All Things New

As I sit here with my cup of steaming Earl Grey & my Lemon/Purification essential oils diffusing on a chilly, wintry morning, I'm hoping your holidays were meaningful...that you were able to slow down, connect with loved ones, enjoy & pass down traditions, keep your love on and embrace whatever winds of change might be rustling about.  Help us, Jesus.  Amen.

I've come to really look forward to New Year's Day for several reasons.  Not only for the obvious "clean slate" feeling, but we've made a point to have friends in our home that day.  Now, don't get me wrong - I love everything about Christmas, especially the parties.  But there's something about a New Year's Day get-together that is casual, carefree & just starts the new year off right.  

Maybe because nobody really has any expectations.  Everyone is "partied out," so everyone feels free to come as they are & leave their party dress hanging in the closet.  Most people have stayed up until midnight (or as long as they can) the night before, so everyone is moving slower. Everyone has holiday food hangover (and maybe other kinds of hangovers), so simple food is appreciated.  We've spent extended time with family, maybe even sometimes when it feels like an obligation or when family relations are tense...but today is about choosing whom we want to hang out with.  There are no gifts to find, buy, wrap & ship/give.  Everyone is still out of school and (usually) off of work, so there's no rush and it kind of feels like we're playing hooky.  It's almost like a celebration of making it through all the celebrating.

Now, I'm from Texas, which is technically, geographically the South, but we don't consider ourselves "the South," really.  We're just Texas.  The South is our Preppy/Fancy/Syrupy Favorite Cousin.  However, I digress.  A tradition in the South (and in Texas ~ wink) is eating certain foods on New Year's Day.  Some may consider this superstitious, but really, it's just an excuse to eat good food & honor our ancestors.  Those foods are black-eyed peas, ham and some kind of greens (usually collard greens).

Black-eyed peas are a nod to our Southern ancestors because, as the story goes, when the Union soldiers came through our fields & gardens, they commandeered all the produce for their army, except for the black-eyed peas because they didn't consider them fit for human consumption. Well, shut my mouth!  Those black-eyed peas that were left behind kept many Southern folks from starving.  

Through the ages, ham has been considered a sign of wealth because in the past especially, only the wealthy could afford to own AND serve pigs at a feast.  So, serving some form of pork is saying, "May the new year be prosperous for you."  (And if you're thinking, "Well, I grew up poor on a pig farm!"...that still means you grew up wealthier than most in the world.  Congratulations.)

Lastly, greens are meant to represent greenbacks, or money.  Again, a nod to wishing everyone a prosperous year.  Plus, greens are good for your digestive system.  Collard greens, for the win!

Eating these foods together is basically a way for Southerners to remember our roots and remind ourselves what we're made of.  You know that scene in Gone With The Wind when Scarlet raises her fist towards the heavens and says, "As God as my witness, I'll never go hungry again!"?  Yeah, that.  These foods are part of our story that we tell in our home.

One new thing I tried this year was a Pinterest recipe for New Year Stew.  I made it on New Year's Day for family and friends...at one point, there were several people standing around the pot on the stove, scraping the last bits out.  I'd say it was a hit.  My husband has declared it a new tradition.  

Besides the taste, what I love about this stew is that it contains all the traditional aforementioned ingredients in one dish, it could not be easier to make and it's relatively healthy, depending on your thoughts on pork.  My thoughts are, "Here, let me lick that bowl for you."

Not the best picture, but the best I could do considering how quickly the pot was emptied. 

Below, I'll share my slightly tweaked version:

New Year Stew

1 whole bunch collard greens, washed, stemmed, and rough chopped

2 whole smoked ham hocks

1 pound cooked ham, diced to about 1/2"

7 cups water

3 cans (15 oz) black-eyed peas, rinsed

1 can (14 oz) chicken broth, low sodium

2 stalks celery, washed and sliced to 1/4"

1 whole medium onion, diced

⅓ cup sweet Marsala wine

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

1-2 teaspoons garlic, minced

2 teaspoons Creole Seasoning

1 teaspoon Black Pepper, Coarse Ground

juice from jarred jalapenos, to taste (because Texas)

Put the water, garlic, Creole seasoning, pepper, collard greens and ham hocks in a large heavy soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat and bring just to a boil.

