Best in Bar-b-que

The Pit inside “THE SALT LICK”

Their Motto is “you can smell our pits from miles away”

We’re in Galveston, Texas right now but yesterday we had the BEST Bar-b-que.  If you love bar-b-que and are ever travelling to Austin, Texas then The Salt Lick sets the gold standard.  Austin has a lot of things going on like a music scene that’s not confined to country but also great rock, jazz and blues bands.  It also does not lack for a decent bar-b-que and we were told “The Salt Lick” in Driftwood just 24 miles southwest of Austin was a must. Everyone knows that baby back ribs are the tastiest but their beef ribs were fantastic, meaty & tender.  The whole place was quite the sight to behold with its contemporary Western style  bar-b-que pit, live music and a short walk outside to get to the wine tasting room where for $5.00 you can sample five (fine) Texan wines.  Who knew that Texas is the fifth wine producing state in the U.S.?  You can buy a glass (like the Bar-b-que Red, Ranch Road Red or Hill Country Blend among others) or a bottle and take it to the restaurant with you since it’s a BYOB.

Outside the rustic Wine Cellar

To pass the time until our table was ready (it’s a busy place) I decided to sample a few – well five.  They usually have some dry crackers available to cleanse your palate before the next tasting but there were 4 women standing next to me snacking on pecans (grown in the area) and some good looking cashews.  So I grabbed a handful and started talking with them. “How nice of them to provide these” I said.  “Yeah, we always bring our own snacks with us” replied one of the women.   Oopsy!

Photos: d. king

S T Y L E is…………..

Something That You Love Everyday

‘Le Bustier’ by jesus fernandez

Some favourite fashion quotes:
“Fashion Fades, Style is Eternal” – Yves Saint Laurent
“Dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the woman” – Coco Chanel
“The expression a woman wears on her face is more important than the clothes on her back” – Dale Carnegie
“You’d be surprised to know how much it costs to look this cheap” – Dolly Parton

Still in Sonoma………

AND if you have time for just two wineries in Somona make sure to visit Gloria Ferrer Vineyards. They make some incredible tasting pinot noirs – some of which you can only buy on the property.  Their 2007 estate grown & bottled Pinot was given a ’94 point rating by the “wine enthusiast” which is one of the highest ever.  As a matter of fact i’m having a glass right now as i’m writing this.

God I hope they're dog friendly! We'll take him to AA on the way back.

Did I mention that we were there as soon as they opened their doors at 10:00 a.m.? It’s always 5:00 o’clock somewhere right? Breakfast consisted of a pour of Chardonnay (just to make sure it was as good as I remembered from the last time) and a wine filled truffle.  Biting into the truffle was like those brandy filled chocolates where the liquid just pours out. Wasn’t expecting that –  delicious.  Hope it’s not true about you are what you eat……….

inside the winery

My new BFF is IN-N-OUT –  best fast food fix for burgers – but the fries are terrible.