Texas Lou

Archive for the ‘Texas Longhorns’ Category

Saturday night, I was in the mood for some pumpkin themed activities, so we headed over to Ian and Sarah’s house for dinner, pumpkin carving, pumpkin seed roasting, and pumpkin beer tasting!

Sarah cooked the amazing dinner and I provided the pumpkin ales and pumpkins for drinking and carving.  Sarah made white bean vegetarian chili which was delicious.  It had the consistency of potato soup but the taste of chili and it was perfect for a breezy fall evening.  I brought over Rogue Pumpkin Patch Ale, Williamsburg Alewerks Pumpkin Ale (a Virginia beer!), and Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale which I picked up from Beer Run which always has an amazing beer selection!  Rogue and Smuttynose were both kind of spicy with hints of pumpkin and nutmeg while Williamsburg Alewerks was more sweet like pumpkin pie.

After dinner, we carved pumpkins with the help of Amy, Joel, Collin, Ian, and Ben.  Sarah opted for an awesome design created using the power tool pumpkin carving method.  She used a drill to create decorative holes all around the pumpkin’s surface.  I of course had to go with a Texas theme!  Due to my lack of artistic ability, I had Ben draw the shape of Texas  freehand.  It looked great but we were worried it would be too difficult to carve, so he drew me a Texas Longhorns logo instead.  It came out great and the Texas themed jack-o-lantern is now being proudly displayed outside our front door.

Sarah with her lovely pumpkin!

My Longhorn pumpkin!

The cool longhorn pumpkin cut-out.

We used the seeds from our pumpkins to roast cinnamon sugar pumpkin seeds and garlic pumpkin seeds and ended the evening feasting on them while watching Netflix.  It was a great night with great friends and the perfect way to celebrate Halloween weekend!

A couple weeks ago, I joined my dad, brother, and sister for an impromptu trip to New York City to see the Houston Texans play the New York Jets for Monday Night Football.  It was an amazing trip and I absolutely loved getting to spend a weekend with my family.  The only way it could have been better was if my mom and husband were there but mom had to work and Ben was on a fishing trip in North Carolina.

We all met up at the airport on a Saturday afternoon.  Mikey flew in from Columbia, South Carolina, I flew in from Charlottesville, and Dad and Carrie flew in from Houston.  After a wild goose chase around Laguardia Airport and bumping into some other Texan fans in town for the game, we made it by taxi to our hotel in New York City.  We got settled in and then sat down at the hotel bar to discuss the evening’s plans over drinks.

The fam and I at the Doubletree bar. We are so excited for the weekend ahead of us!

Since the Longhorns were playing West Virginia, we decided to find a pub to watch the game.  Mikey had heard about a place in New York called Hill Country Barbecue Market that Texas Exes go to watch the games so we headed that way.  Let me tell you, BEST.DECISION.EVER!  This place was straight outta Texas, complete with Shiner and Lone Star beer, Blue Bell ice cream, tons of Texas decor, and authentic Texas barbecue!  Mikey and I, having not lived in our dear home state for years, were in HEAVEN!  They even had their own Texas flag, a Pearl Brewery sign (located in San Antonio where I went to college, I attended one of the most amazing parties of my college career there), and the waiters all wore Longhorn shirts for the game.

Deep in the heart of Texas right smack dab in the middle of New York!

Texas themed cocktails! AMAZING!

First time I’ve ever seen mention of the Pearl Brewery outside of Texas.

Lone Star beer! It’s impossible to get this stuff in Virginia. The taste took me back to my days of playing caps in college!

We stuffed ourselves with barbecue and cheered on the Longhorns over 4 buckets of Lone Star beer!  Unfortunately the Longhorns lost, but man was it a good game and you never would have known you were in New York by the inside of that bar.  Almost every person was sporting burnt orange and after each touch down, the entire bar was yelling the University of Texas Fight Song at the top of their lungs.  Mikey swore we could have won had he thrown more chairs!

Cat and Dad watching the game

Hook ’em Horns!

LOVING the Texas memorabilia!

Shock ’em Cougs!

Lone Star is famous for having picture puzzles on their beer caps!

The next day, it was raining so we picked up some cheap, broken umbrellas.  Of course we didn’t know they were broken when we bought them.  Mikey found a disgusting green paperclip on the streets of New York City that was just what he needed to MacGuyver his green umbrella to stay open.  Since it matched the umbrella perfectly, we dubbed it the “Green pooperclip of destiny”.  Pooperclip was the appropriate term since that’s probably what it had on it after laying in the streets of New York.

After standing in like in Time Square, we bought tickets to Chaplin on Broadway.  It was our last choice (if you ever go to New York, make sure to buy your Broadway musical tickets well in advance), but the play was spectacular and we learned alot about Charlie Chaplin that we hadn’t known.  We had time to kill before the play, so we headed to an Irish pub near Time Square called the Pig ‘n Whistle where we dined on appetizers, drank beer served by an authentic Irish bartender, and watched NFL.  We then headed to see Chaplin at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre which was amazing and I’d highly recommend to anyone looking to see a Broadway musical.  Afterward, we found McGee’s Restaurant and Pub which is the bar that MacLaren’s Pub in the show How I Met Your Mother was based on.  There we had more drinks and then headed to Stand Up NY, a famous comedy club where tons of comedic actors got their start doing stand up.  There was a 2 drink minimum so we drank cocktails and laughed until we cried.

