An Average Joe in San Antonio

It’s officially summer with Fourth of July right around the corner which means time for picnics, block parties, and get togethers.  I know that a lot of times you might be asked to bring a dessert to one of these functions and you just might not have the time or desire to create something.

You end up going towards the prepackaged cookie section (heck, even if you get the chocolate cookies made in the store bakery, people know that they are still store bought), show up with the dessert that no one touches because it is not homemade, and end up going home with 22 of the 25 store bought cookies that even you don’t want.

There is a simple solution to this, Mama Heath’s famous Lemonade Ice Cream Pie!  Now, I don’t know if the recipe originated with her or not, but I really don’t care.  I always looked forward to summer because that meant it was time for Lemonade Ice Cream Pie.  I mean, it just tastes like summer and is perfect for all the shindigs you are going to.  The best thing yet, it is super easy to make (roughly 10-15 minutes of prep) and all your friends will think it is amazing.  Trust me.

Ingredients:

• ½ gallon of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla (don’t skimp out and get the off brand, you can tell)
• 1 can of Minute Maid Pink Lemonade from concentrate
• 1 large Keebler graham cracker crust
• 1 smaller Keebler graham cracker crust

Step 1: Drive home from the grocery store in the Texas summer heat.  Don’t fret if you hit a couple of stop lights on the way home as this will make Step 2 much easier on you.

Step 2: Get a big mixing bowl and dump the starting-to-melt ice cream in it along with the can of pink lemonade that is equally melted from the searing outside heat.

Step 3: Get a spoon and mix, mix, mix (I guess you could cheat and use beaters, but come on, it is soft ice cream and isn’t worth making more of a mess to clean up).  You will want to mix where two things happen: (i) there are no pockets of pure white or bright pink but instead a consistent pale pink color throughout and (ii) it is pretty creamy and smooth.

Step 4: Dump the mixture into the graham cracker crusts and smooth out the top with the spatula.

(Step 4b: Lick the bowl and spatula clean.)

You want the color to be this light pink; mmmm, I am getting hungry just looking at the picture.

Again, Steps 1-4 should take you all of 10 to 15 minutes and the payoff will be worth it.

Step 5: Put it in the freezer for like 2.5 to 3 hours to refreeze.  Serve and enjoy!

I will admit, just like the Cranberry Jalapeño Salsa recipe for Christmastime, the name does kind of sound gross.  However, you will find that the taste is light and crisp with a little bit of tartness.  The cold is refreshing on a hot summer day or evening – one bite and you will agree that it tastes like summer.

For like 15 minutes of time and roughly $10-$12 worth of products, you will make two Lemonade Ice Cream Pies that will not only be “made from scratch” but also be the hit of the party.

Tin Star is the newest restaurant to come to San Antonio on the hopes that the “gourmet” taco will catch on.  One of my friends had suggested that I check them out as he was possible that I wouldn’t be disappointed.  He even promised that there were green chili so I really I decided to go give them a shot to see what they were all about.

When I walked into the restaurant, I was greeted by a lot of people who were very friendly.  I even got to talk with the head guy (not sure if he was the owner or not) and he let me know that Tin Star is a regional franchise and that this was its second attempt at trying to relocated to San Antonio.  I did ask him about the green chili and it turns out that they did not have any to pile on the tacos, but there were traces of it in their rice.

The restaurant itself has a cool feel with free wifi and is really clean.  There were flat panel TVs playing the world cup and really had a nice open, clean feel to it.

As part of this gourmet taco experience, expect to pay higher than usual prices.  For two tacos, a side of rice and black beans, my ticket was over $8 with tax (and this is with a water); obviously this is not the prices that a San Antonian is used to paying for two lunch tacos.

They do have some more exotic tacos, and for a full list, I would suggest that you click here to see what they are all about.   I decided to try something unusual, since I was at a gourmet taco place after all, and go the pork tacos with honey chipotle BBQ and the fish tacos.

Before eating, you can dish up some chips and salsa (in the same vein as Mamma Margie’s) to take back to your table.  I think that the salsa was pretty disappointing as it was sweet with really no spice to it.  I don’t know how this salsa will last in this city.

Now, I will have to say that the tacos themselves were not terribly bad, but they didn’t live up to the $8/lunch plate expectations.  I thought that the fish tacos were superior and really liked their chipotle sauce that they put on it.  The pork taco had a good flavor on the meat, but the sauce really was too much and I didn’t really care for that sweet of a sauce on my taco (I know, I know, this is my own fault for getting the honey chipotle BBQ, I’ll accept that).

Would you pay $8 for two tacos in San Antonio at lunch?

The green chili rice was a little above average but the black beans were awful.  Now, I love me some black beans (especially with a lot of spicy seasoning), but these were just way too salty for my taste.  I couldn’t get through more than a couple of bites.

While the food isn’t terrible (with the exception of the black beans), I don’t think I will return because as an Average Joe I can’t warrant $8 for basically two tacos at lunch, gourmet or not.

Value: 5/10 ($8 for two tacos in the Alamo City at lunch doesn’t do it for me)
Atmosphere: 9/10 (Really nice atmosphere and is incredibly clean)
Service: 9/10 (Super friendly folks)
Salsa: 5/10 (Not spicy at all)
Taste: 7/10 (The fish tacos were good, pork was above average, but the black beans were awful)
Website: www.tinstar.us

For about a year now, there has been a group of Marketing and PR professionals that have been promoting the use of Social Media tools not only for businesses, but also for individuals and nonprofit organizations here in San Antonio.  They go by the name of The BMPR (Business Media and Public Relations) and offer an open invitation for anyone to attend the monthly meetings to “learn more about the exciting technologies and applications of social media, meet new people and connect with peers.”

