too many damn choices in texas

eating while on vacation is always a good time.  and the general rule is not to go anywhere that we can easily access at home.  of course, starbucks is exempted from that rule.  duh.  and because it's not a particular favorite at our house, we wanted to avoid having BBQ too often.  i know, i know, not possible, right?  but yeah, for us, there IS such a thing.

but then of course, our first meal upon landing in texas was indeed barbecue.  that's totally okay though, because it was washed down with delicious sweet tea.

and then followed up with this.

after my virtual boston marathon 5K, we headed to one of the ILs' favorite places for tex-mex - the blue goose cantina.  i don't really love tex-mex, but there ain't nothing wrong with bacon-wrapped shrimp, huh?

to fulfill a craving that hit the bean one morning, we headed to a shop just around the corner that seemed to know we were coming based on the reserved parking spot right in front.  heh.

it was really just your basic, run-of-the-mill donut shop except that they offered to spot your donuts of choice with whatever filling you wanted on the spot.  um, custard in my chocolate bar, please and thank you.

a midday snack led us to this place for a drink.

you could choose a base, flavors, fruit, extras, boba, you name it - it all got swirled together to make it easy to suck up through a straw.  the bean went with a frozen hot chocolate:

mine was some sort of creamy, caramel-y cup of deliciousness with boba at the bottom.

and we all shared this tasty concoction of cinnamon toast crunch, marshmallows and chocolate.

with his lenten sacrifice over at last, the hub requested a nice, juicy steak for dinner one night.  we went here:

crab cakes started it off.

the hub got a fat ass ribeye, and i went with a smaller, boneless version with sautéed mushrooms piled on top.

brunch with the grandparents one morning brought us to this joint.

i'm sure it's a typo, but that must be one hell of a peanut butter & jelly sandwich.

my grilled ham & cheese sandwich came with fries smothered in creamy gravy.  they were supposed to be tots, which ended up being served on a separate plate.  it was okay...not fantastic, but not bad.

the teen satisfied a craving for meatloaf, which is something i personally despise and so very rarely serve.

a drive for ice cream brought us to a new shop near the blue goose cantina that offered a bit of a twist.  now, there are lots of places that let you customize your treat by choosing mix-ins and toppings and stuff.  but this place takes it to a whole new level - you can choose a flavor, whether it's ice cream or yogurt, milkfat level, and mix-ins.  they pour all of your selections into a special kitchen aid mixer outfitted with a liquid nitrogen blaster, and create your ice cream from scratch within minutes.

another casual dinner was at a hipster-y burger place that also offered tons of selections for everything from your burger meat to pickle flavors to variations of soda and iced tea.

my bacon cheeseburger came on a pretzel bun with a very generous stack of fried pickles.

the teen and i had to pay a visit to the restroom.  because, i mean:

our last meal on texas soil was at my beloved cracker barrel.  nobody else likes this place besides me.  well, and the bean - but she pretty much likes anywhere you can get stuff covered in gravy.

we played a few rounds of this as we waited for our food.

hello, chicken 'n dumplins, hash brown casserole and cheesy grits.  well, the latter didn't end up being my favorite by a long shot, but at least now i can say i tried them.

a quick stop at the adjacent general store yielded some OG treats for the plane ride home.

...and then i wonder why i'm up six pounds after that week.  well, no, i don't.  but still.  dang it.