More sights from my walking tour. I did not buy the cute cookie jar, nor any of the very large apothecary jars (bargain-priced), nor any of the other pretty jars, nor the stiff wooden basket large enough to double as a crib, nor even a pressure gauge.
Nor did I buy (or even try to fit into) the vintage cowgirl outfit, for that matter.
Later in the day we went to Miller's Smokehouse & Market. They have a great selection of fresh and smoked meats, sausage-making supplies, preserves and a few "normal" groceries. Here's a very small selection of their offerings:
We bought some of their sausages, the massive chicken breasts I showed in the sous vide post earlier, and a selection of their stuffed peppers: jalapeno poppers, armadillo eggs, gator toes and brisket poppers. The brisket poppers are supposed to be the local favorites; having sampled some, I can see why. We baked them in the oven at 325F or 350F until the bacon wrapping was brown. They were good!
We also bought pork steaks. It seems as though most areas that we travel favor thinly-sliced pork - something appropriate for quick frying, but not satisfying for the breaded, oven-baked version my darling prefers. These overcompensated: each steak was immense in thickness as well as area. We decided to share one. I couldn't finish my half.
Lest you think we're only eating meat and potato salad in Llano, let me tell you about the green beans I cooked from @JAZ's new book, The Ultimate Instant Pot Cookbook for Two. (Disclosure: I was one of several eGullet recipe testers for this book, and Janet was good enough to send me a free copy by way of thanks. I'll also say that I liked the recipes I tested so much that I bought a copy of the book for my best friend when it hit the presses.) My copy finally (finally!) caught up to me in the roving mail, and it's bristling with sticky-notes for recipes to try. For this dinner it was the Warm Thai-Style Green Bean and Tomato Salad. Simple, from start to finish, and delicious. I didn't tell my darling it contained cilantro. He loved the salad as much as I did.
