Upping my first-night barbecue game

It's my first night in Austin, so as usual I went out for barbecue, a food sure to raise the IQ and gladden the heart.  This time, though, I decided to up my game by moving from The County Line By the Lake to (the relatively new) Cooper's in downtown Austin.

Click an image to see a larger version.

The reason is simple:  as much as I love the County Line for historical reasons, every single dish at Cooper's tastes better than its counterpart there.

As always, I went for the brisket, sausage, and beef rib, this time with a side of mac 'n cheese.

(The food above, by the way, is for two people, and we ended unable to finish it.)

The sausage at the two places is close, but the brisket and beef rib at Cooper's are among the very best I've ever tasted.  The worst bite of brisket I've relished at Cooper's is better than the best bite of brisket the County Line has ever served.  The beef rib is succulent and rich and flavorful and perfectly spiced, easily the best beef rib I've ever had the pleasure of enjoying.

After barbecue on a Monday night in Austin, you have only one choice:  drive to a nearby Amy's for a small cup of ice cream.  I made that same choice, and the result was a delicious pairing of blueberry and strawberry mango ice creams.

Ah, Austin, I am ready for you now.

Fun facts from a day of travel to Austin

Driving safely on ice-covered roads on an early morning trip to the airport is not the challenge.  The challenge is avoiding all the other insane drivers on those roads, such as the guy in the jeep who blew by me and the rest of the 20 mph traffic doing 45, or the woman in the SUV talking on the phone while trying to pass me and cut me off from merging onto the freeway.

Getting an upgrade on a Monday morning flight is about as likely as Donald Trump saying something sane.

The first exit row in many former US Airways planes has absolutely no extra room.  On every other carrier I've flown, exit row = more room.  This fact did not make me happy.

The weather here was beautiful--and now is proceeding to turn unseasonably cold, as if lower temperatures accompanied me from North Carolina.

Asking for minimal sides and less than the normal amount of meat on a three-meat platter from the County Line by the Lake--a dish I order just to get to taste the beef rib, sausage, and brisket--yields this plate.

Click an image to see a larger version.

Which is to say, the request does absolutely nothing.  You get what you get.

Amy's at the Arboretum is pretty at night,

but the ice cream inside is tastier than the outside is pretty.

That's a wrap for Monday.

On the road again: Austin, day 1

If you're a nervous flier, you would not have enjoyed today's flight from DFW to AUS.  Normally a trip with about 25 minutes of flying time, today this leg of my journey required nearly an hour in the air, as the pilot and air traffic control kept trying to find us a path that avoided the bumpy air.  They failed.  With about half an hour to go, the pilot said over the intercom words no one enjoys hearing:

"There's no way to avoid the rough air, so we're asking the flight attendants to buckle in."

Oh, yeah.

As it turns out, I didn't find the remainder of the flight to be particularly bad, though I am decidedly not a nervous flier.  Many people on the plane, though, clearly disagreed with my assessment.

Once we landed in Austin, everything went well, including my traditional dinner trip to The County Line On the Lake.  As usual, I ordered the three-meat combo with beef rib, and as usual, I ate only half of the meat and none of the sides--but a delicious half of the meat it was.

Click the image to see a larger version.

Afterward, we headed, again as usual, to the Amy's at the Arboretum for a small cup of frozen deliciousness.

The weather here is cool and windy, perfectly fall.  It's lovely.

Tomorrow, the work meetings begin!

On the road again: Austin, day 1

Well.  That was a day.

Thanks to the kind of intestinal distress that demands a lot of sitting time, I never slept a full hour during the six hours I was theoretically to be in bed.  Not the way one wants to begin a trip.

I ran a bit late but got to the plane in plenty of time, and I even received an upgrade.

The lunch choice was chili or a "chicken salad."  Given the condition of my gut, I went with the salad.  The salad itself was bland and wilted but tolerable enough, but the meat was in a separate little container on the plate, and it was The Chicken of Sadness.

Thin, drier than it looked (which is saying a lot, and, yes, I ate one tiny nibble), this creepy burnt bit of ex animal flesh radiated melancholy for three rows in all directions.

