Rooting Out Tarrant Regional Water District Corruption Is A Right Wing/Left Wing Cooperative Operation

A few minutes ago whilst perusing Facebook I saw that the TRWD's #1 Board Member, Mary Kelleher, was liking something someone had posted on Facebook.

The posting intrigued me when it mentioned something "weird" was going on here, as in...

"There is something very weird going on here. Breitbart, Jonathan Strickland, Matt Krause and I all want to support TRWD board member Mary Kelleher. It is just a little beyond strange."

What could be weird and a little beyond strange, I could not help but wonder?

Well, it did not take long to figure out that that which was weird was the fact that people all across the political spectrum are getting fed up with the corruption of the Tarrant Regional Water District and its increasingly embarrassing Dunce Confederacy Production known at the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

The Facebook post linked to an article in the publication which calls itself Breitbart.

Now, I know there are those who think Breitbart is nearer the Tea Party/FOX side of the political spectrum than it is to those who are the opposite end of the spectrum, but that does not mean that Breitbart is wrong in all things.

Breitbart's ROOTING OUT CORRUPTION AT THE TARRANT REGIONAL WATER DISTRICT article by Lawrence Meyers rather succinctly sums up much of what is corrupt about the TRWD.

I particular liked seeing Breitbart use the "Trinity River Vision Boondoggle" nomenclature.

Below are the first three  paragraphs from ROOTING OUT CORRUPTION AT THE TARRANT REGIONAL WATER DISTRICT......

Two members of the Texas TEA Party Caucus, along with a Democratic colleague, demanded that the ethically-challenged Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) Board release public documents that a colleague has been after for a year. 

Rep. Jonathan Strickland (R-Bedford) and Rep. Matt Krause (R-Fort Worth) are living up to their Tea Party roots, utilizing a provision under state law that requires public agencies to turn over documents when requested by state legislators. 

The move comes in support of reform-minded Board Member, Mary Kelleher, who believes the documents contain potentially incriminating information regarding the TRWD’s alleged misuse of public funds, cronyism, and numerous other activities surrounding what is known as the “Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.”

Overnight An Orange Orb Almost Landed On Me While Freezing Under A Full Texas Moon

This morning when I stepped outside to my elevated patio perch on the outer world I was startled to see that overnight the orange pod-like orb you see here had mysteriously attached itself to a tree branch.

What is this orange thing that somehow ended 30 feet from the ground?

An egg? An extra-terrestrial  being arriving with the full moon?

I would need a ladder to reach this thing for a closer inspection.

Without a ladder all I can do is wait and see what hatches. If anything.

I do not know if anything hatchable would have been able to survive last night's extremely frigid lack of heat.

It was a Three Dog Night, last night. Since I have no dogs I had to find myself an extra blanket at some point in time after midnight.

For the first morning in a long time I did not go swimming in the hot tub this morning.

I did not go hot tubbing for two reasons. One being the obvious reason of it being way too cold to get way too wet. The second reason being I forgot to bring in my hot tub suit yesterday from its outdoor drying location, rendering it frozen stiff and thus requiring a de-frosting before being usable.

Coming up on noon the temperature in the outer world has now gone well above freezing, to 35 degrees.

I think in a few minutes I will put on several layers of outerwear and venture into the outer world to experience some of that bright blue sky and the rare appearance of the sun....

Interesting Look Into The Convoluted Funding Of The Dunce Confederacy's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle

Out of the blue, on the third day of the New Year of 2015, in my incoming email inbox, there appeared a document which seemed to be a detailed accounting of the bizarre money moving shenanigans the City of Fort Worth is engaging in in cahoots with its Dunce Confederacy Cohorts in the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

It has long been apparent, to the few who pay attention, that the funding mechanism for the Dunce Confederacy Boondoggle is seriously flawed.

Hence the slow motion building of Three Simple Bridges Over Nothing taking an absurd four years, after which, if funding can be found, a ditch may be dug under the three bridges, finally giving them a purpose, after water is added to the ditch.

