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June 2010

The Culture|
June 30, 2010

How to Windsurf

The Laguna Madre, near Corpus Christi’s Padre Island National Seashore, is known as one of the nation’s best windsurfing sites because of its shallow waters and consistent breeze. It’s also a perfect spot for beginners, says Angela Hurley, an instructor for Worldwinds, a local windsurf shop. “With good instruction, the

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Object Lesson|
June 30, 2010

Heloise’s Pantry

Poncé Kiah Marchelle Heloise Cruse Evans, the domestic diva better known as Heloise, has dished household advice since taking over her mother’s syndicated newspaper column, Hints From Heloise, in 1977. Millions seek out the 59-year-old hintologist’s tips on everything from removing perspiration stains and making crispy pie crusts (both

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Web Exclusive|
June 30, 2010

Facts of Life

When my sixth-grade “little sister” asked me some tough questions, I had some of my own: How do you talk to teenagers about sex?

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Recipe|
June 30, 2010

Tlayuda Traditiona

Recipe from La Gloria Ice House, San Antonio4 ounces Black Refried Beans (see recipe) 1 Tlayuda Shell (see recipe) or use chalupa shells if fresh masa is not available 3 ounces shredded Oaxaca cheese 2 ounces shredded lettuce 3 slices Roma tomatoes 3 slices fresh avocadoSpread black beans onto crispy

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Recipe|
June 30, 2010

Midori Float

Frrom mixologist Michael Malone, Edge Wine Bar, Boomba Night Club & Lounge, Galveston

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Books That Cook|
June 30, 2010

Classic Southern Desserts

We can almost smell the aroma of warm sweet treats wafting from the pages of Classic Southern Desserts. Lemon Tea Bread, Spiced Caramel-Apple Pudding, Sand Dollar Cookies, Four-Layer Coconut Cake, Key Lime Pie—these timeless favorites and many, many more have been fine-tuned in the Southern Living test kitchens over the

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Roar of the Crowd|
June 30, 2010

We’ll Be Dammed

“Go With the Flow” was interesting and informative, but Charlie Llewellin’s description of the Devils River erred in stating that this is the one river in Texas that’s never been dammed [May 2010]. I am sure that many old-timers and not-so-old-timers in Del Rio and Southwest Texas

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Editor's Letter|
June 30, 2010

Dove Story

A place is lucky if it gives birth to good writers and luckier still if it is able to hold on to them. Most places aren’t, maybe because good writing about home is usually not celebration; it involves ambivalence, love mixed with hate, pride mixed with dismay, hope mixed

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Music|
June 30, 2010

Paul Wall

The 29-year-old rapper has had phenomenal success with his own recordings and in collaboration with Chamillionaire, Mike Jones, and others. He has recently become president of the Texas chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences—the people who give out the Grammys—and is releasing his fifth album, Heart

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Music|
June 30, 2010

Letters in the Deep

It’s a neat trick, creating something both slavishly retro and distinctly modern. Dan Auerbach manages just that with his blues-based rock duo, the Black Keys. While he stays true to the essence of the music, he’s not hesitant to scoff at tradition. In the producer’s chair for the third album

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Music|
June 30, 2010

Ten

Too many jazz pianists have surrendered to the unyielding bulk of the instrument, relying on standards with flourished chording, tranquilly delivered. They fashion themselves heirs to greats like Bill Evans but sometimes end up closer to Liberace. It takes real gumption to push that hunk of wood and wire around.

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Music|
June 30, 2010

Street Songs of Love

How do you like your Alejandro Escovedo? One of the reasons this talented Austin rocker has never escaped critical-favorite status is that he’s an encyclopedia of musical genres; it’s hard for fans to reconcile his confessional, string-laden ballads with his riff-heavy punk. Yet those two styles have always been

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Books|
June 30, 2010

Welcome to Utopia (Notes from a Small Town)

Entertainment Weekly staffer Karen Valby visited Utopia (population 241) in 2006 for an article about American backwaters relatively untouched by popular culture. Intrigued, she returned to research her first book, Welcome to Utopia (Notes from a Small Town), a deftly executed look at the stereotype of a one-horse

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Books|
June 30, 2010

Justin Cronin

The 47-year-old Rice University professor has taken a hard left turn in his writing career, following up his acclaimed literary novel The Summer Guest (2004) with the just-published The Passage, volume one of a near-future sci-fi trilogy populated by violent vampires (not the dreamy romantics we’ve seen of late) and

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Politics & Policy|
June 28, 2010

Dolph Briscoe, R.I.P.

(This article also appears on the Texas Monthly home page.) Dolph Briscoe, governor of Texas from 1973 to 1979, and the first governor to serve a four-year term, died Sunday at the age of 87. Briscoe was a good and decent man whose years in office brought few accomplishments. He

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Politics & Policy|
June 27, 2010

Public Policy Polling: Kay’s not O.K.

