6th Annual Big Tex Choice Awards With Deep-Fried Beer & Deep-Fried S'mores Pop Tarts Among 6 Other Fried Sweet Things

Sitting on the red plate is Fried Beer, one of 8 finalists in the 6th Annual Big Tex Choice Awards. You will have to wait until September 24, for the opening of the 2010 State Fair of Texas, to have yourself some Fried Beer.

If you want to try the Fried Beer you will need ID to prove you are old enough to eat it. Same with the Deep Fried Frozen Margarita.

Mark Zable concocted the Fried Beer. Basically he filled a pretzel with beer, then deep-fried it.

The Deep Fried Frozen Margarita was mixed up by Jake Levy. He took funnel cake batter, mixed in Margarita ingredients, such as Tequila and Tequila flavored wine, deep-fried the batter, then dusted it with a lemon-lime mixture, served in a salt-rimmed glass.

The other 6 Big Texas Choice Awards Finalists were alcohol-free.

They include frequent deep fryer, Abel Gonzalez Jr.'s, Fried Chocolate. White Chocolate and a cherry is stuffed into a brownie, then dipped in chocolate cake batter before hitting the deep fryer. After the Fried Chocolate comes out of the fryer it is dusted with powdered sugar, topped with a cherry sauce and chocolate-flavored whipped cream.

Deep Fried S'mores Pop Tart is Isaac Russo's contribution to the Texas waistline. He battered and deep-fried a chocolate, peanut butter, s'mores flavored Pop Tart, then drizzles the Pop Tart with chocolate syrup before topping the concoction with whipped cream.

Tami Stiffler's entry is Fried Lemonade. She deep-fried pastry made with lemonade, then covered it with a glaze made of lemonade, lemon zest and powdered sugar.

Fernie's Fried Club Salad was made by Christi Erpillo. She deep-fried a spinach wrap filled with chicken, ham, lettuce, tomatoes, carrot strips, sharp cheddar cheese and bacon. After coming out of the fryer the Fried Club Salad is topped with deep-fried sourdough croutons on top of shredded romaine lettuce.

Nick Bert made Texas Fried Frito Pie by covering chili and cheese with Fritos, then battering before deep frying.

Texas Fried Caviar, is not a seafood concoction. Allan Weiss took black-eyed peas, mixed with spices, blended with Old Bay seasoning, then deep-fried. Texas Fried Caviar comes in 2 flavors, regular or spicy.

I think the only thing, among the 8, I might consider consuming would be Fernie's Fried Club Salad. The Deep Fried S'mores Pop Tart would gag me. I've never liked good old-fashioned sickeningly sweet regular S'mores.

You have from September 24 through October 17 to get yourself to Dallas to this year's State Fair of Texas to have yourself some Fine Fried Foods.

Hiking The Tandy Hills While Whining Like An Old Curmudgeon About The Weather

When I drove up to my parking spot on View Street to hike the Tandy Hills, first thing I noticed was the Tandy Tire had made it all the way to the pick-up zone.

The temperature was not in HOT mode, so I hiked more than I've done in awhile.

I'd been warned with a Head's Up from the Tandy Hills Watchdog, Don Young, that the Fort Worth Water Boys were going to be back this week.

And they were there today, rutting up the newly opened Tandy Highway. And being noisy.

This morning I went to Colonel's Bike Shop on University by TCU. University Drive has been re-paved since I last drove it. But, traffic on that road and all those hordes of students, make for a congested zone, in the middle of which is Colonel's Bike Shop.

I got back here and when I woke up the computer I had a funny blog comment from someone calling him or herself "Mattydigs."

Mattydigs said....

Your stupid blog 'vexes' me. You come off like a whiny old curmudgeon.

p.s. No one wants to read your weather reports.

Now, why would Mattydigs read a stupid blog that vexes him or her? That is a pretty stupid thing to do. Of course I come off as a whiny old curmudgeon due to the fact that I am a whiny old curmudgeon. It is a nice compliment to hear that this blog is accurately reflecting me.