Does any other town in America finance a public works project in this convoluted manner?

Below is the legalistic gobblygook which seems to be all about transferring funds from various accounts into The Boondoggle's side of the ledger, near as I can tell....

SUBJECT:
Authorize Transfer of Funds Received from Tarrant County in the Amount of $332,065.91 from the Special Trust Fund to Certain Other Funds for the Purpose of Reimbursing City's Previous Trinity River Vision Eligible Project Expenses and Contracts, Consistent with the City's Limitation of $26.6 Million on Expenditures for the Trinity River Vision Project and Adopt Appropriation Ordinances (COUNCIL DISTRICT 9) 

RECOMMENDATION: 
It is recommended that the City Council:

1. Adopt the attached appropriation ordinance increasing estimated receipts and appropriations in the Special Trust Fund in the amount of $332,065.91 from available funds; 
2. Authorize the transfer from the Special Trust Fund in the amount of $332,065.91 to the Street Improvements Fund in the amount of $122,670.22, the Sewer Capital Projects Fund in the amount of 175,550.80 and the Specially Funded Capital Projects Fund in the amount of $33,844.89 for previous Trinity River Vision eligible project expenses and contracts;
3. Adopt the attached appropriation ordinance increasing estimated receipts and appropriations in the Street Improvements Fund in the amount of $122,670.22;  
4. Adopt the attached appropriation ordinance increasing estimated receipts and appropriations in the Sewer Capital Projects Fund in the amount of $175,550.80; 
5. Adopt the attached appropriation ordinance increasing estimated receipts and appropriations in the amount of $33,844.89 in the Specially Funded Capital Projects Fund; and
6. Authorize the transfer in the amount of $33,844.89 from the Specially Funded Capital Projects Fund to the Capital Projects Reserve Fund.

DISCUSSION: 
After a recent audit of City expenses and contracts, the above recommendations are necessary to reimburse several City Funds in order to ensure that the $26.6 million Trinity River Vision (TRV) spending cap is maintained. Tarrant County will soon be providing the City with their Fiscal Year 2015 TRV reimbursement in the amount of $1.5 million, so this Mayor and Council Communication will enable the redistribution of a portion of that funding to cover TRV-related expenses and contracts in the following manner:

On April 15, 2008, (M&C C-22766) City Council authorized the initial contract with TranSystems for Phase IA of stormwater and franchise utility design/coordination. This was a TRV eligible expense that counted towards the City's $26.6 million commitment in the amount of $946,500.00. This contract was paid for with City funds from the Capital Projects Reserve Fund because it was prior to the City receiving TRV Project reimbursements from Tarrant County. On October 6, 2009 (M&C C-23833), City Council authorized the use of Tarrant County TRV Project reimbursement funds to move the Police Auto Pound, which was a non-TRV eligible expense. The final cost in moving the auto pound was $912,655.11. By transferring the difference of $33,844.89 ($946,500.00 vs. $912,655.11) from the Special Trust Fund (i.e., Tarrant County TRV reimbursements) to the Specially Funded Capital Projects Fund, this leaves the Police Auto Pound expenditure of $912,655.11 paid by Capital Projects Reserve Funds and reimburses the difference for the TranSystems Phase IA contract.

FISCAL INFORMATION/CERTIFICATION: 
The Financial Management Services Director certifies that upon approval of the above recommendations and adoption of the attached appropriation ordinances, funds will be available in the current capital budgets, as appropriated, of the Street Improvements Fund, the Sewer Capital Projects Fund, and the Specially Funded Capital Projects Fund.

______________________________________________________

I can not help but wonder if the Dunce Confederacy Trinity River Vision Boondoggle had been funded in the way normal public works projects are funded, you know, after a public vote where the voters vote to tax themselves by some means to fund a project for the public good, whether we would be seeing these type convoluted "funding" manipulations to fund an ongoing Boondoggle?

The Pretentiously Portentous 2015 New Years Aspirations Of Althea & Me

Well, we have now arrived at day four of the New Year of 2015.

