This possibility preyed heavliy on my mind, and as the middle of August approached, and I started to think about hurricane season, we decided to move. We’re now in Hudson Bend, along (and very high up above) Lake Travis. Google Maps link of where we are now.

Last week, Tropical Storm Hermine came up into the Gulf of Mexico, and Austin, as well as the rest of Travis and Williamson Counties got the brunt of the rain.  The Shady River RV Resort was completely flooded out. Trailers were destroyed.

Trailers askew after flood waters receded.

Imagine my reaction to having missed this event.

Here are some more links:  news story; some video.

My heart goes out to those who remained at the park and lost their possessions. I haven’t read that there were any injuries at the park, for which I’m thankful, although I’m informed that at there was at least one storm-related fatality across the Austin area.

I’m also saddened for the owners of the RV park. We were made most welcome at that park. I wish them the best in their recovery.

If you didn’t order anything, and you get an email confirmation, chances are it’s the scam I’m seeing. Even if you did order something, it’s possible to get this scam email mixed in with your own legitimate Amazon.com correspondence.

The object is to get you to enter your password at the scammer’s forged site. Most people store their credit cards and billing info with Amazon. Hacking your Amazon account can allow others to buy things at your expense and possibly export your personal information. Also, if you use the same password for Amazon as for other things, responding to the scam can open up your accounts at other web sites.

Just receiving the email is no danger. Clicking on the links in the email is a danger to your information security.

It’s important to remember that clicking links in received emails, even when you think you know the sender is a dangerous proposition. Much better to type the name of the site into your browser.

Please be careful to practice safe computing.

McGonigel’s is a neat Irish style pub with an excellent calendar of music. I’m glad to have happened onto it.

Steve Forbert is a folk/rock artist from the late 70s/early 80s, that has had a good long career recording and playing music. His story can be found in his Wikipedia article. Like so many artists, his career was interrupted by a dispute with his record company. I had two of his albums on vinyl, but lost touch with his music when we switched to CDs. As I told him afterwards, it’s good to re-connect.

McGonigels has a nice discounted rate with the local Courtyard by Marriott, and we’re staying here for both Friday and Saturday nights. I have some entertainments to choose from for tomorrow (Saturday) night, so it should be a good weekend.

The challah was done. I cheaped out this week and let the bread machine finish it up, since there was just too much going on to braid loaves and bake them in the oven.

It really grew in the break machine. It was almost touching the top. The best part was that it was really, really good.

We started with the leftover Borscht from the second seder. This is my mother’s mother’s recipe. It’s a hot borscht, with beef, garlic and beets in it. It’s seasoned to sweet-and-sour, using Splenda and Sour Salt (citric acid powder.) Words do not express how good this is. My Grandmother was born in Zhitomir, in the Ukraine, but since she came here at two years old, we can only assume that she learned it from her mother, or an aunt or something.

Next I unwrapped the brisket. This is what I got. It’s black on the outside, a mixture of caramelized fat, burned seasoning, and I’m not sure what.

I made the first cut on the end, specifically to take a photo. Thereafter, I cut 90 degrees from that cut in order to cut against the grain.

Note the red “smoke ring” around the outside, that Jon says is so important, and hard to obtain. I have one here. The meat is juicy and pinkish grey, the edge is red, and the outside is black. I think we hit.

I served it with some barbecue sauce. We had two of the baked potatoes that had been in the fire.

How was it? Everything was excellent, and we ate till we could eat no more. There are two more meals worth that went into the freezer, plus three slices for breakfast.

The meat was not as tender as I expected, and there was no stringyness, or falling apart. Perhaps it could have used some more hours in the smoker. I’m not sure. I’ll take it though, and I look forward to (a) the leftovers and (b) doing it again.

I’ve always watched TV cooking shows, and when the dish is ready, and the chef and his guests taste the meal, and exclaimed, “excellent”, I felt left out. Now you can be left out, because I had it for dinner :)

Time to light candles in about 20 minutes. Good Shabbos, All.

When we entered Texas, we started seeing places selling barbecued brisket.  In Texas, food cooked over an open fire is called “grilled.”  The term “Barbecue” is reseved for slow cooked, smoked food. There may be additional nuances.

I really loved the brisket. Soft in the middle, charred with a “bark” on the outside. Served with hot barbecue sauce. Yummy. I bemoaned that I could not do this myself, but could not imagine that I could ever carry a suitable smoker with me. Then, a friend told me that he smokes brisket in a Weber Kettle Grill. I realized that my portable fireplace was a really good equivalent.

So I’ve adapted the instructions in the article linked above, and started a fire. When the coals burn down, I’ll add some soaked Mesquite, then place the rubbed brisket on the other end of the smoker, over a pan of water, to catch the drippings. There will be more photos, as the day goes on. Tonight, we eat.

We have Charcoal and Wood Chunks with which to smoke

We have fire to burn

We have wood chips soaking, to provide the smoke.

We have the grill prepared, with fire a'burnin' and a pan of water to catch the drippings.

And most importantly, we have meat!

When the fire has burned down to coals, we’ll add the wood chips, place the meat and cover.

Fire and Meat, Upon the Grill

More as we proceed.

OK, so now it’s almost 11:30. The brisket has been in the “smoker” since about 9. I started it about 8:30, but I wasn’t happy with the fire, so I uncovered it almost immediately, took about 1/2 hour to make some adjustments, and covered it about 9.

My advisors, Jon and Art, advise me that it’s pretty hard to keep the temperature regulated. After a few hours, I’m getting the hang of it. With this rig, it’s mostly done with the lower vent. I have an electronic thermometer that beeps when it gets too high, but I have to go out and look to see if it’s getting too low. If I close the vent, the temp lowers. If I open the vent, it rises.

