An Average Joe in San Antonio

Well, I can’t believe that this blog has been going on for a year now; I never really had a proper celebration for it. What started out as something as just to let my family and friends know where to eat in San Antonio has actually started getting a small amount of following on the web.

Thanks to the folks over at BMPR, I realized that if I am doing something, I might as well try to do it right. At one of their meetings the let me know about the different tools available to bloggers (such as Google Analytics, Facebook Pages, ways for search engines to see your site, etc) and I took some small steps to see what they were all about.

First, after installing an analytics package, I was interested to see that a decent amount of people happen on this site on a quasi regular basis. These analytics have been interesting to watch (especially for a math/science guy like myself) and I decided to try to have a standard heading to get into search engines. You might have noticed a switch where it states “Review of [restaurant] Restaurant in San Antonio, TX” on every post. I think that this has helped me improve where I wind up on search engine results instead of having willy nilly titles every post.

The statistics showed that I have very few repeat customers, so today I decided to try to address that issue. I created a Facebook page so that you can become a fan and get a post any time I make one. I think that more people use Facebook than RSS feeds, so I thought this might help people know when I have made updates and they can check it out if it was a restaurant they were interested in.

I also put a link on each post that you can “Share on Facebook,” so if you see a particular review you like, or if it is a restaurant that is one of your favorites in San Antonio, be sure to click it and let your friends know! I think that the other opportunity that the Facebook page can afford me is the ability for people to easily make suggestions on where I should go to next or what interesting things I should try in the city.

Lastly, if you have an iPhone, you will be happy to know that I installed an update where the site will have a mobile version while you are on the go. If you are like me, however, and like seeing the full site, all you have to do is go to the bottom of the page and press the button to give you the full site! Anyway, it might make it easier for some people to read while you are out and about.

I have really enjoyed getting to explore the city and write about my experiences this past year and some odd. Hopefully the pain of having to get through my colloquial way of writing and grammar mistakes has been worth it by getting to eat at some restaurants you might not have known about.

Thanks for reading!

-An Average Joe

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Back in December of 2008 I was at HEB and I had what most people might deem the weird idea of mixing General Tso’s Chicken with mashed potatoes and fried okra. I know that this sounds odd, but it is really not all the bizarre at all. I mean, HEB’s General Tso’s (they call it General Joe’s) Chicken is chicken nuggets in spicy sauce, essentially a boneless wing.

The employee informed me that in no circumstance was I allowed to mix a Chinese entree with American sides. What was further aggravating was the fact that they were (1) about to close the food court so all the food was in the process of being tossed and (2) the cost of both meals are the exact same. So in no way did it make sense that I should not be allowed to mix the Chinese entree with American sides.

HEB is the great wall between Chinese entres and American sides mixing.

I was slightly upset, more because to me it just didn’t make sense. This situation was akin to your parents telling you to do something and upon being asked why giving the answer, “Because I said so.” I mean, I am a rational person. Had the American plate been $1.50 more than the Chinese plate, I would have paid the difference, but they were the same price. Why couldn’t I have them?

I was up for the challenge and had some time on my hand so I wrote a letter and sent an email to every HEB email address I could find, sent a paper letter to Charles Butt (CEO), the Corporate Customer Relations Team, and the Store Manager. I actually ended up getting a message left on my machine (which I left for over a year because it cracked me up) from a lady telling me that I could absolutely mix my entrees. She assured me that we would not have this problem again. NOTE: I appended the letter I wrote in 12/2008 at the bottom of this post.

Fast forward to tonight. I had a long day. I had seen a lot of potential clients. All I wanted, for whatever reason, was General Tso’s Chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans. I mean, I haven’t seen a vegetable in sometime now and was craving one.

I finished my grocery shopping and went to the food court. You could tell that the food was picked over and they were about to fold up shop. I asked for General Tso’s chicken and as the lady began scooping rice, I informed her that I would prefer mashed potatoes. She stopped scooping and informed me, “We aren’t allowed to mix.”

I couldn’t believe it! I let her know that, “Yes, you can mix, they do it for me all the time,” to which she replied, “No, I can’t mix, I’m sorry.” I assured her that I had been through this before and even had a voice message from a lady from the corporate office who said I could do this. “No, you can’t mix.” I ended up sending out a couple of tweets that I hope @HEB will soon notice.

