"Home."
My family moved to the north Austin suburbs back in 2000, well before my then-hero degenerated to villainy. He had just gotten out of the military and we decided that living in the Austin area would be much better for his career than returning home to Wisconsin. (It is very difficult to find a decent-paying technical job in Wisconsin without a degree of any kind and Austin was an easier market for him to find a job.) So he found a technician job and we found a house in the suburbs that we could afford with my income and his expected income combined, and we bought it.
It was brand new construction -- in one of those subdivisions filled with what I like to call "cookie cutter" houses. Almost finished when we bought it, the only option I chose was the color scheme of the carpet and paint. Of course, over the eight years we were there, I... eh hem... "we" changed the paint and some of the flooring was changed. But that is beside the point. The point is that it was our house, where we raised our children and brand new.
I... again I mean "we" (because a mighty man of great determination had to dig the holes in the rock-hard soil)... planted every tree and every bush. The first tree we put in was a flowering pear tree right outside the front door. I thought it would be nice to look at a pretty tree instead of the street when I opened my door. I would have been right. (See the photo.) But the tree was still small eight years later, when we had to leave our home.
That first year in the Austin suburb of Leander was also the year I got hired to work as a cashier at Taco Bell, a few miles south of my home on Highway 183 -- which is how I discovered+ Smokey Mo's Barbecue. The original Smokey Mo's is located in a shopping plaza just across the street from the shopping plaza where "my" Taco Bell can be found to this very day.
Back in those days, there were two men working lunch at the cramped spot in a short strip mall -- which was not a problem because the restaurant was new and the area was somewhat remote. Of course, this was well before the highways around it were broadened and people started streaming into the area. But like I was saying, those two men always worked the lunch counter. I did not know their names, so I referred to them (in my head) as Smokey and Mo.
Well, I was half right. One of them was named Mo, the owner, and he looks just like the avatar on the barbecue sauce label. (The other guy's name was Al and I became friendly with his wife after she, also, came to work at the restaurant.)
That is the story that I told the Smokey Mo's employees when Anne and I stopped by for an early dinner... and 6 big bottles of Mo's own blend of barbecue sauce. (Shipping is just way too expensive to order it from Wisconsin again. I determined I would rather spend my money on gasoline to drive down and stock up on the addictive stuff.) Of course, I only made it home with 5 bottles. One of them stayed with Anne.
And then I took a photo of their menu so I could show photographic evidence to the folks in my new hometown. Are there any hamburgers on the menu of a genuine barbecue? No! Barbecue does NOT mean "hamburger." Argh.
(Truth be told, though, there are hamburgers available at some of the other, newer, Smokey Mo's locations around Austin. Non-Texans walk in and want hamburgers. So restaurant ownership complied with customer demand. Still, hamburgers are NOT their main menu choice.)
I am thoroughly addicted to one dish in
particular. I almost always order it when I am there... although I do like the smoked sausage, too... and the brisket sandwiches... and their... OMG I need to go back! Groan. Well, back to the point. My favorite dish that I most miss is called a "chopped baker." I had one with Anne on the way down (and then went back by myself for another a few days later). It is a large baked potato piled high with toppings and chopped, barbecue brisket. That with a big cup of sweet tea? Mmmm.... Heaven. I was so stuffed when I left the building.
Well, so that is where Anne and I stopped for an early dinner on our way down to my son's house and that is why we were a little more than an hour later than he expected us to arrive. Now that I know he was sick... well, I feel kinda bad that we didn't call to let him know we would be later than we originally thought. But I am oh so glad that we got to eat genuine Texas barbecue and stock up on that yummy Mo' sauce.
My family moved to the north Austin suburbs back in 2000, well before my then-hero degenerated to villainy. He had just gotten out of the military and we decided that living in the Austin area would be much better for his career than returning home to Wisconsin. (It is very difficult to find a decent-paying technical job in Wisconsin without a degree of any kind and Austin was an easier market for him to find a job.) So he found a technician job and we found a house in the suburbs that we could afford with my income and his expected income combined, and we bought it.
It was brand new construction -- in one of those subdivisions filled with what I like to call "cookie cutter" houses. Almost finished when we bought it, the only option I chose was the color scheme of the carpet and paint. Of course, over the eight years we were there, I... eh hem... "we" changed the paint and some of the flooring was changed. But that is beside the point. The point is that it was our house, where we raised our children and brand new.I... again I mean "we" (because a mighty man of great determination had to dig the holes in the rock-hard soil)... planted every tree and every bush. The first tree we put in was a flowering pear tree right outside the front door. I thought it would be nice to look at a pretty tree instead of the street when I opened my door. I would have been right. (See the photo.) But the tree was still small eight years later, when we had to leave our home.
That first year in the Austin suburb of Leander was also the year I got hired to work as a cashier at Taco Bell, a few miles south of my home on Highway 183 -- which is how I discovered
Back in those days, there were two men working lunch at the cramped spot in a short strip mall -- which was not a problem because the restaurant was new and the area was somewhat remote. Of course, this was well before the highways around it were broadened and people started streaming into the area. But like I was saying, those two men always worked the lunch counter. I did not know their names, so I referred to them (in my head) as Smokey and Mo.
Well, I was half right. One of them was named Mo, the owner, and he looks just like the avatar on the barbecue sauce label. (The other guy's name was Al and I became friendly with his wife after she, also, came to work at the restaurant.)
That is the story that I told the Smokey Mo's employees when Anne and I stopped by for an early dinner... and 6 big bottles of Mo's own blend of barbecue sauce. (Shipping is just way too expensive to order it from Wisconsin again. I determined I would rather spend my money on gasoline to drive down and stock up on the addictive stuff.) Of course, I only made it home with 5 bottles. One of them stayed with Anne.
And then I took a photo of their menu so I could show photographic evidence to the folks in my new hometown. Are there any hamburgers on the menu of a genuine barbecue? No! Barbecue does NOT mean "hamburger." Argh.
(Truth be told, though, there are hamburgers available at some of the other, newer, Smokey Mo's locations around Austin. Non-Texans walk in and want hamburgers. So restaurant ownership complied with customer demand. Still, hamburgers are NOT their main menu choice.)
I am thoroughly addicted to one dish in
Well, so that is where Anne and I stopped for an early dinner on our way down to my son's house and that is why we were a little more than an hour later than he expected us to arrive. Now that I know he was sick... well, I feel kinda bad that we didn't call to let him know we would be later than we originally thought. But I am oh so glad that we got to eat genuine Texas barbecue and stock up on that yummy Mo' sauce.
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