I think I am now settled enough into the New Year to talk about New Year's Eve.

I don't remember if I have mentioned it in New Years previous, but Althea and I have a tradition, inspired by our good friends, the Montagues, where every New Year's Eve we sit down, me with my single malt whiskey, Althea with her gallon of Mogen David wine and three pounds of fudge, to talk about our aspirations for the coming year.

Now, by aspirations we do not mean anything so heavy as a resolution, or even a goal, even though aspirations, resolutions and goals are pretty much the same thing.

For our pretentious purposes we are going to assert that aspirations are a different thing from a resolution or a goal.

A lighter thing.

Less heavy than a resolution or a goal. Nothing daunting like resolving to lose a few hundred pounds. What with it seeming sort of obvious, to anyone with any semblance of sanity, that, if one found oneself a few hundred pounds overweight, common sense would have one aspiring to lose that weight for health and aesthetics, plus ease of going up and down stairs, along with no longer being banned from flying.

I digress.

So, as Althea and I went over our list of aspirations which we had written down for 2014, way back on New Year's Eve of 2013, we were struck by how many of our aspirations had come to pass.

I shan't detail all our aspirations which have come to pass, that would seem way too much like pretentious bragging. And what with one of our 2014 aspirations being to cut back on our high volume of pretentious bragging, well, you get the point.

Suffice to say 2014 was a very good year. Very good.

Also, suffice to say I am a lucky boy and Althea is a very very very lucky girl. Very lucky. Can I say that again without seeming repetitive? Very lucky.

As we drank what remained of our whiskey and wine, Althea and I began to aspire to our aspirations for 2015.

Of course, it goes with out saying, but I will say it anyway, as we decide upon an aspiration we write it down in our Aspirations Notebook.

On the first banking day of the New Year we take our Aspirations Notebook to our bank to secure it in our safety deposit box until the next New Year's Eve. We don't quite understand why this is part of the Annual Aspiration Process, but the Montagues do it, and thus, so do we.

Anyway, I really thought it a thoughtful thing for myself and Althea to share our Annual New Year's Eve Aspiration tradition with others, so that they might aspire to emulate our aspirations....

The Sun Shined Bright For A Moment On This Third Day Of 2015 In Texas

A few minutes ago, on this Third Day of the New Year of 2015, the sun broke a hole through the clouds, with a big enough hole for a large patch of blue to appear.

Temporarily.

But, long enough that I was able to take a photo through the bars of my patio prison cell of the bright glaring sunlight bouncing off a pool filled near to overflowing by last night's deluge of downpouring rain.

That deluge of downpouring rain was accompanied by a long thunderstorm with way too much booming for far too long.

In other words, I had a rough night last night. A rough night of sleep interruptions due to that aforementioned booming thunder.

The outer world has suddenly seemed to darken, again. A quick look out my computer room window sees no blue sky remaining. Gray clouds once again cover the sky from horizon to horizon.

Changing the subject to something else.

This morning, on Facebook, I have been shocked, shocked I tell you, to read Miss Julie's, who in 2014 went by her stripper name of Fluffy Monkey Buns, tale of her recent groupie assignation with members of Fleetwood Mac, post a recent concert in Dallas.

Miss Julie's adventurous tale came complete with rather revealing photo documentation of the sort I had not seen on Facebook at any point any time previous to today.

Changing the subject back again to the weather.

During that brief and shining moment when the sun returned I was filled with a momentary desire to head somewhere in the outer world for a walk. A walk with the Indian Ghosts at Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area seemed like a good idea. Then I remembered last night's flood level of rain and the likelihood Village Creek is flooding, with the park closed.

And now the gray doom has returned, clouding out any strong desire to commune with nature in a park-like setting....

Under A Bumbershoot Hunting Tomatoes While Pondering The Sad Fate Of The TCU Froggies

If you looked at this picture and guessed I was in the outer world under a bumbershoot you would have guessed correctly.