Ugh! Imagine how unfulfilling guacamole would be if you could not combine a Mexican avocado with a Roma tomato? Or not putting a French vanilla scoop of ice cream on that apple pie? Or no French’s mustard on a Swiss and Turkey sandwich? Uncle Ben would not even be able to make Spanish Rice for cryin’ out loud! What type of world would that be!

Don't forget, Turkey's a country too.

This is why I am upset. It is 2010. I support interracial food mixing and I hope that you do to. Be sure to leave a comment so that HEB knows that they should allow us to once again mix Chinese entrees with American sides.

You can also click here to Tweet out this story with the hash tag of #supportinterracialfoodmixing

God bless food with diverse backgrounds, God bless America.

Original Letter from 12/2008

Sir or Madam of the Customer Relations Department,

Hello, I am a regular shopper at the H-E-B on I-10 and DeZavala. I enjoy your selection of produce (particularly the Honey Crisp Apples that are now in season) and overall I am content with paying slightly higher prices than Wal-Mart because the quality is better.

I do, however, have a problem that I would like to see addressed as soon as possible. I often go to the food court inside the store and often order some of the Chinese or American food. Tonight, I was in an adventurous mood and wanted to order the General Tso’s Chicken along with mashed potatoes w/cream gravy and fried okra. I don’t know why I wanted to order that combination other than the fact that it sounded good.

I was informed by the employee that I cannot combine American sides with a Chinese main course. I asked the employee which combo meal is more expensive, the American or the Chinese, and offered to pay the higher price. He told me that they were the same cost but I could still not combine the American sides with the Chinese main course.

My question is why? I mean, the food court was shutting down; they were probably going to be throwing the food away anyway. This is the 21st century where different ethnic groups get together all the time, why are they not allowed to do the same at the H-E-B food court?

Needless to say, I was not happy. No, I did not want rice and an egg roll. I wanted mashed potatoes and okra! Fried chicken is an American entrée, so I did not see the big deal in getting a chicken entrée from the Chinese menu. I was aggravated and simply decided to leave. Not only did you lose out on my food court purchase (which was roughly $5.00) but also on my grocery purchase for the evening (which was substantially more) as I decided to do my shopping at Whole Foods instead.

Does this not seem insane to you? Why can’t you combine the American sides with the Chinese main course? I don’t imagine that this happens often, however, I can’t be the only one that you have upset.

I hope that you can resolve this issue in the near future, after all, they are the same price! I will be checking back soon to see if I can get my mashed potatoes and okra with the General Tso’s chicken. If you are unable to accommodate this request, I will just shop elsewhere.

Thank you for hearing out my complaint; I have also sent a letter to the CEO, Charles Butt, and to the grocery manager at DeZavala, Rick.

Regards

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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

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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!

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They say that you can never go home again, but I firmly believe that you can at least visit.

I’m a West Texas boy through and through; you probably have noticed it from my colloquial style of writing, and if you ever heard me open up my mouth, you would know immediately that I am not from South Texas.  I know that West Texas is incredibly flat and treeless, but to me, there is a charm in that desolate landscape.

To paraphrase a comment that I once heard Joe Ely say (and this is not verbatim): West Texas is strange because if you sit in the middle of a cotton field and look up you feel two diametrically opposed things.  At one time, you feel like you are the center of the world and everything kind of is centered on you.  At another time you realize how small and insignificant you are and how big the universe truly is.  Go stand in the middle of a cotton field and you’ll know what he’s saying.

Lubbock is my hometown, and I had the fortune of getting to return for a family member’s graduation in the middle of May.  Being recently unemployed, I had a lot of time to spend with my family and decided to go up in the middle of the week.  By doing this, I was able to visit a good friend and one of my favorite places to eat, Giorgio’s.

Giorgio’s is a pizza joint in downtown Lubbock on Broadway and it is owned and run by George, one of the most friendly and smart people that you will ever meet.  George has a diverse background and speaks something on the order of six different languages, has a mechanical engineering degree, and has a ton of experience in a wide array of businesses.

The front of Giorgio's Pizza off the brick street Broadway in Lubbock, TX.

I have been going to Giorgio’s since I was a sophomore in high school back in 1998.  From that time until I graduated Tech with my Master’s Degree in 2005, I ate at Giorgio’s at least once a week (if not more).  The restaurant became more than just a place to eat, it because a place to congregate, celebrate, and just have a lot of fun.  There were many good memories (and good meals) that happened at Giorgio’s in high school and college.

