Deer Lake Lodge

Deer Lake Lodge: 50-Acre Holistic Retreat & First Detox Spa & Wellness Resort in the Southeast US to Open Summer 2012

All-natural resort built with 100% eco-friendly construction  

HOUSTON (February 27, 2012) – Deer Lake Lodge & Spa, an exclusive destination health spa and wellness resort, will promote enhanced living through holistic cleansing and other therapeutic approaches in a relaxing, secluded environment. Scheduled to open early in the summer of 2012, Deer Lake Lodge & Spa will provide guests with a one-of-a-kind experience by being the only spa in the Southeast to offer all four services of juice fasting, colonics, body works and energy works.

Located on a 50-acre rustic-chic oasis, only 40 minutes from central Houston and 15 minutes from The Woodlands, the green-construction health haven is a country mile away from stress.

Deer Lake Lodge and Spa’s ideology is to rejuvenate the body, mind and spirit through organic spa treatments, juice-fasting programs, colonics, yoga and spiritual enrichment workshops in a tranquil, private setting surrounded by nature. Through these holistic services and treatments, guests of Deer Lake Lodge and Spa will return home not only feeling cleansed and relaxed, but energized and educated about living enhanced and healthier lives. Most participants tend to lose weight during their stay; others simply come away feeling clean, stabilized and invigorated.

Spa amenities include a fasting lounge, heated saltwater pool, jetted spa, infrared sauna, and scenic countryside walking trails. The cleansing program consists of a combination of semi-fasting and therapeutic treatments targeted towards detoxification and elimination. Guests have the option to participate in yoga and attend a variety of seminars on meditation, relaxation, healthy living and other similar topics. In addition, patrons can enhance their experience with the purchase of luxury organic spa accoutrements including:

• Stimulating hair wash/scalp massage
• Therapeutic body massages
• Detoxification body treatments
• Dry brush massage
• Body splash massage
• Organic facial
• Organic pedicure and exfoliation
• Organic manicure
• Foot detoxification
• Cellulite and skin stimulation
• Colonics

Every element of the resort is carefully selected and made from all organic or natural materials. From the recycled asphalt and gravel walkways, to the exclusive green-construction facility which includes eight rooms made from repurposed shipping containers, Deer Lake Lodge & Spa is committed to leaving behind the lightest carbon footprint.

The spa uses rain harvesting, low-VOC paint, natural insulation, re-utilization of building materials, FCS lumber, all LED lighting, and low-EMF wiring to promote energy and water conservation efforts. Organic and biocompatible cleaning supplies, spa products and bedding have been chosen to promote optimal health for your body and the earth.

Co-founders of Deer Lake Lodge & Spa, Tracy Boulware and her sister, Dr. T.C. Hughes, N.D., decided there were more sensible ways to improve health rather than simply masking symptoms with solutions that are often toxic to the body. The sisters began to notice a lack of holistic approaches in the market, and after extensive research, they expanded on the concept of a place where spa-goers could enjoy a multi-faceted detoxification program in a resort atmosphere.

According to co-founder of the spa, Tracy Boulware, “We are excited to introduce a new, holistic and relaxing environment for people to reenergize and cleanse their bodies and minds. With the spa located in such a beautiful and natural setting, it was important to me to be as environmentally friendly as possible during construction, and I am thrilled with the end-product.”

Initially, Deer Lake Lodge & Spa will offer one program from Thursday through Sunday; and the resort allows no more than 22 guests at a time, ensuring the highest level of care for each guest. The resort will also be available Sunday-Wednesday for private corporate events and seminars.

Deer Lake Lodge and Spa is located at 10500 Deer Lake Lodge Road, Montgomery, Texas 77316. To make advance accommodations for a weekend getaway, and for pricing options, call 713-590-3771.

For more information, visit: http://deerlakelodge.com/.

 

CROWNING MYTH TEXAS

Jose Antonio Navarro was a member of the landed gentry from San Antonio who was captured in 1842 by an old school chum, Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. As Navarro had been a father of Texas independence, Santa Anna was overjoyed with his catch. Navarro was taken to Mexico City and tried for treason. He was found guilty, and was ordered executed.

However, he was promised that his life would be spared and he would get a prominent government job if he renounced Texas. But Navarro, replied, “I have sworn to be a good Texan, and that I will not forswear. I will die for that which I firmly believe, for I know it is just and right. One life is a small price for a cause so great. As I fought, so shall I be willing to die. I will never forsake Texas and her cause. I am her son.”

So wonderful a statement of personal pride, so much courage displayed and so widely quoted that the last part of it (“I will never forswear Texas and her cause. I am her son.”) is literally chiseled into stone — the lobby wall of the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum in Austin.

But the quote is also wrong, so made up, so flowery as to come from a bad movie. In Dallas recently I ran into Dr. James E. Crisp, noted author and an expert on all things Texas who discovered the inside skinny. According to Crisp, who was also quoted by Kent Biffle in the Dallas Morning News, the Navarro message was totally made up by Daniel James Kubiak (1938-98) of Rockdale in Milam County. Kubiak was an 11-term state legislator, high-school math teacher and football coach who created the quote in Ten Tall Texans. The statement was picked up in another book, often quoted (including by me) and ended up on the museum wall. A spokesman at the Bullock museum said they know about the mistake, but “you can’t just plaster over it and carve something else.” Donations for the job are welcomed.

This story shows again much of Texas’ history is too good to be true. Take the old story that Texas, having been a nation, can leave the U.S. any time we wish because that right is part of the Texas Annexation Treaty.Gov. Rick Perry has alluded to that. Even in “Travels with Charley” John Steinbeck writes, “Texas is the only state that came into the Union by treaty. It retains the right to secede at will.” Wrong. We didn’t get married by treaty, but by joint resolution. We even tried to leave once, with devastating results. See: “War, Civil.”

Here’s another: “By federal law, Texas is the only state in the U.S. that can fly its flag at the same height as the U.S. flag.” Not true. But we do have a much-ignored law that says all trains going in or through the state have to display the Texas flag. On the other hand, Texas really can divide itself into as many as five different states. The division also creates a problem with what your children recite every school day: “I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one and indivisible.” The students should recite, “one and divisible up to four times.”

We entered the Union with the stipulation that we would keep all our public lands, including six leagues out into the Gulf, and we did. Why should anyone care? Because a few generations later oil was found under some of that land and water. The royalties go to educate our school children. There is another myth, or at least a misconception, in other states that the official state song is “The Eyes of Texas.” It certainly should be, but it’s the almost unsingable “Texas, Our Texas.”

Here’s a good myth to mull, if it is a myth. Did Travis draw a line in the sand with his sword at the Alamo, asking those who wanted to stay to step over? Indeed, the term “drawing a line in the sand” has become part of our national vocabulary. The biggest Texas myth is: How did Davy die? Was he killed fighting or captured and executed? One version is the truth and the other is clearly a myth. The nice thing about Texas history is that some of it is true and the rest should be.

 

 

 

Ashby’s myth is ashby2@comcast.net

 

 

 

 

Le Taha’a Island Resort and Spa

FOCUS ON LOCAL INGREDIENTS: French Polynesia

424241 7233

www.letahaa.com

It takes a full day of travel to arrive in French Polynesia.  It is worth the trip.  Part of the prestigious Relais et Châteaux collection, Le Taha’a Island Resort and Spa transports you to another world.  Stay in a villa on stilts over lagoon waters, snorkel from your back patio and swim to a private motu (island).  When you want to relax, the spa is a well-being haven.

What’s Hot Now?

