Lunch Report: Spoonz at HEB Plus on Potranco...

I know this will sound hard to believe coming from this blog, but my wife and I could not find a place that we wanted to eat on Sunday. Don't get me wrong, we have an extensive list of places we want to try, but with timing always being a factor, sometimes we are limited in where we can go. And of course, Sundays are always made harder by the fact that many places just don't open.
After an hour of Google searches, a thorough page-by-page examination of our Entertainment coupon book, and quite frankly, a little disgust with the whole situation, we decided to just go and do our HEB Plus shopping and grab a bite at the Spoonz Diner.

Side Note: We could have easily had ham and turkey leftovers, but really, how much of that stuff can you take?We've had Spoonz before and generally, I have a pretty good opinion of them. The place is clean, they have a fairly good selection, and it is all pretty reasonable. As long as you keep in mind, it is a diner in a grocery store.
We wanted to make it quick so we both ordered the Angus Burger Combo Meal situation. I added bacon to mine. It made us laugh that the Angus burgers were actually those frozen patties that HEB sells in the frozen section. Why not?
First off, you have to give them credit. I think the Spoonz folks go out of their way to offer up a good looking bun - toasted on the grill even, and served with fresh lettuce, pickle & tomato. My bacon was large and thick, though a little chewy for some reason. And the fries they serve are just wonderful.
My complaint with this was, the burger itself comes out dry and overcooked. I can't tell if this is because they are required to cook it really, really, well done for legal reasons, or if it is already cooked well done and they just heat it up on the grill for too long to avoid having you bite into a frozen piece of cooked meat.

Either way, I would have gladly taken the fries and the bun with fixin's home, and plopped my own burger onto it.

I knew I should have ordered the Reuben.

My HEB Plus Trip: Chaps, Rage, Pillows, Love...

I've had a fairly dry-spell when it comes to pictures of goofy things. It isn't that I haven't seen goofy things and it isn't that I haven't whipped out my camera for pictures, but I have to tell you that my wife recently purchased me a new Canon Powershot A2000 IS, and I am having some issues with the power-up, aim and shoot that I was so comfortable with on my previous Canon. In the end, I've taken some pictures that I just didn't feel like posting.
Okay - here is an example of my issue. On Thursday, I was coming up Bandera Road getting ready to turn onto Grissom to head into 78250, when I see this awesome display of coolness walking up the street. How can you not appreciate a rodeo cowboy wearing shorts and chaps? I know. With my old camera, this would have been a shot suitable for People of WalMart (though he was not in WalMart). Anyway, I'll get it together and offer you better quality photos as warranted.

In fact, today, we had lunch with my mother-in-law then decided to hit the HEB Plus on Potranco at 1604 for an abbreviated version of our normal Sunday shopping. As we were heading north/east on 1604 before Potranco, this guy in a Silverado came up fast behind the van in the left lane. I know how I hate to be boxed in by do-gooders her want to go exactly the speed limit, so I can understand how the guy in the truck would be pissed having to go from about 80mph down to 60 or whatever the speed is. But I don't honk my horn and try to be a jerk about it.
This guy, a young kid from what I could see, got up on the mini-van and just blasted his horn. I know exactly what the guy in the mini-van was saying to his wife: I'm doing the speed limit and I can be in any lane I choose (or something equally obnoxious). Even so, the guy in the white truck was a jerk and we laughed when we turned off and saw that he was stuck at the light at Potranco. Slow drivers in the left lane suck, but people who tailgate and honk are just as bad.
We cut through the Kohls parking lot (I know, you can get a ticket for that) and I saw this little gem. Have you noticed people get more and more casual as the temperature gets cooler? For those of you up north, it was a biting cold 62 degrees here in SA. Anyway, the fact that this lady is in her pajamas doesn't bother me. What concerns me is, she seems to be returning pillows to Kohls. Is that even legal? Oh sure, those legal tags are still on there, but now I am concerned that if I were to someday go and purchase new pillows, am I going to be sleeping on something that somebody else returned? I mean, can you return underwear? I just can't imagine walking in to the returns line and saying, "Uh, yea, I got this here pillow that doesn't work. Yea, that's my drool, is that a problem?"
And finally, parked in the lot at the HEB Plus, this fancy paint job. You know, just yesterday I was watching Overhaulin on HD Network and I saw that Foose guy do a makeover on an old VW van. It was pretty awesome. I wonder if Foose had anything to do with this effort?