When I went to Tech, I started getting a group to go there every Friday; being further away from campus and in a part of town most students don’t venture out to, it was a tough sell at first.  But after the first bite, people became hooked and many made the pilgrimage every Friday for some good food.  I particularly enjoyed going in college because there was no “time limit” on how long we had for lunch.  Often times, meals would turn into events full of lively conversation, storytelling, and full on clowning around.

George has his doors open Monday through Friday from 11:00AM – 6:00PM, so it was always difficult for me to get up to Lubbock to eat there when I entered the corporate world.  In fact, I don’t think I have been there in some two and half years.  I was thrilled to get the chance to finally get to catch up with a good friend and eat some really good food.

I was greeted by the familiar awning, window paintings having the prices (from 1998 to 2010, George only went up a buck and a quarter to $5.50 on his famous two slices of pizza and drink combo (tax included)), and the red and white checkered floor.  Walking in, George hollered at me, “Hey my friend, long time no see!” It seemed like only a week had gone by since my last visit.

Since this blog primarily focuses on food, I will write a little bit about it here. I always favored the two slices of pepperoni pizza as my meal of choice; it will definitely fill you up as it is pretty much a quarter of a pizza! What really makes it is the crust, it is the perfect thickness and a little chewy.  The sauce also busts out with fresh flavor and that combination just makes it awesome!

Recently (and by recently, I mean probably since 2003), I started ordering the meat calzones (particularly on cloudy days); they are gigantic and filled with sausage, pepperoni, cheese, and sauce.  You can ask for a specialty made one stuffed just with pepperoni (quite the gut buster) or one that is vegetarian.  I always opt for a side of sauce to pour a little extra in the calzone and have to dip the  crust in.  My mouth is watering right now thinking of it.

This calzone will fill you up for sure! I like to get mine with a side of sauce.

As you have read my blog you probably realized that food and eating out is, to me, as much about the experience and the people preparing the food as it is about the food itself.  George really delivers on this by really making you feel glad that you chose his restaurant to dine.

He greets everyone with the cordial, “How are you doing my friend,” and for anyone who has been in more than a couple of times, he already knows something about that person to carry on a casual conversation and will ask, “Do you want the usual?” In fact, Andrew, one of the guys who would always go every Friday with me in college, was in Lubbock on a recruiting trip recently and George not only remembered his name, but also enough about him to ask what he was up to in Houston, how the other folks were doing who used to come in with us, and also if he wanted the usual.  This had been something like 3 years since he had seen him last!

I value George as good friend and mentor; he is one of those entrepreneurs who has inspired me in my life and made me realize that I want to start my own business.  Many days around closing, I would go into Giorgio’s just to talk with him about business, life, and pick his brain about how to make it on your own.  These conversations left an imprint on me to this day and I try to adopt many of his philosophies and ideas.

Giorgio’s has experienced its fare share of changes as well.  Neighboring business has come and gone around his storefront.  Prices have gone up slightly.  Students who eat their religiously graduate and move on and new ones fill their chairs.  Employees turn over and new ones come in to help out; this was kind of a sad point for me as one of the guys I really enjoyed talking with left for another opportunity.

Yet the food, friendliness, and red and white checkered floor remains constant.  I might not be able to go home, but at least for now I can go to Giorgio’s, and that is close enough.

Value: 10/10 (At $5.50 for a full plate of pizza and a drink (includes tax), how can you go wrong?)
Atmosphere: 9.5/10 (In downtown Lubbock, this joint feels like a throwback with red and white checkered floors)
Service: 10/10 (Can’t beat it; everyone is greeted with a “How are you doin’ my friend!”; go there a handful of times and the owner will know your “usual”)
Taste: 10/10 (Some of the best tasting pizza, calzones, and lasagna in the world!)
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Kind of strange that you might come across a post in May that talks about a New Year’s Resolution, huh?  Well, this is partly to blame on the fact that I haven’t been a very good blogger in keeping up with my blog for quite some time now.  I sort of envisioned this blog to be something purely about food and San Antonio, but I thought what the heck, I might as well through in some thoughts every once and a while (especially since I can’t afford to eat out as much!).

So my New Year’s Resolution this year was to read one book each month; now it is important to note that this does not mean the same thing as reading 12 books in the year.  I can often get in the zone where I just knock out 3 or 4 books at once and then don’t read anything for the longest time.  No, I wanted to be disciplined in reading one book every month.