And how does Mattydigs know no one wants to read my weather reports? Did he/she do a poll?

People like Mattydigs vex me.

As for the weather report. It is only 86 at half past 1. Almost dead calm, humidity up, Heat Index of 91.

Up Early In Chilly Texas On The Last August Thursday Of 2010

I am up way before the sun, this last Thursday of August. It is a very dark morning, which caused the camera's flash to go off, lighting up the tree. I could see the moon trying to glow through the cloud cover. A picture of that did not work out.

I felt the chill that arrives after the A/C turns on, about 2 this morning. I got up, turned it off and opened windows.

It is currently 71, the low so far for the night. Today the high is predicted to get to 90, the low, 65.

I think the pool will feel cool to me this morning. I'll check that out as soon as the sun wakes up and illuminates the place.

I may go shopping for a new bike today. I do not like shopping for a new bike. It is not as annoying as shopping for a new car, but close.

73.7 Degrees Cold Mid-Wednesday Afternoon In Fort Worth

73.7, mid-afternoon in Fort Worth, Texas. Have we seen the end of 100 degree days for the year? I sort of hope so.

When I left here, a half hour before noon, heading north on 820, traffic was at a crawl, due to, I think, a lot of rain coming down. Traffic sped up once I got past the point where 121 joins 820. Traffic sped up and the rain let up.

The National Weather Service or the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, I don't remember which, issued a Level Orange Air Pollution Alert an hour or two ago.

It's windy, it's been raining, it's not HOT. So, why an Air Pollution Alert now? On Sunday there was no alert that I was aware of, with Sunday being a very nasty day, air quality-wise.

I don't understand why Texas has a Commission on Environmental Quality. There are a lot of Texans who are concerned about the Environmental Quality of Texas, but that particular Texas Commission does not seem to. It's very Orwellian.

Wal-Mart's Systemic Thievery

On July 11 I blogged about Wal-Mart's price scanner malfunctioning, adding a scanned item twice. I had to go to customer service to get my money back.

Which I found highly annoying.

Today it happened again. I'd been to ALDI where a couple dozen items were super quickly scanned, with nary a problem.

Then I crossed the street to Wal-Mart, intending to get a new Popcorn Air Popper, because mine had blown up.

By the time I got to the checkout I'd also picked up a bag of chick peas, garlic powder and a pair of cargo shorts.

As you can see on the scanned receipt, I was charged for two jars of 5th Season garlic powder. I pointed this out to the checker. He, just like the previous instance, apologized profusely and told me to go to Customer Dis-Service to get my money back.

I told the checker I did not care to wait in the long Customer Dis-Service line to recover the 50 cents that Wal-Mart stole from me. I told the checker I'd just go get another jar of garlic powder. That'll work too, he said.

I decided to assess a fine for Wal-Mart stealing 50 cents from me and wasting my time, so I took an extra jar of spice, lemon pepper. It made the potato salad I made for lunch taste good.

This systemic thievery has now happened twice. I was buying only 4 items. I saw them scanned and saw the scanned item show up on the screen. The garlic powder did not show up twice.

And yet it was double-billed. I assume, just like the previous instance, the checker did not see the garlic powder show up twice, either.

So, clearly there is a major malfunction happening with Wal-Mart's check-out system.

Like I said, I only bought 4 items. What happens with those people with a cart full of dozens of items? How many of those people bother to look at the receipt? How much extra income does this add to Wal-Mart, systemically double-billing customers?

Why is it the store where I buy the least has problems like this? I've never had a checkout problem at Town Talk, at Sprouts Farmers Market, at ALDI Food Market, at Cho Saigon Market, at Central Market or Whole Foods.

I remember years ago the State of Washington's, I assume Attorney General, sent out teams of undercover agents to investigate complaints about K-Mart's pricing errors. If I remember right this ended up costing K-Mart a large fine.

Is it because Wal-Mart is operating in the ethics challenged lawless zone of Fort Worth and Tarrant County that it knows it can get away with some shady stuff that they can weasel their way out of, if caught?