Vanilla, an important crop in this area, is also an important ingredient in spa treatments.  The Vanira Noa Noa starts with a flower and vanilla foot treatment and is followed by a full body and scalp massage with warm Vanilla oil.  The healing properties penetrate the skin leaving you relaxed, rejuvenated and ready to swim with the sharks (and stingrays).

 

Rodeo Uncorked

We’re Serious about our Wine

Rodeo Uncorked helps Houstonians appreciate great wine

A cart of unlabeled wine is wheeled into the room. Participants taste and sip; swirl and rate. The criteria: How does it hold up against other wines in the sampling?  Should it be top seller?  How does it taste?  Everyone offers a score. The scores are tallied and turned into the committee. Blind judging events just like this one go on for two full days during the Rodeo Uncorked International Wine Competition.

Rodeo Uncorked is a nine-year-old series of events promoting the love of wine. Besides offering wine lovers an excuse to gather, the events spotlight great wines and bring new audiences to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. And, of course, raise money for charity.

Setting up the season is no easy task. There are hundreds of volunteers and numerous committees driving Rodeo Uncorked’s success. The Winery Relations and Publicity committee gather wine entries. The wine sales committee sells event tickets, sampler cases of winning wines and tickets to educational seminars.  The events committee hosts multiple soirees throughout the year.

All of the hard work has paid off; the wine industry has taken notice. Since inception in 2004, the competition has grown to nearly1,800 wines from 583 wineries around the world. Paul Bonarrigo of Messina Hof Winery and Resort in College Station has taken home many awards.  “The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Wine Competition is important because it is a world class stage presenting our wines to a world class audience,” he says.

Events:

The Rodeo Uncorked! Roundup and Best Bites Competition kicks off the rodeo with one fun-filled evening of great tasting food and award winning wine. Here, winning wineries are celebrated as they receive custom-made saddles, chaps and buckles. Standing room-only crowds enjoy signature dishes from restaurants and sip award-winning wines.

2012 Best Bites Winners

Best Bites Popular Choice Awards

1^st – Royer’s Round Top Café

2^nd – Hasta La Pasta Italian Grill

Trailblazing Appetizer/Entrée Award

1^st – Valentino Vin Bar – Slow Smoked Flank Steak with Fregola and Smoky Tomato Demiglace

2^nd – Straits Asian Bistro and Lounge – Braised Singaporean Spice Short Rib Rendang

3^rd – Beaucoup Bar & Grill – BBY Shrimp and Grits

Two-Stepping Bread/Cheese /Dessert Award

1^st – Veldhuizen Cheese – Raw Milk Artisan Cheese

2^nd – Ooh La La Dessert Boutique – Blackberry Pie Bars

Rodeo Uncorked! Champion Wine Auction and Dinner is an auction to be reckoned with.  Heavy hitters enjoy an evening including cocktails, dinner, and silent and live wine auctions.  Each year, the auction raises more money than the previous.  Last year’s Grand Champion Best of Show was Alexander Valley Vineyards CYRUS, Alexander Valley, 2006.  It was sold for a record price of $210,000 to The DeMontrond Automotive Group; John Eddie and Sheridan Williams; Raye G. White; and Robert and Michelle Marsh.

Rodeo attendees can enjoy the Champion Wine Garden located in Carruth Plaza in the northwest corner of Reliant Astrodome. By the glass or by the bottle, the garden is a great place to enjoy some of the best wines from across the world.  “We feature 55+ winning wines at all price points and all varietals,” says Stephanie Baird, Rodeo Uncorked chairman.  “This year we’ll have live music every single day.” Meet friends before a concert and raise your glass in support of the wine committee.  “It takes all of these hardworking dedicated volunteers to pull this off,” she says of her thousand people strong committee.  It’s not everyday you can drink in the name of scholarships.

International Wine Competition

Nearly 1,800 wines will be competing in this year’s International Wine Competition. Each category has two winners, a grand champion and a reserve champion.  “In addition, there is a competition within the competition where a Texas wine is also named grand champion and reserve champion” says Baird.

 

PUTTING THE TEXT IN TEXAS

 

Quick. What was the last picture show in “The Last Picture Show”? What’s the best wood for barbeque, is high school football a religion or a cult, and why this sudden interest in things Texas? Answers: “Red River,” whatever wood they use at Dozier’s in Fulshear or Bill’s Barbeque in Ingram, and cult. As for the sudden interest in things Texan, it isn’t sudden, only now you can get college credit for studying our front porches and “Giant.”

According to the Houston Chronicle, the “idea of Texas” — in literature, culture, politics and even food — is the focus of courses in college campuses around the state. Texas A&M offers 10 Texas-flavored courses covering everything from anthropology to art history. One seminar is devoted to the intricacies of Texas barbecue. (Don’t laugh. Barbeque is a major industry in Elgin.)

UT-Austin offers courses in “Writing Texas,” which dissect the “premise that Texas is both a place lived in reality and a cultural phenomenon,” and “Texas State of Mind,” an interdisciplinary examination of geography, journalism, music, high school football and death row. Sam Houston State, Rice and others are getting in on the movement. McMurry University may have the most far-reaching study program: the “Texas Semester,” a chance to “study abroad — in Texas.” Students study the state’s vastness and diversity, culminating with a three-week waltz across Texas.

This being academia, we have to have those pointy-headed liberal profs with their cynical view of anything good and decent, like smoked ribs, cheerleaders and death row (where there are no more smoked ribs for a last meal, Mister Put-Down Prof.). So a number of de-bunking seminars are offered, too. But there are still a few more courses our young Texans need to take:

Baylor University has a new studies program: Texas Culture from Waylon to Willie. The Lyndon B. Johnson School at UT-Austin has a new seminar on “Elections LBJ Style,” where attendance will be taken – several times. Windmill Tilting 101 — Taught by Dr. Ron Paul, includes the medicinal benefits of marijuana, an expose of the Federal Reserve, plus field trips to Monaco and Macau to check on U.S. foreign aid (tuition must be paid in gold). SMU’s Tom DeLay School of Political Ethics offers Beginning Gerrymandering, although there may be a three-to-five year delay, so to speak, depending on the appeal.

Ooops 391 – A former Aggie yell leader teaches how to embarrass his state before the entire nation. The class meets a dozen times, with a final exam on the 10^th and last session. This same professor explains how to be guarded by DPS troopers in Paris while an arsonist burns your mansion in Austin because there aren’t enough DPS troopers to guard it, with its ever-popular spin-off lecture series, Charge It to the Taxpayers.

Sul Ross University’s Home Economics Dept. now has Accounting 101. Future CPAs learn how to cook the books, turn portfolios into toast and butter up the SEC. This same department offers gourmets a special foodie’s study: Road Kill Under Tire and Glass. Includes on-the-job training lab near US 90 outside of Alpine. Texas Woman’s University is considering a remedial class: It’s WOMAN’s University! Singular possessive! A Texas A&M professor of lenguesticks teaches Speeleng Fur Beginurs in which Aggies learn how to spell SEC.

Myths of Texas — Unicorns, Big Foot and the Abominable Snowman lecture on the last sighting of a Texas Democrat. The University of Phoenix depends on several offices in Texas not to mention 12-million home computers which serve students with such fields as Hot-Wiring Made Easy, Earn Big Bucks as a Bus Boy, Your Future as a Valet Parker and All You Need to Know About Resume Writing From A to B.

UTEP’s Bernie Madoff College of Business offers a seminar on how to run your own company into bankruptcy: Enron for Dummies. It’s an on-line course you can take right in your own cellblock. UTSA’s College of Liberal Arts proudly presents Math for Meth — a combination calculator and lab class. Also: A River Runs Through It – A new look at Texas’ immigration policies. In-state tuition approved for illegal aliens (English sub-titles).