This morning I was in the hot tub before the dawn of the new day. At that point in time only a fine mist was precipitating.

But, when the sun arrived to illuminate the darkness that fine mist turned into big drops of cold wetness.

When the noon time frame I arrived I  felt the need to be vertical. I also felt the need to acquire some Ro-Tel diced tomatoes with green chiles to add to the pot of chili I brewed this morning.

A bowl of hot chili is quite salubrious on a cold day like today.

I had to make my way through several flooding zones to make it to Albertsons to get the aforementioned diced tomatoes.

Checking in on Facebook today I noted a lot of concern about college football bowl games which took place on New Years Day.

Many of the locals seem to think the local team known as the TCU Froggies was robbed somehow by not getting to play in some special game where winning that special game would have meant, I guess, that the TCU Froggies are very special.

Some seem to think the Froggies are owed some sort of apology. Others go to the extreme of thinking an investigation needs to take place into what some apparently think has been a gross miscarriage of justice.

I confess I pay little attention to football, for the most part. I do know that this year there is some sort of championship deal between four teams and that it was not being included as one of those four teams which has the Froggies all bumpuzzled.

Yesterday the Froggies gave a sound thrashing to a school called Old Miss, which greatly fueled the fires of feeling the Froggies should have been one of the Final Four.

I don't quite get why beating a team known as Old Miss would be considered a big deal.

I don't know by what complex criteria this Final Four for the championship is determined. It may have something to do with the size of a school.

TCU, also known as Texas Christian University, is a very small school. I am talking about the size of the campus. You can walk from one end to the other in five minutes. I have been to major universities where you can not drive from one end to the other in five minutes, such as the University of Washington, and others.

Does TCU play in a big league? I have no idea. Like I said, I don't pay much attention beyond the chatter and noise.

However, I do know that both the Dallas Cowboys and the Seattle Seahawks are in the NFL playoffs. I have heard it said that once again the road to the Super Bowl goes through Seattle. This has something to do with home field advantage in the playoff games. I do not know if Dallas has a similar advantage.

Is is possible that Dallas might play Seattle in this year's Super Bowl? I think Dallas already beat Seattle once this year. I really do not know who I might root for if Dallas and Seattle are in this year's Super Bowl. Will Cowboy Stadium be open so fans can watch on the big screen like was done for a boring World Cup soccer game last summer?

If so, I think I shall be there......

Happy Ice Free New Year So Far At My Texas Location With Me Not Being Manly Man Enough To Hike The Tandy Hills

In this view you are looking through the bars of my patio prison cell at a steaming hot tub where a few minutes prior to taking this picture I was having myself a mighty fine first day of the new year hot tubbing.

In the middle of the night when I heard my window being hit by what sounded like little pellets I thought the Ice Storm had cometh just as predicted, along with no morning hot tubbing being likely due to a too slippery walk to the hot tub's location.

However, upon the arrival of the sun, and its daily lighting duty, I quickly learned that the Ice Storm cometh not at my location.

Despite my temperature monitoring devices indicating the temperature was cold enough to freeze water, as in, 32 degrees, which remains the temperature.

Even now, hours after the sun's arrival, the only thing frozen at my location, that I am aware of, is in my freezer.

As has been the case every year since the turn of the century, I did not manage to stay awake til the arrival of the new year. When 1999 turned into 2000 I did manage to join the HUGE throng in downtown Fort Worth to do the countdown to the new century.

This is the first year in several years that I have not started off the new year resolved to get my hefty weight back under 200 pounds. At the start of 2015 I am already well under 200 pounds.

Near as I can remember I am pretty much resolution free at the start of this new year.

At the start of each new year I always notice an increase in the number of people getting exercise in the various parks I visit. That increase quickly dwindles as the New Year's Resolutionaries lose their resolution resolve.

I have not received any notification regarding the status of today's scheduled Manly Men Wild Women New Years Day Hike on the Tandy Hills.

Unfrozen water continues to precipitate at my location. I suspect this is also the case four miles to the west, on the Tandy Hills.

