Houston Food Blog

Okay, so, maybe not the best two syllables to start off the name of a restaurant with. It's what's inside that counts.

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Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where we've already made reservations for Valentine's Day dinner at Hooters. We started this week off by chatting with meat revivalist Morgan Weber, who can get a steak back up on its feet and walking around as long as it's not cooked past medium well. Or maybe we're confusing "reviving" with "reanimating"? Either way, we would definitely crawl out of the grave for a shot at these alfajores, which look like delicious, chocolate hockey pucks. Chockey Pucks? Oh damn, we'd better copyright that immediately. Sadly, "Pizza of Love" is already taken.

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.

Houston Wok: David checks out the grand opening of the new Kim Son Cafe at Eldridge and Briar Forest, and finds Thai / Vietnamese / pan-Asian food so good it makes his "taste buds climax." We need to get over there, immediately.

29-95: John Hook takes a look at sushi from a decidedly different point of view than most reviewers -- an ethical one -- and finds that it's possible to get exotic sushi that's both scrumptious and sustainable.

Dirty Kitchen Adventures: Been looking for something a little different to bake for dessert? Try this dense and beautiful blood orange pound cake. Jen did, and she's got pointers on further improving the recipe.

Hummingbird Tongues: While we're sad that Rachael hasn't updated her blog in a while, these absolutely gorgeous photos of her Christmas meal are keeping us satiated. For now.

Blue State Carpetbagger: We always enjoy Tom's wine recommendations, especially when they're as delicious-sounding as this $21 Zinfandel. "A terrific mouthful"? We're sold.

Blue Jean Gourmet: Finally, in preparation for the upcoming Superbowl, Nishta has put together a list of simple, no-fail party favorites if you're feeling stumped in the cooking or creativity department.

Photo by Katharine Shilcutt

Throwdown judge Gracie Cavnar prepares to sample an entry.

​The big guns were brought out last night for the fourth -- and largest to date -- throwdown organized by Jenny Wang and the Houston Chowhounds: the Mushroom Throwdown at Vic & Anthony's. From the judging panel, which featured Texas Monthly food editor Patricia Sharpe and Houston Chronicle food editor Greg Morago (as well as our very own Ruthie Johnson), to the lineup of competing chefs, it was a night full of fantastic food and an ending no one could have predicted.

The range of chefs competing ran the gamut from Houston's old guard, rock star chefs like Robert Del Grande (RDG + Bar Annie) and Mark Cox (Mark's) to established, well-respected talent like Michael Kramer (VOICE) and Chris Shepherd (Catalan) to young ingenues like Cunninghame West (Valentino) and L.J. Wiley (Yelapa Playa Mexicana). Rounding out the competitor lineup were Carlos Rodriguez (Vic & Anthony), David Grossman (Branchwater Tavern), Grant Hunter (Brenner's on the Bayou) and Rebecca Masson.

Masson embodied a trifecta of curiosities: She was the only female competitor, the only pastry chef and the only entrant without a restaurant sponsoring her. While the other entrants had the backing of their restaurants -- along with their own armies of sous chefs and assistants -- Masson is currently unemployed and had only her trusty sous Tracie Hartman to help her out. She laughingly displayed her nametag for us, which listed the Texas Workforce Commission ("TWC") as her sponsor.

Photos by Marco Torres

Click here for a slideshow

​The third annual Saint Arnold One Pot Showdown took place at the brewery's brand-new location on Sunday afternoon, a day which closely resembled last year's Showdown in cold weather and cheerful competitiveness but not in food. While many of last year's competitors entered chilis, stews and gumbos -- all pretty typical foods to serve in one pot -- this year saw a burst of beer-inspired creativity.

From the tent manned by ninjas who created teriyaki meatballs to the Italian-inspired tent decorated with giant pieces of pasta (and with a coin toss where winners could win a Mario-and-Luigi-style mustache) that served up macaroni and cheese, the competitors seriously branched out this year. The rules of the One Pot Showdown are simple enough: Everything must be cooked on site, in one pot and with at least one Saint Arnold product (beer or root beer) as a featured ingredient.

