Just Horsin' Around - Thoughts on Central Texas Real Estate and More

After months of fighting the good fight (by everyone involved), today Barbaro was euthanized. 

He was a good 'un.  We who love horses weep for the loss of him, but he finally runs freely once again. 

Many things in the past have come together to make Austin the city it is today.  In a series of blogs, I'm going to revisit them.

Bedichek.  Dobie.  Webb.  Three friends whose names ring in Austin history.  A naturalist, a writer and folklorist, an historian.  They are remembered by Austin in a statute called "Philosopher's Rock" that shows these great men, in swimming attire, engaged in one of their favorite activities, discussing ideas, at one of their favorite places, a flat rock at Barton Springs Pool.

Their spirits, it seems, still wander in Austin, watching over the city, keeping it just a bit iconoclastic in these modern times.  May they always be with us.

We're all, this time of year, thinking about ways to burn more calories and lose weight.  Well, Equisearch is no different; they came up with a chart for how many calories are burned doing various things with our horses, from riding to currying to stacking hay. 

If you're going to burn more calories, might as well be doing something you love at the same time, right?  And if you're thinking of buying a horse property, this is just one more reason to give your spouse (besides the old horsewoman's classic, "Honey, if we bought a horse property, I'm afraid you'd just have to buy a tractor!" 

 This is a quick and easy way to have dinner on the table in half an hour with precious little work.  I make up the coating in bulk and keep it in a jar so I can just pull it out when needed. Since the most time-consuming part of this recipe (aside from waiting for it to cook) is making up the coating, it takes less than 5 minutes to get this in the oven. 

• 3/8        cup  pork skins -- crushed
• 1 1/2     teaspoons  thyme
• 1 1/2     teaspoons  dried basil
• 3/4        teaspoon  garlic powder
• 3/4        teaspoon  lemon pepper
• 6           teaspoons  blackening seasoning
• 6           catfish fillets -- 4 oz. each
• 3/4        teaspoon  paprika
•              lemon wedges -- garnish
•              parsley sprigs -- garnish
  

Heat oven to 400*. Coat baking sheet with aluminum foil.  Spray vegetable oil over the baking sheet 3 times to coat.

Dredge each fillet with coating and place on baking sheet.

Coat the catfish lightly w/ cooking spray. Place the baking sheet on the bottom shelf of the oven. Bake X 20 minutes.

Reduce the heat to 350* & bake about 5 more minutes or until crust is golden & the fish flakes easily.

Spray w/ more butter spray once removed from the oven.

Good with corn on the cob, cole slaw, and cornbread.
                                    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 236 Calories; 9g Fat (36.3% calories from fat); 35g Protein; 1g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 106mg Cholesterol; 383mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 5 Lean Meat; 0 Fat.

Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

After what seems like a Very Long Time, for those of us waiting with anticipation, the new Georgetown Public Library, in Georgetown, Texas, is having its grand opening today!  The event, complete with dancers, singers, puppets, face painters, and more (any excuse for a party!) celebrates the culmination of many hours of work, fundraising, planning, and energy on the part of many book-loving citizens put into a new home for the city's library.  Bibliophile that  I am, I'm planning on a visit at the earliest possible opportunity. 

In the Austin American-Statesman, there's an article on "Managed Tolls" as a possible alternative to full-fledged toll roads proposed for Mopac and other major routes in Austin, Texas.  What the article describes sounds similar to the HOV lanes in Houston and other cities.  An advantage would be that Mopac would remain a free route for those who cannot or will not pay tolls for roads that were already paid for with taxes.  It sounds like an interesting compromise.

I blogged back in December about how all the elves in our office (that would be us agents) were climbing all over things decorating in an attempt to give back to the community, and were going to have an open house complete with Santa Claus.  Well, we did, it went wonderfully, and I thought I'd share a photo of our office the night of the event.  We did this with just a couple weeks' notice and buying some stuff, going through our attics and pulling out things we weren't going to use on our houses, and a couple of weekends (plus adding stuff here and there throughout the week).  We plan to do better next year!

If I know that we're going to be particularly busy on a weekend (and ALWAYS on weekends when we're putting up hay!), I'll make a double or triple batch of these.  They're good hot or cold, and they're easy to grab for a snack to keep you going.  No, they're not the healthiest thing on the planet, but when you're putting up 500 square bales in 108 degree temps, along with a big glass of Sweet Tea, they're more restorative than just about anything! 

• 1      pound  chicken white meat -- cut in cubes

• 1      cup  buttermilk

• 2/3   cup  beer -- dark

• 1      cup  cornmeal

• 1      cup  flour, all-purpose

• 1/2   cup  rice flour

• 1      tablespoon  paprika

• 2      tablespoons  salt

• 2      tablespoons  black pepper -- freshly ground

•         Peanut oil

Combine the buttermilk and beer in a nonreactive bowl.  Add the chicken chunks and refrigerate for 2 hours, but no longer.

Combine the cornmeal, all-purpose flour, rice flour, paprika, salt, and pepepr in a small bowl and mix well.

Drain the chicken and toss lightly in the breading mixture to coat.

Pour enough peanut oil into a heavy skillet so that it is 2" deep.  Heat the oil to 355 on a frying thermometer (or, for you experienced cooks, test the oil with a little bit of the damp flour mix - the noise will tell you when it's ready to fry).  Carefully drop in the chicken.  Fry for about 2-1/2 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel to drain.

Serve immediately, or good cold.

Well, it happened.  We knew it would, but we were hoping it wouldn't. 

Went out to put up the chickens yesterday (ours are free-range), and J.D., our Heeler, had caught one, killed it, and eaten a bit.  So I had to tie the chicken to his collar and correct him firmly.  He was not happy about that.  The idea was to leave it there for two or three days - unfortunately, by bedtime, he had run around so much with it (high energy dog) that the chicken was no longer attached and the legs were no longer attached to the chicken. 

Anybody got any great ideas for breaking dogs of this?  One of the virtues of our flock is that they are free range, which results in a MUCH lower cholesterol level of the eggs (we've had them tested, they come in at 50% of the cholesterol of grocery store eggs) as well as more flavor.  However, the dog is supposed to be protecting the chickens from the foxes and raccoons and possums and other such predators, not being one himself. 

Help!