From the PPP Web site: Approval/Disapproval (Republicans) Approve 47% Disapprove 37% Unsure 18% Job Performance Approve 37% Disapprove 43% Unsure 20% Should Run for Reelection in 2012 (Republicans) Yes 43% No 41% Not sure 17% Vote for KBH in 2012 (Republicans) Yes 43% No 41% Not sure 17%

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Politics & Policy|
June 27, 2010

The TCEQ-EPA fight: an industry view, a governor’s view

The first article below is from the Oil Price Information Service (OPISnet.com), an industry newsletter. It is an informational publication, not an advocacy publication. A typical article is, "Flattening Ethylene Forwards Curve Reflects Declining Demand, Rising Supply." The second article appeared in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times under Rick Perry's byline.

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Politics & Policy|
June 26, 2010

Behind the Green door

A reader and frequent commenter who calls himself “Cow Droppings” posted these remarks on Burkablog a couple of days ago concerning the Green Party issue, a subject about which I have not yet written. Let’s stipulate as fact for a second that [Mike] Toomey orchestrated Green recruitment. Question: what crime

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Eat My Words|
June 24, 2010

Trailer Thursday: Bananarchy

Yes, folks, I just had a birthday. And no, I won’t tell you how old I am this year. But I will tell you about the best thing that happened to me on that lovely day: a visit to Bananarchy, in South Austin! Here’s how it works. Order either a

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Politics & Policy|
June 23, 2010

Straight shooting

Yesterday I took the all-day course to qualify for a concealed handgun license, or CHL, also known as bypass into the Capitol. The course ran from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and concluded at a shooting range in the hills northwest of Austin. Our group consisted mostly of lobbyists, who

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Eat My Words|
June 23, 2010

Reg-gie’s! Reg-gie’s!! Reg-gies!!!

The Food Network Magazine  has taken a page from our own playbook and named Reggie’s Weekend Special the best breakfast in Texas, in their July-August issue featuring the top breakfasts across the country (on newsstands June 29). Here’s their blurb on the button-busting special from Torres Taco Haven in

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Politics & Policy|
June 23, 2010

The case against Public Policy Polling

A Perry supporter points out that in the last PPP poll before the March 2 Republican primary, PPP had the race at Perry 40%, Hutchison 31%, Medina 20%, and said the race was headed for a runoff. Perry, of course, won without a runoff. If you put this

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Politics & Policy|
June 23, 2010

Terry Sullivan loses again

The world little noted nor long remembered Terry Sullivan’s clueless work as lead consultant for the Hutchison campaign before he returned to South Carolina with a suitcase full of her money. A Hutchison supporter sent me a gleeful e-mail noting the defeat of Sullivan’s candidate in the Palmetto State’s gubernatorial

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Politics & Policy|
June 22, 2010

Birdwell smokes Sibley in high turnout race

With one box out, Birdwell has 57.25% of the vote to Sibley's 42.57%. Late flash: Sibley has conceded. Today's results represent a reversal from the May vote, when Sibley led Birdwell by around 2,500 votes. Such a reversal doesn't happen by chance, and it is clear that organized Republican groups

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Politics & Policy|
June 22, 2010

More on the enthusiasm gap

This is from Gallup, yesterday, concerning the question, “Compared to Previous Elections, Are You More Enthusiastic About Voting Than Usual, or Less Enthusiastic?” An average of 59% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents have said they are more enthusiastic than usual about voting this year compared with past elections, the highest

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Eat My Words|
June 21, 2010

When Life Hands You Watermelons…

Today marks the official start of summer! We Texans understand, though, that Mother Nature likes to give us a nice hot summer preview (complete with humidity!), which is why today I present to you . . . A juicy, sweet, sumptuous, refreshing, hallmark of the season: the watermelon. You

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Politics & Policy|
June 20, 2010

Talking Points Memo: Barton under more fire from R’s

Linking to a story from The Hill, The Web site TPM.com says that “an increasing number of Republicans” are calling on Joe Barton to resign as ranking member of the committee that oversees energy (among several other critical regulatory responsibilities.) Majority leader Mitch McConnell added, “I couldn’t disagree with Joe

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Politics & Policy|
June 18, 2010

Rasmussen: Perry 48%, White 40%

Only 8% are undecided, with 5% preferring some other candidate. As with all Rasmussen polls, this one was an automated-response telephone survey of 500 likely voters conducted on a single day (June 16). The margin of error is is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Readers

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Politics & Policy|
June 17, 2010

The EPA lawsuit

At my request, Attorney General Abbott's office provided me with a copy of the State's "Petition for Review of the final action of the respondent United States Environmental Protection Agency" in determining that Texas's current State Implementation Plan (SIP) is not approvable" [quoting from the Federal Register]. This is a

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Eat My Words|
June 17, 2010

Trailer Thursday: Sushi A-Go-Go

I braved a sushi trailer in June and lived to tell about it. Starting today, I’ll be posting a weekly Trailer Thursday edition of our Eat My Words blog to let you know which food trailers are toothsome and which are tasteless. For my initial foray, I picked one that

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