Anyway, anyone reading this I hope you will be having yourself a mighty fine Happy New Year.....

On This Last Day Of 2014 Spencer Jack Did Not Take Me Bird Watching On The Trinity River

This afternoon Spencer Jack and his dad emailed me some photos, one of which, as you can see, has Spencer waving goodbye to 2014.

The subject line in the email was "Bird Nerd".

The text in the email said, "Spencer Jack took me bird watching on this beautiful last day of 2014 in the great PNW.  More specifically, Fir Island and Conway".

Being familiar with the valley in which Spencer Jack is waving, I can tell he is standing west of the Amtrak tracks, which behind Spencer head to Canada, and in front of him lead to Seattle. My old hometown, and Spencer Jack's current hometown, Mount Vernon, is behind Spencer Jack, surrounding that raised area known as a mountain, Little Mountain, to be specific.

The birds being referred to are Trumpeter Swans and Bald Eagles. Trumpeter Swans migrate south from Canada every year to spend some vacation time in the Skagit Valley. It can be quite a spectacle when a flock of Trumpeter Swans decides to take flight. Noisy and you want to be wearing head protection if you are under the flight path.

Above you are looking at a grounded flock of Trumpeter Swans, with the Mount Baker volcano hovering over the birds. When I lived in Mount Vernon I could look out my kitchen window and see Mount Baker. I look out the kitchen window at my current location and I do not see a volcano. I see absolutely nothing.

That is a Bald Eagle in the tree high above Spencer Jack. Below is a closeup look at the Bald Eagle perched to swoop down on Spencer Jack.

In the tall fir trees behind my house in Mount Vernon a big Bald Eagle made a really big nest. It was sort of unsettling to be outside peacefully swaying on my hammock to look up to see the Big Bird coming home. This Big Bird only made his home at this location for a few years. I suppose the salmon supply ran out in the creek which flowed behind my house, and so the Big Bird moved on to better fishing grounds, like upstream on the Skagit River, perhaps, where a big flock of Bald Eagles spends a lot of time every year feasting on returning salmon.

As I previously indicated the text in the email which contained these pictures said that Spencer Jack had taken his dad bird watching to Conway and Fir Island on this last day of 2014. Below you are looking at the bridge which crosses the Skagit River from Conway to Fir Island. Below the below picture we will talk about the Fort Worth connection to the below bridge.

As you can see, the above bridge is built over water.

The Skagit River.

What you can not see is that at this location the river is subject to tidal changes, what with being so close to the mouth of the river and Skagit Bay, which is a bay on Puget Sound.

This bridge over the Skagit River was built over water in far less than four years. As you can see, the bridge has to cross a rather wide river at this point.

I remember the bridge the above bridge replaced. It was a sort of old-fashioned bridge from a much earlier era of bridge building. I can not remember if the original bridge was a one-way one where you waited your turn to cross.

As previously mentioned, this bridge crosses the Skagit River to Fir Island.

Fir Island is a real island, not an imaginary island like Fort Worth's embarrassingly pretentious Panther Island, which may one day be an island, if one really stretches, to the near breaking point, the concept of that which an island makes.

To make Fort Worth's imaginary island the Three Bridges Over Nothing, currently supposedly under construction, have to be finished.

Fort Worth's Three Bridges Over Nothing are extremely complex feats of bridge engineering requiring four years to build. If the bridges are ever finished being built then the ditch can be dug under them, water added, and the imaginary island can be proclaimed pseudo real, likely with a massive celebration of explosives to mark the occasion.

For the final picture from today's collection it would appear that Spencer Jack and his dad are channeling Fort Worth's Brian Luenser's School of Photographic Exaggeration, with this closeup look at a flock of Trumpeter Swans and Mount Baker looming way too close above them...

North Texas Is Freezing & Braced For Incoming Ice

So far the Ice Storm that is scheduled to be cometh at my location has yet to arrive.

