Lone Star

When your husband travels to The Hague and takes pictures of his room-service for you and brings you back menus for a souvenir.

I love Stouffer's creamed chipped beef. It is my traditional meal of choice when husband and kids are out of town and I don't have to cook.

I have been to the small farmer's market at Onion Creek in the Heights a couple of times, but the number of vendors and selection of produce was very small. Froberg's is a farm market in the Manvel/Alvin area that sells produce they grow and is worth the trip. Just call before you go to see what they have. They are my black-eyed pea source in the early summer.

You know, I have never really thought about it, but that must be true. I don't really care what type of ketchup or generic yellow mustard I use, but I do care about the mayonnaise. Perhaps it is because a lot of the salad-type dishes are so time consuming and sometimes expensive to make, we want only what we periceve to be "the best".

I use Hellman's for anything I need mayonnaise for. I will make a special trip to the store for it to avoid using anything else. I have never liked mayonnaise as a condiment, only as a salad dressing for tuna, chicken and potato salads etc...

Yes, yes, yes! I'll take it in any way, shape or form.

Speaking as a Southern cook and a working mother, I can say that I rarely make fried foods at home. It is too time consuming and tedious for every-day type cooking. We have a catfish fry twice a year, and I probably can be coaxed into frying chicken a few times a year. Biscuits and gravy are reserved for time-off and vacation, or really cold weather. Add chicken-fried venison backstrap a few times a year, and that is about the extent of any deep frying that goes on in my home. It is easy to make sweeping generalizations and stereotypes about the South or Texas or any other place. We just seem to be the favored target of the moment. I would bet that the average diet in rural Wisconsin is just as bad or worse as that of deep Alabama. Have you seen those butter burgers?

Polish Kielbasa with black-eyed peas. My mother combined the two when we lived in PA for two years and were desperate for black-eyed peas and cornbread. That is how we make our peas all of the time now. Delicious!

Goya was also rate #1 by Consumer Reports.

I do love the chicken salad....

We will be in SA on Friday as my twins are competing in the rodeo and livestock show that evening. Is there any place good around the arena, or are there usually good vendors at the livestock show?

That is so true. Two of the best "comfort food" meals for me are the meals my grandparents and parents ate (a lot) during the depression in the South. The meals were cheap and could satisfy a lot of hungry mouths. Pinto beans and cornbread Chicken and dumplings

No self-respecting Texas cook is without several cans of Ro-tel in the pantry! There is always the classic King Ranch Casserole, and it makes excellent huevos rancheros. For the husbands poker parties, I make the usual Velveeta queso with the addition of browned spicy sausage and scallions. Will keep in a crockpot all night.

There are many ways to eat chili here in Texas. All are wrong if they aren't the way you were raised! My husband was raised to believe that chili always had to be accompanied by beans, cornbread and vermicelli (cooked with onions and tomatoes). I had never heard of such nonsense. Chili is one meal, beans and cornbread a completely different meal. Forget the vermicelli. We still argue about it. Chili and tamales are the traditonal Christmas Eve dinner in our home. It is accompanied by chopped onions, jalapenos, cheese and pico de gallo, but never sour cream. During the rest of the year, it might be served with cornbread or rice with some sliced tomatoes and green onions on the side.

Add me to the list of Cilantro haters. I just cannot abide the taste of it. I also dislike some licorice flavored herb they use in the rice at my favorite Thai place. I don't know the name of it, but pick it out of the dish every time. Sage is one of those herbs that it is very easy to "overdose" a dish with. It is a fine line between just right and overpowering.

I have to have jalapenos with barbeque. I have a BIL who insists on having them with every meal. As for salt, I figure it is up to the individual. It does not "insult" me at all. They are my guests and I want them to have what they desire and be happy.

These always sell out at bake sales: Rice Krispie Peanut Butter Treats 1 cup Karo 1 cup sugar 1 cup peanut butter Heat in saucepan til bubbles surface. Pour a box of Rice Krispies into a large bowl, and pour peanut butter mixture over and mix (careful - its hot!). Pat into pan with buttered hands. Cut into squares when cool.

