Sauce2 pounds fresh tomatillos, dehusked and washed 1 medium yellow onion, sliced 6 fresh serrano chiles or 3 jalapeños, stemmed 2 tablespoons canola oil 3/4 cup chopped cilantro, leaves and stems 1 1/2 teaspoons salt (or to taste)Place tomatillos, onion, and chiles in a large skillet or on a griddle.
1 1/2 cups chopped cilantro, leaves and stems 2 cups extra-virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan dash salt 1 teaspoon white pepper 1/2 cup chopped spinach 2 tablespoons pepitas (pumpkin seeds) 1 teaspoon chopped basil 16 or 20 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined but with tails on lemon pepper
Spirits of The Season To paraphrase the words that open Little Women: Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without something sweet. Which is why this is the perfect time to explore Texas’ small but admirable roster of homegrown ports. In lieu of dessert, have a glass or two along with a strong,
Can one of the state’s best writers change modern medicine as we know it? Abraham Verghese hopes so—one story at a time.
A year after state legislators kicked tens of thousands of children off the taxpayer-funded health insurance rolls, our biggest public-policy problem has reached crisis proportions. And the bleeding shows no signs of letting up.
The Astros couldn’t quite make it. The Cowboys have hit the skids. No wonder the state’s attention has turned to . . . hockey?
How can I be a Christian and support legalized abortion? Tough question, but after weeks of soul- searching, I have an answer.
Or, if you prefer, why he didn’t lose.
Nothing says “Happy Holidays” quite like a sixty-foot nylon Big Bird. The friendly fowl from the Sesame Street block, along with a cast of much-loved characters like Bob the Builder, Strawberry Shortcake, and Elmo (with fishbowl), will fly high above Commerce Street in downtown Dallas on December 4 as part
He goes by many names—Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas—but he prefers to be called Cowboy Kringle when he’s in Gruene. And, whaddaya know, he’ll be there December 4 and 5 for the Gruene Christmas Market Days, when nearly one hundred vendors will be selling their handcrafted wares: jewelry,
Considering all the misery one finds in a Charles Dickens novel, it’s often easy to overlook the scribe’s more jovial sentiments. Except, of course, when it comes to the holidays (think of the rhapsodic “Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days”
Though the beloved “mare” of Luckenbach was replaced with a more formal “manager of oversight” three years ago, the town where everybody is somebody still draws many for its annual Cowboy Holiday Ball. Now, we warn you: Nobody here dons green and red (dressy Western is the style of
Before yet another rendition of “Frosty the Snowman” threatens to push you over the edge this year, take preemptive action and embrace the season’s classics. On the first three Friday and Saturday nights in December, Natural Bridge Caverns, outside New Braunfels, presents Caroling in the Caverns, a 75-minute tour
The “Wildfire” singer-songwriter will be playing in Austin, Fort Worth, Waco, Wichita Falls, and five other cities in Texas on his 2004 Cowboy Christmas tour. How would you define a “cowboy Christmas”? It’s a Western-style event that shows the country connection—and I’m not talking about country music, but about the
The sparkling Old Harrison County Courthouse may be the crown jewel in Marshall’s Wonderland of Lights, but it’s certainly not the whole tiara. Almost everybody in town gets into this festival, festooning homes and businesses with more than 10 million tiny bulbs (much to the delight of the electric company,
Houston, Culinary Capital: Signature Dishes From America’s Premier Restaurant City (Bright Sky Press, 2004)
While it can boast about the more than 6,300 ships that passed through its waters last year, the Port of Houston started out as a mere loading point for cotton on the way to the Port of Galveston.
Senior editor Michael Hall talks about Ernest Willis, who was recently freed from death row, and the super-conservative Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Executive editor Mimi Swartz, who wrote this month’s cover story, “The Good Wife,” on biographers’ failure to capture Laura Bush.
Executive editor S.C. Gwynne on security at the Houston Ship Channel.
Illustrator Steve Brodner discusses political satire and his new book, Freedom Fries.
Writer John Bloom, who wrote this month’s “They Came. They Sawed,” talks about slasher flicks and horror-movie audiences.
Throughout its 112-year history, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has been known for its tendency to overturn the rulings of lower courts on technicalities.
Adapted from The Prickly Pear Cookbook, Carolyn Niethammer
Today, it is hard to come by places like San Saba, with its hometown feel and emphasis on community. I’m sure glad I found it.