However, the outer world  has been chilled, as you can see via my computer generated weather informant, to the below freezing temperature necessary to facilitate an Ice Storm of Historic Proportions.

Checking in on my old home zone this morning I  found both Western and Eastern Washington colder than my current location, with Mount Vernon freezing at 26 and Tonasket, on the east side of the mountains, even colder at 15.

Meanwhile in Arizona, in the Phoenix zone, my mom and dad, brother and sister, brother-in-law and sister-in-law and nephews are not freezing at 47. However, the Phoenix area is currently under a National Weather Service issued Freeze Warning.

Back to my current location in Frigid North Texas.

This morning's weather update from my favorite North Texas weather forecasting guru, John Basham, seems to indicate something major is about to arrive.

I need to go to ALDI to get coffee. Last winter I recollect a trip to ALDI starting off with no problem, then turning into a two hour ordeal to slide my way back to my home port. I hope today is not a repeat.

The latest John Basham forecast....

*** WEATHER FORECASTER'S NOTE *** - 630 AM WED DEC 31 2014 - TEXAS - Okay, for those of you who follow my forecasts (the truly devoted) you will remember Sunday that I was worried about the New Year's Eve / New Year's Day forecast for a large part of Texas and the D/FW Metroplex. I even used the term 'historic' which set many an email flying my way. If you'll recall I was worried about two weather items colliding in just the right way to cause a potentially dangerous weather scenario for a large population center in Texas. Well, I will no longer elude. I now have a genuine fear as the data becomes more and more clear that a MAJOR ICE STORM is POSSIBLE for a LARGE PART of TEXAS including the D/FW Metroplex. NOW, I AM NOT SOUNDING THE ALARM YET... & THE NWS HAS NOT ISSUED ANY ICE STORM WARNING, BUT...... Since tonight is New Year's Eve and Thursday Morning is New Year's Day I felt I had to at least let you know what I (and many other meteorologists) have been wrestling with. You DO NOT take an Ice Storm lightly as a meteorologist. There are few things that cause more widespread damage, injury, and loss of infrastructure. As new data continues to come out over the next few hours I will be updating everyone as soon as I feel I've zeroed in TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY where this event COULD take place. I know that's a lot of ifs and errrs... but I wanted to share so everyone could prepare and stay safe! MORE TO COME... THIS IS NOT AN NWS PRODUCT!

Apparently The Best Food City In America Is Not Dallas Or Fort Worth

Yesterday I happened upon a scientific survey documenting the 40 Best Food Cities in America.

I found this scientific survey in an online article titled THE 40 BIGGEST US CITIES, RANKED BY THEIR FOOD.

Ranking cities by their food struck me as an odd thing to be doing. But interesting, despite being odd.

Texas towns did quite well in this survey, with four towns among the Top 40.

I just realized the towns on this list are determined by population. So, then why are Dallas and Fort Worth not listed separately, rather than lumped together? I am thinking this helped tank the ranking for Dallas. In the article, which you can read via the link above, the town's population is included among the info, with the entire D/FW Metroplex population given as the population for D/FW.

And why is San Antonio not on this list? I am starting to suspect this is a flawed scientific survey.

Anyway.

At the bottom, in the #40 position is Fresno. At #39 is Jacksonville. Then we come to the first Texas town.

I will copy and paste that which this scientific survey had to say about the Texas towns and their relative ranking, along with the town on the list of 40 in which I've eaten more food than any other big city in America...

38. El Paso
While the rest of the Lone Star State’s big hubs have serious moves, El Paso just sorta rides the BBQ & Tex-Mex coattails, never planting a flag in the culinary sands. Plus, Old El Paso salsa's corporate offices are in Minnesota.

And then we come to my current location....

19. Dallas/Forth Worth
First of all, frozen margaritas don’t count as food. But there is no disputing that DFW is a serious player in the Tex-Mex conversation, what with Stephan Pyles existing. And Lockhart Smokehouse and Pecan Lodge ensure their part of the national BBQ conversation. And, crap, they’ve got the best damn airport in the nation to eat in. But Texas has stiff competition when it comes to its eating cities, and so Dallas has to find comfort in taking the Lone Star City’s comestible bronze.