The Texas State Board of Education unveils several new required courses for college-bound students. The Wheel – Is It Really Necessary? Evolution – Fiction or Fiction? Did God Mean for Man to Fly? A Fresh Look at Hieroglyphics, and for those future co-eds: Fashion Trends in Burkahs. All courses on animal husbandry were banned as “they sounded kind of kinky.”

The Texas Legislature has authorized Abstinence Makes the Crowd Grow Larger 102 – Students explore any link between abolishing family planning clinics and birth control programs with Texas having the highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation. Extra credit for linking mandatory sonograms with the vast increase in Medicaid and Food Stamps.

Rice University launches Student-Athletes 303: Do we really need athletes as students? The University of Houston launches its Student-Athletes 303: Do we really need students as athletes? Sam Houston State University’s Dept. of English has a new offering: Bushisms 303, in which students learn actually true and memorable quotes from our 43^rd president including: “We ought to make the pie higher.” “Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?” and, “It’s clearly a budget, it’s got a lot of numbers in it.”

We spoke earlier of those liberal profs who are teaching how overblown, right-wing and backwards we are. They have classes entitled Mess With Texas, Rednecks and Gun Racks — No Place But Texas and Santa Anna Was Right (the proposed parallel course, A Fresh Look at Occupy the Alamo, has been postponed due to lack of police protection).

As we can see, there are still ample opportunities for our college students to be totally immersed in the state’s culture. Just remember, a Texas intellectual is someone who can listen to “The William Tell Overture” and not think of the Lone Ranger.

 

Ashby teaches Texas at ashby2@comcast.net

The Ritz Carlton Club and Residences

Vail, CO

theresidencesvail.com

877-525-3620

The Ritz Carlton Company continues to push the envelope by appointing Tom Hays as the first and only Wellness Concierge at the worldwide company. From his home base at The Ritz Carlton Club and Residences in Vail, CO, he says, ”wellness is very high on people’s list of what’s important to them.” The seed of the Wellness Concierge concept is to anticipate needs. There are so many trends, from hot yoga, Pilates, P90X to the Tracy Anderson Method, active spa goers can have their own, favorite routine. “We cannot provide all of those things internally, so our concept is to provide solutions,” he says. “I do not teach Pilates, but I will schedule it for you.” And so it goes, Hays offers consultations on nutrition, allergies and diet restrictions. “When you come to the Ritz, you should not have to change the lifestyle you are in the course of living,” he says. At the same time, Hays and his team help guests explore new healthy options.

What’s Hot Now?

Poolside Yoga “Sun salutations should take the cue from the early morning sun,” says Hays. When the sun is low in the sky, the temperature is cooler. “We salute the sun with the Rocky Mountains as a backdrop.”

Body Sculpting An older crowd attends this class because the focus is not on lifting weights, but using your own body weight to provide resistance. The class is filled with push-ups, pull-ups, planks and balancing on the stability ball. This low-key class doesn’t result in high sweat; rather, it focuses on neuromuscular training, injury prevention, toning and definition as opposed to physical, functional training.

Sullivan’s re-opens Thursday

From Zaidi Syed, General Manager, Sullivan’s Steakhouse of Houston:

Less than 48 hours after a small grease fire caused minor damage to the Sullivan’s Steakhouse kitchen, located at 4608 Westheimer, Houston, TX 77027, the restaurant has re-opened for business. The fire, which occurred shortly before midnight on Valentine’s Day, caused no structural damage and resulted in no injuries. Repairs in the kitchen began immediately and the restaurant has been cleared to resume normal operations.

Dinner service will run as normal from 5:30 to 11 p.m. this evening, Thursday, February 16, 2012. Ringside, the lively lounge located inside of Sullivan’s Steakhouse will also swing into action tonight featuring the Buck Yeager Band from 9 p.m. – 1 a.m. Performances on Friday, February 17^th include Nobody’s Fool from 9 p.m. – 1 a.m and on Saturday, February 18^th a Mardi Gras party from 9 p.m. – 1 a.m.

About Sullivan’s of Houston Steakhouse:

Sullivan’s has been a local Houston mainstay for the last 10 years. Sullivan’s 1940′s styled steakhouse features the finest steaks and seafood, hand-shaken martinis, and great live music inside the Ringside jazz lounge. With 20 locations across the U.S., Sullivan’s offers comfortable fine dining in a lively atmosphere.

The bar boasts live entertainment Wednesday through Saturday and is graced with a beautiful baby grand piano, high-end cognacs, single malt scotches, and an incredible wine selection. Whether it’s for business, pleasure or both, Sullivan’s is quickly becoming Houston’s favorite local steakhouse.

Zaidi Syed serves as Sullivan’s General Manager along side Sullivan’s of Houston Executive Chef Teli Trikilis.

Sullivan’s offers lunch service Monday – Friday; 11a.m. – 2 p.m. and dinner service Monday – Saturday; 5:30 p.m. – 11p.m., and 5 p.m. – 10 p.m. on Sundays. Ringside is open Wednesday – Saturday; 8:30p.m – 1p.m. To make advance reservations for dinner or special events in the wine room, call (713) 961-0333.

 

Federal Workers

UNCLE SAM’S CLUB

As long as there has been a federal government, we have heard that, while the pay is not real good working for Uncle Sam, there are wonderful health care and retirement benefits that even up the total package, so just don’t pay attention to the pay. However, we now find out that things have changed. These days the average federal non-military worker earns about 2 percent more than a private sector worker in a comparable job.

If we tack on the feds’ generous pension system, our government (or “gub-ment” as we say in Texas) civilian workers are making out like bandits – 16 percent more pay and benefits than the rest of us. Overall, the average benefits package for federal workers, including health insurance and a defined benefit pension plan, costs the government about 48 percent more than for private sector workers in comparable jobs. (To me, it is unclear how these workers are making 16 percent more but cost the government 48 percent more. Maybe they get annual bonuses or overtime on weekdays.)

These figures are an over-simplification; of course. We can’t really make sweeping statements about our 2.3 million civilian federal government workers, or 1.7 percent of the U.S. workforce. But in a nutshell, starting at the bottom on the federal pay scale, you are doing better compared to your cousin who works for Exxon. But when you get to the upper scales, like engineers and doctors, you could make more in the private sector.

More precisely, lower-skill federal workers with a high school diploma or less make 21 percent higher wages — about $4 more an hour — than private sector employees in similar jobs. What’s more, the federal worker-bees have far better health and pension benefits than their comparable colleagues in the private sector. Moving up to the mid-pay scale, for workers with a college degree, private and public sector wages – just wages — are about the same, but the government’s benefits package means overall compensation is about $7 more an hour, on average.

Looking at the tip-top of the federal pay ladder, the government has difficulty competing for highly qualified workers like doctors and engineers because federal pay isn’t as high. Indeed, federal workers with a professional degree or a doctorate earn, on average, 23 percent less than private sector employees. However, the government offers far greater job security, especially in these days of down-sizing, layoffs and firings. (We learn all of this from a study by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office which, by the way, is itself a government agency. Hmmm.)

The easiest way to spot the disparity in private vs. public pay at the top levels is watching federal trials. Bernie Madoff or some Wall Street slime-ball has those high-powered attorneys with their alligator-skin briefcases and $2,000 Armani suits facing some poor just-out-of-law-school lawyer making Food Stamp pay. No wonder we the people lose most of these trials. The Dept. of Justice is simply a training ground for future lawyers who can jump over to the private sector. Those who are left wear alligator-skin suits.