I was involved in a work discussion during the flight, so I managed to leave on the plane both a pair of glasses and my treasured black leather book cover.  The book inside that cover is replaceable, but no one makes this sort of cover any longer, and in a zipper pocket of it were notes my kids had written when they were very young.  Gina is trying to retrieve my lost possessions from the airline's lost-and-found department, but the odds are never good in such a battle.

I did not discover any of this until I was in my hotel room, at which point I also found to my dismay that the lock on my suitcase was jammed shut, with the zippers inside their places, so I could not open my suitcase.

Half an hour or so later, I was back at the airport, where a TSA woman was kind enough to open the bag for me--after I reassured her that my business cards were inside and that I could name every item in the suitcase, claims she did test.

The later part of the evening went better than the rest of the day, with my usual barbecue dinner (well, my usual order; I ate less than normal) at the County Line by the Lake and dessert at the Amy's Ice Creams at the Arboretum.  Gut issues or not, one must observe the traditions.

My stomach hasn't yet decided how the night will go, so I can but hope for the best.

On the road again: Austin, day 1

Some people who've read about my many odd travel companions have declared me cursed, but I hold with a different opinion:  if you travel as much as I do, weird shit is bound to happen to you.

As it did today.

The first leg of the trip passed splendidly.  I received an upgrade to first class.  My row mate was a pleasant professional gentleman who kept almost entirely to himself and who was interesting when he chose to make conversation.  The pasta on the lunch tray resembled guts spilling from a zombie on The Walking Dead, but the salad was fresh and tasty, so I ate it and left the pasta to find its own fate. 

The second flight began reasonably well, because I had an exit-row seat--a window one on the two-seat side of the plane, but in the exit row.

Then my row mate sat down. 

Every bit of six-four and at least three hundred pounds, wearing pink shorts and a blue-striped polo shirt, with a huge reddish mountain-man beard, he was something to behold.  His head never stopped bopping to the music from his ear buds.  As soon as he had buckled his seat belt, in the process forcing me to lean halfway against the wall of the plane, he pulled out a tin of chewing tobacco and put a huge chaw in his left cheek--the cheek nearer to me.  He then pulled a half empty Diet Coke bottle out of his pack, unscrewed its top, and held it in his left hand--the hand nearer to me.  I then learned, from sight and smell, that the bottle contained no Diet Coke; it was half full of his spit.  For the rest of the flight, he chewed and spit, never closing the bottle, never stopping bopping.  He did pause when the flight attendants offered drinks, but only so that he could order three bottles of Jim Beam whiskey, all of which he consumed in under a minute.  He never took out his chaw.

You won't be surprised to read that I was very, very happy to get off that plane.

A heavy rain soaked me on the short walk to my rental car, so I spent the next hour driving and checking in while slowly drying from my own body heat. 

Dinner followed my first night in Austin tradition:  a meal with a friend and colleague at the County Line On the Lake, followed by desert at the Arboretum Amy's. 

I devoted the rest of my waking hours to work.

Quite a day.

On the road again: Austin, day 1

After about an hour of actual sleep and many hours of tossing and turning and coughing, I showered and headed to the airport, more exhausted than usual at the start of a trip.  I was lucky enough to receive upgrades on both legs, so the flights passed in greater physical comfort than usual.  The quality of the seats wasn't enough to halt my frequent coughing, but it was a vast improvement over sitting in my original seats.

While traveling I learned that a dear friend, Peggy Rae Sapienza, had died.  More on Peggy Rae in my next blog entry, which I'll also post tonight. 

Lunch was the always delicious Red Mango mixed berry parfait at DFW.  Red Mango continues to be my personal chain gold standard for frozen yogurt. 

After the usual joys of travel--luggage, rental cars, hotel check-in, and so on--I spent a few hours working and then headed out for dinner with a client and friend, as well as his family.  We observed my first-night-in-Austin tradition:  dinner at the County Line On the Lake, and ice cream afterward at the Amy's in the Arboretum.  The food was quite tasty, as always, and the night was warm and slightly breezy and entirely lovely. 

