this is the third flat on the same tire). I found one online that carries only a single bike (rare!) and can be used on a hatchback as well as a sedan. It is even in a store near here. Since I bought a "girl bike" I also need to shell out $36 for a bar to carry my bike like a straight-bar bike. Once again, being a girl costs extra for accessories! $36! The rack costs $50!

But I want to get Bella up and running so I can stay a/ healthy and b/ cheap on gas. Want to become an all-weather rider, as well as expanding my bike route. Ideally, I will be using it to go to the grocery store, pharmacy, and coffee shop, as well as school. "Ideally."

Update: bought the rack Saturday, as well as the "girl bike" converter. And an ORANGE safety vest, which Ihad been wishing I had for some time, given the dark mornings and afternoons. This week, I hope to get the tire fixed as well as the check-up, and then we're off! Back to riding in to work.

State Fair, Part II

As promised, here are the quilts:

Aren't they gorgeous? It's hard to see in these pictures--far away, little hand camera--but the applique and hand-embroidery is just as beautiful as the piecing and the color choices.

There was more though (this is, after all, the TEXAS State Fair).

Clothes for Barbies--which reminded me of the clothes my own grandmother used to sew for my dolls--and other dolls.

These are older dolls that have new clothes or have been restored. I have several of this kind of china-head doll from my maternal grandmother.

Also, preserving:

These shelves are full of jars of preserves, jellies, jams, pickles, and so forth--and there was another set of them to the right.

But these were my favorites: handmade children's clothing.

The bodice is smocked and embroided (chickens to match the fabric print). Gorgeous.

Pearl

Texas State Fair

On Friday, I went to the Texas State Fair with friends... or perhaps people I thought were friends, given the amount of fried food they allowed me to ingest in a six-hour period!

Here they are, contemplating our next fried adventure.

Here we are near Big Tex, the annual dual mascot and welcome wagon. You can always find yourself at the fair by examining your relationship to Big Tex... literally and metaphorically.

The fair is out in the State Fair grounds, permanent structures that remind me of NYC's Rockefeller Plaza: art deco and monumental...

with lots of exaggerated, symbolic maidens...

and hard-working blue-collar guys...

We saw butter sculpture: this year's entry was a complete Old West Saloon scene, with butter bar, butter bartender, butter saloon girl...

butter dog and walls...

and butter fireplace, table, and stools (the "brick" thing on the left was the fireplace, complete with faux fabric flames).

Forgive the flash lights: it is all behind glass, and I took terrible pictures!

We also looked at the women's handwork: quilts, clothing, and so forth, with handsewing, crochet, knitting, embroidery, needlepoint, crewelwork, and any other kind of handwork you can imagine. Gorgeous stuff, that reminded me very much of the work my grandmothers, aunts, great-aunts, and mom taught me.

 

This is three quilts, hanging 'way above our heads. I'll include more of them in a later post, because they are simply spectacular and should get the attention they deserve. The colors, the quality of the quilting and applique, all of it was incredible.

We also saw the work of the Master Pumpkin Carver on two massive pumpkins. Here's the less scary one.

We also ate our weight--or perhaps cholesterol count--in fried foods, but that too is another day's tale. I'll simply leave you with this: fried pickles, fried green tomatoes, fried butter, fried Oreos, fried potato laces, fire-and-ice (fried pineapple), and fried bacon. That's right: deep-fat-fried bacon.

Mmmm, good.

Pearl

Changes

If you haven't noticed, I've changed the title of da blog. Since I won't be in Paris this fall, but at My U in DFW (not bitter, not bitter, not bitter), I thought that it would be appropriate... I'll keep the same name of the Vox blog--the original one--and work around the idea of "Paris" while not being there.

Dallas skyline.

Paris.

Pearl

Review: Split Pea Soup Cafe

Tuesday night I ate at this new branch of an El Paso-based chain. I had read about it in Daily Candy Dallas, where I get a number of good tips about new places to eat.