Total compensation for civilian federal workers costs roughly $200 billion a year. Their pay has been frozen for the past two years because of our useless attempt to balance the budget. President Obama proposed lifting the pay freeze next year but limiting the increase to a small 0.5 percent hike. However, the House voted to keep the pay freeze for another year. Congressional pay stays at $174,000 a year plus benefits such as travel allowance, office expenses and campaign contributions, aka bribes.

It is considered cute to dump on our government workers at all levels, but these sweeping put-downs — usually by pols running for office so they, too, can be a government worker – are cheap shots, if you can consider $200 billion cheap. Most of us have little directly to do with the federal government. My only one-on-one is my postal delivery person, who is excellent. Incidentally, the U.S. Postal Service does not – repeat, NOT – get any of our tax money, unlike Newt Gingrich’s pension.

The key to these comparisons is, of course, “comparable jobs.” I made $80 a month as a Marine infantryman. Is there a civilian position that entails the same skills with comparable pay? Maybe those of a Mafia hit man. We pay the president $500,000 a year. The job has perks — Air Force One leaps to mind – and drawbacks, as Lincoln told Kennedy. Could the CEO of our federal government pull in more as a hedge fund chief?

We need to determine the civilian equivalent of an FBI undercover agent or lighthouse keeper before we can compare pay. You’re a DEA agent, armed with a government-issued cap pistol, waiting all night behind a cactus along the border to apprehend 24 drug smugglers armed with howitzers. Is there a private rent-a-cop equivalent? Wal-Mart doesn’t hire moles to hack the Kremlin’s laptops. GM apparently doesn’t have anyone to cook the books, like Congress does. Even our largest companies don’t do what our feds do. We can’t compare Apple to Agent Orange.

Studies show no child ever said he or she wanted to grow up to be a bureaucrat, but if we like those Social Security checks, Medicare payments and some guy in a white lab coat inspecting dead chickens for e-coli, it’s a good thing somebody scratches our itch. So it appears our ire at Washington is misplaced. It should be directed towards those hypocritical dirt bags we elect, and re-elect, to Congress. But we mistake their incompetence for those of all federal employees.

I always wanted to print up a bumper sticker: “The Alamo Was Defended By Gub-ment Workers” or maybe: “Man on the Moon — Close Enough For Government Work.” Here’s one: “’Fed Up’ Was Written By a Loser.” “Where’s the Tomb of the Unknown Whiner?” So, Mr. Wannabe Congressman or Miss Talk Show Radio Screed with your daily put-downs of our federal employees, deliver your own damn mail.

 

Ashby governs at ashby2@comcast.net

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Spa at Four Seasons Provence

FOCUS ON DAILY FITNESS

Var, France

www.fourseasons.com/provence

33-04-94-39-90-00

 

The luxury, five-star resort is continuing to reinvent its wellness initiatives by offering a six-day, all-inclusive package.

What’s Hot Now?

Personalized Well-Being Program This six-day experience focuses on daily fitness regimens, slimming spa treatments and healthy cuisine. The package also enlists a nutritionist to create a balanced and complete plan for each person. Three hours of fitness instruction and one hour of guided meditation per day are included. Some of the fitness programs include Pilates, Body Sculpt, Aquafitness, Stretching, Fitball and Posture and Aquagym.

BRAND KNEW

So these three Texas ranchers are sitting around a saloon and one says to another, “What’s the brand of your spread?”

“Double Bar T. What’s yours?”

“Rocking Y.” He turns to the third rancher. “And yours?”

“Double G Rocking E triple O Bar J running 6.”

“How many head you got?”

“Not many. They don’t survive the branding.”

Those days may be over as the feds are trying to get ranchers to stop branding and start ear-tagging. What’s next? License plates on our stagecoaches and inspection stickers on our saddles? Get a rope. Wait, before you become irate about Washington interference and micromanaging the back 40, let me explain. The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture is proposing that adult cattle which are moved across state lines start wearing ear tags with an ID number instead of, or in addition to, a brand. Rustlers think twice about stealing that cow with those fabulous earrings, plus if any disease breaks out among the cattle the feds can easily spot the ranch, lot, owner, etc.

Some ranchers already use ear tags and they are increasingly important in exports to other countries, which account for about 15 percent of American beef and just over $5 billion in sales. Japan and South Korea both require electronic identification tags that verify the animal’s age and place of birth. The tags, which are stapled into an animal’s ear, are also less painful for the cow. OK, now you can get irate.

Some ranchers already are. An earlier federal proposal met with heavy flak and was shelved in 2009. This time the department received close to 1,600 comments on the proposed regulation, many of them negative. “Pilgrim, you’ll get my branding iron when you pry it from my hot, dead fingers.” Opponents note that rustlers can easily snip off the tags, but brands, like diamonds, are forever. Even if the brand is changed, the inside of the skin shows the change. Of course, you must skin the cattle to find out, which definitely lessens its value.

Here in Texas we have the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA), a 134-year-old organization which rides herd on brands. You probably have seen those association signs on the gates of ranches, just next to the hanging tree. There are more than 15,000 beef cattle producers, ranching families and businesses in the association who manage approximately 4 million head of cattle (Texas has 13.3 million) on more than 51 million acres of range and pasture land. That’s a lot of horns and hoofs.

It is the only private organization I know of with its own official and authorized police force: 29 peace officers are commissioned by the Texas Department of Public Safety and/or the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. Those rangers stationed along the Red River are dually commissioned to investigate agricultural crime in both states. Each year they investigate some 1,000 cases and recover an average of $5 million in stolen cattle and assets. Their job description is neatly ticked off by the TSCRA including, somewhat ominously, “keep the peace.”

You might be surprised to know there is no official state branding registry in Texas. It’s all done by the counties (at one time the office of hide and cattle inspector was an elective county office), but the TSCRA knows everything brand-wise. Now let’s learn branding. First, hold the cooler end of the iron. Where on the cattle you put your brand is just as important as the brand itself. The most popular spot is on the back left side. I recommend anywhere that the bull can’t gore you, and use a 45-foot handle. Brands can be handed down through the generations if you have proof Uncle Oscar wanted you to have his brand. They have to be re-registered every 10 years, and right now is the window of opportunity — the re-registration period began Aug. 31, 2011, and closes Feb. 29, 2012. You have to register in person because it’s hard for the county clerk to read rocking Js and flying Zs on his Dell.

This brings us to brand-speak. If you want to fit in with Luke, Slim and Pea Eye at the campfire, take notes: a leaning letter or character is “tumbling.” In the horizontal position it is “lazy.” Short curved strokes or wings added at the top make a “Flying T.” Short bars at the bottom of a symbol make it “walking.” Changing straight lines into curves makes a brand “running.” There are also rocking, bars, rails and slashes. Some ranchers were more inventive. A picture of a fish marked the cattle owned by Mrs. Fish of Houston. A. Coffin of Port Lavaca used a picture of a coffin with a large A on it. Bud Christmas of Seminole had his XMAS brand.

We all know the stories of the XIT brand, and the famed Running W of the King Ranch. Don’t forget the ranch with the unlisted logo: the Mavericks. There must be brands for ranches such as the Flying Dutchman, the Lazy Susan, the Rolling Stone and the Double Dipper. I knew a Jewish rancher who owned the Bar Mitzvah. Does Rupert Murdoch own the Fox CEO?

But the feds are trying to strike down what J. Evetts Haley called “the heraldry of the range.” I’d hate to see an end to the sizzle and smell of burning hide and the squeals of delight from joyful calves. Besides, it’s hard to make a James Avery pendant in the shape of an ear tag. Just doesn’t have the same pizzazz.