I had been following Donna Tuttle, one of the founders of The BMPR, for about a year now on Twitter when I did a random search for “San Antonio” and found something interesting that she posted.  From seeing her tweets, I had been aware of this organization but just could never make a meeting.  I was finally able to be in attendance this past June which had a focus on blogging.

Now, for any of you folks who are like me and are as technical as a blue dry erase marker and about as PR savvy as BP in the current Gulf Crisis, a meeting with techies and PR professionals might be intimidating.  Let me allay your concerns as all the people were incredibly friendly as easy to talk with.  If they have a topic that is of interest to you or your business, I would highly encourage you to attend.

As far as the meeting went, I was able to learn a lot from some folks who are quite good at the craft of blogging.  I basically do this blog for fun and enjoy it nothing more than recording some of the places that I enjoy eating at in hopes that I can drive hungry folks to them.  I think I scored in like the 43^rd percentile of SAT II Writing, so I know my abilities as a writer are inane, but it is fun none-the-less to get to post ideas.  That being said, here are some things that I learned from meeting on blogging:

• Get a Little Technical – Be sure to insert Google Analytics into your blog and submit it to Feedburner; if you don’t know how to do this or are afraid, just bake some cookies as ask your technical friend as it won’t take him/her very long; it is fun to see who visits your blog and how they go there
• Fill Up Your CUP – Change, Understand audience, Post updates regularly; I will try to get better at this
• PINE is More Than a Longing for a Tree – Plan (have goals and focus), Interest (provide valuable content), Niche (rich focused content), Expert (get credibility)
• Use Grammar and Spell Check – To paraphrase Dawn, a speaker at the event, “ee cummings could use grammar and spelling however he liked; he’s a literary genius and you are not.” Yeah, I got to get better at this

For multimedia files on what was presented at the June BMPR meeting, be sure to check out the June BMPR Wrap Up + Tips and Tricks.

I think that they presented some valuable information and I got to learn a lot.  While I have employed some of them (the analytics pieces), plan to use some in the future (especially CUP), there will be some I ignore (notably the “Niche” in PINE as I realize that I am not a professional and want to sometimes talk about more things than just food or food in San Antonio).

Next time they have a topic that interests you, be sure to go check them out!

Website: http://thebmpr.com

Not too long ago some friends and I were out having drinks at a local bar and we happened unto a pretty funny idea of having a scavenger hunt that would make players find people with different kinds of characteristics in the bar (tall people, short people, people with red hair, people with red shoes, etc.).

More drinks came and we had more and more ideas where not only would you have to find a person with characteristics, but you might have to get a person to do something funny (do the moonwalk, sing a Miley Cyrus song, tie a knot in a cherry stem without using their hands).  This craziness served as the conception of an iPhone app that would become BarCards.

Upon release, the app has gotten a decent amount of press from Apple and was on the front page of the iTunes App store for several weeks.  BarCards was also picked up on different blogs including some major ones such as Mashable and Gizmodo.

I got to say though that tonight one of the cooler stories has just been released.  Jason Buch, writer for the San Antonio Express News, came out with photographer Ivan Aguirre to see BarCards in action with my friends and I this last Friday night at Rebar.  He ended up writing this story that was in the Business Section where he interviewed folks playing the app and even some people who were asked random questions.

In case you might be interested, I have also started a blog over at Piñojo Productions that gives insight into the app development process from a VERY non technical person’s point of view.

I am pretty pumped how an app that started out over a couple of beers has taken a life of its own!

This is the newest bar game that is sweeping the Alamo City.

What is Mr. Gameshow?

Most people have dreamed of being on a gameshow at one time or another but have never had the chance to meet Vanna, Alex, or Bob Barker.  For all you aspiring gameshow contestants, there is only one place to hone your skills in preparation – at the bar with Mr. Gameshow.

The game is a real life gameshow complete with a host, buzzers, and even gameshow music!  I was told of this new phenomenon by DS, one of my friends on my volleyball team.  He had been raving about Mr. Gameshow for some time now, so this past Thursday after our game we decided to go and check it out at Rebar.

Seriously, how can something like this not be awesome?!?!??

The game is pretty simple; three players answer toss up style questions each worth 100 points.  The first player to 1,000 points (or the player leading after 15 minutes) wins the game.  The fun part is the variety of questions that Mr. Gameshow asks.

There will be stock trivia questions (name the colors of the rainbow), musical questions (think “Name That Tune” as players have to buzz in as soon as they know the artist singing the song), questions to test levels of inebriation (how many fingers am I holding up), and even questions to see who is the best dancer (judged completely by the other patrons in the bar so you better get your “lawnmower” on).

What I particularly liked was the fact the Mr. Gameshow himself crowdsourced additional questions from the patrons of the bar. The types of questions were a grab bag of serious, such as “What is the only city to straddle two continents?” (Istanbul), or silly such as “Why don’t you shower with a Pokemon?” (because he might Peek-at-chu).

If you are looking for something fun that is completely out of the ordinary, I highly recommend checking out Mr. Gameshow’s website to find out where he will be next.  He also is available for parties and I’m sure it will be one that you or your friends won’t soon forget.

Mr. Gameshow Website

Mr. Gameshow on Twitter