​Last year, there was much dissension after the winners were announced: Other competitors believed that third-place winners Los Carnes TamALEs had prepared and cooked their Lawnmower-enhanced chicken tamales off-site, a clear violation of the rules. Lennie Ambrose, special events and marketing manager for the brewery, made sure that wasn't the case this year as he carefully inspected every single tent and pot of food himself.

As the guests milled around the tents, sampling food and quaffing pints of Elissa IPA and Winter Stout, a panel of judges convened upstairs. Again, Ambrose wanted to make sure that no judges' credibility could be called into question, so he composed the panel carefully: Chris Shepherd, owner and executive chef of Catalan; Jake Rainey, general manager of the Flying Saucer; Doak Procter, previous One Pot competitor and certified beer judge; television reporters (and husband-wife team) Joel Eisenbaum and Amy Davis; and me.

Dallas was recently the host for the student culinary competition in that region.

​Students armed with knives are set to meet at Westside High School on February 20. Local school districts know all about it and are doing absolutely nothing to stop it.

At issue:

• Knife skills: who can chop, slice and dice vegetables at the precise direction of a professional chef
• Cooking skills: who can do the best job of putting together an appetizer, entrée and desert combo
• Presentation skills: as in, what does the menu you develop look like
• Tackling a chicken: break down a whole chicken in a presentable - not hacking - way.

It's the first-ever Food Service Prep/ProStart Launch regional competition being held in Houston, and it's open to the public. Teams from eight local high schools will compete - the top three get to go on to state to meet the top finishers from other regional competitions (in Dallas and Austin). The one winner at state goes on to nationals. And all of them have the chance to win scholarship money.

​Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where they can have our melted cheese dispenser guns when they pry them from our sticky dead hands. Big news this week was last Sunday's successful Cupcake Smackdown, in which many cupcakes were indeed smacked down and pastries in general were showed who's boss.

Greenway Barista got to explore the wonderland of meat that is Butcher's in New Orleans, and Robb Walsh ate some perfectly smashing pumpkin jam then washed it down with pork cracklins and beer for second breakfast, because in case you didn't know, Robb is a hobbit. We call him "Robbit."

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.

Hungry In Houston: A newcomer to the local food blog scene, this husband-and-wife duo shares recipes and vibrant food photos from their adventures. We enjoyed their recent post on how to keep your burgers from drying out while they're on the grill. Good thing to know for Super Bowl time...

Houston Foodie: After a long hiatus, Ruggles Grill finally reopened this month. Chris gives its new, slow food-inspired menu a shot and finds that it manages to retain some of the old Ruggles flavor in a new, exciting way.

H Town Chow Down: Albert "tests the hype" by trying the ribs at Jasper's -- the Dallas transplant in The Woodlands -- for the first time. No offense to The Woodlands, but good barbecue definitely won't be found in an upscale Dallas interloper. We've enjoyed Jasper's food otherwise, however.

Bakin 'n' Bacon: There's no denying that fernet branca is of the devil. But Plinio tries to soften it a little by making it into an ice cream, with surprisingly delicious results.

Dude, You Going To Eat That?: Ever heard of an anti-griddle? Get ready for some dry ice, some mango puree and some science.

Guns and Tacos: You know what your iPhone was missing? Some taco apps. Jay's here to guide you.

Photos by Groovehouse

That's a lot of cupcakes...

​We lost count of the guests somewhere around the 300-person mark. The crumbs and frosting of 144 different cupcakes smeared most of the available table surfaces. Empty cups of milk and wine lay discarded across the room. And our panel of five judges were fairly begging for a platter of spicy, salty, greasy food after tasting 24 super-sweet cupcakes apiece. But we accomplished our goal last night at Block 7 Wine Company of crowning the best cupcake in town.

It wasn't easy, though. With six different metrics to judge (cake taste, cake texture, frosting taste, frosting texture, cake-to-frosting ratio and overall apperance), our panel had quite a task in front of them. Judge Jody Stevens, owner of Jodycakes and pastry chef at Gravitas, explained her somewhat messy process to us: "First I stick my finger in the frosting to feel its consistency, then I taste it. Then I take a piece of cake to feel it, then I taste it. Then I take an overall bite to see how they taste together." Blindfolded, this process led to the judging table covered in crumbs, spilled drinks, glops of frosting and generally looking as though a set of toddlers had had a field day with a box full of the desserts.