Recipes From Historic Texas: A Restaurant Guide and Cookbook (Taylor Trade Publishing, 2003)
1 1/2 gallons premium-quality vanilla ice cream 1 quart whole milk 2 cups bourbon 1 cup rum 1/4 cup brandy nutmeg, for dustingRemove ice cream from freezer and let sit at room temperature until it begins to soften, 15 minutes or more (cut into chunks to speed process). Put milk,
Filling1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature 1 cup cold mascarpone cheese 1 cup powdered sugar 1 generous teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon allspice 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1/8 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup coarsely chopped toasted pecans 1/2 cup whipping creamUsing a mixer fitted with a
Recipe from The Pastry Queen: Royally Good Recipes From the Texas Hill Country’s Rather Sweet Bakery & Café (co-written with Alison Oresman and published by Ten Speed Press)1 1/2 cups pecan halves 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter 12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped 1 1/2 cups sugar 4 large
Recipe from The Pastry Queen: Royally Good Recipes From the Texas Hill Country’s Rather Sweet Bakery & Café (co-written with Alison Oresman and published by Ten Speed Press)Tart Crust2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup sugar 2/3 cup (10 2/3 tablespoons) chilled unsalted butter 1 large egg, lightly
Enjoy the start of apple season with this recipe from the Pastry Queen.
“Texas is a huge, growing state on a border. We have some very basic issues that need addressing, and I don’t think they’re being addressed right now.”
Eat cactus? Most Texans would just as soon lick a fire ant bed. About the only cactus dish we’re familiar with is Mexico’s tart nopalito salad. But the much-maligned prickly pear offers lots of other yummy possibilities, as you will discover if you pick up a copy of Carolyn Niethammer’s
What should a Moroccan restaurant look like? Casablanca, of course—Rick’s Café Américain or one of the movie’s other exotic locales. And Saffron, newly opened in Houston, does not disappoint. Dim lights threw mysterious shadows on the wall as four of us huddled together on banquettes and ottomans around a
The actress will be speaking at the Verizon Wireless Theater, in Houston, on November 11. When did you meet Kurt Russell? 1983. Why didn’t you two get married? We had no need to get married. We just loved each other. It’s a ceremony
Somewhere east of downtown Fort Worth lies the Bethlehem of free jazz. That’s where the innovative, avant-garde sax player Ornette Coleman grew up, in a modest little house near I. M. Terrell High School, which produced jazz greats Charles Moffett, John Carter, King Curtis, Prince Lasha, and Dewey Redman.
Back in the eighteenth century, when Emperor Qianlong reigned over a prosperous China, plebeians weren’t allowed anywhere near the palatial quarters of the ruling body. The lavish buildings—9,999 in total—where the emperor lived and governed weren’t collectively called the Forbidden City for naught. Off-limits to the commoner were luxurious
The Spanish Colonial Revival–style mansion in San Antonio known as the McNay Art Museum is a real piece of work—literally. With its manicured lawns, Japanese-inspired fishpond, colorful tiles, and stenciled ceilings—many of which were designed by the mansion’s original owner, art collector and heiress Jessie Marion Koogler McNay—this 24-room masterpiece
If Robert Motherwell’s father had had his way, his son would never have pursued a profession as financially unreliable as painting. But sometimes nothing—not even a father’s will—can deter a child from what he wants to do. Motherwell, whose circle of artistic brethren grew to include Jackson Pollock, Willem
To read a Patricia Highsmith novel is to suspend one’s moral judgments. She irresistibly persuades us to side with killers and other amoral characters.
A dreaded milestone approaches.
And they most definitely conquered. The inside story of how a ragtag bunch of hippies made the wildest Texas movie ever (and spilled no more fake blood than was absolutely necessary).
The Houston Ship Channel is considered one of the top strategic targets in the U.S.—an enormous bomb waiting to be detonated by terrorists. But what happens if the bomb actually goes off? Brace yourself for a worst-case scenario of the sort the Homeland Security folks are modeling and simulating and
Rebecca Rather’s recipes for five tempting treats are our holiday gift to you.
The unmaking of medical privacy.
Roller Derby's nun on the run.
The tragedy of ELLIOTT SMITH’s 2003 suicide underscores every note of FROM A BASEMENT ON THE HILL (Anti). Smith made a trio of smart, overlooked indie releases prior to his Oscar-nominated song in the film Good Will Hunting, which launched the career of the Dallas-raised pop singer into the
The Texas roots of hypnotic singer-songwriter RICHARD BUCKNER date back to 1994, when his acclaimed debut, Bloomed, was released by a San Marcos label. Eventually, Buckner, a restless wanderer, wound up in Austin, where he spent a good chunk of this past year. He recruited some locals (Butthole Surfers drummer
Musicians often disparage board tapes, the live recordings made through a concert PA system. It’s what they don’t capture—stage volume, energy, charisma—that somehow makes them less-than-perfect artifacts. So it goes with GOURDS albums. The Austin group is unquestionably one of Texas’s best, but things can get lost in translation
It was relatively easy for SCOTT ZESCH to find his great-great-great uncle Adolph Korn’s gravestone in their family’s hometown of Mason. It was considerably more difficult to uncover the facts of his ancestor’s abduction as a child by an Apache raiding party in 1870 and understand why, by most