Right up front, let's deal with the cons:

• Pretty deserted on a Tuesday evening at 7 pm: I was the only patron when I arrived;
• I was asked if it was "just" me: not a question a woman eating alone likes to hear; I would suggest practice with a rephrasing of this question to make it sound less pathetic and weird for a single woman to take herself out for a delightful solo dinner;
• The menu is schizophrenic: part inexpensive soup-and-salad material, part Filet Mignon, Lamb Chops, and Spinach Fettucine, fancy designer fare at much higher prices/higher cuisine status;
• The menu lists about 15 soups, but doesn't clarify that not all choices are available every day; only after I had decided on the red pepper bisque did I find out that it was not available;
• The soups available were hardly 'warm weather fare,' meaning summer soups. French Onion, Clam Chowder, Split Pea, Minestrone, and so forth are hardly the flavors I want on a 100+ day;
• I didn't get what I asked for, which was French Onion Soup -- instead I got Italian Wedding Soup;
• I had to ask for water and coffee, and I was never offered dessert, which is not on the regular menu but on the website gelato and cheesecake are both mentioned.

Now, the pros:

• The Italian Wedding Soup was delicious, and a cup, at $3.95, was the right size and price to share with one of the best Greek salads I've had in a while;
• The salad was crisp and well-made, the dressing was light and just enough;
• Martinis were $5.00, a great price, and beers were $2.00;
• The ambiance was nice, and with a few more patrons, cooler weather for the lovely patio, this would be a great post-work spot for drinks and maybe a light dinner;
• Lots and lots of free parking close.

So here's my final deal. I would eat there again but I would know to be much more assertive with the wait staff about my order (being correctly taken) as well as about water, a drink, coffee, and dessert.

I would also like to try the patio on a cooler day.

On Tuesday, after completing my dinner, I went to Ziziki's for dessert--their ice cream baklava cake--and a glass of cabernet. I definitely wanted dessert and this is one of my favorites. Besides which, Ziziki's has a great patio with a fountain. By 9 pm, the patio is pretty deserted on a Tuesday while the fountain plays prettily in the background. I read my novel and enjoyed both the wine and the treat.

Split Pea Soup Cafe

Pearl

Louie's

This little building lives across the street from one of my new coffee cafes.

I love it. The architectural details--windows, doors, angles--interest me. It is empty now, but used to be a bar called Louie's.

This is the side street view.

I took these pix during one of the hot, clear, surface-of-the-sun days here in DFW this week. This building, like my little cafe, is part of a neighborhood undergoing revival: lots of restaurants and bars so far, but not too many other kinds of shops. A new natural foods market I like very much is just around the corner, as well.

It is a bike destination, as well, given that it is a little farther than I've been thus far, as well and on and over some busy car-traffic streets.

Great to see this neighborhood becoming livelier, despite the economy, because it is a mixed area for Hispanic families and young artists, kind of an eclectic mix of residents who seem to be getting along (thus far) pretty well.

Pearl

This is the mural on the interior room at Clark's Outpost, the barbecue place I wrote about previously. I went back there this weekend, on Saturday, with more friends who had not yet visited. We had a great time: great food, great service, and a surprisingly silent dinner table (because we were all shoving onion rings, smoked turkey, beef brisket, pork ribs, collard greens, jalapeno black-eyed peas, apple pie a la mode, chocolate meringue pie, and bread pudding doused with nutmeg-brandy sauce.... sigh!... into our mouths at a terrific rate).

Take the trip! (And do make reservations for any weekend night!). The drive up Route 377 is gorgeous this time of year: horses, cows, and cornfields galore!

Pearl

New Dresser

On Thursday, I bought this little chest from a shop here in DFW.

I am in love with it. Obviously, it needs some work: a new handle on the third drawer, some adjustment in the lower left rear, and I do plan to paint it (come Labor Day). But it fits perfectly in this spot, it is reasonably clean prior to final repair and painting, and the drawers pull in and out smoothly.

It also has a smaller footprint than the two-level table I previously had in this space.

Wow! Does this mean my apartment is actually falling into place? Finally?

Pearl

Favorite Things: Barbecue at Clark's Outpost

Yesterday, two friends and I took the long, long trip up to Tioga to eat barbecue at Clark's

Outpost. It had been a few year since I was at Clark's, and my friends had never even heard of it, although they've lived here longer than I have.