Although there was some confusion about whether the public would be able to taste the cupcakes (bakeries were only asked to bring enough cupcakes for the judges) or whether any cupcakes were available for purchase (Block 7 made several enormous batches that went as quickly as they were set out), guests seemed to have a good time and raised an enormous amount of food and money for the Houston Food Bank as they watched the judges polish off cake after cake.

Hi there, Minsa! Take your seat next to Sun Maid raisins and Land-O-Lakes butter in the "Totally Bangable Food Mascots" section.

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Welcome back to the weekly round-up here at Eating Our Words, where we're waiting until there's a public health care option to organize our Inappropriately Fried Foods Festival. We can't wait until you guys get to try our patented mac 'n' cheese corn dogs! Greenway Barista started off the week with some oyster porn, and Robb revealed the choice breakfast for those who want to start the day right: a big bowl of meat. Ruthie Johnson went to Hot Pot City and didn't try the pig uterus, which as far as we're concerned should be a criminal offense.

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.

Foodie Houston: We can't disagree with Jodie's statement that "Chris Shepherd Rocks." It's a universal truth, along with gravity and lost socks in the dryer and bread always landing buttered-side down. Read along as Jodie describes Chef Shepherd's latest Farm-To-Table dinner at Catalan (complete with photos).

Cook's Tour: Alison Cook at the Chron takes a question that's been battered around on Twitter lately to her blog: Can the restaurant service in Houston be too friendly at times?

Whole Fish: We love triggerfish, especially prepared in a crudo or ceviche. In fact, it was our favorite dish at a recent 13-course meal at Yelapa. But Bryan Caswell shows us why not everyone loves this homely-looking fish.

Houston Foodie: Baytown might be home to the world's largest strawberry shortcake, but Chris finds out -- sadly -- that it's not home to any good tacos. Luckily, he does find some other good culinary surprises there.

Tasty Bits: Because there can never be enough mouthwatering food photography around these parts, we'll leave you today with Misha's roundup of his favorite food photos from 2009. Included are shots from local restaurants like Rainbow Lodge, VOICE and Burns' BBQ as well as national and international joints that make us completely jealous (albeit in a loving way).

Photo courtesy of Geeks Who Drink

Posing with the winners and their official EOW aprons. Aren't they spiffy?

​ ​Last night found Eating Our Words in a bar with a pint of Fireman's #4. That part isn't unusual. What was unusual was the fact that we had a microphone in our hand, loudly asking a bar full of people "What sexually-transmitted disease causes yellow or green-yellow discharge from a man's penis?" Yeah, we thought the "man" part of the question was redundant too.

As promised, we were the guest triviamaster at last night's Geeks Who Drink pub trivia game, held three nights a week in Houston. Thursday nights find Will Salerno leading the trivia challenge from a real penalty box at the hockey-themed, vaguely Canadian pub (although the table of mincy Quebecois men loudly arguing in French at the back definitely added an air of authenticity).

There was barely room to walk inside the crowded bar and it was standing room only by 8 p.m. Even as guest triviamaster, we stood the entire time -- you'd think that position would come with a throne, or at least a director's chair complete with beret and megaphone or something. But we did have a microphone.

SQUIRT! Haha, caughtcha nappin'!

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Welcome back to the weekly round-up here at Eating Our Words, where today we're contemplating the design of the turtle, and thinking perhaps creatures known for making good soup shouldn't be walking around with their own bowl strapped to their backs. We're also contemplating entering the Cooking Fail contest, although to make it fair, the Shameless Chef has promised not to submit an entry.

Robb Walsh started the week off with an educational look at red beans and rice, and Jane Catherine Collins had some Spanish wine with her tater tots. Mmm, sulfites!

​Blame Bite Me Houston. A simple comment this morning on Twitter about sandwiches turned into all-out war, with people choosing peanut butter over friendship, jelly over love. Mike Cortez (the man behind Bite Me Houston) stated this morning: "There should be a law that peanut butter and jelly sammiches should only be made with white bread."