Cover, reduce the heat to medium low and cook one hour, stirring occasionally.

Add all of the remaining ingredients, except the black-eyed peas.

Increase the heat to medium-high and bring back to a simmer.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer covered for 20 minutes.

Uncover, increase the heat to medium, and add the black-eyed peas.

Simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes to allow the broth to reduce and thicken.

Turn off the heat and let stand for 10 minutes.

I served this with a couple of cast iron skillets' worth of cornbread.  

Obviously, you can leave out the jalapeño juice or tweak it any other way your heart desires.  

Also, I didn't make one thing new that was sweet.  I put our leftover holiday chocolates & sweets out on a plate and called it good.  (Although, praises be, our friends brought homemade Key Lime Pie because it's my husband's favorite!)  The point is, New Year's Day isn't about fussiness.  It's about ease.

And another thing...I have discovered a LOVE for charcuterie!  (Just a fancy name for a meat/cheese/bread board.  Everyone relax.) I pull my board out and plop any little snacky foods I have on hand.  If there is time and I'm able to plan ahead, I might buy special things for the charcuterie board (like a wheel of Brie), but not always.  Just nibbles of cheese, fruit, nuts, breads or crackers, deli meats (such as prosciutto).  I think of charcuterie as simple, single ingredients that can be eaten alone or customized on each person's plate.  It's an uber-relaxed appetizer that looks fancier than it is because it's on a board.   This was part of our New Year's Day hospitality.

Those are some of my thoughts in the first week of the new year.  [raising my tea mug]  Here's to the new year...embracing the journey, starting where we are, practicing hospitality & being open to all the Holy Spirit wants to teach us.

Trip To Bountiful

Twice a year, a little event happens in the unassuming area (Round Top/Warrenton/Burton) known collectively by those who attend as simply Round Top, or more recently, Roundtopolis.  Hundreds of thousands of visitors descend upon the place over the course of a week or two that normally is a humble home to maybe a couple hundred or so to hunt for junk and fine antiques alike.  The event itself is generally referred to as Antique Week.  Antique Week is crazy in a good way, like Christmas.  You just sort of jump in and hold on.

Round Top is different things to different people.  For some, it's a place to be seen.  A place where the famous sometimes want to be recognized because (among other things), they want to be associated with the hot swagger of it all.  On the other hand, if you truly don't want to be seen, it's easy to blend in because there are lots of beautiful, cool people who are not famous [hello, it's Texas].

For others, it's a place to people watch.  Their goal is to find the famous people (who may or may not want to be recognized) or maybe just observe the more outlandish outfits & personalities that stroll through, especially on Prom night.  Round Top is a Mecca for girlfriend posses, creatives & celebrities of all stripes, so you never know what or who you'll see. Anything goes.

For a smaller handful [a.k.a. corporate outsider types who want to capitalize], it's a cool backdrop for TV segments, magazine articles and such.  [That's okay, I guess.  We've got enough cool to share and still have plenty leftover.]

There is nothing wrong with any of the things I've mentioned above.  Just different stories.

my grandmother (Loena), great-grandmother (Auguste), and great-great-grandmother (Annie)

For me, getting to Round Top is returning to my roots, not about being a character at a carnival. Driving the highways and byways is going home.  I'm not from Round Top, but my German-Texan ancestors (the Guderians) first settled in the area from Falls County (Lorena, Golinda, Cottonwood) to Washington County (Brenham), which is the birthplace of Texas, and also happens to be the drive I take to arrive at Round Top.  They farmed the land and built some of the first storefronts and generations later, I still feel the connection.  So for me, the Trip to Bountiful (bountiful junk, that is) is a sentimental journey...a sacred pilgrimage.  When I'm looking out over the fields, I'm seeing scenes that generations before me also saw.  They probably scattered some lupine seeds from their homeland among the native bluebonnets, as was the custom with many German immigrants to Texas back in the day.  In the Spring when the wildflowers are in bloom, it's almost more than my heart can take.  This is what I'm always looking to capture and bring home with me from Antique Week.

www.thegoodtexanlife.com

When the cameras go away and the famous people get bored [and there are no signs of happening any time soon] and everyone is moving on to the next thing, I will still love this land and these little towns and all the good junk, just like I did before HGTV was a twinkle in some corporate executive's eye, because it's in my blood.  I'm proud to say, this will still be home.

