A Week In Dallas, Texas, Partner!

Road Trip

Finally, After Twenty Five Hours Of Driving, The Long Star State

As usual, I am the only one up at 7:30 here in University Park, a suburb in northern Dallas, not far really from downtown, kind of an enclave of homes and trees near the city, the highways, the shopping, a great location actually.  It's 52º at the moment but there are  freeze warnings for tonight. At the moment, we have gray skies and lots of wind.

We left New Orleans just after 7:00, an easy departure from the city, as our hotel, the French Quarter, is less than a mile from Rt 10, which goes through the city.  And at that hour, there was not much traffic in the city, nor on the highway leaving New Orleans, so we were fortunate.  We are, by now, prepared or resigned to 8 hour drives, this being our third one, so we set the car at 70 and literally cruised all the way to Dallas, through Alexandria, Lafayette, and Shreveport, where we picked up #20 which took us straight west to Dallas.  The drive was easy, fine highways, many of them set up on pillars, like long bridges, across the swamps or wetlands of Louisiana.  It must have been quite a project to build them and the upkeep also must be difficult.  Pines straddled the highways, all the way to Dallas, though there were lots of fields where some crops were growing in the wetlands, not sure what it was.  There was hardly a dip in the road, as this part of the US is FLAT.  New Yorkers call Ohio the flat lands but this is the 'real flatland,'  And much of our drive could have been South Carolina or parts of Florida if we did not know better.  Dallas traffic can be a mess like any big city but we got through it just before rush hour, luckily, and found Beth's street, Colgate, easily though it's one way.  It's a lovely neighborhood, lots of trees but very narrow streets and parking is allowed on both sides, so it's like an amusement park's dodge'em when driving.

University Park Neighborhood

Rami was the only one home when we arrived, but Beth, Marisa, then Mitchell all arrived within five minutes, having just finished a week of school.  Everyone looks great, Mitch the same, but Marisa has grown and is now taller than her grandmother.  Their house is great, spacious, five bedrooms, lots of bathrooms, what you would expect in this neighborhood I guess.  It was great to see the Albarrans again as it's been four months since we last saw them.  We stuck with routine, a beer, lots of talk, hugs from Marisa, scowls from Mitchell, and Beth made some guacamole, always great.

We got settled in, with everyone's help, and Marisa gave us a tour of the house, complete with a doggy door for Cody.  Beth, Cody and I then went for a half hour walk, to see the neighborhood, then up to the stores and restaurants, about five or ten minutes away.  It's nice to have such great places within walking distance but living in an area that is insulated from the traffic and noise, like a small treed island surrounded by the city.

Yum

A Busy Corner

They wanted to take us out to dinner to their favorite dive or drive in called the Velvet Taco.  It's only three miles away but with traffic at this hour, it took us a half hour, taking shortcuts.  The taco place is lodged between parking lots, on a very busy corner, and we got to sit outside, listening to traffic, looking at parked cars, the best.  The lure are the tacos, every kind you can imagine, numbered, and you just tell them the number, how many, order a frozen margarita and waited for our name to be called.  It was warm enough to eat outside although they also had gas heaters at various places.  It was not yet crowded, as its more a late night spot.  I had two tacos, one, The Cuban Pig, with gruyere cheese, slow roasted pulled pork, shaved ham, peppered bacon, grain mustard, house brined pickles, and a crisp flour tortilla; the other A Bar N wagyu brisket, with red chili mayo, avocado relish, questo blanco, cilantro, comte cheese crusted flour tortilla.  I will spare you the description of the others tacos. The hit was a side of tater tots, covered with herbed goat cheese, smoked cheddar, avocado cream and bacon, with a fried egg on top.  Dinner wouldn't be complete without five pieces of red velvet cake, to go.  The tacos were the best I have ever had, the ambiance, cityesque, lots of fun.

Classy Dining Al Fresco In Dallas

We were home around 8:30, in time to watch some TV and enjoy our red velvet cake with a carmel/butter sauce, making it about as rich a dessert as we could have wanted.  We were all tired from the day and went to bed early, around 9:30.

It's now 10:15 and I finish this blog.  Evie and Rami just finished getting a rib roast ready for tomorrow's dinner.  Rami has gotten into sous-vide cooking, where you immerse a vacuum packed rib roast into a hot water bath, for up to 36 hours, and it's supposedly cooked to perfection, the entire roast the same, rare, medium rare, well done, whatever you set the temperature for.

Costco Rib Roast, Cut Up And Vacuamed Sealed--- Enough For Three Meals