We had to agree. When it comes to non-meat-based sandwiches, we are frighteningly picky. We aren't picky in any realm of food other than sandwiches, but at least it appears we aren't alone. For us, the only acceptable non-meat sandwiches are constructed thusly:

Peanut Butter & Jelly: Crunchy peanut butter (Peter Pan brand), grape jelly (Smuckers brand) and white bread. No other jelly flavors are acceptable. Jam is not acceptable. Creamy peanut butter is only acceptable if we are on a desert island.

Peanut Butter & Banana: Crunchy peanut butter, half of a banana (the other half is served on the side), honey and wheat bread. White bread won't stand up to all the ingredients here, and is only to be used for PB&Js, nothing else.

Stating the law of PB&Js did not lead to agreement, happiness and brotherly sandwich love. Instead, within seconds, controversy had erupted from all sides: "Peter Pan above all others? Whaaaat?" "Strawberry hater." "I'd like to call shenanigans on @she_eats' PB&J rule. Jam is fine, so is strawberry jelly. Fool." "Fail. Raspberry jelly only. With creamy Jif. 'Tis all about how we are raised!" "THAT IS BULL. THIS FRIENDSHIP IS OFF. ENJOY YOUR GRAPE JELLY, MOTHER EFFER."

Wow. Harsh.

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.

Chicken Fried Texan: Arguing the well-reasoned point that chicken-fried steak is the average Texan's favorite food behind chili, CFT is on the hunt for the best CFS in the state. His last stop was at Frank's Restaurant in Schulenburg. Best line: "The only vegetable in sight was a sprig of parsley (which I declined to eat for health reasons)."

H Town Chow Down: Responding to a Twitter war that erupted today over Robb Walsh's edict that "2010 will be the year of the valet revolt," Albert chimes in on why he agrees with Walsh and challenges those who disagree to explain their reasons.

Guns and Tacos: With a new web banner that makes me want to worship Our Lady of AK-47s, Jay responds to the news that he was nominated for a Shorty Award. He's currently in fifth place out of every Twitter user in the nation. Go show him some love, folks.

Cleverley's Blog: If you enjoyed reading about Robb Walsh's review of Branchwater Tavern this week, go check out some of Cleverley's photos from a recent tasting there (including pictures of FOH man Evan Turner and the soon-to-be-famous Bloody Mary).

Fred Eats Houston: Searching out the best places to eat crawfish this season, Fred runs down a list of favorite spots before finally settling on Cajun Corner. Was it good? Read on...

Great Food Houston: Finally, our own Ruthie Johnson runs down the "state of the city" with regard to our dining scene, trends and hopes she holds for 2010. A thought-provoking read with great photos that begs for some comment interaction.

​Above is a photo of a cake that I attempted to bake when I was 14 years old (also known as the age at which I was really old enough to know better). Because I was -- and admittedly still am -- impatient, I couldn't wait for the hot cake to cool before frosting it. The result was a pastry abomination that looked as if had just suffered from a debilitating stroke. Luckily, the birthday boy (Ralph, my stepfather) thought it was the best cake he'd ever received. I think it's only because he didn't pay for it from a bakery.

If you have worse kitchen disasters than this -- and God knows some of you must -- you're in luck. There's a contest tailored specifically to just our kind of kitchen spazziness and ineptitude: the Worst Cooks In America Challenge on Food2.com. The folks behind Food2.com explain:

If cooking isn't in your repertoire, Food2.com is looking for photos of those fantastic culinary FAILS. Whether your blender went a little too over-the-top or your meal looks like something out of a sci-fi flick, we want to see it!

Inspired by Food Network's brand-new series, Worst Cooks in America, users can log on to Food2.com to share photos of their worst kitchen efforts.

Multiple entries will be accepted from those of you who are truly trainwrecks in the kitchen, but you must have taken the photos yourself. That is, no pulling pictures off Cake Wrecks and claiming them as your own.

The deadline to submit your photos at Food2.com is January 25. The real fun kicks off the next day when voting begins. We have absolutely no idea what the winner receives other than the ridicule of their peers. But isn't that worth it?

God, there could be anything in there. You first. No, please, we insist. Let us know if it's filled with spiders, because that means we're having that stupid nightmare again.