I keep going out there and trying not to take the cover off. I’ve added more wet wood a few times, and added a few coals when it got down to 200 deg.

At 11:15, I decided to pull the cover and turn the brisket 180 degrees to the fire, as recommended at the smoker site. This is what we have so far:

11:30: The adventure continues

3:00 PM: The brisket has a nice black/brown coating over much of it’s outside. I cut a small piece off the end. It has a nice pink smoke-ring around it. Jonathan says that this is hard to achieve, so in the words of the LolCats, “I’m doin’ it right.” I shared the “pitmaster’s test piece” with Roseann, and we both agree that it’s going to be good.  I put some foil wrapped potatoes into the fire.

4:16 PM: Well, we’ve been smoking all day. I’ve tried to stay out of there, and am no longer feeding it coals or wood. Temp is about 250. Can’t get it lower, even with the vents all closed. The brisket is cooked through, so now it can only get softer. A good thing.

This is our brisket at 4 PM

So here we are at 4 PM. I think it looks great. This is the “up” side, and I’m going to turn it, to see what the down side looks like.

This is the "down" side of the brisket at 4:00 PM.

This side looks nice as well. We’ll let this live face up for now, and see how it changes.

If you look at the extreme top of the photo, you can see a hint of the foil wrapped potatoes.

The Challah is about 50% baked. When it’s done, we’ll clear and set the table and set up the Shabbos candles. See you after dinner :)

]]> http://www.greenberg.org/archives/484/feed 3 http://www.greenberg.org/archives/475 http://www.greenberg.org/archives/475#comments Sat, 27 Mar 2010 02:33:00 +0000 Ed http://www.greenberg.org/?p=475 We have arrived in Conroe, Texas, met my parents, moved into the “Conroe Condo” and have taken a deep, deep breath. It’s almost anticlimactic.

We shunpiked again today, leaving Columbus, TX to the north, rather than to the east. First stop was Columbus Tire, where we got our trailer inspected.  This completes the pre-work, and we are now good to go for our visit to the Polk County Clerk for vehicle registration.

The ride then took us north on FM 109 to Brenham, TX, then on Texas 105 through Navasota, and on to Conroe.

Brenham is a nice old town, the biggest we’ve seen since San Antonio. It’s also the home of Congregation B’nai Avraham, the oldest orthodox synagogue in Texas. We learned about this on a website of small synagogues. I went to photograph the building. I had no expectation of finding anybody to let me in, and so my lack of expectation was properly met. I was really saddened by this. The building stands empty, with occasional visitors. There may be High Holiday services, and there may not – it depends on which website you read. I was thinking that if I could get in, I would take my Tallis and Tefillin, and say the morning prayers. Perhaps G-d would appreciate hearing a “still small voice” coming from this old synagogue.

Moving on, we arrived at Conroe by about 12:30, went over to Thousand Trails and dropped off the trailer. By 4:00, we were ensconced in the “Conroe Condo” at Silverleaf Piney Shores.

We’ll be spending the next week making the Passover seders here, and during the week, we’ll try to get the vehicles registered.

We’re encamped with the back of our trailer facing the river, although we can’t see it. We just see a grassy field and trees. That’s fine. Beats seeing the trailer that would otherwise be behind us.

Downtown Columbus held surprises. The town has a bunch of 1880’s buildings, a neat old courthouse, and a water tower shaped like a crenelated castle. Photos are at http://edgreenberg.smugmug.com/Architecture/Columbus-Texas/

I also got the truck it’s Texas inspection sticker.

All in all, a good drive on Monday, and a good stay on Tuesday, hopefully reprised on Wednesday and Thursday. We depart Friday for Conroe, Texas, and Passover in the Conroe Condo.

The Alamo is interesting, not in what it is, but in what it means to those who count themselves as patriotic Texans.  Newly entering the state, I find this a stretch. Certainly many men showed strength of character there, by choosing to fight to the end, rather than turn tail and run. I have great respect for that. As a rallying point for Texas Pride, the Alamo does the job quite well. We enjoyed seeing the Alamo and a bit of the surrounding city.

1. Fuel Transfer Pump – commonly known as a lift-pump. This was the disabling problem. Not enough fuel pressure.
2. Fuel heater – this was leaking and letting air into the fuel system. Not a good thing.
3. Exhaust Manifold Gasket – was leaking exhaust in the engine compartment
4. Universal Joint – we had disconnected the drive shaft to tow the truck from the front, and when the reassembled it, found that the U-joint was worn and needed replacement. Given the use of the truck in towing, I’m not surprised.  I need to be less casual about being firmly on the brakes when shifting the transmission. No little neutral drops :)

So there you have it. $1500 worth of repair, $150 in rent a car charges and a $50 night in a motel. On the flip side, the trailer was parked at $16/night, well under the target average.

They say that man plans, and G-d laughs. If G-d will hold his laughter, we’ll be on the road to the east tomorrow, Friday, stopping midway to San Antonio. Or maybe all the way to S.A. Who knows?

On our way north from Ft. Stockton to Monahans, to get the truck, we spotted the Masonic Lodge in Grandfalls, TX. On the way south, I took this photo:

We learned that the US established a fort here, but abandoned it in the buildup to the Civil War. The confederates occupied the fort, but they abandoned it too. After the war, it was used as a base for the Buffalo Soldiers, protecting the settlers from Indian attack.

This is also Judge Roy Bean country, being Pecos County.

We shopped at the Ace Hardware/Radio Shack, the local Lowe’s Market (of which I think highly) and, of course, paid our respects at Wal Mart.

Our travels around town took us to the Annie Riggs Museum, but we missed the Fort itself. Photos below.

We also photographed the Fort Stockton Masonic Lodge building.