Once in Round Top, the fields of plunder are a playground for old souls on a Disneyland scale....overwhelming in a good way.  I don't ever remember seeing truly famous people there, even though I know via social media that I indeed rubbed elbows with them on any given Round Top day.  This is mainly because I don't look up, so to speak.  I'm not looking at other people, really.  With tunnel vision, I'm scanning the goods like an artist surveys her palette.  For me (and scores of others), it's all about the "good junk."  

When I go, I'm looking for components.  Sometimes I accidentally find things that are finished or fine on their own.  But more often than not, I'm looking in the trash bins or the scrap heaps.  I'm looking for things the vendors don't even think to price but are happy to get rid of because even to them, it's rubbish.  Here are a few things that caught my eye last time I was there...

vintage curtain panels

vintage trim, King's Crown plates (my weakness), Staffordshire turkey plate

vintage bread board, vintage Parisian trims, purrrrrr

Here's what I saw in my mind's eye when I was foraging...the scraps became one-of-a-kind curtains for my bathroom

Of course, no trip to Round Top (Antique Week or not) is complete without a meal at Royer's Round Top Cafe.  During Antique Week, you need reservations.  My favorite here is the Shrimp Po' Boy & Pecan Pie, but IT'S ALL OMG GOOD!

Royer's Round Top Cafe

The Beloved Bud Royer, The Pieman, holding court.  Love him.

This weekend, I head South once again...driving the familiar terrain, meeting up with loved ones, scrounging the acres upon acres of plenty, and eating a communal meal at Royer's.  Looking forward to every minute.

Introducing my friend D'Wana Villines of Mountain Girl Melodies to the awesomeness that is Round Top Antique Week a few years ago.  (Whew!  It was a hot, humid Texas day!)  

Inspiration Mondays

Because Mondays need a little help...

Here are some things that inspire me...

a flea market in Brenham, TX.

treasures from around the world...Italian candelabra, a Nepalese brick key, a Lebanese scarf, a peony from my yard

Cranberry King's Crown

new twist on traditional paisley

What inspires you?

Gathering

Don't give up on gathering, 

face-to-face,

to comfort each other,

to pray with & for each other,

to sharpen each other, &

to motivate each other to love & do good.

This is even more important 

as you see The Day approaching.

Hebrews 10:24-25

(Vicki's paraphrase based on the original Greek)

(feel free to look up this verse in the translation of your choice)

And is The Day not approaching, people?

For me, this is the standard for what church is. It's not a specific day or time or style of service. It's not programs or check lists or pot lucks.  (Although...who doesn't love a good pot luck?)  It's not a building or how it's decorated or how many people happen to be in the room.  It's certainly not about a denomination.

The homeschool community we are a part of (Classical Conversations) has a principle that if you can't teach something using a stick in the dirt, you're making it too complicated.  That's not to say that using other teaching tools isn't effective, it's just not necessary.

In that same spirit, the criteria for what constitutes a church meeting is quite simple.  (We tend to make things too complicated, don't we?)  So whether the church is meeting on Sunday morning in a sanctuary or on Tuesday night around your dinner table, this is the standard.

When things start feeling complicated, I think about developing countries.  One thing my husband and I have talked about through the years when it comes to the essentials of faith and the basics of how church is done is...if it doesn't work in a developing country, it doesn't work.  The Bible wasn't written only for North American Christians.  Shocking, right?   Many people we serve in developing countries don't really care what time it is or even what day it is.  They don't do check lists or pot lucks.  What buildings? What decorations? You might have a few people under a tree or thousands in a field.  But they could teach us all a thing or two about comforting each other, prayer, sharpening, loving & doing good every chance you get.