Places Not to Eat and Other Important Notes...

I have been busier than a one-legged man in an ass kickin' contest, so I regret that I will have to consolidate several posts into a single report here. In addition to going through the entire process of setting up a new computer and all that entails; getting files transferred, and all the pain of that, I have several other projects I am working on that have left me little time to post, watch TV, eat, sleep, and oh by the way, work full time. I told my neighbor Gus, if it wasn't for the pesky 10 hours a day for work, I could probably get a lot more stuff done.

So anyway, trying to consolidate things I had been having "issues" with my awesome computer. Long story short, I went to PC Outlet and bought one of those refurbished Dells loaded with Windows XP (which is what I wanted), a huge hard drive (which is what I needed) and 2 Gigs of memory (which is the least I can deal with), all for $269. Oh sure, I had to spend a few more bucks here and there to make everything suitable, but it beat going out and buying a full new system. Oh, and if any of you can give me explicit, detailed step-by-step instructions on how to make my DVD-drive work after adding a second 500Gb hard-drive, I'd appreciate the knowledge.

UPDATE: Kudos and thanks to reader Anon E. Mouse who sent me an e-mail with enough info to help me check my settings and fix the problem. He is a computer consultant, so if you need help of your own, why not give him a call?

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So on the same day we went to PC Outlet, we decided to go eat at a BBQ place I found on the Google. Interesting story, sort of. A few weeks ago, I was looking for a place to eat and I was doing the usual thing of opening up a Google map of the general location we wanted to go, then start doing searches on businesses with keywords such as BBQ or Diner or whatever.

I stumbled upon this place and went to the web page. It was more of a catering business but they mentioned having a restaurant. When I looked at the bio of the owner, sure enough, he was a guy my wife went to high school with. And for this reason (and probably why I would never make it as a good critic) I won't bother to mention the name of the establishment (though you can probably figure it out).

Anyway, the day I did the search, it was on a Sunday. They are closed on Sunday and Monday. Long story short; it took us several weeks before we could finally get to the place, and it was this past Saturday.

We find the place over on San Antonio's east side. Between the Alamodome and AT&T Center. We followed Garmin to the appointed intersection along Commerce Street, but I never did see a restaurant. Finally, I decided to pull into a convenience store and ask for directions, and my wife says, "Oh, there it is." And I respond, "Where?" And she points at the convenience store and says "There!".Yes, this is my kind of hole in the wall. A restaurant in a convenience store.

I asked her if she wanted to just skip it, but I think we both agreed that it was worth going in and at least getting the food to go.

Let me fast forward to the actual food. We both ordered a combo deal where you get two meats and two sides. We both wanted chicken and brisket. I was going to have the potato salad and green beans, and my wife was going to have beans and Spanish rice.

As we were waiting, the lady behind the counter told me that the chicken was going to be a while and offered instead to give us pork ribs. Not a problem with me at all. As the lady was bagging up our Styrofoam containers, I asked her about the two sides and she said, "Oh, I gave you macaroni and beans." Well okay then.

Just about then (and maybe because I was taking pictures of the place) the owner came out immediately recognized my wife. They exchanged brief pleasantries and I said to my wife, "Where was he when we were paying for this meal?" Hey, you never know.

Anyway, the bag of food was heavy - really heavy like maybe they had thrown in some extra meat and such. Bonus! We left and made our way to do other errands and look for a suitable place to park so we could eat. The fine diners that we are, we pulled into a Wal Mart parking lot, loosened up the eating pants and got ready for what was sure to be an awesome dining experience, picnic style.