Next time, tell her you only EVER use Reddi-Whip.

My 15 year-old son recieved one as a Christmas gift (?!) from an uncle.

fifi - have you ever been out to the Frobergs market in Alvin? Froberg's Vegetable & Fruit Farm is on County Road 190 (Old Manvel Road) in Brazoria County. From Houston take Hwy 288 south to Hwy 6. Turn left (east) onto Hwy 6 to County Road 149. Turn right (south) onto 149 to County Road 190. Turn left (east) onto 190 and look for the sign. Be very careful crossing the railroad tracks on the Froberg's private drive as there have been multiple fatal accidents there. The 30 acre farm has been operating since 1936. Alfred Froberg,, the patriarch of the farming family, died in June of 2002 at age 74. He gained regional notoriety in the 1950s as the bad guy wrestler "Coon". The matriarch, Joann, made national news when she was stung over 500 times by her honeybees while mowing near them in April of 2001. The then 66 year old woman was in the ICU for 10 days but fully recovered. The farm is about 25 miles from downtown Houston. Call 281-585-3531 for information. Call before you head out to see what they have. They are my source for fresh black eyed peas.

There are only four of us in our little office, and the boss lady is very big on lunch. We go out to lunch everyday, together. We have our favorite haunts and will occasionally venture out to new places. Once, we tried to tell her we wanted to bring our lunches some days, and her feelings were very hurt, so it is off to lunch we go. Every Friday she buys. Sometimes there is shopping or chosing paint samples after lunch. I love my job. JGM: I know how you feel. At the firm where I used to work there was this MD/JD who was just a little past the bar of "Odd". The man ate tuna out of a can. Every. Single. Day. Nothing else. He kept stacks and stacks of cans of tuna in his office. Nice man, but difficult to have lunch chit-chat with.

"Hey Chick-fil-A, today Chick-fil-A, that boneless breast of chicken worth wating for...." I have had that old Chick-fil-A jingle in my head since the 70's... When a Chick-fil-A opened in my town last year people lined up and camped outside of the store for 2 days. They gave the first 100 people free chick-fil-A for a year. The news helicopters were flying, I tell ya. Haven't tried their chicken biscuit breakfast, but it sounds good.

The ultimate market in Houston (and Austin I belive) is the Central Market. Anything and everything you could want, in every variety. A little pricey for "everday" food shopping, but a great place to go and spend a Saturday afternoon. Amazing place. www.centralmarket.com One of the supermarkets in the suburb of Houston I live in not only has the huge amount of typically Latino groceries, but also more types and cuts of meat that are of "soul food" origin, like ox-tails and pig knuckles. We shop at lot at this store, as the prices are great and they are known for their butcher/meat products. You will not find any "frills" like magazines and books, just groceries, unlike the other chain grocery stores in town. The area I live in is too suburbanized to have a old-fashioned mom and pop type grocery store, but I do have a carnicera and a little Inidian grocery nearby. The Indian grocery stocks some fresh fruits and vegetables, but nothing that I could not get in the regular store.

Ball park concession stand Fritos pies, made in the bag with fake chili and that horrible naco cheese from an industrial size can. Eat with a spoon - yum! About once a year, if I am alone in the office I just HAVE to have a big greasy plate of Church's fried chicken, fake mashed potatoes and gravy. Of course I have to get the whole pickled jalapenos to squeeze over the chicken. I am always miserable for the rest of the day, but I can't help myself sometimes.

We ate every single meal at Faustos in Kinder. I have to say that I had the best hamburger of my life there - I just could not get over how good it was! The next day we went back at lunchtime and had hamburger steaks with onion gravy, your choice of baked or mashed potato, coleslaw and a pistolette. Soothed our shocked constitutions. Blackjack and a constant stream of White Russians til 4 am took a toll on our poor old bodies! Everything we had was wonderful, and beat the heck out of eating in the casino!