Vermont

10 Great Autumn Bikinis Not On St. Baart's

Our list of 25 Best Reasons to Love Texas in the Autumn was, we were told, a little skimpy on the babes. Not that there's anything inherently sexy about fall (although some dudes go nuts over the boots-with-dresses look), it's just that some folks think any listicle must include skimpily clad femal ... More >>

Grand Incubator

Southern-fried dim sum from Yaki Snack Attack and Bernie’s Burger Bus.

An Invigorating Brunch at a Reinvigorated Down House

"I can't believe this was only $14," I marveled as I left a $20 on the table at Down House after occupying one of its booths for several hours over brunch this past Sunday morning. We'd just eaten two huge plates of excellent food -- much of it from local producers -- accompanied by a carafe of Fren ... More >>

30 Seconds With mewithoutYou

I have a hard time adequately describing mewithoutYou's music... imagine if King Missile and early Butthole Surfers collaborated. Even then you'd be missing a lot of the nuances and brilliance. I caught up with drummer Richard Mazzotta to see what I could learn about the amazing percussionist in 30 ... More >>

Make at Home: Panera Bread's Signature Macaroni & Cheese

Macaroni and cheese will forever be one of the greatest comfort foods. It doesn't matter if you're five years old or 50 years old, you can always enjoy this creamy, cheesy and comforting dish. After browsing through Pinterest for a recipe to make for dinner, I continually came across the recipe for ... More >>

Taste-Testing Two-Thirds of Wendy's New "Signature Sides" Side-Dish Menu

My eyes nearly bugged out of my head when I saw that Wendy's had added a baked sweet potato to their side-dish menu. One of my go-to fast-food meals is a Wendy's Sour Cream & Chives baked potato (320 calories) plus a small chili (210 calories) -- when we moved from New York to Texas we road-tripped, ... More >>

Chef Chat, Part 1: Benjy Mason of Down House, on Chinese Food and Breaking Down Pig Heads

Benjy Mason Down House 1801 Yale St. 713-864-3696 www.downhousehouston.com This is the first part of a three-part chef chat series. Look for parts two and three in this space Thursday and Friday. There's not always a direct route to becoming a chef. A little more than a year and a half ago, Benj ... More >>

Reality Bites: MonsterQuest

There are a million reality shows on the naked television. We're going to watch them all, one at a time. Admittedly, the concept of MonsterQuest initially struck me as woefully similar to that of...certain other reality shows, in that I was sure we'd be following around a bunch of yahoos using dubi ... More >>

Morgan Page

This Week in Deliciousness

Behold, the loser of the world's first high-stakes game of Duck Duck Goose.​Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where we're currently taking bets on how many Jack Sparrows it will be possible to see in one day at Dickens On the Strand. Our guess: 14. Not counting the p ... More >>

Happy 31st Birthday, Turducken: 8 Foods Born in 1980

Thirty-one is officially too old to try to learn how to use Photoshop.​Tomorrow, on 11-11-11, I will turn 31 years old. Last year, for my 30th birthday, my uncle sent me a Facebook message that contained only the following Pink Floyd quote and a "Happy Birthday" at the end: So you run and you ... More >>

Marcus Manchild: NYC Flips For UGK

Houston rapper Marcus Manchild and his label partners at AMG (Authentik Music Group), George, Chad and Nate, are currently traveling the country as part of the Smoker's Club Tour, headlined by Method Man, Curren$y and Big K.R.I.T. The Smoker's Club tour comes to Warehouse Live November 11, and Marcu ... More >>

Greatest Grub: Best Non-Blue Bell Ice Cream Flavors

Carrie Applegate Jaeger​As promised, here's the follow up to the last Greatest Grub featuring favorite flavors of Blue Bell ice cream. I can only imagine how many gallons of that stuff are bought in the state during these unbearably hot summer months. I know that Blue Bell is the hometown fa ... More >>

Greatest Grub: Favorite Blue Bell Flavors

cmurtaugh​My husband, a native Houstonian, and I, a relocated Vermonter, have had many a debate over the greatest maker of ice cream. As you can imagine, there is never a winner in the Blue Bell vs. Ben & Jerry's discussion. Or maybe we're both winners because there is ALWAYS ice cream in ou ... More >>

Racing Rachael: Hot Topic

Carrie Applegate Jaeger​I'm not really a fan of chicken pieces with nuts. *Insert inappropriate comment here, kids.* However, since my husband dog-eared this 30-minute recipe, I thought I'd give it a go. Is it a keeper? The food: Chipotle Cashew Chicken with Brown Rice and Glazed Spinach ... More >>

The Penis-Size Map: One More Reason Texas Should Secede

Caution: Some of these estimates are "self-reported"​This map, from the website TargetMap, offers a vicious slur on American males when it comes to dick size, clearly giving us the short end of the stick, as it were. The trouble is, as far as we can tell, is that wimpy small-dick states like ... More >>