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Welcome back to the weekly round-up here at Eating Our Words, where we've built a little fort out of our vast stockpile of holiday leftovers. To start things off this week, Greenway Barista checked out the frogurt at Blueberry Hill. Aw, we're calling it "froyo" now? That's not nearly as fun. Certainly not as much fun as gifting yourself a whole bunch of beer on Christmas and watching your relatives shoot concerned glances at one another.

Tooling around on the Internet the other day as we are wont to do when there's nothing on TV and it's horribly drizzly outside, we stumbled across something that brightened our entire day (granted, that's pretty easy to do -- we're easily amused here at Eating Our Words): Monkeys. Eating. Jell-O.

The difficulty with which the little squirrel monkeys eat the Jell-O and their confusion at having some odd, gelatinous substance encasing their normal treat -- blueberries -- is simply priceless. If you were presented with Jell-O and had never seen it before (and had the intellectual capacity of a three-year-old), we imagine you'd probably approach the food in the same way.

The video sent us off on a journey to find other cute animals eating food and -- being the Internet, and all -- there's plenty of footage out there. Below are four more of our favorite videos of animals at mealtime. Dig in.

​Then you'll want to join us on Thursday, January 14, at 8 p.m. at the Maple Leaf Pub for a very special edition of Geeks Who Drink. I'll be serving as the guest trivia master (or maven, as it were) at the Thursday edition of the weekly pub quiz series and am issuing a challenge to all of you food connoisseurs to come show us what you're made of.

For those not in the know, Geeks Who Drink is based out of Denver and hosts weekly pub trivia tournaments across the country. In Houston, GWD hosts pub trivia at Little Woodrow's in Rice Village on Tuesdays at 8 p.m., at Little Woodrow's in Midtown on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. and at the Maple Leaf Pub on Thursdays. Unlike those impersonal NTN handheld devices, however, Geeks Who Drink features a real, live trivia master asking the questions and interacting with the crowd.

To get you geared up for the tournament, here are a few sample questions as a warmup. Think these are easy? Then drag your butt out from behind Google and come play for real on January 14. (Yes, there will be prizes.)

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.

The Wynk: Melissa shows off a beautiful homemade veggie pizza, complete with homemade dough from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, which we really need to check out.

Coffee Corner: While we cannot deny the fact that Mike is a mad genius (his luscious pork rillettes speak to that), we have to draw the line somewhere. And that somewhere is making everything into aspic. Sorry, Mike.

29-95: The Chron's we-promise-we're-not-affiliated-with-the-Chronicle-cause-we're-young-and-hip site has brought one of our favorite food bloggers on board, Guns and Tacos. He shares a truly hilarious tale of his triumphant taco-hunting expedition with us in "A Taco Hunter Strikes Gold."

Chili Bob's Houston Eats: We're reluctant to even share this, since Chili Bob got these particular eats at our favorite Mexican restaurant -- one which is mercifully never packed to the gills with throngs of gabachos. But if you want to see some delicious and dangerously addictive enchiladas, head on over.

Houston Wok: Back with a new banner for the new year ("Your Daily Dose of Food Porn"), David has a recipe that he promises will beat back the blustery weather this week: canh dua chua, or Chinese pickled mustard soup. We want some right now.

Photo by This Is Freaking Ridiculous

An AK-47 made entirely out of bacon? Yup, that's pretty much 2009 summed up.

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So this is the time of year when we normally say things like "Wow, another year gone by already!" and "Can ya believe it's almost 2010?" and "Say there, how come you just broke my nose?" That last one is something you say if you've been ruminating on the quickness of 2009 in our vicinity, because it wasn't fast at all, to us. 2009 was a long, hellishly slow slog through... well, nevermind. No need to go over all the bad stuff again. Why not look on the bright side? And we did have a bright side this year: Our humble little food blog is doing better than it ever has before, largely thanks to the participation of you, the reader. Here are some highlights we've all enjoyed throughout the year, and then some other highlights that pissed people off with the burning anger of a thousand white-hot suns.

Photo by B. Tse

​Whether you love them or hate them, you can't escape them -- not even if you leave Houston. Over the past ten years, Landry's has become a household name. Besides owning such well-known restaurants as Saltgrass Steak House, Aquarium, and Vic and Anthony's, Landry's has dabbled in the hotel and gaming industry, opening the Inn at the Ballpark in 2004 and acquiring Las Vegas's Golden Nugget in 2005.