If I don't walk away from a church gathering feeling comforted, prayed over, sharpened & motivated to love better & do good things, I feel like my time has been wasted.  If I walk away without comforting, praying with or for somebody else or inspiring somebody else to love better & do good things, I feel like I've wasted their time & my spiritual gifts.

We all get dissatisfied & burned out with attending church.  Not admitting to this is like a married couple saying, "We never fight."  Denying that both statements are true is dishonest & unhealthy. You know why we get dissatisfied & fight?  Because churches and marriages are made up of imperfect, individual human beings. The only remedy for that is operating in the Spirit, which is an almost lost art of intentional, supernatural discipline & surrender.  This will always be true on earth.

When I get in this spot with church, this verse always comes to me.  This is what it all boils down to. If I'm struggling with wanting to gather with the church, it's probably because I'm not focusing on these basics (or they aren't) and we're too wrapped up in periphery.  

Today, I challenge you to find a group of people (at least 1 or 2 others) to gather with as often as you can, eyeball-to-eyeball, who comforts you, sharpens you spiritually, prays for you & motivates you to love & do good. And when you find them, comfort them, sharpen them, pray for them & motivate them to love & to do good.  That's it.  Because life is coming at us fast...and so is The Day.

Have a restful Sunday, everybody.  And don't give up...

Wacotown

The Suspension Bridge, on the banks of the Brazos River, where Waco was born.

The Texas Collection, Baylor University

Waco, Texas, is my hometown and I've never been prouder to say that.  Chip & Joanna Gaines are mighty awesome Goodwill Ambassadors of Waco.  However, even they would say there is more to Waco than the Gaines family & Magnolia Market.  Wacoans have always known how special Waco is.  Now, the whole world is finding out.  [Which makes me really proud & a little sad at the same time because now we will be overrun with visitors & others attracted by an affordable housing market who may not respect the history & integrity of the town...but I digress...I know you will respect us, right??  Of course you will!]

Already, Chip & Joanna's tiny Magnolia Market on Bosque hosts close to 10,000 visitors a week. Staggering.  Pilgrimages will only exponentially increase once The Silos open on October 30.  Many of you are planning your road trip now and you'll need plenty of options.  So I thought I'd help you out.  You're welcome.  :)  

If you're like me, you like to hear from the locals on where to eat, where to shop, what to see and what to do.  Not just the typical, touristy things, but what is just off the beaten path.  Of course, interview 100 Wacoans and you may get 100 different sets of answers.  But here are my picks for where to shop, what to eat, see & do when you visit Waco.

Pardon in advance the length of this post, but I wanted to put all the info with links together in one place for you.  (Several of the restaurants have a couple of locations, so be sure to check the links for addresses to map out your itinerary.)

Where To Shop (other than the amazing Magnolia Market/ "The Silos")

Spice Village (near Magnolia Market)
Roots Boutique (near Magnolia Market)

The Findery (near Magnolia Market)

LaSalle Shops (LaSalle Avenue)

Junque In The Trunk (LaSalle Avenue)

Junque Queen's (Austin Avenue)

Sironia (Austin Avenue)

Covet Home & Apparel (Austin Avenue)

Honey's Home+Style (Austin Avenue)

James + Reid Fine Home & Antiques 

Coreopsis

Homestead Heritage

Where to Eat

There are so many excellent local restaurants to choose from in Waco, but I implore you to choose one (or five) instead of going to a chain restaurant.  (If you just have to go to a chain, choose a Texas chain!)

Heitmiller Steak House  I definitely prefer the Lacy-Lakeview's location aesthetic, but great food either place.  Both places have nice little boutiques inside so you can shop while you wait to be seated! 

Jake's Texas Tea House  Nothing dainty about "Texas Tea" (black gold, that is).  This is a family-friendly place that the guys will especially love.  They serve chicken fried steak & burgers, but be sure to try the Twisted Caesar Salad & save room for pie!

Amelia's On The Avenue (Austin Avenue, inside Sironia)  This is a beautiful setting to lunch with girlfriends. My bridesmaids' luncheon was held here.  (Of course, men can eat here, too.)  Sironia is a collection of boutique shops with a tea room in the middle.