It's all very vexing. And perplexing. And what is also perplexing and vexing is why do I still shop at Wal-Mart? I think the sad truth is, it's the entertainment factor. The well-documented "People of Wal-Mart." I saw a few doozies today.

So, bottom-line, if you shop at Wal-Mart, watch them like a hawk and check your receipt.

I just realized I forgot to mention another aspect of today's bizarre Wal-Mart experience. Today is the first day in a long time it has not been HOT in North Texas. The Hurst Wal-Mart was pumping HEAT into the building. Finally their A/C could get a rest, and while the rest of North Texas was opening their windows, the Hurst Wal-Mart cranked up the furnace! I tell you it was HOT in there.

Just one more thing to be perplexed about.

Austin #1 Of 10 Best Cities For The Next Decade

Kiplinger Magazine searched for the top cities in America poised to prosper economically in the next decade, evaluating American cities for growth and growth potential.

Kiplinger found that though some U.S. cities may have been slowed by the Great Recession, they still have managed to thrive by "lifting good old American innovation to new levels."

#1 of those American cities lifting American innovation to new levels is Austin, Texas.

In article, titled "10 Best Cities for the Next Decade" Kiplinger said of Austin...

"Austin is arguably the the country's best crucible for small business, offering a dozen community programs that form a neural network of business brainpower to help entrepreneurs. Now overlay that net with a dozen venture-capital funds and 20 or so business associations, plus incubators, educational opportunities and networking events. Mix all these elements in what many call a classless society, where hippie communalism coexists with no-nonsense capitalism, and you've got a breeding ground for start-ups.

Don’t discount the fun factor: In the self-proclaimed live-music capital of the world, music and business creativity riff off one another. The city’s famous South by Southwest festival, where concerts, independent film screenings and emerging technology overlap, is a prime example."

Hippie communalism? I think I want to move to Austin.

#2 on the Kiplinger list is a town I am familiar with, called Seattle. Seattle is in Washington.

This is what Kiplinger had to say about Seattle...

"Rain City? We'd say Brain City. Home to a well-educated workforce, a world-class research university, über innovators Microsoft, Amazon and Boeing, and a host of risk-taking, garage-tinkering entrepreneurs, Seattle crackles with creative energy. "We only have two products here: smart people and great ideas," says Mark Emmert, president of the University of Washington.

Seattle is revising its tax, zoning and permit policies to make them more business-friendly, says Johnson. Meanwhile, this sophisticated Pacific Rim city has other qualities to recommend it, including great food, a glorious setting, an outdoorsy culture, enough rain to keep the locals' complexions looking dewy -- and, yeah, plenty of smart people."

I used to be one of those smart people. And then I moved to Fort Worth where I've been dumbing down for a decade. So, Austin had a fun factor working in its favor, apparently funner than Seattle? I've had fun in both towns. I'd have to give the fun edge to Seattle. Austin has no Ferry Boats or Cruise Ships. No Space Needle or Monorail. No Pike Place Market. No NFL or Professional Baseball Team that I know of.

Austin has a nude beach at Hippie Hollow. Seattle does not have a nude beach. Both towns participate in the bizarre World Nude Bike Ride.

The rest of Kiplinger's Top Ten Towns ready to boom in the next decade are...

3. Washington, D.C.
4. Boulder, Colorado
5. Salt Lake City, Utah
6. Rochester, Minnesota
7. Des Moines, Iowa
8. Burlington, Vermont
9. West Hartford, Connecticut
10. Topeka, Kansas

Cold Front Brings Slight Big Chill To North Texas While I Think About Gilmer Sweet Potato Queens

The sun was just starting to light up the place when I stepped outside the pleasantly temperatured Wednesday morning of August 25.

70 was the overnight low. That is quite a drop from the 106 high of 2 days ago. Or was it 3?

I've got my windows open, no A/C running. The predicted high for today is 88, the low, 68. With a 50% chance of rain with possible bolts of lightning.

About a third of an inch of rain fell since midnight. I did not hear it, but I saw all was wet outside when I stepped out on my patio for my daily view of the morning.

