Houston to the end

We were in Houston for about a week, but the time flew by. Dad picked us up at the airport and we dropped by the house where we picked a bedroom and greeted Neri. We all headed out again to have lunch at Underbelly, a “New Creole” restaurant which served up gormet takes on classic American fare. I got a “Juicy Lucy” burger, small but juicy, which Tay described as one of the best burgers he’s had. What was really good and surprising was the crispy broccoli, which at first glance looked like a bowl of steamed broccoli. Until you took a bite and realized it was as crunchy as salty and savory as popcorn. They cranked up a fryer and flash fried the broccoli before tossing it around in a pan with some melted brown sugar and vietnamese fish sauce.

The rest of the afternoon, we stopped into Central Market to stock up on groceries, and then dad ran out to snag Tay from the airport. We ate dinner that night at Hugo’s, which is a tradition now whenever one or more sons comes to visit. I got a barbacoa and a paloma. I had really missed Mexican food.

We watched Gravity together one of those nights, and the latest Sherlock episode on the other. The next day Saori and I walked over to take care of some errands, and then we all went together to watch The Big Short at Sundance. For dinner that night, we had moulles marinaire with some crusty bread.

The next day, we all went to go meet grandma Loretta at the airport. The rest of the day, we spent wrapping a last few gifts and setting them out by the tree. We had spagetti bolognase for dinner, and afterwards, we handed out presents to one another. I got more kitchen gadgets, including “the best garlic press there is.” beer stein patterned socks, and foldin’ money. Grandma Loretta also made sure that we would all be appropriately attired for the upcoming OU-Clemson football game (QUARTERFINALS!) so I got a big red tee shirt.

One morning, Saori joined Neri for yoga, and they went out shopping and had a nice lunch together. In the meantime, Dad, Tay, and I went to go see The Hateful Eight in the roadshow format, which meant it was screened in 70mm format celluloid and included an intermission (welcome), an original Morricone overture (not so welcome), and a big glossy pamphlet.

New Years Eve, we stayed in and watched OU lose to Clemson. It was a good first half, but it quickly became apparent that our hopes were for naught. So that was not so festive. After dinner, Tay, Saori and I caught an uber into town for some new years festivities. Originally, we had talked about hitting three bars, but decided that since Saori and I were already practially falling asleep where we stood, we should limit our foray to bars in the same area, and see where we were after the first one.

We decided to avoid the big public display with live music and closed off streets. The headlners were the B-52’s, and I had to talk Tay out of trying for the bragging rights of hearing “The Love Shack” live.

We fought our way through the big crowds outside of the big clubs and found the nearly inconspicuous entrance to Pastry War, a tequila and mezcal bar with really good fermented agave juice cocktails. It was surprisingly uncrowded at 11:00, we saw open tables, and settled ourselves at the bar. The clientelle did pick up a bit although most people were at least a little drunk and many looked like this was the bar they ended up at because the cool clubs were already full.

I enjoyed it immensely, actually, I liked the decor, the drinks, and the strung lights over the pool table. We racked it up and played a game through midnight, when the bartender brought around a tray of mezcal for everyone to toast in the new year. Saori and I shot against Tay. Tay won, but it could well have been because I potted one of his balls for him and set him up to clean the table.

After midnight, we crossed the square and went to Carafe, which was surprisingly quiet. The upstairs bar and terrace was closed to our surprise, so we just sat at the bar and drank a beer, while Saori fell asleep on my shoulder. We caught a really expensive Uber ride home, although the driver was really professional and gave us all bottled water to drink on the way. Back at the house, we drank liters more of water and called it a night.