My container had some brown sausage and some pork ribs. My wife got some inedible brisket and more sausage. We just laughed, and started to dig in with plastic utensils.Don't let the pictures fool you. The BBQ sauce was nasty. I can't even identify what the sausage was made of, though I did eat it, somewhat timidly. The pork ribs were just barely acceptable, but in fact neither of us ate all of them. The brisket looked like what is burnt on the bottom of a pan and you have to pry up with a chisel before scrubbing with a Brillo pad. In all, this was not a stunning performance for a place that we had been waiting to enjoy for several weeks.

In the end, we put all the food back in the bag and I put the bag in the bed of the truck for the ride home. My wife then looked at me and said, "Quick, I need some shit to eat so I can get this taste out of my mouth." I guess that's about all you need to know.

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We were in the HEB Plus doing some quick shopping and came across a nice lady giving samples of sausage with different versions of Stubb's barbecue sauces. I love that stuff. After the lady shooed off several little girls making repeat trips to the free samples, my wife started talking to her about the sauce (BBQ sauce, that is). Anyway, turns out the lady was Mrs. Linda Stubblefield, the wife of "Stubb's" Of course we took a picture. And of course she autographed a bottle of the sauce for me. And no, I'm not going to not use it simply because the lady signed it. Unless you send me an e-mail wanting to buy it from me.

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Tonight, I got home from work and my wife wanted to go to IHOP and get a BLT. Secretly, I wondered if the service we got the first time around would have worn off now that they have been open for a few months. Simple answer: Yes. The place wasn't even crowded but it took FOREVER to get the food.My wife had a BLT that was seriously lacking in bacon.I had (and I knew it was a mistake as soon as I ordered it) a Philly Cheese Steak. One word: awful. The onion rings were fine.

In fairness, my wife overheard another waitress explaining to her table that they had a new cook working and he had not quite figured out the menu. Like he was not aware that pancakes came with a certain order, and then when he made the pancakes, did not know that three instead of two came with the order. These are all things that happen, I suppose. Apparently among the problems with being new was that he had no idea how to properly make a Philly Cheese steak.

So there you have it. It has really been a banner week.

And It's only Monday.

Handicapped Parking Rage: Strange in HEB

So we had to hit the HEB Plus over on Potranco for our Sunday grocery refill and as we were walking in, I heard an older guy shouting. No, really screaming at the top of his lungs. Naturally, I stopped to seek the source of this excitement, and naturally pulled my camera from my pocket to ensure I had functioning batteries in case anything funny happened.

From what I could see, there was a Prius parked in the white lined out area next to a handicapped parking slot. The man was at the driver's side window of the car parked in the handicapped slot, yelling at the older lady driver inside. Of course, I just assumed it was a husband attempting to teach his wife proper parking.

But then I noted that the man started to leave his position of screamage, and head toward the Prius. The man was gesticulating wildly (and who doesn't like to see that in a public place?) and he actually went back to the car in the handicapped slot a few more times to scream some more.

As entertaining as this was, I realized that this older pissed off man was not in fact the driving instructor of the lady in the car parked in the handicapped slot, and for a moment, I began to walk toward the scene figuring I might have to bust a cap or something. Okay, I don't even know what that means, but tough talk is easy when your opponent is 90.I stopped short when Gramps got in his Prius and began to back-up from his position in the lined-out (meaning: no parking) place where he was at. That little Prius had a back-up beeper that sounded just like the ones you hear at 5 AM on a garbage truck in the city. And thankfully so. He was about to back right into a truck. Luckily, he stopped in time, then went forward against traffic and found another handicapped slot to park in.

