Austin ModHouse

this was part of a previous post.  it was removed by suggestion of my intellectual property attorney as it did not have the copyright notice on it.  I suppose that is a form of flattery if she feels it's worth stealing.

in an attempt to free the house from excess clutter everybody has their own cabinet, at the moment we have four cabinets.  each has a sliding door with a chalkboard surface.   the idea is that everybody is free to put whatever they like on their cabinet door and it can't be edited by the others.

we've stumbled on a schuster family thanksgiving tradition.  we drove to brenham to visit the blue bell ice cream factory.  this was prompted by my son's recount of a past trip to the jelly belly factory when we were visiting my mom who lives in east SF bay area.  that was also thanksgiving.  so from now on we'll try to visit a local factory or production facility local to where we are celebrating the holiday.  my vote for next year is live oak brewing company or becker winery.  and there are some folks in dripping springs making fantastic goat cheese.  now if BMW would open a factory in the texas hill country.....

and by happenstance we realized that this fits in with our theme of trying to buy more locally produced stuffs.  it's one thing to try and green up the house, but when most everything we find in stores is trucked and flown in from distant lands, that is likely a greater source of pollution that our home was contributing.  there is also something about buying produce from the person responsible for growing it.  

I remember spending my summers in nebraska.  my grandmother was always busy canning fruits she'd grown or harvested herself.  it was all done by hand.  she even made her own bread and never bought pre-made foods or mixes that came from boxes.  back in those days most fruits and vegetables were seasonal items.  it seems we've lost something special by having ripe produce shipped in from all over the world to have them year round.   

on the way back from the ice cream factory we stopped at a toursit trap looking shop off the highway selling giant bags of pecans.  we ended up buying an assortment of preserves all produced in texas.  the pickled water melon rind is pretty good.

anyhow, this years bird was fantastic.  I'm sure the convection oven didn't hurt, but I believe the trick to succulent turkey (not dry) is the brining.  I brined it for almost 24 hours in a sugar, salt and spice mixture.  

kat made sweet potatoes and dinner rolls from scratch (no cans or mixes)

I also made a big pot of stock, baked corn bread etc. for the stuffing.

none of it sucked.

the bird consumption went on into the evening.

the kids are taking the opportunity of being out of school to catch up on their star wars.  they started with episode one and have made it past episode four.  episode three caused my daughter to hide through the last half.  I suspect this star wars marathon will also become another holiday tradition.

and for those tracking the 83k sq ft office complex trying to go in across the street.  I put in a late night at the municipal offices this past tuesday.  there was a small army of neighbors there and the mood was just short of a tar and feathering for the developer.  many of us took turns speaking (as did I) and the crowded room often burst into cheers and whistles after each emotional plea to keep our area free from commercial property. 

 
the zoning board voted unanimously to reject the rezoning from residential to commercial.  the city administrator made a point that commercial property there did not fit in with the master plan of the city.  but, it's not over yet.  the council has the real power to approve or deny.  that meeting is next wed.  but since there is a majority of property owners near the land in question that are in opposition, this rezoning would require a super majority vote to pass.  I think that would require five out of six.