Semi-Original!

Today has been great. This morning after Tony did the chores outside we we jumped into Trigger and took off for the big H-E-B, in Kerrville.

As we were leaving the ranch Kinky drove up in Mr. Green Jeans, and he invited us to join him, Dylan and Max, for a delicious lunch, at the Thai O'Cha restaurant. It was tempting, but we declined his invite, because we wanted to get back to the ranch, as soon as possible, so I could cook us lunch. And before we adios-ed each other, we talked about which cowboy hat Kinky should wear on his upcoming tour, in Europe. Then we took off and followed Kink all of the way to Water Street, where he turned left.

When we got back from our shopping spree at the big H-E-B, I cooked us lunch, which Tony thought was delicious.

After I cleaned up the kitchen, I grabbed my camera to document me making my first loaf of "Sam's Original Homemade Bread," that I found on page 201, in the new cookbook Texas Back Road Restaurant Recipes that Rick & Clara Jo gave to Tony.

Here are just some of the ingredients:

While my Cousin Nancy's Semi-Original Homemade Bread was rising, I lined up the four boxes of Girl Scout Cookies, that we had purchased as we walked outside the H-E-B grocery store.

When I was putting the cookies into the freezer, Tony walked inside carrying our new Bamboo pillows, that were on sale, for half price, at H-E-B. "You're not going to believe how heavy these pillows are," Tony said, as he put them on top of the kitchen table. And when I tried lifting the the two pillows, tightly packed inside the plastic bag, my jaw dropped, because Tony was right about me not believing how heavy they were. 

When I took our new pillows out of the packaging, I saw this label and it perturbed me somewhat, because we sleep on regular sized pillows and we don't own any Queen-sized pillowcases, so our dogs can chew the ends off of them, like they've done to all of ours.

Because I don't like to sweat the little things in life I took our pillows to the bedroom. Then I removed our regular-sized pillowcases from our old pillows and slipped our new, two for $69.99 bargain, into the pillowcases. They fit fine, but this is what they look like.

Then I took a short, fun break and went outside to play with Henry Standing Bear, while I was waiting to knead the bread again and then place it into a greased bread pan, for it to rise again for another hour, before baking it.

As I finish writing this, Cousin Nancy's first loaf of Semi-Original Homemade Bread is just a few minutes away, from coming out of the oven. And it really smells great. So, I am going to pass this time to once more tell you that our great friend, Steve Pietzsch, will be featured next weekend, on Texas Country Reporter and a week later on RFD-TV. And this morning, as we watched the end of Texas Country Reported—they showed a clip of Steve and mentioned that he will be on next week's show.

And here is a picture of the delicious, homemade bread that I made today using this great, new cookbook Texas Back Road Restaurant Recipes. And I am so proud of it, I just might call Sam's Original Restaurant, in Fairfield, Texas or go there to thank them for sharing Sam's Original Homemade Bread recipe. Yeah! I finally, for the very first time, actually baked a delicious, homemade loaf of bread and Tony and I love it. So as you can guess—it is almost half gone.

Y'all have a great evening!

Rick & Clara Jo—Alison & Blake—Steve!

Thursday and Friday were great and basically all we did was mow, mow, mow. And the rescue ranch looks beautiful, too. We decided to mow even though they've predicted that we will receive a lot of rain on Monday and Tuesday, because that way the grass and weeds won't be ten feet tall the next time we have to mow.

Late Friday afternoon Tony had to go to Medina and while he was in town, he ran into our good friends Rick & Clara Jo Anderson, the owners of Williams Creek Trading Company, that cook and sell the best tasting barbecue, in the Texas Hill Country.

Anyway, when Tony got back home, he returned with this super cool-looking cookbook Texas Back Road Restaurant Recipes by Anita Musgrove, that Rick & Jo had given to him as a present, because Rick and his sweet wife had asked Tony to take pictures of their adorable, log food/trailer and their food, because their delicious food was being featured in this great cookbook.

And on pages 140 and 141, is a terrific story about Williams Creek Trading Company, along with Rick's delicious Cider Slaw and Frijoles Tejanos recipes and Tony's pictures. And I can't wait to try to make the Cider Slaw recipe, because it is the best that we've ever tasted and we always order it.

In fact, today our dear old friends, Alison & Blake Waxler, came to visit us, because today is Alison's birthday. Blake told us, "When I asked Alison what she wanted for her birthday, she told me, "I want to go see Tony and Nancy for my birthday and I told her, "I can do that. That's easy enough..." 

Anyway, after a really fun visit with our friends, all of us went to Medina to eat lunch together, because Tony and I had been bragging about Rick's mouth-watering BBQ and delicious Cider Slaw. And our friends, like us, ordered the Cider Slaw and beans with brisket and they were extremely impressed with how good Rick's and Jo's food tasted. And because they come from Austin—that's saying a lot if you ask me.

And here's a heads up for y'all. Our dear friend and neighbor, Steve Pietzsch, the super talented artist, is being feature this weekend on Texas Country Reporter and the following week on RFD-TV! And you can click here to get the channels and times for Texas Country Reporter in your area.

So, as I finish writing this, I want to wish Alison the happiest birthday ever and thank her and Blake for coming to see us and I want to thank Clara Jo and Rick for the really great cookbook and for picking Medina, to be the home of the best BBQ, in the Texas Hill Country. And I want to thank Steve for being one of our favorite neighbors. And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!