So after all the excitement, the lady who was parked in the handicap slot, the one who the old guy was shrieking at, started to get out of her car. My wife quickly went over to her and offered to walk with her into the store in case the lunatic in the Prius attempted to confront her once she was out of her car. The very nice lady thanked my wife but told us that she was more than capable of taking care of herself as related to the blowhard. Turns out, he was upset that she got the spot before him so he confronted her. But what sent him over the edge was that she told him he could not park illegally in the striped area adjacent to the handicapped slot he wanted. I can't wait to hit 90. I'll start a blog about old people.Later, as we were walking through the HEB doing our shopping, I spotted Gramps loading up on the wine. If this is your Gandpa, I hope you will alert him to the dangers of mixing wine and Geritol.

Strange.

The Bread Update: European Cheese & Herb...

My wife and I were in the HEB Plus yesterday and I stopped on the aisle where they showcase the selection of bread mixes. Okay, not really much of a selection at all - in fact, the one we really liked on the first go round, the Honey Wheat Berry was not there. So, I grabbed a European Cheese and Herb mix and gave it a whirl this morning.We were out at Jim's for a late breakfast and when we came home, opened up the house to an incredible smell of hot bread goodness. I'm guessing that the bread machine must have finished within minutes of our return. Look at how the bread rose up over the top of the container.And this is the finished product. If we were not so overly stuffed from pancakes at Jim's, I'd give it an immediate taste test, but I suppose it can wait a bit.

HEB Plus Report: Madhouse...

What the hell! Apparently, for some inexplicable reason, everyone decided to go to HEB Plus at the same time my wife and I have historically attended each and every Sunday for the past year or so since it opened on Potranco and 1604. What a bunch of inconsiderate copy cats.

And don't even get me started on how freakin' freezing cold it is out there. On our way to the store, the radio guy said that we had already reached the high temperature of 46 degrees, and that was it; nothing but down hill from there. Hello? It isn't even winter yet, or is it? Anyway, thankfully we are supposed to be back up to 70 or so on Christmas Eve, so at least we won't have to keep the heater on. Two words: Brrrr!

Oh, I should mention that I am horribly ill and yesterday morning, I think the record should clearly show, my wife attempted to kill me by giving me a little something that she promised would make my throat feel better. I'm pretty sure that's what the hangman said as he tightened the noose around the neck of some poor guy on death row.

I have this really terrible scratchy and dry throat that really makes me want to throw-up after one or two good coughs. So my wife says, Here, take this little pill and suck on it for a little while before swallowing it. Then, she leaves the room and if my ears hadn't been ringing so bad, I might have been able to hear her giggling as she left. So, I begin to swirl this little thing called Tessalon or something equally evil sounding, on my tongue and really, it had no taste until about thirty seconds later it sort of exploded in my throat with a really, really horrid taste. Then I swallowed it and my throat began to tighten. I grabbed for a water but I think my throat was too numb and too tight to even swallow.

That was when I began to hyperventilate. Hey, choking is not for the feint of heart. I jumped up to the bathroom to see if I might projectile vomit the stuff from my throat but then it really hit me that I could not breath well enough to give myself the Heimlich maneuver, so I should just relax and try not to breath so hard. After a few minutes, I was able to brush my teeth and strangely enough, my throat felt pretty good.

So this morning when I woke up even sicker than I was yesterday, my wife wanted me to try the same little pill and I rejected the offer completely. Instead, I got up, had some coffee then promptly fell asleep on the recliner watching DVR'd episodes of Monk until about noon.

It was only later that I was able to make our scheduled appointment at HEB Plus, and even, I was forced to do something I never do, and that is open up stuff before I purchase it. But my throat was so dry and sore I had to break into the bag of Ricola cough drops and a box of Kleenex.What was my wife doing during all this? Samples. I rest my case.