George's Restaurant & Bar   The atmosphere, food & drinks are great & un-fancy.  Get the Crazy Wings & a cold beverage.  Trust me.

The Mix Cafe  They have a restaurant and a food truck.  Yummy quiches, salads, sandwiches & more.

La Fiesta Mexican Restaurant & Cantina  This is the Tex-Mex I cut my teeth on - literally.  It's not the only great local Mexican food place, but it's my personal favorite.  They have a drive-through & live music.  Honorable mentions: (local) Casa De Costillo & El Conquistador & (Texas chains) Chuy's & Ninfa's.  (There is no shortage of excellent Tex-Mex in Waco!)

Schmaltz's Sandwhich Shoppe - (Warning: this place will forever ruin you for that Schlotzsky's slop.)  I recommend the Blue Plate Special (a small Schmaltz on original bread with chips & a drink).  I also recommend going at 11:00 or after 1:30, but if you have to wait, I promise it's worth it.

Poppa Rollo's -  I personally prefer the original location on Valley Mills.  They offer whole wheat crusts & gluten-free options.  My favorite pizza here is the classic thin crust pepperoni with jalapeños.

Baris III Pasta & Pizza  Another great, mom-and-pop pizza place.  This is probably the most authentic Italian food in Waco and for a reasonable price.

Uncle Dan's BBQ  Honorable mention: (Texas chain) Rudy's (I recommend the sliced brisket, pinto beans & sweet creamed corn).

Cafe Homestead  Locally sourced & made from scratch.  Worth the drive out to the country.   You can really make a whole day of it here. 

All of the above are family-friendly places.  Should you want a little more upscale experience, I recommend Diamond Back's or 135 Prime.

Dichotomy Coffee & Spirits - great atmosphere.  Take your drinks up to the rooftop at the end of a long day of shopping!

Where To Send The Guys (the ones who drive the trailers, God love 'em) 

Gander Mountain

Homestead Heritage

Texas Sports Hall of Fame

Harley-Davidson of Waco
Weber's Outdoors  This 60-acre outdoor shooting range is in Troy, 25 miles from The Silos.  They offer paintball & skeet shooting, as well as rifle & pistol shooting and more.

What To Do (other than shop) & See

Waco Hippodrome Theatre (downtown) - This place is awesome!  First of all, it's an historic movie theater that first opened in 1914.  This is where my grandparents, parents & even Elvis! went to the movies back in the 40's & 50's.  It's beautifully restored and modernized into a dine-in theater.  The food is really good (not your typical concession stand fare) and is delivered to you before the movie or whenever the spirit moves during the movie.  They do show select current movies, but the thing I love is they also show classic movies on the big screen (I saw Rebel Without A Cause here with my Mom & daughter and another time we saw the new Star Wars movie - classic or new, it's awesome).  They also have live concerts & theater productions.

Hawaiian Falls Water Park - family friendly

BSR Cable Park - A more intense water park!  They have a restaurant, bar & cabins for rent, as well.

Cameron Park Zoo the best time of year to go to this zoo is in the Spring when it's cool enough for the animals to be active.

Texas Ranger Hall of Fame

The Bill & Eva Williams Bear Habitat (The Baylor Bear Pit)

Armstrong Browning Library (Baylor campus)

The Suspension Bridge - iconic Waco landmark, on the National Register of Historic Places, built by same company that built the Brooklyn Bridge

Waco Mammoth National Monument

Dr Pepper Museum

I'm just going to have to stop here because I could go on and on.  Waco is awesome!!!  

(Waco peeps, if I'm leaving your favorites out, be sure to add it to the comments below!)

Inspiration Mondays

Because Mondays need a little help...

Here are some things that inspire me...

The wallpaper...and Elizabeth (The Last Time I Saw Paris, 1954)

The wallpaper...the tufted leather...the dark wood...the boots with a skirt...and Elizabeth (Giant, 1955)

I don't always like wallpaper...but when I do...it's usually damask. 

What's inspiring you right now?

Never Forget

Photo Cred

Never forget.

Always hope.