Called the Donald Trump of the restaurant industry, Tilman Fertitta is the founder and President of Landry's Restaurants, Inc. He first entered the restaurant industry in the early 1980s, and it has been a rollercoaster ever since. Whether you're in Houston, San Antonio, Denver or Kansas City, you're sure to find Fertitta's footprint.

In 2003, Landry's opened the infamous Downtown Aquarium here in Houston. The Disneyland-esque attraction includes a 100,000-gallon, floor-to-ceiling aquarium; a 200,000-gallon shark tank; and a Ferris wheel. But Landry's isn't just chain restaurants and amusement parks. It owns some of Houston's most high-dollar restaurants, including Brenner's Steakhouse and Pesce.

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.

Owing to all the food blog activity over the last few weeks, this is an all-local edition. See? The local movement is even making its way into our weekly food blog sampler. So go pay your neighboring food bloggers a visit and check out their offerings.

H Town Chow Down: Albert sends the year out in style with his 2009 ChowDown awards, featuring categories like Opening of the Year, Restauranteur of the Year and the amusing Foodie Accessory of the Year (hint: foodies are tech geeks, too).

Dirty Kitchen Adventures: Jen perks up the blustery winter weather with this simply divine-sounding dish: butternut squash latkes with savory yogurt sauce. Get your cast iron skillets at the ready -- you'll want to make these as soon as you get home.

Bite Me Houston: Mike gives us the inside scoop on yet another brand-new Houston microbrewery, this one in the Katy area and still brewing out of the founder's garage: No Label Brewing Co.. Could it rival Saint Arnold's one day? Brewmaster Brian Royo hopes so.

Great Food Houston: When Ruthie promised the greatest app ever, we immediately looked to our iPhones (see tech geek statement above). But she actually meant the greatest appetizer ever: brie with dulce de leche. Yes, we're all beating ourselves up for not thinking of this first.

Foodie Houston: Jodie tried out the brand-spanking-new Haven and had a very different experience there than we did (more on that later). High points of the meal? The buttery escolar, bacon spaetzle and goat's buttermilk pecan pie.

Dude, You Going to Eat That?: Another new restaurant, another meal of escolar -- this time it was Dr. Ricky trying out Yelapa. But this isn't your typical restaurant review. Ricky brought his own ingredients to dinner and, well, just read on to see the results of this admittedly different restaurant-patron interaction...

Eat Local or Die: Jonathan Jones revives his long-abandoned food blog as a result of being scared shitless by Food Inc. Check out the trailer for yourself and then see Robb Walsh's take on the butchery portion of it in particular (beware: graphic video content).

Houston Foodie: And now for the food porn... Chris has just posted his top 10 food photos of 2009, including the infamous pig snout that appeared here on Eating Our Words. Enjoy!

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.

Greens and Beans: Randy Rucker has announced yet another of his popular Tenacity supper club dinners. This one will take place on New Year's Eve at Paulie's (1834 Westheimer) and will fill up quickly, so make your reservations now.

Bakin 'n' Bacon: Plinio Sandalio, pastry chef at Textile, asks the question, "Why hasn't anyone used foie [gras] as a full-on dessert?" In his post, he gives two recipes for the adventurous chef at home: foie gras ice cream and foie gras buttercream.

Feed the Heights: Theo has written up a highly relevant and well-reasoned manifesto for restaurants on how to create the perfect website. No auto-playing music. No Flash graphics. No PDFs. Your customers deserve a better website, folks.

Blue State Carpetbagger: Looking for a great holiday wine for your Christmas dinner or to give as a gift? Tom has found a beautiful Chateauneuf de Pape -- 2005 Chante Cigale -- for $10 to $15 less than you'd pay for a similar bottle. You can thank him in his comments section.

Teethpicks: Andrea was inspired by the cilantro-based chicken hara masala at local favorite restaurant Himalaya and decided to make her own at home. Feeling adventurous? She's got a recipe for you (complete with habanero pepper!)

Superbanana slumbers innocently, unaware that he will soon face his fearsome arch-nemesis: Krypto-Monkey.