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Did I mention it was cold?This freak decides to put on some sort of snow suit and walk around the store yelling about how Co Co Cooold it is. Look at the little kid just staring at the guy.Now, the freak sees me with my camera and he gives me a look like he would prefer if I were to pay the nice lady with the Official Camera for pictures. Meanwhile, the little kid is still looking at him like he is a freak of nature.And speaking of strange. Can someone explain just what is going on here? I get the mattress. And I even get the mattress with the Santa hat on it. But what exactly is being advertised when you have some Ninja bumping and grinding on the Santa Mattress at the intersection of 1604 & Culebra?

The Morning Report: Garden Ridge & Ingram Mall...

I broke one of my personal policies this morning by entering Garden Ridge Pottery anytime after Halloween. For some reason, they transform the place into the smell of cinnamon, and I just don't care for that, at all. But, my wife needed to look for something, so off we went; and I promise, I was prepared to wait outside if need be. But in fact, they must have reduced the cinnamon smell because it just wasn't all that bad.But if you plan to attempt Garden Ridge, you should know that shoppers seem to have trashed the place. My wife commented that everything looked as though it had been picked through. Seriously people, can't you look at something and then place it back on the shelf where it came from?Last night we took a drive around the neighborhood to show our dog Gracie the Christmas lights. I have noticed over the years an increase in the use of these fancy blow-up ornaments and huge globes and such. So standing in Garden Ridge, I witnessed some guy purchase one of these palm tree looking things with a built-in stereo system and flashing lights. It is actually cool; you can connect your iPod to it and play your favorite music. The problem was, it wasn't playing Christmas music at all - it was like a cruise to Jamaica or something and this redneck with a huge beer belly (bigger than mine, in fact) was attempting to do some sort of mambo train dance as his wife hurriedly pushed the shopping cart away from gawking onlookers and the one guy with a camera. Sorry, no footage.

But the point of it is, what happened to just a string of lights and a wreath on the door? Oh, who am I kidding? We have deer and other crap set out in our front yard too.

And if some deer and a big Texas outline that has flashing lights that spell out "Merry Christmas, Y'all" doesn't put you in the mood, surely this will get you going.Oh, and attention Garden Ridge: It is Christmas season. Can we open up more than two cash registers?

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So we had to run to Ingram Park Mall to find something at Kirkland's, but we got there before they opened up. We decided to walk around for a bit, and some lady snagged my wife to demonstrate some Russian style hair flatting device. Okay, I say Russian because they lady had a really thick Russian accent. Anyway, the lady starts messing with my wife's hair and she is being a good sport about it though she tried to walk away several times and was too polite to say, Get off me, bitch! About the time I walk back up to them, I hear the lady telling my wife that the little straightening thing is regularly priced $352.00 but right now, she could let it go for $159.00. I nearly bust a gut trying to throw my laugh in a different direction. My wife was a little more pleasant simply saying, "Oh, hell no!" Seriously, if you saw this thing, you'd be sure it was the same thing they sell at Walgreen's for $19.99. I mean, our economy can't be so jacked-up if people will pay $159 much less $352 to straighten their hair.

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We went in to Kirkland's, got the few items we needed then by chance went down to the Sears just to observe and report as needed.I wonder if they really want you to walk down the blue line, then stand directly in front of the sign until called to the register. Apparently, the lady did not think so.

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After a trip to HEB Plus, we thought we would try out the new Freddy's Frozen Custard place they built on Potranco Road near Highway 151. The place was packed, but we figured we would give it a shot.Not so fast my friends. Apparently, they were just feeding each other because it still isn't open yet. Has anyone ever eaten at one of these places? I am assume it is a chain. What should I order? Tell me about it.

Trip Report: HEB Plus on Potranco...