I have kept up with this to date; in fact, I finished my May book pretty early (this occurred after having a marathon to finish my April book on the last day of the month).  I thought I would let you know what I read each month, offer you some insights/favorite quotes from each of them, and then open it up for people to comment on what should be read next.

January Book

The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs

This book was actually a Christmas present from a dear friend, so I thought I would begin the year with it.  The book is the memoirs of an agnostic as he tries to live out as many rules from the Bible quite as literally as possible.  Some of the rules are the standard ones (“Thou shall not kill”) while other rules are more obscure (not letting fibers mix in your clothing; to do this he must get a specialist to inspect all his clothes to make sure they are OK).

I have to admit that I was a little leery to read this book because I thought that it was going to be an easy softball for an agnostic to poke fun at religion looking at archaic rules that most people today don’t know exist, much less practice.  I found two things interesting from this book: (1) the fact that no one, even some of the most devout sects, follow all the Bible’s rules to the letter; all will mold certain rules to their liking and (2) the actual transformation of the author writing the book.  I enjoyed getting to see how Jacobs started becoming more receptive to religion and its place in our daily lives as the book was written.

“My favorite parts of the Bible are the ones that take the complete opposite track, that admit that we don’t know everything, that stress the mystery of God and the universe.  Like Ecclesiastes 6:12 says:

‘For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow?  for who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?’ ” — page 225

February Book

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

I had been wanting to read this novel for several reasons: (1) a band that I really like called Birdmonster has a song called No Midnight off their album No Midnight that references Dorian Gray, (2) a friend had read it  about a year ago and really liked it, and (3) I have always liked Wilde’s quotes but have never seen any in context.

Apparently the novel was quite the controversy when it came out; it always amazes me how something in one era can be a scandal and in another era be revered.  I will say that it takes a little while for the novel to develop into the story of the never aging man that you are familiar with.  In fact, you will be probably a third of the way through before you get to that story.

What I like most about the novel is the fact that Wilde never once states the terrible deeds that Dorian Gray supposedly commits.  This makes the novel fresh, even in today’s scandalous world, because the reader’s imagination substitutes in what he/she thinks Dorian might have done.  In the end, doesn’t that say a lot about the reader as well as Dorian?

“‘I can stand brute force, but brute reason is quite unbearable.’” – Lord Henry, 42

“‘Nowadays people know the price of everything, and the value of nothing.’” – Lord Henry, 50

“‘To get back my youth I would do anything in the world, except take exercise, get up early, or be respectable.’” – Harry, 221

March Book

The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World’s Largest Unsolved Art Theft by Ulrich Boser

I am a sucker for real life stories dealing with paintings being stolen.  I mean, don’t we all have a little Thomas Crown Affair or Entrapment side in each of us, to either be that daring thief or the private investigator who busts them?  This is one of the reason’s that I like The Gardner Heist so much.

Coincidentally, March of this year was the 20th anniversary of the heist that many people consider the greatest theft in art history with a value of $500,000,000 to $600,000,000 USD.  The novel does an excellent job of telling the story of Isabella Gardner and how she amassed her collection, the basic story behind the theft, the shady characters in the Boston underworld who might have something to do with the crime, the different detectives and investigators who have tried to crack it, and the attempt of the author to lend his hand to the case.

The book is a fast read that will bring you in from that start and leave you wanting to hit the trail to see if you can solve the case yourself.

April Book

Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky

This is a great book for anyone who would like to understand a little more of the power of the new types of media and the role it plays in current group forming revolution.  The basic premise is that prior to social media (and understand that Shirky lumps in email into this category), it was very difficult to form groups.  Think about all the steps you did if you ever had to send out a newsletter or organize anything pre-1996: make copies, address envelopes, buy stamps, go the post office, make phone calls, etc., etc., etc.  There was an actual cost along with a time cost with organizing groups.

Now, look at the present landscape.  With a few clicks of a button a mass mailing can be sent out to your email list.  You can update your Twitter status to let people know what you think of the newest Iron Man movie. You can check-in on Foursquare to let people know where you are.  The transaction costs have been immediately lowered to where group forming is happening all the time.

Shirky’s book looks at the innovations that led to this phenomenon, gives anecdotes of how people have used the technology, and talks about both the societal gains and risks of the new media.  The one point that Shirky repeatedly makes is that it is not just the technology, but how people use the technology.