Prison Legal News No Longer Banned in Galveston Jail

The FUN part of jail time​We told you last year about a suit filed by the owners of Prison Legal News, who said officials at the Galveston County Jail were banning their publication (and pretty much all others). A settlement has been reached, and not only is PLN being delivered to prisoners, ... More >>

Grace Potter & the Nocturnals

The United States of Murder: A Map

Illustration by Monica FuentesClick here for larger version and more info​Serial killers and famous murderers have existed almost as long as mankind, we're sure. But as in so many things, the United States may just have perfected the thing. Each state has its own infamous episode, some very w ... More >>

Texas & Nuclear Waste: Federal Judge Opens Path For Expansion

Nuclear waste in Texas: It's not just for Vermont anymore​Environmental groups are crying foul over a federal judge's decision to lift a ban on allowing a state commission to greatly expand Texas's ability to accept nuclear waste from other states. U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks said Tuesday ... More >>

Brew Blog: Magic Hat's Blind Faith IPA

​We tried, okay? We were very patient, waiting for some flavor, any flavor, to show up in this beer. We texted, we called. We even called the flavor's roommate. No answer. This "limited-edition," variety-pack schwag sent over by Vermont's Magic Hat brewery is shaping up to be a bit odd. The ... More >>

Sampler Plate: This Week In Food Blogs

Each week, we put together a sampler plate of the most interesting links from both local and national food blogs. Know a blog we should be paying particular attention to? Leave the address in the comments section below. Cook's Tour: After many years of being a holdout despite her long-term Texas ci ... More >>

Game Time: Your March Madness Preview, Complete With WARNING LABEL

"If Kansas is the best team in the country, college basketball is going to suck this season." -- @SeanCablinasian on Twitter That was a post I had on Twitter, dated and time stamped 10:29 PM on November 17. Kansas was the top-ranked team in the country at the time, and they were plodding their way ... More >>

Artisan Chocolates at Whole Foods

​All-natural Lake Champlain Chocolates from Vermont are one of the stars of the Valentine's Day "Sweets for Your Sweetie" display at Whole Foods Market on Kirby. The company's chocolate blog is an amusing glimpse into life in a chocolate factory. I like the post about "frog day" on the manuf ... More >>

Holiday Cocktails

The owners of a respected Vermont restaurant and wine bar visited T'afia last weekend to hold a holiday cocktail camp benefiting local charity Live It Big. Sommelier Deirdre Heekin talked guests through the history of many of the spirits they sampled as chef Caleb Barber prepared each drink. T ... More >>

"Three"

Several Dancers Core searches the globe for the right choreographers

ZZ Top, Aerosmith Hit Woodlands July 17

Mark C. AustinMonday morning, word came down from Aerosmith and ZZ Top's respective camps, via Billboard, that the two boogie-rocking bands are teaming up for a massive world tour. After some digging, Rocks Off found out the tour makes its Houston-area stop Friday, July 17, at the Cynthia Wood ... More >>

A Taste of the Tasting Room

Photos by Jeff Balke Chef Steve Super, executive chef at The Tasting Room. Chef Steve Super has Gulf Coast cuisine honed to a fine art, surprising for someone who hails from Vermont and only recently made Texas his home. This time last year, Super was the executive chef at Steve and Erika ... More >>

THE GROVE'S MAPLE MANHATTAN

Top Ten Americana Albums of 2008

Picking the best folk and Americana records of the year isn't nearly as hard as discarding those great records that just didn't feel right stuck in the category. Releases by Calexico and DeVotchKa felt far too worldly to pigeonhole as folk or country, for instance, while Blitzen Trapper's fantastic ... More >>

Scorpion on a Plane!

FYI

Cruiserweight, with the Letters Organize, My Epiphany and Blackout Pact

Sunday, July 17, at Walter's on Washington, 4215 Washington Avenue, 713-863-1875.

Radio Daze

One man, one jambox and four walls. For 24 hours.

Draining the Swamp

A scorched-earth management philosophy is sucking the life out of our region's wetlands

Best Ice Cream

Crash Course

A stuntman is mightily impressed by Houston's rail crashes

Ice Ice Baby

Varnaline's Anders Parker goes cold when asked about his inspiration

Red Light, Green Light

With billboards of windmills promising gentle, nonpolluting energy, Green Mountain offers Texans a new power avenue. Will they take it? Should they?

Exiled from Main Street

David Mamet satirizes the loose morality of small-town America with his latest

The Curbside Critique

(Houston Sculpture 2000)

News of the Weird

Hot Plate

Dreyer's new "Dreamery" lineup

News of the Weird

Wunderkind

Flutist Christina Jennings poised to shine

Trench Warfare

There's a hole carved out of the earth 32 feet deep, 210 feet wide, and 400 feet long near the Texas-Mexico border.

Traveling Waste

On their way to West Texas, trucks carrying nuclear waste may be routed through your community

One Little, Two Little, 40 Little Indies

Worldfest-Houston offers movies you won't otherwise see

The Insider

Hot Dish