More work and more coughing carried me late into the night. 

I am hurting from the sickness, exhausted from coughing, and very sad from Peggy Rae's passing.  Here's hoping six hours of sleep--all I can afford--will help.

On the road again: Austin, day 2

While snowstorms battered the Northeast and cold hit home, here in Austin the weather was unseasonably warm, with highs today in the high seventies and tomorrow possibly reaching eighty.  It could hardly have been more gorgeous today.

For various reasons, we ended up with a large group eating together at the same two places I visited last night:  The County Line By the Lake, and Amy's Ice Creams at the Arboretum.  I was very happy to reprise that dinner-and-dessert combo, because it's one of my favorites. 

The rest of the day went to work, which, as usual, I cannot discuss.

I hope that wherever you are, the weather is treating you reasonably--or, if it's not, that you manage to stay warm and safe.

On the road again: Austin, day 1

The storms that are about to hit the northeast part of the U.S. affected me today in only two small ways:  rain on the drive to the airport, and a much lower than normal headwind for the flight to DFW that led to us arriving there half an hour early.  Not bad, not bad at all.

With a long layover in DFW, what else was I to have for lunch except a Red Mango berry parfait?  I've eaten a lot of these creations over the years, and every single one has been tasty.

I'm skipping all the work on planes and in my hotel room because, as always, I can't say anything about it.

Dinner was my usual trip to The County Line by the Lake, where I ordered what I always do.

Click an image to see a larger version.

My drinks were the usual vats of water and Diet Coke; nothing is small at this restaurant.

The sugar container just behind the water should serve to illustrate just how big these glasses were.

My meal was the three-meat combo, which features brisket, sausage, and a beef rib.

All three were delicious, though I could not finish all this meat.  (I don't even touch the sides.  I've tried to get them to serve me the meat without the sides, but that's never gone well, so I've stopped trying.)

For dessert, I headed to the nearby Amy's Ice Creams, where I enjoyed a small cup with three flavors:  mango, chocoberry (strawberry ice cream with chunks of chocolate), and sweet cream.

You cannot go wrong with Amy's.

And so another trip to Austin begins auspiciously. 

On the road again: Austin, day 1

I'm writing this post while enduring the worst hotel bandwidth in recent memory.  The Round Rock Marriott, where I'm staying (and where I usually stay when here), is delivering simply the slowest, most terrible bandwidth I've experienced in a very long while.  A 6.5MB email message attachment took 12 minutes to download.  12 minutes.

I can only hope the situation improves.

Much of today, as bad luck would have it, has been about slowness.  My plane out of New Orleans was slow and ultimately late to depart, because it was late to arrive.  I thus missed my flight out of DFW, a development whose only up side was getting to enjoy a lovely Red Mango parfait.  I caught the next flight, which promptly...sat and was late, thanks to a late-arriving crew. 

My checked bag did reach Austin with me, for which I am grateful.

My next frustration came courtesy of Dollar Rent-a-Car, where the service was the worst I've yet experienced from a rental car company.  This picture of the slot through which they used to slide the key and contract (they've now blocked the slot with some computer gear) really sums up the sad state of that place. 

Yes, that roach is dead, no doubt from waiting for the key to its vehicle. 

I spent most of the next many hours working while cursing the horrid bandwidth.  The exceptions were not quite two hours for dinner and dessert, my traditional visits to The County Line On the Lake and the Arboretum Amy's.  Both were, as always, delicious.

Now, finally, I can crash.

On the road again: Austin, day 1

I didn't sleep a ton last night, but I slept more than the previous Sunday night thanks to a far more reasonable departure time today.  I was also blessed by upgrades on both flights, a big treat indeed.

I'm also happy to report that I encountered no egregious etiquette violations on either flight, though my row mate on the first leg was enough of an asshat that our interchanges were terse and infrequent.  (No, I'm not a demanding row-mate; I just don't think you should stick your banana--I mean a literal piece of fruit here, no hidden meanings--on my half of the drink area and then be a jerk when I ask you to please move it.  Okay, maybe I did encounter an etiquette violation.)  