The D/FW locals are likely all bumpuzzled about the two Texas towns thought to better feeding locations than the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, where clearly people like to eat.

A lot.

But before we get to the Texas towns which fared better than D/FW in this scientific survey we come to the big city I've consumed food in more than any other big city in America. This survey went very long-winded on this one, particularly compared to the puny blurb about D/FW...

7. Seattle
As a geeky teenager, you probably spent a lot of time alone, creating an imaginary world for yourself, complete with a super-hot girlfriend who no one knew 'cause she was from, like, Canada, or something. Well, Seattle is the culinary equivalent of that teenager after he grows up. It's geeky (maybe you've heard of Microsoft, Amazon, etc.); all alone in the corner of the country (the closest major city is Portla... oops, San Francisco); and creative (just look at how Starbucks and Redhook revolutionized two entire beverage industries).

When you combine those traits with the fact that Seattle's geography and climate provide it with a greater variety of regional produce and protein than any other city, you get places like the iconic Canlis, or the dozen or so restaurants owned by super-chef Tom Douglas, reinventing traditional dishes with local ingredients like salmon, shellfish, and other fresh seafood. But it's not just big-name chefs (Ethan Stowell, Maria Hines, and Renee Erickson among them) doing it: Seattle's best "neighborhood" restaurants (Lloyd Martin, Tanglewood Supreme) serve the kind of food reserved for destination dining in other cities, and there's a ton of these smaller spots opening all the time -- The Town has more restaurants per capita than anywhere but New York and San Francisco.

Oh, and as for the part about being grown-up, Seattle's fully embraced food from around the world: there are more teriyaki and pho restaurants here than any place outside Asia; the Seafood-heavy Jalisco-style Mexican food is a staple; and one of the best new(-ish) restaurants in Seattle is Shanik, an Indian place run by famed Vancouver chef Meeru Dhalwala. See, told you we had a Canadian girlfriend.

And then we come to the two Texas towns with better food than Dallas/Fort Worth or El Paso.

8. Houston
Houston has never been hotter, and that is NOT a commentary on their famously muggy weather. The food scene in The City With An Airport Named After President Bush Elder is finally getting the recognition it deserves, as this has always been a good town to eat in, though in the past it was primarily recognized for its steak and BBQ acumen. Now though, thanks to the ascendancy of some notable chefs (Underbelly’s Chris Shepherd, Reef’s Bryan Caswell, etc.), a national audience recognizing its incredible Filipino, Vietnamese, and Chinese cuisine, and the city's historically delicious Czech kolache culture (spread it #kolacheculture), more and more people are flocking to Houston just to eat and soak through a couple T-shirts in the process.

6. Austin
Austin knows its BBQ. That's a given. The meat-hungry masses form lines in front of spots like Franklin BBQ until they're out -- usually by 1:30pm. But this is not a one-dimensional food city. There're James Beard Award-winning sushi chefs. A food-truck scene that gives chefs the chance to flex their culinary muscles before moving on to bigger things (there's a reason the movie Chef filmed a ton there). And you can't forget the Mexican food. If you want a taco for every meal, Austin will gladly accommodate. There's so many places to score even just fantastic breakfast tacos, that you could eat them from 8am-8pm and go home happy. Here, we'll prove it.

The rest of  the list, without the explanatory descriptive blurbs....

5. Portland
4. San Francisco
3. Chicago
2. New York City
1. New Orleans

Of the Top Five I have only consumed food in restaurants in Portland and San Francisco. With the San Francisco food being of the Chinese type found in restaurants in Chinatown.

I wish I knew what Dallas/Fort Worth could possibly do to move into the coveted Top Ten along with Houston and Austin, but I draw a blank.

Well, it might help Dallas join Houston and Austin in the Top Ten if Dallas could somehow free itself from being connected to Fort Worth....