This Texas rancher is driving down roads in rural Vermont and spots a farmer leaning on a fence. The rancher pulls up and asks, “How big’s your spread?”

“Ten acres.”

“Son,” says the Texas rancher, “I can drive for three hours and not get to the end of my land.”

The Vermont farmer replies, “Yeah, once I had a car like that.”

 

Ashby brands at ashby2@comcast.net

 

 

 

MOKARA spa

FOCUS ON BEAUTY: Houston, TX

www.omnihotels.com

713-871-8181

Spas across the country are offering their own version of B & Bs. But, at the MOKARA spa at the Omni Hotel in Houston, B&B stands for Brow Designs and Blow Outs. Typically, you would have the brow boot camp and the blow out simultaneously.  The brow boot camp is completely customized based on the state of your brows. The blow out bar styles can be customized based on your lifestyle, or whether or not you are on your way to a special event.

What’s Hot Now?

 

Brow Boot Camp According to Spa Director Laura Latronico, “The brow design experience is a definite way to enhance any woman’s face, in a fashion-forward, non-invasive atmosphere.” First, meet with a brow specialist who leads “boot camp” for unruly brows. The shape of your face and brows are analyzed and shapelier brows are designed. She pencils in your new shape, showing proper angle or arch. If applicable, a “no-tweeze zone” is identified.

NuFACE Facial Toning True magic happens via “NuFace.” Some call this handheld device a “Pilates trainer for your face.” The tiny machine delivers small electronic pulses to the forehead, eyebrows, and upper and outer eye, re-educating muscles and giving tired eyes a lift.

Blow Out Bar Treat yourself to a shampoo and blow dry. We all know our hair looks best when coifed by an expert. This is a perfect pick-me-up for active spa goers.

Worst Cooks in America

How a vanilla chicken sends its creator to prime time

Worst Cooks in America turns hopeless cooks into confident kitchen mavens. The hit primetime competition series returns for a third season with a secret weapon from the Houston area, Dorothy Strouhal. Working under the undefeated series champion, Anne Burrell, Strouhal and her teammates compete against another team of horrible cooks led by superstar Chef Bobby Flay. For eight weeks, Sunday evenings on the Food Network will make even the shakiest of chefs feel good about their kitchen prowess.

How does one earn the distinction as one of America’s worst cooks? Your husband nominates you, of course. Producers came to H-Town to interview Dorothy’s husband, Jimmy. He shared several stories including her vanilla chicken story. When they were first married, Dorothy watched a baking TV show where she heard vanilla tastes good with everything. So, she proceeded to include the sweet ingredient in her chicken batter. “It wasn’t bad,” she says. “It was just confusing.” She has also given him food poisoning twice and put him in the hospital once. She now understands the relationship between temperature and amount of time out of refrigeration.

For most of their twenty-year marriage, Jimmy has done the cooking. “I cooked also,” she says. “It just wasn’t good.”

When she arrived in New York, she prepared her vanilla chicken for the judges. It was bad enough to earn her a spot on Chef Anne Burrell’s team. Burrell’s team has never been defeated. “I see why,” says Strouhal. “Wow! She is tough and doesn’t hold any punches.” Her teaching techniques are really simple, memorable and easily applicable. “She’s good,” comments Dorothy. “She ‘teaches stupid’ is what I call it.”

When Dorothy found out she had been selected for the show, she flew to New York. She had not done any preparations. “I did try to watch the show on line, but it made me too nervous,” she says. And, when she arrived onset, she found herself in a big kitchen. “I didn’t know where anything was; and I didn’t know what half the items were.” The first challenge was to make breakfast eggs, pancakes and bacon. “Who knew that you could make eggs more than scrambled?” She asks.

At press time, she could not reveal the show’s outcome. She did say the show is good for some laughs. “You will have a good time watching us scurry like rats.”

Dorothy says participating on this show was a great experience. “I learned the basic skills you need to prepare a meal,” she says. She now enjoys cooking for her family. As a change, they enjoy it too.

Worst Cooks in America airs Sunday evenings on the Food Network.

UNCORK THE CAMPAIGN!

We are in the midst of the most expensive presidential campaign in our nation’s history. (No, this race is not “the most important in our history etc.” Historically, it’s only sort of important.) Money records will be smashed as the candidates raise and spend millions – no, billions – of dollars seeking jobs that pay a fraction of that.

The question, as usual, is: what’s in it for us? If we don’t look out for Number One, who will? Certainly not those lying, cheating, hypocritical candidates who promise hot pie in the sky and deliver cold pizza in a box. Forget them, what about their money? Who receives all those campaign contributions? Why not us?

Let’s set the scene: In 2000, George W. Bush set the gold standard by raising and spending so much money all the other GOP candidates just melted away in surly silence. W. set a high bar, and Obama cleared it in 2008. This year, we don’t know yet how much money is involved because the bookkeeping is dreadfully behind the times. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is not only toothless but late. It’s still figuring if Truman really beat Dewey by over-spending.

And, of course, there is the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. FEC that said corporations are people and thus endowed with free speech rights – and the right to spend as much as they please. Bill Moyers observed, “I have a friend back in Texas that says he’ll believe corporations are people when Texas executes one.” If speech is free, it’s also terribly expensive. Because of the high court’s ruling, super PACs can raise and spend as much money as they want and (the best part) almost anonymously.

This is truly a redistribution of wealth, as the Koch Brothers spend millions on catering, valets, ad salesmen, the little people. Wrong! In presidential campaigns, about 80 percent of the money goes to TV ads. Unless you own a TV station, you might not get a dime. Some of the money will go to Viacom, which owns CBS and whose chairman, Philippe P. Dauman, received $84.5 million last year. Remember that factoid when you make your next campaign contribution.

But there are still some donations left to fight over. For inspiration we take Iowa, please. The GOP primary a few weeks ago chose 1 percent of the party’s national delegates. Should we really care about a minute sample of skewered demographics? We were told we should, as the candidates with their entourage, the press from all over the world, poured into the corn fields and poured cash into the farmer’s coffers. If Iowa can do it, Texas can do it better.

Two steps: First, we have to move up the Texas primary to, say, a week after the January inauguration. No more shall we be an afterthought. We need to be up for grabs and not just a cash cow for funds to buy TV time in South Carolina. We’ll know we are important when we start seeing TV ads for the candidates, sudden visits to our cities, and rallies on the Capitol steps. A political first: they will be spending Texans’ money in Texas.

On the other hand, neither party really wants to blow cash in Texas. We are expensive. Texas is separated into 20 media markets, the most of any state. Former Texas Land Commissioner Garry Mauro, who was state director for Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2008, told The New York Times, “It’s like running a national campaign. There are no similarities between Amarillo and Brownsville and Beaumont and Texarkana and El Paso and Austin and Houston and Dallas. These are very separate demographic groups with very diverse interests.”

That done, we take step Number Two: We need to be a consultant. It requires no training and obviously no talent. Look at Gov. Rick Perry’s presidential campaign staff: “There has never been a more ineptly orchestrated, just unbelievably subpar campaign for president of the United States than this one,” said an anonymous senior Perry adviser.  There’s room for fresh blood.

Perry’s principal campaign committee, RickPerry.Org Inc., reported in October that it had raised $17.2 million in the third quarter of 2011, more than every other candidate in that filing period. Some say they spent most of it. Others think there’s still a bundle of Perry cash in an Austin bank. I believe it’s piled up alongside Mitt Romney’s fortune in the Cayman Islands.

