Abilene miracle

Comfort Suites in Abilene provided a make-your-own waffle maker, this was the second time on the trip we had landed in the lap of luxury. Virginia also provided a waffle-maker. It produced pretty good, crispy round waffles after the staff gave guests a complimentary and brief training course on how to portion, flip and remove after two minutes.

Back to Abilene, not-really-awake at 6:30 a.m., Judy and I stumbled down to the breakfast room. Upon removing my waffle I let out a cry of surprise "My waffle came out looking like Texas!" It was some sort of chance miracle and we would be paying for the rest of our trip with an e-bay auction -- the "miracle of Abilene" going to the highest bidder. The hotel clerk smiled - they all turn out that way, it is planned that way. They say God has a plan, but to this level of detail?


No longer a potential source of income, the waffle took a turn as modern art. The kind that needs an explanation before you realize how clever and profound the artist's intentions are. The butter is a rough distribution of the population of Texas, with the largest gathering of butterfat around Dallas-Fort Worth. Austin and Houston are slightly smaller and a disproportionate amount favors our own unforgettable Abilene.

The black camera case underneath represents the underlying "black gold" industry which lifts this state above the less prosperous levels of its neighbors we came through. This increased wealth allows the population to express values higher up on Maslow's hierarchy of needs* like make-up mirrors in the hotel rooms. Make up mirrors are listed as amenities in the state welcome center's lodging coupon books. Later it was evident a make-up mirror was NOT a luxury but an essential for Texas culture, where, to borrow from a friend's description "it looks like prom night every day of the week."

*have you ever noted that the U.S.D.A. food pyramid also puts all the good things at the top, like chocolate and dessert? Surely this was intentional.

suggest a caption or guess where we are....

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photos

I thought there was supposed to be a parade? Where is the new President? Where is everybody?










We caught Joe Biden jogging after a long day at work.

The Route

Georgia on my plate.

Before I begin this blog entry, let me just say: food photographed by non professionals always looks gross. Trust me, if you don't have a stylist, gylcerine, good lighting, and lots of time it looks like it has already been eaten. That will not stop me from whipping out my trusty Nikon every time I eat an interesting morsel.
Julie and I carbo loaded between breakfast and lunch. When Michael Stern (from Road Food) casually throws around the phrase best biscuit in the South you have to be one callous foodie to keep driving. So we stopped: Julie had biscuits in brown gravy, I had grits, and biscuits with butter. Her brown gravy was so lard loaded it tasted fried. It reminded me of Zepole at the San Gennaro Festival. The biscuits were de-vine, light, creamy (the lard) melty, and just delish. Worth the stop. A mere 45 minutes later we pulled into Melear's Barbeque. Almost nauseated to the unfathomable state of non hunger by the life size cut out of GW Bush, I gathered my wits about me and ordered the non-endless pork plate. (I watched a group of phone installers get countless plate refills while I was there.) The shredded pork was frankly dry and unremarkable. The thing that made it palatable was the vinegary barbeque sauce. What I really liked was the Brunswick Stew. OH YUM. Tomato based with a distinct corn flavor and probably day old shredded pork, it really was incredibly tasty. Luckily it did not contain squirrel or rabbit which around here is good eatin' and often is included in Brunswick Stew. The pickled onions and cole slaw were good and the toasted wonder bread was handy for getting up the last bit of the Brunswick Stew. Tomorrow, I will stop gorging and look for some interesting architecture in Demopolis, Alabama, birthplace of the late great Sadie Newhouse Fink, the Miss Daisy of my extended family. A Jew in Alabama in the 1920's can you imagine? I can. Cottilions where they danced the hora. OY.

Another Cross Country Trip!

Julie and I just can't get enough of our great country! Judy just was looking for any reason to escape the relentless snow of Saratoga Springs, New York. Julie needed to get back to the three dimensional world beyond the computer screen. Pick any two and you are correct! We are on the road again. This time taking a southern route across the US for obvious reasons. We will stay on the interstate and take detours off. We haven't obsessively planned our route this time. But, Chumley has been bugging me to take him to meet Obama. So we detoured to Washington D.C. to see the first family. He actually wanted to pee on Dick Cheney's wheelchair first, but I digress.We plan on eating road food and regional delicacies, but last night the unbeatable combination of Comfort Inn and Ruby Tuesday's salad bar lured us in.

After scoping out the gym in the hotel, I caught Julie In flagrante delicto with Chumley!

On to Georgia today. Maybe South of the Border is still there- pink adobes and all.