The drive was, well, an adventure. For part of the trip we drove a county road that was graveled but unpaved (Rte 121 west): do not choose this route. Scenic, but a little unnerving. Instead, use Rte. 380 to 377, then go north.

My friends, after about 90 minutes of driving, including over 10 miles of unpaved road, were understandably hungry and crabby. Clark's storefront looks unimpressive, and pulling into the unpaved gravel parking lot, with all windows closed so the a.c. can blast against the orange pollution ozone alert and 102 degree heat, does not impress.

And then one opens the car door, steps out... and smells the barbecue cookin'.

Ahhhhhhh!

From there we floated to the front door.

I had carefully made reservations--since it was a Friday evening--but most tables were empty. A surprise to me. I recommend ALWAYS making reservations.

The three of us sat, ate, and--damn!--enjoyed.

We ordered appetizers: onion rings and fully loaded potato skins. Both were delicious, but I especially love the rings. The coating is thick, crunchy, chewy and the rings are substantial.
To order alcohol, one must join the club, a Texas tradition of dry towns, where only members can drink legally. We ordered Shiners, naturally, and one Negro Modelo.

One friend ordered the brisket beef/smoked turkey combination plate, including the collard greens and jalapeno black-eyed peas. The other ordered the brisket/sausage combo, with potato salad and fried zucchini. I ordered the beef/pork ribs combo, with red beans and cole slaw. The plates arrive fast--always--and at first glance, it doesn't look like much food. And in fact for a regular barbecue joint, it is a smaller serving... but then one starts to eat.

The beef is so tender, beautifully smoked on-site over three days, one doesn't even need a knife to cut it. It is so delicious, so tender, that it is a work of art. The ribs--ditto. Smallish, but tasty, succulent, plump. Bones do not dominate. Eaten with the dark sauce that comes bottled in old Grolsch beer bottles: be still my heart! The sausage, from a Dallas maker, are spicy, while the turkey breast--also smoked at Clark's--is mellow and, again, so tender it can be nudged into pieces with a fork.

Usually, I ignore the sides in favor of the main course, so as not to waste time or space. In this case that would be a mistake. All of our sides were superb seconds: my red beans and cole slaw were so good, I actually ate most of them.

Each plate comes with two slices of Texas toast, an onion slab (not slice), and half of a canned cling peach.

For dessert, one friend ordered the Dutch apple pie with vanilla ice cream, while I had the bread pudding with hard sauce. I recommend the pie--crunchy, complex, and overall delicious--and not the bread pudding. I am a huge fan of b.p., but this one was soaked in brandy and nutmeg. It was absolutely tasty, but so rich and overwhelmingly alcoholic, I wa afraid to be near the open candle on our tabletop. Wow! I ate about 1/3 of the total slab, which again was not over-sized or grotesque, but too much for me.

My friends, fans of Southern cooking, Tex-Mex cooking, and Texas food, were impressed. Me, too, but I was not surprised. What I love most about Clark's is that it is not out to impress: neither the decor, the wait staff (who are friendly and efficient, but not hanging over the table, thank God!), or the prices are out to stun you. It is, simply, good food that doesn't want to be the favorite baby of foodies and wanna-be gourmands. What for?

If you love it, you can order off their website, which also shows their menu and hours. Take my advice: if you're in the area, visit. If you aren't, order something by mail. You'll be very happy.

Pearl

Main Hall

My U is built around two elements: an oval central drive and a four-story, red brick, domed hall. The class I'm teaching this summer is in this hall, on the top floor. Inside, the entry hall is open, with a dome and circular skylight.



The gallery runs in a circle around the hall, leading off to two wings.



This particular window gives a great view of both the campus and downtown Big D.



Here's a better view.


Pretty, isn't it? From here, you can really ignore the blazing heat of early evening.

