Seafood, Texas BBQ and Ice Cream

Fresh seafood was heavy on my mind in Texas, especially being right on the coast. Living in Minnesota, you don't often get fresh seafood being that it usually has to be shipped inland. Bubba Gump Shrimp Company was the perfect place on the pier, close to the beach in Galveston. That first bite of coconut shrimp with the orange marmalade glaze hit my taste buds and I immediately knew I was eating fresh, not frozen, shrimp from the coast. The sweet coconut and bite of the orange rind rounded perfectly with a plump, juicy shrimp that made me never want to eat store bought/frozen shrimp again. The calamari was equally delicious with a Cajun spiced mayo dipping sauce. If you've never had calamari, it's definitely one of those foods that's a texture thing, similar to mushrooms I'd say. I washed it all down with Lt. Dan's Pomegranate Punch and even got to take home a free souvenir glass.

Seafood wasn't the only thing crossing my mind to eat while I was in Texas; I of course wanted to try some real, authentic, Texas BBQ. I got my chance when we ventured for lunch one day to Truth BBQ in the heights; one of the top 50 BBQ places in the country, one of the top 5 BBQ places in Texas. Y'all that food did not disappoint and I left with the biggest food baby to date. If you've ever been to a chipotle, then you can imagine how they serve you here. Waiting in a line that was out the door for an hour was entirely worth what my taste buds were about to endure. Making a choice on what I wanted to eat was a whole different story though. Trying to decide on brisket, ribs or pork; then trying to decipher between an array of side dishes including collard greens and tator tot casserole (hot dish for those of my friends in in the North) I finally chose the brisket with two sides; mac and cheese and corn pudding. Drowning my brisket with the BBQ sauce I took that first bite and immediately savored the smokey, meaty, barbecue spiced goodness. The mac and cheese being equally as delicious with spiral noodles oozing with a blend of creamy cheese and crunchy breadcrumbs on top. I imagined the corn pudding to be more like corn bread, but it truly was like a pudding and they definitely went heavy on the corn; it also wasn't as sweet as I was expecting but still delectable. I sopped up all the leftovers with some potato bread and washed everything down with root beer from a glass bottle.

I've eaten a lot of ice cream in my life. My dad always says that ice cream is a cure all. Anything from a stomachache, to a headache and everything in between. I believe in that truth and that there's always room for ice cream to squeeze into all the small crevices of your belly from whatever food you had just eaten. I was not prepared for the ice cream shop we stumbled into in Sugarland. The place was as fancy as the name; Kilwins. They had rows of fudge and apples and chocolate treats and so many other things I was overwhelmed with choices. Their ice cream counter was equally as large sporting at least 12 different flavors of ice cream; and not just your plain vanilla or chocolate. I was the last one to pick my two flavors of ice cream and when the gal handed me my waffle cone, it was warm in my hand! They make their waffle cones fresh before serving; the counter is right in the store as you walk in and you can watch them being made.

I'm looking forward to my next trip down to Texas to see what else I can fill my belly full of :)