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Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where we've decided to keep all these sausage and cheese Christmas gift baskets for ourselves. Jane Catherine Collins certainly helped us get this week started off right with her top 5 holiday hangover cures. After spending a late night partying with Rocks Off, this article is a particular godsend to TWiD today. (We drank a bucket of Long Island Iced Tea, among other things.)

After some gas station taquitos (which, often as not, are the best kind), we enjoyed some street-vendor crepes and some fine wurst. That reminds us of the time we met Britt Daniel in line at a street vendor booth called "Best Wurst" in Austin during South by Southwest. Nice guy. The wurst was just okay, though.

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.

Dude, You Going To Eat That? Dr. Ricky has been quite prolific lately, owing in part to a recent trip to New Orleans and his reports from the Big Easy. Back in Houston, however, he took a trip to Molina's with Jay Francis (our erstwhile Food Explorer) and was completely baffled by a queso puff. Hey, it's cheesy -- pardon the pun -- old school Tex-Mex at its finest!

Blue Jean Gourmet: Our new favorite local food blogger, Nishta has a recipe for grilled cheese that isn't at all what you're thinking of and is entirely drool-inducing. Consider your horizons expanded, folks.

Guns and Tacos: The taco truck terrier, sniffing out the greatest stands and mobile units in Houston, goes on the hunt for the elusive Tacos El Palmar. It's like Indiana Jones meets a taqueria. In the best way possible.

Chili Bob's Houston Eats: Speaking of taco trucks, Chili Bob leads us on a food tour of Harwin from Hillcroft all the way to Highway 6, hitting seven different stands along the way.

Blog Of An Aspiring Foodie: Ed went to Beer Camp this week. Beer Camp. The greatest camp that ever existed. Yes, we're more than slightly jealous. His latest post has all of his tasting notes from the camp that we weren't invited to. Thanks, Ed.

Beyond Beltway 8: Cory Crow hands out his annual Munchie Awards for food writing / blogging / eating / activities throughout 2009. Robb Walsh is mentioned conspicuously, which is the only reason we're linking to what is basically a bunch of pissing and moaning. But isn't most food blogging?

This Christmas, every little German child wants a Volkswagen stuffed with these.

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Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where our special brand of Christmas party punch can double as deck sealant and paint stripper. Greenway Barista started off the week with some deep-dish Chicago pizza that looks like a crust-bowl filled with cheese and marinara, which is a good way to start off any week.

Robb Walsh enjoyed some chicharonnes at Leña Verde, and Lauren McKechnie enjoyed some gourmet mac and shells at the Oceanaire Seafood Room. Jane Catherine Collins continues to pair wine with junk food, and not to be biased, but that pretty much makes her TWiD's favorite columnist of anything, ever.

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.

Beyond Beltway 8: Although he shut down his previous food blog, Cory Crow (our Best of Houston® 2009 winner for Best Local Blogger) is now operating another incarnation with a different name. In his latest post, he goes even farther beyond the confines of Beltway 8 than expected, to the fine-looking J&W Grill in Chickasha, Oklahoma for their fried onion burger.

Great Food Houston: Over at her personal food blog, our own Ruthie Johnson reports on taking her students on a field trip to Ocean Palace for dim sum. Did these high schoolers love or hate the Chinese meal?

Bakin 'n' Bacon: Let them eat cake, indeed. Pastry chef Plinio Sandalio discusses his plans for a 10-course, all cake dessert tasting, each one to be ambitiously paired with ice cream. Among the cakes are pumpkin cake with brown butter ice cream and brown butter pound cake with goat cheese ice cream.

Houston Wok: Although Thanksgiving has passed, we loved this photograph and diagram of David's family's Thanksgiving spread complete with spring rolls, creamy beef noodles, banh khot and banh it tran.

So wait... someone who doesn't live in a dorm sells Frito Pie made with Doritos?

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Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where today's snowfall has got us breaking out the 55-gallon drum of chicken soup.

We started the week off with Greenway Barista's daring proclamation of the best cafe in Texas, and Robb Walsh discovering that the new Kim Son cafe delivers, although only in the literal sense of the word. Lauren McKechnie provided some great cold weather foods from local establishments, and Jane Catherine Collins tried some spicy wine paired with barbecue. Sounds tasty, although still not sure it can hold a candle to TWiD's favorite pairing: Thunderbird and beef jerky.