Pearl

Friday Plans

Yes, it is Friday, which is a No Class Day. My big plans include:

1. Picking up THE BIKE: walking to the shop, getting my photo taken (the shop's Friday ritual!), then riding home. Ah, exercise... in the blazing/relentless/nasty DFW midday heat... good plan, eh?
2. Dinner out with girlfriends at chic local eatery featuring pizza and salads: Fireside Pies.
3. Laundry (gotta love the No Class Day, which translates to Home Rituals and Cleaning Day).
4. Reading the latest issue of Dwell magazine, my new favorite magazine. I dream of buying/building a small pre-fab house... also Entertainment Weekly and Fast Company.
5. Reading about Parisian visual culture of the 19th century. More interesting than it sounds, perhaps.
6. Replying to emails I have neglected all week.
7. Tuning my radio to Michael Jackson tribute stations, hopefully for the pre-scary years. Rest in peace, MJ.
8. Feeling envy about my friends' trip to Scotland: weeks in that lovely country, visiting Edinburgh, Glasgow, and the B&B I stayed in the Mactalla.
9. Did I mention picking up THE BIKE? Oh, I did.

Pearl

Tomorrow

Tomorrow--Friday--I will pick up my NEW BIKE!
Yes. I ordered it on Tuesday, and will pick it up TOMORROW!
Can you tell I am EXCITED!
I hope I will have pictures, but my camera is refusing to intersect interrogate interact interface with the laptop, so it may not be immediately possible.

HOWEVER

it is a light blue Cruiser bike, with light blue rubber grips, a white front basket, a side mirror, a zingy bell, and, yes, the LOCK OF LOCKS so that it doesn't go walkabout.
I will be very cool, in a short-middle-aged-lady-in-a-skirt cool manner.

Pearl

Favorite House

Yesterday I went for a long walk after the rain finally passed. Surprisingly, it left the air cool and crisp--rather than heavy and sultry--which made for excellent walking weather.

In June? In Texas? Cannot pass that up!

On my walk I snapped this photo. This is one of my favorite houses, only about a 15-minute walk from where I live.

I admire it for two reasons. First, that it is private. The inhabitants have actually decided not to live their lives in everyone else's face. And second, the tumbled glass rock wall. Here's a closeup.

Even closer...

I think this is really killer. The wall is full of fist-sized glass rocks, and the end effect is also as if they had a wall of water. The texture and color are fantastic.

I should share with you some of the atrocities from the same neighborhood, just to give a reference point. The faux Tuscan villas, faux Loire chateaux, faux White Houses. Yeeech. Maybe I will. Just to point out that spending gobs of cash doesn't guarantee good taste, a lesson that cannot be pointed out too often.

In terms of the house above, I also love that they have retained the trees and built a smaller house--probably a greener house, in that case, given Texas heat in summer. Too many people are cutting down the old and beautiful Texas trees in order to build houses with bigger footprints. Yardprints? Whatever. Houses like this suggest to me delightful hidden lives, intimate and personal, carefully crafted. I know I am making all this up, but the mystery of the hidden lives behind such an attractive wall... hmm. Intriguing. And not defined by "making a statement" as the Tuscan/Loire/White House mansions do.

I wonder: in the faux Tuscan villas, do the owners dress up as Medici princes and order up ornate Renaissance banquets and pore over huge maps of Eastern lands while planning to conquer them with merchant vessels? When one visits friends there is one required to bring crystal rock reliqueries and chests of exotic fruits and paintings by Michelangelo? Or do they do like I do and bring over an unpretentious bottle of sauvignon blanc? Seems a lot of house for one unpretentious bottle. Or just to sit back and watch Dexter.

Pearl

Rain, rain, go away

Or, actually, don't. Just calm down.

We have now entered the summer weather months--better known as Summer Weather Months. Since moving to Texas I have been startled repeatedly at how HUGE a topic weather is during its season (much like high school football during the late summer and autumn months). Weather is NEWS: but given the possibility of sudden hail, thunderstorms, flooding, and tornedos, I sort of understand now.

Last night my evening class was interrupted by the tornedo siren, so my class of 8 and I trooped downstairs to the basement from the third floor (good exercise) to wait in large open area with all other faculty and students for the mysterious signal that we could return aboveground. Before and after that, my students were distracted by the rapidly darkening sky, the thrashing treetops, and the thunder. Oh, and lashing rain.