We also have those aforementioned super PACs. Perry’s was Make Us Great Again. The organization had intended to spend as much as $55 million to secure the Republican nomination for Perry, but as of Jan. 13, the super PAC had spent just $3.9 million. Where’s the rest of it?

But our governor was a cheapskate compared to Mitt Romney, the richest person ever to run for president. His worth is said to be near $250 million. Hey, when someone refers to his $374,000 income in just speaking fees for one year (seven times the median family income of $49,445) as “not very much,” he’s rich big time. Now Romney is spending millions and millions of his own money. Did you get your share?

Then there’s Newt Gingrich, who paid his daughter, Jackie Gingrich Cushman, more than $56,000 working for her father’s campaign the past two years. Ron Paul’s support comes in many different forms. In Nevada, the Moonlite Bunny Ranch is offering a special: two bunnies for the price of one if you support Paul. The Bunny Ranch, as you might suppose, is a brothel (prostitution is legal in Nevada). Dennis Hof, owner, said, “We thought real closely about supporting Gingrich, because he’s a cheater – and we love cheaters.”

All this time Obama is just raking it in, ready to out-spend the GOP nominee. Between now and November a few billion will be blown, and that’s where we come in, on either side. We can consult, hang chads and deliver cold pizza in a box.

Ashby consults at ashby2@comcast.net

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AIR APPARENT

Texas is once more the nation’s leader. No, we’re not talking about the number of children with no health insurance. Texas has long held that first place spot. Or the number of times meetings of our State Board of Education has been likened to a Luddite convention. Nor can anyone argue with our lead among the 50 states in cattle, population growth and executions. We are first in how little per capita our state appropriates funds for the arts (18 cents a year). The right answer? None of the above. Our latest Numero Uno championship is we’re the best state of the 50 for the emission of greenhouse gases. And by a long shot.

A bit of background: It seems the EPA (Energy Police Agency) has just released a detailed map of the U.S. showing who’s polluting our air and how. You should be proud, yet humble, to know that the Lone Star State’s coal-fired power plants and oil refineries generated 294 million tons of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases in 2010. That’s more than the next two states — Pennsylvania and Florida – combined. Texas also releases more air pollutants of all sorts than any other state. Why should you care? You shouldn’t, unless you and your children breathe.

Texas, which has 19 coal-fired power plants — more than any other state — and plans to build nine more, is among the few states still adding coal-fired plants. Those power plants accounted for 61 percent of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, while oil refineries and chemical producers contributed 15 percent and 13 percent, respectively. This spurred the American Petroleum Institute to say this data proves beyond a doubt that there is no reason to include oil refineries in any new anti-pollution rules because the refineries’ pollutants only destroy 15 percent of our lungs or 15 percent of the population. Either way, they have a point.

Remember that in 2006 Gov. Rick Perry wanted to “fast track” the construction of 11, or maybe it was 13, more coal-burning power plants, but got slowed down by those nosey tree-huggers who found a friendly judge. I’m not sure what exactly “fast track” means in this instance, but it has something to do with running up the coal-burning plants during a night when everyone is watching “America’s Got Talent.”

Texas also leads in getting screwed by our power companies: In the years after Texas deregulated its retail electricity market, rates have leaped higher than any other state with similar open competition. Between 1999 and 2007, our residential rate rose 64 percent. Before deregulation, Texans paid far less than customers in other states. However, we are first in wind power – until our electric companies figure out how to slap a finder’s fee on gifts from God.

Why should the EPA (Environmental Prohibition Administration) make such a study of greenhouse gases? You are absolutely right: It wants to link emissions to global warming, a theory opposed by Gov. Perry and most of the Whig Party. No wonder the governor, our attorney general and our GOP members of Congress want to abolish that federal agency and spend the money on dirigibles.

Much of the opposition to the EPA is based on a dislike of all regulations at any level, such as stop signs, child-proof bottle caps and zoning. Houston is the largest city in the nation, if not the galaxy, without zoning. Developers say, “Zoning and building regulations would hurt development, growth and, most importantly, our income.” Tell that to Austin, with more regulations on growth and development than the White House Rose Garden. Indeed, Austin’s biggest problem is that so many other people want to move there – mostly from Houston.

This takes us to the state level. We have the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), an agency with the attack-dog ferociousness of a Portobello mushroom. This agency, ruled by appointees of — who else? – Gov. Perry, rides herd on pollution in a state where the children have a poem, “I shot an arrow into the air. It stuck.” We’ve got neighborhoods near the Houston Ship Channel with Gulf breezes you can chew. In Port Arthur, on a clear day you can see your feet. But air pollution is a statewide problem.

Remember the TCEQ (The Committee for Enjoying Queasyness) is the same state agency that commissioned a highly regarded Rice prof to make a study of the sea level rise in Galveston Bay. The prof attributed some of the rise to global warming, so the commission simply took that part out. Eventually the two sides reached an agreement, but it is obvious our Lung Rangers are the gang that can’t soot straight.

As for the governor, a spokeswoman in Perry’s office said all these EPA anti-pollution regulations are “a continuation of the Obama Administration’s assault on traditional American energy sources and the good American jobs they support.” Who can argue with that? There is a growing number of jobs around Texas for EMS staffers plus the makers of gasmasks, eye drops and headstones.

All this time you have been thinking, “I sure would like to see just how dirty our air is so I can flout it to my cousin in Newark.” Go to www.ghgdata.epa.gov and click on

Greenhouse Gas Data Publication Tool. Then you “Choose a State.” I chose Texas, for some reason, and there it is: 68 pages of facilities around the Lone Star State listing what they are pumping into the air we breathe.

David Doniger, the policy director for climate and clean air at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said of the new web site, “It means that every high school student or local reporter can see who the biggest carbon polluters are in his or her own backyard.” That’s easy for him to say. This local reporter has not a clue what any of those scientific terms mean. It’s just as well. I, personally, don’t want to breathe anything I can’t see.

Ashby pollutes at ashby2@comcast.net

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSTON SURVIVED — BARELY

As you will recall, the past two weeks we’ve been looking back at 2011 in Texas and Houston, so let’s hone it down to only our fair city. Records for heat and drought were smashed as “Houston’s Hot” became more than a city motto. 2011 was officially the hottest and driest year in Houston’s history. Wildfires swept across fields and forests in the suburbs, and Memorial Park reported a vast number of trees there are dead or dying.

Parents Magazine rated the 10 best children’s museums for 2011. We’re Number Won: The Children’s Museum of Houston! And Houston was crowned Fast City of the Year by Fast Company magazine.

Red Light District: Mayor Annise Parker gave the green light to the red traffic light cameras, then reversed, then reversed her reversal. The program still may cost the city millions for breaking the contract with the camera company. That’s OK. The city’s coffers are loaded.

Bumper-to-Bumper Crop: Houstonians waited in traffic 57 hours last year, according to the 2011 Urban Mobility Report. That’s equivalent to about one and a half vacation weeks.

City Council members Wanda Adams and Jolanda Jones said they didn’t need to follow Mayor Parker’s mandate and take furloughs without pay to reduce the city’s terrible financial condition. Adams and Jones saved themselves a $1,000 pay cut each by, they said, reducing other expenses. This begs the question: couldn’t they do both? Anyway, Jones was defeated for re-election in a runoff.

Be It Eversole Humble (and Spring): Harris County Commissioner Jerry Eversole, facing re-trial on federal corruption charges, resigned and pled guilty. The charge carried up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. In exchange for the guilty plea and for Eversole’s resignation from office, prosecutors dropped charges of conspiracy, bribery and two counts of filing false income tax statements. He cannot run for office for 10 years, like we need him, and still faces sentencing.