The next day we all put on our Texans gear to represent our home team.  Carrie wanted to see the 9/11 Memorial and the Empire State Building, so we navigated our way through the subway to get to Manhattan.  I hadn’t been to the site of the World Trade Center 9/11 terrorist attacks since 2005 when they were still cleaning up debris so I was blown away by the memorial that now sits in its place.  Although it is still not complete, the memorial and north and south pools were quite a site.  It was humbling to see the spot where thousands of innocent Americans died and I was thankful for the opportunity to honor them.

After that, we headed to the Empire State Building where we did what my dad would describe as a lot of standing in line.

Dad, Carrie, and Mikey standing in line to go to the top of the Empire State Building (all sporting their Texans gear for game day of course)

We finally made it to the 86th floor after all of that waiting and it was definitely worth it.  I went to the top of the Empire State Building back in 2005, but that was at night time so it was cool to go up during the day and see the city from so high!  We splurged and joined the 102 club, going all the way to the 102nd floor!

View from the 86th floor

The Statue of Liberty and Liberty Island from the 86th floor of the Empire State Building

The new World Trade Center Tower

Panoramic view from the 102nd floor of the Empire State Building

After all of that elevator riding, we were famished, so we walked to Keens Steakhouse for lunch.  Keens has the largest collection of churchwarden pipes in the world and their ceiling and walls were lined with them!  The food was amazing too and we were stuffed after dining on steak and a fine Cabernet Sauvignon.  After that, dad needed a rest before the game, so we headed back to the Doubletree to relax for a while.  I took advantage of the downtime to enjoy a Saint Arnold’s Oktoberfest that my awesome sister brought me all the way from Houston (you can’t get Saint Arnold’s beer outside of Texas or Louisiana).  I also attempted to help my dad log into his iPad, but he forgot the password and I have to say it was quite comical watching him try to remember it!

Saint Arnold’s Oktoberfest!

Soon it was time to head to see our Texans beat the New York Jets at Met Life Stadium.  First, we headed to Stout to pre-game where we met some fellow Texans fans going to the game.  After seeing some other patrons doing Irish Car Bomb shots, we decided to do one as a family and convinced my dad it was a good idea.  Then we headed to Penn Station where we took the train to New Jersey where Met Life Stadium is located.  We met more Texans fans from Houston on the train and had a great time talking football with them!

When we got to the stadium, everyone was pumped.  There were alot more Texans fans there than we expected so there was lots of cheering and shouting of “Go Texans!” every time we passed other fans in their Texans jerseys!  The game was great and the Texans beat the Jets 23 to 17.  It was a pretty close game, but our undefeated Texans pulled through!

Met Life Stadium in New Jersey

Panoramic view of the stadium

It was an amazing weekend and I’m so thankful for the opportunity to make such great memories with my loved ones.  A special shout out goes to my dad for footing the bill!  I can’t wait for the next Elsaifi adventure!

Top Ten Things from This Weekend’s Trip To Texas

1. The look on my dad’s face when I surprised him by showing up for his 60th birthday party
2. Spending Friday evening drinking wine and enjoying the company of all of my siblings – Carrie, Mikey, Farris, Christian, and Bradley
3. Eating great long-overdue Mexican food with the fam
4. Getting Starbucks and kolaches with mom for breakfast Saturday morning
5. Playing Farmville with mom
6. Watching the Longhorns play while helping mom cook for a friend’s wedding
7. Having time to catch up on some good TV
8. Getting to drink St. Arnold’s Oktoberfest and Christmas Ale
9. Also having the time to start reading a really good book (so far)
10. Just being home

And it’s only Saturday morning so there’s plenty more fun to be had!

On occasion, I like to share with a random stranger, like the blackjack dealer at my table in Vegas, that when I give birth to my future children, assuming I’m still living outside of Texas, I’ll place a shoebox full of Texas dirt underneath the hospital bed so that I can say my children were born on Texas soil.  People usually laugh and think I’m kidding or drunk, but I’m totally serious.

Of course I can’t take credit for this idea myself.  I have Wikipedia and the father of Colt McCoy, the quarterback for the Texas Longhorns, to thank for this BRILLIANT idea!  According to Wikipedia and several other online sources,

 “McCoy’s parents were from Texas, but his father, Brad McCoy, was working just across the Texas border in Hobbs, New Mexico at the time of Colt’s birth. Brad McCoy reportedly brought a shoe-box of Texas dirt to the hospital and slid it under the bed so that Colt could be born “over Texas soil”. The story may or may not be true, as his father has chosen to “plead the fifth” when asked to confirm it.“

If you’re out there reading, Brad McCoy, I just want to say THANK YOU for this AWESOME idea!  I’m totally doing it!  As a matter of fact, I can’t wait to have kids, just so I can prove to everyone that I am actually going to go through with this!  It’s a helluvalot cheaper than flying to Texas to give birth.

I also plan on naming my first son Dallas.  Dallas Davidson has a nice ring to it, don’t ya think?