BLUES and BBQ this Saturday in Waverly Alabama. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10th.
ALL ARE WELCOME to The Annual Waverly Barbeque !
serving BBQ Plates and Stew from 10 am – 3 pm at the Waverly Town Pavilion.
Come See the Renovation (in progress) of The WAVERLY AUDITORIUM, Play Bingo, Live Auction at Noon.

T-SHIRT & POSTER SALE & Laid Back MUSIC In TheYARD at STANDARD DELUXE from 4-8pm featuring LOCAL BLUES / SLIDE GUITARIST MACE GLASSCOCK at 6 pm.

with very Special Guest…from Nothing Personal and various other Bands… WILL DEW Playing sets at 4;30 and at 7;00 pm

Cook Out with PAPA D’s Super Grille & Friends

$5:00-$10:00 BAND DONATION requested at Gate -
ALL are WELCOME / Kids are FREE
Bring Your Friends – Blankets and Lawn Chairs
bring your own picnic / Camping Available
No Dogs Please / No Glass / No Haters Allowed
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IN Case Of INCLIMATE WEATHER (WHICH IS LOOKING LIKELY from the Weather Forecast….)
This EVENT is MOVING to FREDS Pickin Parlor in Historic Downtown Loachapoka, Alabama from 6:00-10:00 pm
PLEASE JOIN US ! ! !
Freds is located on Highway 14 outside of Auburn. physical address is 6434 Stage Road , Loachapoka, AL

Chuck cooked Cowboy Stew when I was there in December, and it was delicious. He tried to teach me how to make it with stuff easily picked up off the grocery store shelves. I been cooking it at home pretty regularly since then. Well, I guess I made about 7 or 8 of them with store bought canned ingredients before I started really wanting to learn how to make something similar from scratch, using fresh ingredients from local farms.

At the same time, I’ve been wanting this 41 quart All American Pressure Canner for years to can starter wort, but never have bought one, especially given that my homebrewing buddy Brant beat me too it and we can always use his at the famous Rocket City Brewers Starter Wort Canning Days. But when I got a hankering to can some beef stew, I couldn’t resist.

So my first attempt at canning a stew was using ingredients from Mr. Fresh’s Farmer’s Market on Pepperell Parkway just across the Auburn/Opelika line in Opelika.

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I didn’t research a recipe or anything. I just went in and got bags of this and that. Whatever made sense and was fresh and local. And as I put the ingredients in bags, I just eyeballed whatever proportions I thought looked right. Here’s my notes from shopping along with some additions from the day of cooking, and my thoughts after tasting. If you’re thinking about making something yourself, this is NOT a suggestion about what you should do. I screwed up my first attempt and am still in search of how to do this right.

Beef Stew Recipe #1

8lbs vine ripe tomatos (12) .89/lb (I blanched these)
3lbs white sweet potatos (4) .89/lb (probably shouldn’t have used sweet, which gets mushy to easily)
1.5lbs yellow squash (6) 1.19/lb
2x red peppers
2lbs colored butter beans 2.19/lb (wish I could have found pinto)
1.5lbs cut okra 1.79/lb
2lbs of steak meat (for this big a batch, I should’ve used ALOT more beef)
1g water (should never have added water.. it ended up way too think and did this raise the pH and did this cause the bland taste?)
2 palms of salt
forgot the onions this time
2 palms of thyme (too much!)
cooked in kettle for 60 minutes (maybe this coupled with the 90 minute canning is what turned it to mush)
pressure cooked at 15psi for 90 minutes (i’d like to skip cooking in kettle and just add all relevant ingredients directly to the mason jar and can it… not sure if this is possible)

I’m not sure what to do next time, but I’ll be thinking about it. Still, thanks Chuck for getting me started with your Bastrop Cowboy Stew. I’ll enjoy figuring this out.

We made it to the border around 10:30. We would’ve made it sooner except that Johnny needed to stop about 18 times.. rather than take care of everything he needed at one store.. we had to stop once to get him pork rinds, once to get him Rolaids, once so he could go to the restroom, etc… etc… But it was worth it because Johnny takes abuse well, and you always have to have one person in the car you can abuse.

For any of my readers that have never been to a Mexico/Texas border town, I didn’t take my camera, but I found a few taken in Nuevo Laredo on the internet that work. The first is of El Centro, which is the center block of the 9 square block area just across the border. There are gazebos and lots of park benches and the big monument you see in the picture which is surrounded by steps all around. People sit, relax, and chat in the square all day and most of the night on the weekends. The square is surrounded by clubs, restaurants, and shops. Our safety (and the safety of our American dollars) was sufficiently secured by the presence of Federalis with AK-47s.