I enjoyed a green salad on a plane and then a Red Mango parfait for lunch.  Yum. 

After an amazingly slow time with the rental-car attendant, I finally hit the hotel and got to work.

Dinner was my normal first-night-in-Austin tradition:  barbecue at The County Line By the Lake, followed by ice cream at Amy's.  Delicious, as always. 

Tomorrow morning quite early, the meetings begin, so I'm going to cut this off and crash.

On the road again: Austin, day 1

Getting up in the nines on a Sunday morning is never going to be a fun thing for me, but the rest of this travel day went exceptionally well.  Both flights reached their destinations earlier than the scheduled times, and I was lucky enough to get first-class upgrades for both of them.  I had enough time in DFW to enjoy a Red Mango parfait.  All the logistical details that can derail a trip--baggage, rental car, hotel room, etc.--lined up perfectly. 

Best of all, the evening featured a barbecue dinner at The County Line on the Lake and dessert at perpetual favorite Amy's Ice Creams.  It's hard not to like a day that includes those two places.

I normally post pictures of the food and/or the places I enjoy, but I did something highly unusual today:  I left my hotel room without my phone.  I was a few miles from the hotel before I realized what I'd done, so I decided to spend the evening without it.  I found that surprisingly uncomfortable, as if I was traveling half-blind--which, of course, in a way I was.  Like so many folks today, I've come to rely on my phone for random bits of data, pictures, and so.  The fact that I missed it so much makes me want to spend more time without it, because I suspect that its mere presence sometimes makes me less present than I want to be.  Another possible change to contemplate.

On the road again: Austin, day 1

Lots of flying, no upgrades, and rough landings made for a typical winter travel day.  Didn't love it, didn't hate it, just did it.

Working whenever possible filled most of the trip.

The early evening went to my usual first-night-in-Austin ritual:  dinner at County Line by the Lake, and ice cream at Amy's.  Both were delicious, as usual.

The rest of the evening belonged to work.  A playlist of my own creation is rolling on my soundmatters portable speakers, I'm in the flow, and I could work all night.  Instead, soon, I hope, I'll stop and get some sleep. 

On the road again: Austin, day 1

I hate getting up early most days, but I really hate doing it on Saturdays and Sundays. Nonetheless, work travel demanded that I do so today, so after five and a half very restless hours of sleep I left the comfort of the bed to shower and head to Austin.

The travel itself went as well as I could reasonably hope:  upgrades on both legs, the first flight on time, and the second only half an hour late.  The trainee trying to provide my rental car was on his fourth day and painfully aware of his slowness and his error rate, but he was trying, and he was polite, so I cut him a lot of slack. 

The middle of the evening went to my usual first-night-in-Austin ritual: barbecue dinner at The County Line by the Lake, and dessert at the Arboretum location of Amy's Ice Creams.  The parking lot at the County Line was far more full than usual on a Sunday night, but a sign explained the reason:  It was Susan and Zack's wedding reception. (No, I don't know Susan and Zack, but I like that they were willing to hold their reception at a barbecue joint.)  Even the main sign welcomed them.

Click on the image to see a larger version.

I don't know how the food was for the newlyweds, but my brisket, beef rib, and sausage--none of which I finished--tasted great. 

From there we headed over to Amy's and sampled a flavor I've never seen before: cocoa puddin'. When I asked for information on the concoction, the guy behind the counter said, "It's basically the most chocolate we can put into it and still make it ice cream." I'm here to testify that he was right and, wow, was it good. 

Tomorrow morning entirely too early, the work meetings begin. 

On the road again: Austin, day 1

Travel day.  Everything went well--upgraded both legs, first flight early, time for Red Mango in DFW, car ready--and yet I can't say I enjoyed the trip.  I was productive on it, which counts for a great deal.  I do love airplane bandwidth.

Dinner and dessert were my Monday-night-in-Austin traditions:  barbecue at County Line On the Lake and ice cream at Amy's.  Yum and yum. 