One nice benefit of this currently chilling cold front is in addition to drastically dropping degrees of air temperature, my swimming pool also was chilled down this morning to a more pleasant refreshing temperature.

If it is Wednesday, creature of habit that I be, I must be going up to North Richland Hills around noon, then to Hurst, going to the ALDI Food Market for my weekly chat with Victoria.

Yesterday I finally made it virtually out to Gilmer in the Piney Woods Region of East Texas, after being chastised by Elaine Fletcher for daring to leave out talking about beautiful small town Gilmer.

Turns out Gilmer has an interesting history. And its Yamboree Festival, with its celebration of the Sweet Potato, is a big deal.

The Sweet Potato Queen appeared to be a bit chunky. Maybe that is a requirement for the Sweet Potato Queen wannabes.

Noontime Thunder Rumbling Upon Return To Fort Worth From Virtual Trip To Oklahoma's Natural Falls

You're looking at the almost noon view from Miss Puerto Rico's balcony. I was hoping to catch a bolt of lightning, but, though I heard thunder rumbling in the distance, I saw no bolts.

I did catch a few drops of rain. It was refreshing.

I had multiple reasons to not go swimming this morning.

Instead I got my cooling refreshment by going up to Oklahoma's Ozark Highlands Region, virtually, to feel the cooling mist from what used to be known as Dripping Springs Falls, but is now known as Natural Falls. Natural Falls falls is in Natural Falls State Park.

While altering all my Oklahoma webpages I came across a photo of something I saw years ago, in Oklahoma, that became blogging fodder for my Washington Blog.

I continue to hear thunder rumbling in the distance.

As you can see in the 7-Day Forecast, there are no 100 degrees days currently planned. And 4 nights under 70 are currently scheduled. The HEAT reduction has my brain less swelled up and thus working better. Or so it seems.

An Early Texas August Morning Thinking About Salmon Tacos

Had a rough night of tossing and turning with disturbingly complicated cinema quality nightmares. By 5 I was exhausted from all that activity, so I got up this morning, Tuesday, August 24, well before the sun did, which you can see looking down at the pool from my coffee sipping patio. No sun in sight.

When the sun does decide to show up I am expecting to see clouds. Apparently there is a 30% chance wet stuff will fall today, with the temperature staying under 100, with the over night low being 71.

Tomorrow will be even chillier if the weather prognosticators are correct. 91 for the high with the overnight low being 69. This should give the annoying A/C a rest.

I heard from Betty Jo Bouvier and Carlotta Camano over night. Both had had themselves fun weekends near the saltwater. Betty Jo over on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, staying in a tourist town called Port Townsend, while Carlotta was down on the Oregon coast staying at Depot Bay.

Hearing from Betty Jo and Carlotta made me miss saltwater. Particularly Betty Jo's description of a salmon taco.

104 At 2 In The Afternoon In North Texas Targeting Target & Wal-Mart

As you can see, the temperature hit 104 around 2 this afternoon, heading to a high of 106. 106 is currently the Heat Index temperature. The humidity has dropped, so it doesn't feel as HOT out there.

I think I mentioned yesterday that a cool Washingtonian was sending her now HOT husband to LA today. To Monroe, Louisiana.

I figured Monroe was likely hotter than here. As I so often am, I was wrong. Monroe is east of Shreveport about 60 or 70 miles on Interstate 20.

Right now, with it 104 in Fort Worth, it is 95 in Monroe.

But.

In Monroe the humidity is at 53%, compared with 22% here. Consequently the Heat Index in Monroe is 116. 116. That is HOT.

I've been in HEAT that HOT before, in Nevada. 124 or more out in Death Valley, 117 in Las Vegas. But that is dry desert heat. A Heat Index of 116 has to be pretty miserable.

My hiking today consisted of going shopping at Target and the Wal-Mart Supercenter across the freeway from Target. I don't see how Target stays in business. There are never very many shoppers in Target. Only 2 checkouts needed at the front of the store. Meanwhile Wal-Mart today was its usual busy zoo.