A Slightly Smoggy Tandy Hills Hike With Jalapeno Cilantro Soup

In the picture we are looking west at the Tandy Wagon Train Trail, heading towards the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth, a couple miles in the distance.

As you can see there is a slight smoggy haze above the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

This morning when I checked the air quality, something I have been doing for a couple months now, ever since I had myself a really bad bout of allergy woes, the Ozone Level was Good. That was before the sun arrived this morning. Now, at a few minutes past two in the afternoon, the Ozone Level is no longer Good.

The Ozone Level is now Moderate. I guess that explains the smog that hovers above the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

I have also been monitoring the Pollen Index. Until this morning, since I have been monitoring it, the Pollen Index has been either Extreme, Very High or High. But, this morning the Pollen Index was Moderate for the first time. And now, at the current point in time, the Pollen Index has changed to Low.

I do not know if Low is better or worse than Moderate.

What I do know is currently it is warm in the outer world at my location. As in 84 degrees. Today was a shirtless hiking day on the Tandy Hills, with a return to the summer-like steambath sauna effect that I find so salubrious when I am getting my endorphin induction via aerobic stimulation.

Due to yesterday also getting warmed into the 80s and it being above 50 when the sun came up, this morning I had myself a long and pleasantly refreshing swim for the first time in a couple days, with the pool not being so cool as to cause a quick exit.

Changing the subject from the Tandy Hills and the quality of the air that I breathe to something else.

This morning I was looking through a book I recently acquired, that being Texas from Moon Handbooks. In the section about Big Bend Country I came upon the section about the town of Alpine where the Reata Restaurant was mentioned with the suggestion that one start off ones cowboy gourmet experience with the Jalapeno Cilantro Soup.

Jalapeno Cilantro Soup sounded good to me, so I Googled "Reata Jalapeno Cilantro Soup" and found the recipe from the Reata on a lot of websites.

I already have all of the ingredients, except for the jalapenos. The recipe calls for finely chopping 5 jalapenos.

The fumes from jalapenos can chase me from the kitchen when first gutted.

After the chopping process I have to be real careful to thoroughly wash the capsaicin from my hands. I have had a painful incident, or two, where I touch a delicate area without sufficient capsaicin removal, resulting in an extreme burning sensation.

I'll keep you posted as to how the Jalapeno Cilantro Soup project goes.