For no good reason, tonight I felt the need to pick the very best version of Bobby Freeman's 1958 classic song, "Do You Want To Dance?"  I can make a case for the original, of course, as well as for the Ramones' cover and the hippy ballad version from the Mamas and the Papas.  In the end, I couldn't decide, so I'll leave it to you to pick your own favorite.

As you do, I'll leave you with another song that for no particular reason has been in my head a great deal lately.  I've mentioned this one before, but every now and then it grabs my heart and takes up residence for a while.

Thanks to Pete Yorn for this one.

On the road again: Austin, day 2

After a day of interesting meetings I unfortunately can't discuss, I was finally able to fulfill my Austin ritual and enjoy a delicious meal at The County Line On the Lake. 

Click on any image to see a larger version.

The brisket, sausage, and beef rib combo was, as always, delicious.

In keeping with my resolve to learn to eat less, I had one fork each of the sides and ate less than half the meat.  I know the meal was still overboard, but this is progress.

The view out the window at the end of this lovely day was beautiful. 

Afterward, I further indulged myself with some Amy's ice cream, but at least I kept it to a small.  It was a delicious treat.

Not a good diet day, but not as bad as such days would have been in the past, so, again, this is some progress.

It was also big fun and quite delicious.

I'll take that.

On the road again: Austin, day 1

Another Monday, another city.  This week, work takes me to one of my favorites, Austin.

As usual, the day started too early and ended too late, but along the way it included one first-class upgrade, two late flights, and a delicious small cup of Red Mango vanilla bean frozen yogurt with strawberries and mango.  Yum.

Dinner tonight was my traditional, first-night-in-Austin meal:  the three-meat barbecue combo at The County Line On the Lake.  We started with something new on the menu: deviled eggs with jalapeno bits in the eggs and bits of jalapeno bacon all over them.

As always, click on an image to see a larger version.

Tasty and spicy, these are treats I recommend as long as you like a little kick in your food.

The main course was Texas health food, a platter with beef ribs, moist brisket, and sausage.

Ignore the sides; they're perfectly fine, but after the meat (which I could not finish), you're unlikely to have any room for them.

If, like me, you're going to head to the nearby Amy's Ice Creams for a small cup of frozen deliciousness, you're definitely not going to be able to eat that whole platter.  I tried dark chocolate on the bottom of the cup and maple walnut on the top; both were delicious.

The rest of the evening went to work, of course, but that was a delightful feast, a worthy Austin tradition.

On the road again: Austin, day 1

I'm spending the week in Austin for business meetings, so today was a travel day.  I was fortunate enough to have exit-row seats on both legs and bandwidth on the first, so I was able to work a great deal of the time, but I didn't get any upgrades. 

A trip to Austin usually involves a layover in DFW, and it did today. Fortunately, DFW has Red Mango and an Admiral's Club, both of which I enjoyed. 

The drive from AUS to our hotel normally takes half an hour on the toll road; today, we spent 3X that much time on the road thanks to an accident that, in the brief time I saw it, looked to be a doozy.  I hope no one was badly hurt. 

Thought most of the day went to work, the highlight of this first Austin night was, as per my tradition, dinner at the County Line by the Lake and dessert at the nearby Amy's at the Arboretum.  As you can see, the barbecue plate--beef ribs, sausage, and brisket--was huge and delicious. 

For a larger version, click on the image.

No, I couldn't come anywhere close to finishing it.  (Well, I didn't; ice cream was coming.)

The ice cream was equally but differently delicious.  We ate it outside in the pleasantly cooling air, a lovely way to pass part of an autumn night in Austin.

On the road again: Austin, day 1

As travel days go, today was pretty darn good.

I awoke after too little sleep, as usual, but at least I had a few complete sleep cycles. A little email, a shower, and off to the airport I went.

Luck was with me there: upgrades came through on both legs of the trip. The first flight, the long one, even offered bandwidth, so I was able to stay current on work email while in the air.

My connection time in DFW was scheduled to be a scant 40 minutes, but the plane arrived almost 45 minutes early, so I ended up with enough time to grab a Red Mango parfait.

After the usual logistics in Austin, I dove into work and caught up, always a good feeling.