And so we started our Cerveza Tour of Nuevo Laredo. We started in the club referred to as the “open-air one where all the Americans hang out and dance because it is the closest to the border.” Then we went to “the one where Johnny’s band played this year.” I liked this one because the weather was perfect and the club is on the top floor of a building and is one of the few with a large balcony overlooking the main strip.

Ten clubs later (at around 5am), after sampling mucho cerveza, enchiladas, and other mexican delectables, Johnny and I found two big recliners and tried to take a short nap, but couldn’t because Edward kept yelling at us (something about what was wrong with us and he was just getting started). We insisted on leaving… and he yielded under much protest…

Then we found the perfect taco… I swear I have never had better tacos. The tortillas were home made, the fajita meat was sliced very thin and chopped, marinated and grilled to perfection, and the pico de gallo was so hot it gave me hiccups on the first bite. (I tried to recreate them last night, but didn’t come close. The ones we had last night were the best we’ve ever made at home though, so it was a partial success.)

The second pic is one I stumbled across in my search for Nuevo Laredo images and thought I should add it as a note to self. Don’t stay at the hotel at 718 Guerreros in the summer time. Edward had convinced us on the way down that we should get a hotel on the Mexican side. I didn’t want to be accused of being a pansy, so I didn’t object, but I did want to know 3 things before I agreed: (1) are the beds clean, (2) is there air conditioning, and (3) do the doors lock. I received what I thought were satisfactory assurances from Edward that he knew of a hotel (the one with the coke machine outside) that was no different from an American Day’s Inn or Motel 6. So I agreed.

But for some reason, we didn’t make it to the one with the coke machine outside, and instead stayed at the one called simply “Hotel” at 718 Guerreros. I don’t know why I remember the address. I guess I have selective memory. The last thing I recall is Edward standing on the dresser with his arm raised over his head and his hand in front of the vent yelling, “Johnny, the air conditioner’s not working….. Johnny, it’s been 10 minutes and they’re not up here yet…. Johnny, call them again… Johnny… Johnny..” and then I recall Edward on the phone arguing with the front desk (in what Johnny said later was very broken and unintelligible Spanish) that we wanted our money back and we were going to another hotel. But it was 6am, Johnny and I had already claimed the 2 beds and our last words for the night were “Edward, there’s no way in hell you’re getting us out of these beds…. we’ll each give you one of our pillows and a blanket… you’ve got the floor.”

The 3rd picture is also one I found on the internet and is of Bridge Number 1 that crosses the Rio Grande between Laredo and Nuevo Laredo. It’s the one that most people use to cross over the border. Or maybe this one is of Bridge Number 2. I’ve never seen that many cars on Bridge Number 1.

-> All the Saturday night Boxing and UFC Fight Parties with our good friends
-> the Barton Creek trail
-> 6th Street
-> the best burgers in Austin at Casino el Camino
-> the Warehouse District (and here)
-> Speakeasy
-> the microbrew at The Bitter End
-> the difference between good Mexican food and excellent Mexican food
-> all the University of Texas Longhorns hysteria
-> Chuck and John’s 4 year, every Friday quest to find Austin’s best Chinese Buffet
-> the HUGE beer selection at Grapevine Market and the Whip-Inn
-> Central Market
-> the Alamo Drafthouse Theater
-> the cheesesteak strombolli at Double Dave’s
-> punk, metal, and goth at The Back Room and the Red River District
-> Dick Nichols and Zilker parks
-> Rudy’s, the worst BBQ in Texas
-> the Republic of Texas Bike Rally
-> Leslie

I’m sure I’ll think of more to add later… there’s just so much to love about Austin…

This place has been voted “Best Hamburger in Austin” about 15 times since 1987, so I’m not sure why we waited this long. Hut’s has a 50s atmosphere, and many of the framed newsclippings and photos on the wall appear to be from the 50s or earlier. The building was first occupied as Sammie’s Drive-In in August of 1939.

I tried to order one of their hot (spicy) burgers, so I could compare it to my favorite hamburger place, the Casino el Camino (also on 6th). So I ordered the Chub burger or something like that. It tasted good, but it wasn’t all that hot. The Buffalo Burger at Casino el Camino is still 3x better than any burger I’ve ever had.

If you like 50s music and atmosphere, you’ll like this place. I enjoyed seeing the heavily pierced guy with 50% tatoo coverage and the girl who looked like she had come straight from the set of Happy Days, except that she was wearing very dark lipstick and her hair was dyed pitch black. Our waitress was outstanding.