The Casons Go Rolling Along: Socialite Becca Cason Thrash’s name appeared in the Chronicle at least 70 times in 2011, usually accompanied by a photo. Thrash was named a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in Paris for raising $5 mil for the Louvre.

We all know Houston lost out in getting a retired space shuttle for the Johnson Space Center, but we eventually discovered whom to blame: former Houstonian and NASA director Charles Bolden, who overruled an advisory panel which recommended Houston get one of the space shuttles. Wonder if he’ll retire here?

Radio Active: After KTRH dropped its veteran and professional news team and veered to the loony right, Houston was left (so to speak) without any decent radio news programs. Enter KROI (91.1) FM with some of the old hands from KTRH. Houston. Not all of us are afraid of black helicopters.

In sports, TSU head football coach Johnnie Cole led the Tigers to a 9-3 record, the best in eons, and the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship, then was fired. Something about an NCCA investigation into players who got great grades – in classes they never took. The NCAA stripped the school of 14.78 (huh?) athletic scholarships.

The Rockets didn’t make the playoffs, again. Actually, Houston’s team finished dead last in its division, 18 games out of first place. Yao Ming played five games in two years, then retired. Two of their best players, Shane Battier and Aaron Brooks, were traded, and head coach Rick Adelman was fired/quit. Meantime, the Astros finished with the worst record in Major League Baseball, 40games out of first place, and no help is in sight. None of the Lastros’ minor league teams finished with a winning record, and none made the playoffs.

The Ice of Texas: Houston’s minor league hockey team the Aeros, got to the finals and their coach was promoted to the majors, if anyone cares.

Moving on, at a press conference, Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland probably saved the life of free-lance photographer Tony Morris by administering CPR until paramedics arrived a few minutes later. The chief declined to say if he had also administered mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Finger Pointing (Left Hand, Right Hand Div.): The DA’s office and the HFD each accused the other of letting Jessica Rene Tata flee to Nigeria. Tata was the child care owner who allegedly left her kids alone to go to the store, when a fire broke out at the house killing four infants.

A Bull Market: The Houston Livestock & Rodeo broke its own attendance record with nearly 2.2 million attendees – 5 percent higher than the 2010 record.

You are now free to move: The merger of Chicago-based United and Houston-based Continental Airlines caused us to lose 1,500 jobs to the Windy City.

The Houston Buffs are gone. No, not our minor league baseball team, but 11 of our small herd of buffalo were moved to a large north Texas ranch. Between the local drought and inbreeding, it was time to move.

Good Nabors Make, well, a lot: Nabors Industries’ retiring CEO Eugene Isenberg received a $100 million golden parachute. This was on top of his $176 million in compensation between 2006 and 2010 during which the company’s stock fell 38 percent. It’s dropped another 20 percent this year.

But our grand winner has got to be MTA chief George Grenias who was suspended for one week and forfeited a week’s pay for using his office computer to access adult sex sites.

Ashby looks backwards at ashby2@comcst.net

Weekend in Wimberley

Looking for a quick getaway with a nod to yesterday? Chill out in Wimberley.  By Laurette M. Veres

Chill Out

A little off the beaten path, you drive on dirt roads, over one-lane bridges and dodge armadillos, possums and deer. What a great get-away.

It was a little stressful finding our cabin.  After navigating winding dirt roads with numerous switchbacks and deer sightings, we found our cabin and headed to dinner.  It took me a while to wind down. Just off the main drag, Ino’z Brew and Chew’s picturesque setting is the perfect location to enjoy a hill country sunset.  The open-air deck looks down on the Blanco River.  At first glance, I think the tables are too close to each other, promoting socializing and I’m not here to chat; I’m here to get away. As the final rays of the sun peak through the Cypress trees, I realize everyone here knows each other.  Before long, this Houstonian finally starts to wind down.  The tuna-stuffed-tomato is just the right size for a light lunch or dinner.  Soon, we converse with the family at the next table.  And the table next to them.  Along the river, there is a ceremony.  Is it a wedding?  No, women have joined together to thank God for the rain.  Yes, people in Wimberley have time to say thank you for rain.

Wake Up and Shop

Get lost in San Marcos’ Premium Outlets.  Most major brands have outposts here.  We visit a few, just to make sure the prices are lower. All this shopping makes us hungry.

The line at Centerpoint Station is long and for good reason.  Half of this establishment is an Americana memorabilia store with fun brands like Brighton and Vera Bradley. The other half is a counter service casual eatery. The fresh salad is brimming with bacon, pecans, strawberries and feta cheese.  It’s the buttery bread that makes the burger so flavorful and has earned the accolade “best burger in Hays County.”

Great Grapes

In the heart of the hill country, Trattoria Lisina is an unexpected, rustic Italian oasis.  Reminiscent of an Italian Villa, this is the closest you’ll come to Tuscany in Texas.  Enjoy wine in the tasting room, or try to snag a seat in the sold out dining room.  Enjoy Veal or chicken marsala, prime rib, asparagus and gelato or tiramisu.

Moreover, enjoy the slower pace of life. Where diners aren’t anxious to get their checks and always make time for desert.

Essentials:

Ino’z Brew & Chew, 14004 Ranch Rd 12, Wimberley, 512-847-6060

Centerpoint Station, S IH 35, San Marcos, 512-392-1103

Trattoria Lisina 13308 FM 150 West
Driftwood, 512- 894-3111

 

 

Spa Montage Deer Valley – Sundance Festival Starts Today

FOCUS ON BREATH: Park City, UT

Spa Montage Deer Valley

www.spamontage.com

435-604-1300

SpaMontage Deer Valley welcomes athletic visitors to the 35,000-square-foot, holistic-minded retreat. Each service begins and ends with a focus on breathing, aptly called the art of breath. Although there is a spa menu, the highly accredited spa therapists are trained to interpret your body’s personalized language. According to Loren Kornreich, spa director, the goal is to completely customize offerings to the point where there will be no menu. The wet area is where the ritual begins. For heat, you can choose between a trip to the steam room or sauna, and then follow with a cold shower before entering the Jacuzzi. Repeat this series three times for deeper relaxation.

What’s Hot Now?

Thai massage Through a series of assisted stretches, your body is pushed to limits you might not reach on your own. This is done on a floor mat, or an abbreviated version is offered on a massage table.

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GOODBY MISTER CHIPS

By  Lynn Ashby                                    16 January 2012

LAS VEGAS – Over there sits Duc Luc, the inscrutable Vietnamese poker player. Next is Pampa Slim in his trademark cowboy hat and boots. Minnie Mae McQueen, queen of Minnie Mae, is here. Others around this crowded table are the usual suspects – card sharks from every corner of the globe, betting hundreds of thousands as the crowd applauds and the TV cameras keep grinding for ESPN.

Jeffrey Silas-Silas III, the Harvard math boy wonder, beckons me. No doubt he wants my advice on how to double-down his straight jack o’ hearts. He says, with that broad Boston accent, “I’ll have another gin and tonic, boy.” And that is about as close as I get to the big spenders here in Vegas (we riverboat gamblers just call it Vegas).

Sin City, Disney World for adults, Lost Wages, by many names, there is only one Las Vegas because that’s all our economy can afford and is an indicator of the nation’s finances. We must remember people come here for gaming (they never use the word gamble, gambling or bankrupt) after they have paid all their bills, saved enough for their kids’ college education and their own retirement. Yeah, right. In good times and bad, casinos are good, just maybe not as good as before.