Apparently all it takes is the hint of cool weather, a Thanksgiving weekend and Black Friday to get HEB in the Christmas spirit. We went into the HEB Plus on Potranco for a few items Saturday, and my wife was immediately interested in a huge tree. I'm thinking something much smaller this year, but I don't see myself paying $16 for the top of someone else's tree either.We walked in through the garden department and found no garden stuff at all. Instead, it has been transformed into some sort of Christmas decoration center complete with loud Christmas music playing like it was a concert or something, perhaps to remind us that we are less than 30 days away.Once we got into the regular part of the store, the place was lined with all sorts of potential holiday gift ideas. My wife wondered if a chafing dish is for people with jock itch. I don't know, but it made me laugh.Oh, here is something interesting. Have you ever purchased milk on clearance? Hey for 50 cents, maybe if they let me sniff it first, it might be worth it. Then again, I don't drink milk so I wasn't going to seek out an employee to ask.On our way out, they had this vendor who has been selling Kettle Korn. It's Rockin', don'tcha know. Anyway, we bought a small bag last week and ate small portions during our TV time throughout the week, and it was mighty tasty. So we bought another bag yesterday. Oh, and the proprietor of this Kettle Korn Kiosk says he has been cooking it since he was 7 years old. Aren't there laws against that? All I know is it's some good stuff.Oh, and if you are wondering which one is the Jelly Belly and which one is me, I'm the one not wearing gloves.

Important Comments About my Day...

My wife likes to sign up for these online clubs with restaurants where they will send you a free coupon via e-mail for 20 percent off or a buy one, get one free sort of thing. A while back, she signed us up for the birthday club at Red Robin. Come to find out, I was the birthday boy this month and they sent us a coupon for a free burger. When was the last time I turned down a free burger?So with all the errands we needed to run today, we figured we'd slip by The Rim and eat lunch at the Red Robin. I like the really huge wreaths they hung from the signs at The Rim, but geeze, it isn't even Thanksgiving yet!Anyway, I like Red Robin and when they are giving food out for free, why the heck not. My only issue with the place is that for some reason, my hearing goes bonkers in there. The place has no sound proofing at all and it sounds like you are on a school bus with a bunch of loud 6th graders on their way to a Hanna Montana concert. Hopefully, when they build the new one in Alamo Ranch, they'll rethink that design.

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So my wife needed to run into The New Balance Store over at The Strand off IH-10 & Huebner. You know you are going to spend some cash when the people offer you a bottled water while you have your feet sized.

For the price of shoes there, they ought to give you cold beer and a plate of nachos, but I suppose that would take away from the healthy image they are trying to put forth.My wife never leaves home without clean socks. You never know when you might be in an accident I suppose. Oh, and her feet don't really point out like that, she was just trying to mess with the sales lady to see if she would say New Balance had a shoe that could correct that dysfunction.And speaking of that, since when did tennis shoes become a "system". Our shoe waitress was very nice and knowledgeable but if the free bottled water didn't give a clue that they were looking to sell a Cadillac, the fact that she brought out additional accessories with the shoes was all I needed to know. Oh yes, with the New Balance System, you can swap out the crappy inserts and put in some of these fancy cushion support things in for only an extra $50.00. And if you'd like, we can give you an extended warranty. Seriously, I don't see Al Bundy going through all the training that was probably required of our sales person, just to push some high dollar feet covers.

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On our way home, we were over by the medical center so we stopped into that HEB on the corner of Huebner and Babcock. Sweet sainted mother of turrets, I never realized how many messed up people live so close to a major medical center. Makes you thank your lucky stars for not having some malfunction that requires you to have batteries attached to your scalp. Geeze, I hope that poor guy doesn't happen upon this blog and think I'm making sport of him.Anyway, besides the numerous people with medical situations, I realized that this was one of the old style HEB's in desperate need of a remodel. We felt lost the minute we walked in and nothing was where it is supposed to be. Even the things in the produce market seemed out of whack. And the lines were packed with Sunday shoppers all crammed into a short compact area. I was really feeling claustrophobic and would have much preferred a visit to the HEB Plus where we normally do our Sunday HEB'ing.

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And finally, a reader left a comment on an older blog entry about Bussey's Flea Market. This guy has several blogs of his own, but one made my wife and I sit and giggle so to speak. Well, why don't you go ahead and check it out for yourself, here.