Dinner was at one of my favorite barbecue joints, the County Line by the Lake. We arrived as daylight was fading, so the view over the lake was lovely.

As always, click on an image to see a larger version of it.

The food was, as always, wonderful. On the right of this plate is a stack of a beef rib, some sausage, and some brisket. Damn fine eating.


Dessert afterward was at Amy's Ice Creams, which is a tasty treat indeed.

Tomorrow's meetings start quite early, so back to work and then to bed I go.

On the road again: Austin, day 1

For quite a while, today's travels looked to be as perfect as they could be.

Rain was pattering the skylights and darkening the world when I awoke, so I grabbed an extra fifteen minutes of sleep--quite a luxury for me. I still made the airport in plenty of time without rushing. Awaiting me were upgrades on both legs.

Work in the Admiral's Club went well.

Work on the plane went well, thanks to the available bandwidth.

In DFW, I grabbed a Red Mango parfait to accompany my earlier salad as lunch.

My arrival gate was only two gates from my departure area.

As I was waiting to board the plane to Austin--a plane that had arrived early--and finishing my Red Mango, I said to myself that one could not ask for better business travel.

Mistake.

As I was throwing away the cup, the announcement came over the loudspeakers: Our plane had "maintenance issues" that they could not quickly repair. We all had to hustle to a new gate, one two terminals away, to board a new plane.

You don't appreciate how many people are on a plane until you share an escalator and an airport tram with them.

I boarded, went to my seat--a window, but in first class, so I couldn't complain.

The person in the aisle seat appeared. She was tall, 5'11" or so, and she was large, at least 350 pounds, probably more. She was wearing a t-shirt stretched so tight you could bounce coins off it and low-rise jeans.

Not my problem, of course. I just read my book--a new Lee Child, another treat--and worked.

After the short flight and as we were preparing to leave, she stood but had to stay stooped because the aisle was crowded. This act exposed about four inches of butt crack. When she started to move forward, I turned toward the aisle and leaned forward to follow her. She straightened a bit, which exposed another few inches of butt crack, and then stumbled and fell backward slightly...

...wedging my nose momentarily into that vast expanse of butt crack.

She tittered, apologized, and left.

I stopped in the nearest airport bathroom and scrubbed my nose with soap.

When I made it to the rental car window, they were out of cars. They proposed to give me a minivan, but I am traveling alone and did not want a van. After some discussion, they found me an alternative, a car they described only as smaller.

Mind you, I'm in Texas, where bigger is better, so of course this is the rental car I ended up driving.


A Fiat! Really?

Yes.

This POS reeks of new car smell but at the same time stinks of impending decay. Driving it is like dating a zombie spackled with air-brush make-up. The car itself looks like the bastard child of a 1967 Oldsmobile and a first-gen Mini Cooper, but uglier.

Kyle and I proudly drove it to the County Line by the Lake, where the day was healed by the power of barbecue and then perfected by Amy's ice cream.

I am grateful that neither exists in Raleigh, because I couldn't afford the weight gain.

On the road again: Austin, day 1

My biggest hope for airplane travel days is that they be uneventful, and today fortunately was. The flights ran on time, I got an upgrade on the longer leg, and I even had time to grab some Red Mango in DFW. Hard to complain.

Most of the day and late into the night went to work, but I did follow my Austin tradition of eating dinner at The County Line by the Lake and then enjoying some ice cream at the Arboretum Amy's. Sitting by the water in the fading light of early evening was a treat, and the County Line folks seemed particularly on their barbecue game tonight, so dinner proved to be meaty goodness with a side of lovely scenery. The ice cream was as good as it always is, which is to say, it was great.

In completely unrelated news, Lynn sent me a picture of her holding a paperback copy of Children No More, so apparently it is out! I have yet to see a copy myself, but I hope to do so soon. I'm certain to mention this many times more in the days ahead, but if you buy a copy of the book, you're doing a good deed, because I'm donating 100% of my take from the novel--all editions, print and electronic--to Falling Whistles to help rehabilitate and reintegrate child soldiers and children affected by war. As the Web site for this program says,

Lose yourself in other worlds. Do good in this one.