Here are the latest figures from last October. The calculating runs a little late because the Mob has to run down – sometimes literally – the deadbeats and card counters. (I, personally, like the Sleep With the Fishes Collection Agency.) In a nutshell, things are looking up — slightly. About 3.42 million visitors came to Vegas last October, an increase of 2.7 percent. Year to date it’s almost 33 million guests, a 4.5 percent increase.

“What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas” is certainly one of the better city slogans, right up there with the “Big Apple” and “Port Arthur – gateway to Orange.” What stays here is the visitors’ money. Last October, just in that month, Nevada had $960 million in taxable gambling revenue, an increase of 8.1 percent. The casinos on the Strip raked in $$560 million. Baccarat broke all monthly records. Nevada took in $65.4 million in gambling taxes, up 8.6 percent for the month. No wonder they have no income tax.

In the mid-1970s, there were 35,000 hotel rooms in town. By 2007, the last time I was here, the boom was booming. Cranes everywhere, with 151,000 rooms (more than any other city in the country), another 11,000 rooms under construction, as well as more on the drawing boards (35,000).

How things have changed. The boom is bust. The Rat Pack is dead. Vegas tried to land an NBA franchise, but the basketball bosses said only if the casinos wouldn’t handle bets on the games, to which the casino bosses said, “Fugetaboutit.” Economists at the University of Nevada – Las Vegas (which offers bachelors, masters and doctorates in hospitality/hotel administration) have warned that Southern Nevada’s real estate market may improve, but not soon. With the decline in housing prices, 63.3 percent of homeowners in the Las Vegas area “have negative equity” (are underwater).

Unemployment improved slightly from 14.8 percent in 2010 to 13.2 percent in 2011, but that’s still one of the highest in the nation. On the other hand, the Las Vegas population is expected to reach 3.6 million by 2050, which is what the Houston area is today.

No major American city has less of a history than Las Vegas because almost nobody lived here until Bugsy Siegel arrived, and he got shot dead for his efforts. Speaking of such matters, this is Binion’s, a casino with a wonderful steakhouse up on the 24^th floor that the locals don’t want the tourists to know about. I heard the maitre d say on the phone, “From 6 to 9 we are solidly booked. As usual.”

The casino belonged to Benny Binion who came here after he was run out of Dallas where, back in the 1940s, he was known as the Mob Boss of Dallas. Benny had five kids, and my father, a pediatrician, would make house calls (there’s a forgotten term) to the Binions. Dad would remark how he’d drive up to the big iron gate and two guys would stop him and peer into his car to make sure he was alone. Dad noted how, even in the Texas summers, these two torpedoes would always wear black overcoats.

Nearby is another Texas connection (this place is full of Texans), the Golden Nugget. It was bought by a Houston restaurateur, Tilman Fertitta (Landry’s, McCormick & Schmick’s, Salt Grass, etc.), who pumped $100 million into the Nugget and helped make downtown Vegas a decent place. It used to be the pits.

I suggest you visit here during the annual Rodeo Super Bowl or officially the National Finals Rodeo. This week the town is full of easy-to-spot cowboys. You can tell they are the genuine thing because none of them wears fancy boots. If you want to look genuine, here’s the wardrobe. Hat is black or pearl gray, no straw and no feather hat bands. Shirt has pearl-snap buttons. Blue jeans are too long so that they crumple at the bottom and the back hem is frayed. Boots are round-toed and rough-hewn. Belt buckles are still the size of a hubcap. The men dress roughly the same way. The rich ranchers wear more pointy-toed boots made of ostrich or leopard or Comanche.

A high school friend became a lounge singer in Vegas. She’d come home about 4 a.m., get up to send her two kids off to school, go back to sleep till noon. One of the toughest jobs in America must be trying to run a P-TA in this town. “We’ll meet at 8 p.m. in the school cafeteria to… OK, 9 o’clock? So 4 a.m. is best?”

Wait. Duc Luc is gesturing for me. He either needs my advice or a light.

 

Ashby is a real card at ashby2@comcast.net

 

Ten Thousand Waves

Leading the world in wellness treatments and relaxation, Ten Thousand Waves is four miles north of Santa Fe on the western slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. This rugged, Southwestern spa features top-notch, Japanese-style treatments along with hot, mineral water baths.  “We always recommend a tub,” says Mary Johnson, public relations manager who has been helping visitors relax for more than 25 years. “It helps you relax and warms the muscles, preparing you for any treatment.” This is the first step in the cleansing process. Private and group baths are available.  All of the treatments here are customized to individual needs. The following facial can be customized and you can add the foot massage to any standard massage.

What’s Hot Now?

Japanese Facial This treatment includes cleansing products, masks and exfoliations. The differentiator is the amount of massage done to the face. Each lotion is massaged into the skin to increase the rate of absorption. Techniques include light stroking, kneading and percussive movements. “It’s like someone is dancing tango on your face,” says Johnson. Further regenerate your cells with a CryoStem Cell Treatment in which a serum is frozen until applied to your skin to stimulate collagen production.

Ashi Anma Foot Massage Imagine 25 minutes focused on your feet. This new treatment is crafted after the finger-pressure massage readily available in Japan and helps move energy through the body. Your feet will tingle long after the treatment is over.

www.tenthousandwaves.com

505-982-9304

Bridal Extravaganza Show Jan 7-8, 2012

Life-sized Houston Texan Cake Being Created to Inspire Fans at Bridal Extravaganza Show

Houston, TX -Jan. 6, 2012– Nothing would be tastier than a victory on Saturday, but the folks at the Houston Bridal Extravaganza are creating something almost as sweet — a life-sized cake sculpture of a Houston Texan player.

The 200-pound, 6-foot tall creation honors all the Houston Texan players who’ve contributed to the historic playoff birth.  Houstonians have been waiting for 17 years.

“Since the game is on Saturday and so is our show, we can’t think of a better way to pay tribute to the team than to immortalize them in flour and sugar,” says Laurette Veres, who’s been producing the show for more than a decade. “We’re proud of the winning recipe the Texans have come up with this season, but if they can get hot during the playoffs that truly would be icing on the cake.”

The cake is sweet work for Nadine Moon, owner of Who Made the Cake! She’s not just an artist; she’s a fan.

“We’ve made specialty cakes for some of the players over the years, but never anything this big. It wasn’t in any of my playbooks,” jokes Nadine. “But I love the Texans and if this cake can help rally this town around the team, it’s a project I’m happy to tackle.”

The cake is expected to take two days to create and will be carefully transported to the George R. Brown Convention Center in time for the opening of the show on Saturday.

“We’re still not quite sure how we’re going to move it,” says Nadine. “We’re thinking of moving it in two pieces and reassembling it at the Convention Center. All I know is that I can’t afford to fumble.”

The towering Texan cake will be on display throughout the two-day show and fans are encouraged to come down and take pictures next to it.

“Everyone keeps wanting to know if we’re going to cut it up and serve it,” says Laurette. “I think fans want to have their cake and eat it too. But we’re afraid that might bring bad luck. If we were going to create anything for Texan fans to devour, I’d want it to be in the shape of a Bengal.”

About the Bridal Extravaganza Show

At the Bridal Extravaganza Show, thousands of brides, bridesmaids, mothers-of-the-bride, grooms, and wedding planners have their pick of over 350 vendors in 700 display showcases who cater exclusively to the ever fashionable, stylish, and romantic wedding industry. This huge event held twice annually, draws marriage bound couples from all over Texas and beyond to find invaluable resources and to register to win honeymoons and shopping sprees.

The show is open to the public and runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 11a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

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