By the time we left class about 9 pm, the rain had trickled down to almost nothing. Which was good, because I had to park a good walk from the building. I don't fear muggers, but rain? Yikes. I've lived in Texas long enough.

I had to drive to the grocery store for catfood after, oh well, so saw the streets puddled up. And I mean "puddled": the kind of standing water that makes huge slices of water when you drive through, no matter how slowly you proceed. And most people just bullet through, which is how you ruin your brakes, get stranded in flooding, and soak walkers (who are, after all, on their own simply because they walk, which makes them fair game here in the Lone Star State where walking is practically a crime and certainly a sign of slight mental derangement... unless you are power walking--ok, now I am wound up on that topic! Stay focused, here).

Everyone has a weather story: a flooding story, a tornedo story, a hail story. Stranded, stuck, struck.

The upside is that the a.c. can be turned off, the ozone smells strongly in the air, the thunder rumbles distantly, and I sleep really, really well. Which is how I am pretty certain I will wake up in Oz without realizing it.

Pearl

Note: image from Saskatchewan, another photographer; couldn't find any good images of DFW rain

#1 Summer Goal

...was get a new couch.... DONE. Well, sort of, as life teaches most things are, nowadays.

Yesterday I took the Big Trip to Frisco... to IKEA Dallas. Armed with catalog and list of names/numbers/sizes, I travelled north on the Tollway to the Big Blue Box I love so much. In time, of course, for their breakfast deal (free bottomless coffee).

For a Tuesday, it was jam-packed with women, children, grandparents, and the occasional beleaguered father. Yikes. The cafe was CRAZY with noisy families, more than any Friday or Saturday in my memory.

But I got it done. My new sleeper-sofa, the Ektorp version in basic black cotton duck:

Yeah, that tiny thing.

It will be delivered on Friday, "some time" between 9 and 9. Old couch will be removed by Salvation Army on Saturday, "some time" between 8 and 6... so there will be an overlap of 24-33 hours where I have two couches in what is decidely a one-couch apartment. Oh, well. The real trick will be getting the Ikea men to a/ move the old couch and b/ put the legs on the new couch. And should I tip them? Such many questions!

Regardless, I have a new sleeper sofa, which is great after 13 years. Admittedly, the current sofa has a great mattress, hidden by an increasingly faded outside. Incredibly comfortable, without good looks. I hope it finds a new home. It may be joined by a wicker chair and ottoman I inherited from a friend, but have never quite settled on.

Ikea is always an interesting trip for me, here in Dallas. Since my first trip to Ikea was in Paris, round about 1999, the contrasts are really strong in my mind whenever I go. In Paris, one must take public transpo (Metro, then bus), while in Dallas I drive $2.80 worth of Tollway to Frisco. In Paris, the Box is located near the airport, in the 'way out 'burbs; in Dallas, Frisco--and the Ikea stop--used to be out in the middle of deserted Texas farmland, but now the store is surrounded by strip malls featuring other chains (Container Store, low- to high-end furniture and home deco stores, and lots of eateries, if you don't like the limited choices at the Ikea cafe). The open, brown prairie that surrounded it: GONE. More roads, more chain/box stores, more stuff growing like a rabbit colony... or Starbucks franchises in the aughts.

In Paris, Ikea is one of those places where French people shop to find space-saving items and inexpensive kitchen goods that are still (and necessarily) practical and stylish. In Dallas, few people shop for "space saving" items: our houses have too much space, usually.

I am always pleased to find things that are cost-efficient, useful, and attractive--like yesterday I bought a small white ceramic flowerpot that I'll use as a pencil cup, prettier than the black mug I have now. But also inexpensive white magazine folders, glass plates to match my white ones that are in a discontinued style (oh, well), an espresso cup and saucer, a rubberized placement for using my laptop on the dining room table, wooden hangers, a cheap towel to keep in the car to cover the steering wheel and my seat during summer months, new shower curtain, black iron hooks for everything around the house, and a second Arstid lamp, this one for my bedroom. Besides the couch and cover.

A delightfully successful day.

Pearl