“Now that it is possible to achieve large-scale coordination at low cost, a third category has emerged: serious, complex work, taken on without institutional direction.” – 47

May Book

Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel

What can I say, I like Yann Martel a lot.  He is one of those modern authors like Nick Hornby or JK Rowling who can just suck you into a book that you  can’t put down until you finish it.  Most readers will recognize the name as being the author of The Life of Pi, but equally good is his short story collection entitled The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios.  I also have a great respect for him as he petitions the Canadian Government to include more emphasis on the arts in education by sending a book each week to Stephen Harper, the prime minister of Canada, with a note on why he sent that particular piece of literature.  He publishes which book he sent and the note on the website, What is Stephen Harper Reading?

Beatrice and Virgil is a novel that is used as an allegory for the Holocaust much in the same way that Animal Farm was allegorical to the Stalin era in Russia.  The novel is complex as the lead protagonist is an author in the same vein as Martel himself — he had just come off of a successful novel and was looking to write a followup.

The construct of the novel is interesting because you have several things going on: (1) a novelist finishing a new novel that he presents to his editor (though you never read any of this novel), (2) the story of the novelist living in a new city, his life, and interacting with a taxidermist, and (3) the taxidermist’s play (of which you read selections).

I can’t really explain more without giving it away.

“Creative block is no laughing matter, or only to those sodden spirits who’ve never even tried to make their personal mark.” – 101

Does anyone have a suggestion for June’s book?

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To all the ladies,

I just want to say that I finally understand your pain of a bad haircut. For most of my life, when a woman complained about a bad haircut I was not very sympathetic. I did not understand your pain, your anger, your sorrow. I think this was due to two reasons: (1) I have never had long hair and did not know the time it takes to get long and (2) I don’t have style so I genuinely would not have realized that your haircut was bad.

Recently I have grown out my hair; my colleagues were complaining that I looked like I was homeless so I decided to go get it shaped up this past week. Now, I had never been to a salon so I thought I would try it out. I was unsure of what I wanted (seeing that I had never been to a salon before), but did answer all the ladies questions. Yes, I liked it longer. No, I was not planning on growing it out more. Yes, I would like for it to be shaped. No, I did not like looking like I was homeless.

She then proceeded to cut my hair; when she was done, it was wet and I didn’t know exactly what it looked like, but the back looked a little short.

I went home and it dried; I thought it might not look the best, however, as I mentioned above I don’t really have style so I couldn’t tell for sure. My roommates (one guy and one gal) came home and immediately laughed at me. At this moment I knew I had a bad cut. In fact, it is like I had two styles on one head: short in the back and long on the sides/front. As one colleague put it, I had a mullet in reverse – I affectionately called it a “Tell um”; thanks Soulja Boy.

Thankfully, I have a good friend who took it upon herself to make an appointment for me to get it fixed.  Her words were, “I can’t let you go on looking like that.”  Had it not been for her, I would have probably just continued to rock it out because, as I have said, I have no style.

Upon going into the salon and explaining the situation to the stylist, he looked at me and was like, “Oh no, oh no.  You look like Johnny Depp from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.”  Although I have a respect for Mr. Depp and his craft, that was one role that I did not like being compared to.  Thankfully the stylist was able to get me squared away and shaped up.

Anyway, I want to let all of the women know that if you ever need true sympathy from a man when you get a bad haircut, I will be there for you. I now know your pain and if anything, you can find solace in the fact that you don’t look like Willie Wonka!

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Howdy and welcome to my part in the blogosphere.  I have been wanting to start this blog for a while and look forward to talking with you about some of the best food and sights in San Antonio.  I am just an average Joe who is a young professional that enjoys finding the life and culture in a city that many young professionals are quick to write off as being lame.

There are plenty of interesting things to find in good ole San Antone, although you might have to look a little bit.  My goal is to do that looking for you and provide my unbiased opinion of good places to eat, drink, and be merry.

If you are a tourist and stumbled across this blog, please, PLEASE check out some of the places that I recommend to eat and see while you are here during your stay.  Believe it or not, there is more to the city than touristy River Walk food and more to see than just the Alamo (although it is the greatest thing to see in Texas)!

I warn you, I am not a writer but more of a talker, so I imagine that my prose will be a little colloquial and tend to run-on.  That’s OK, that’s just me.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to shoot me any information if you have a good find too!

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