Bryan & College Station, Texas

If you’ve been here for any amount of time, someone has probably mentioned JJ’s SnoCones. And if you haven’t gone out there yet, go do it. They open for the year some time in March and I’ll have to find out, but I think they close up in September.

When we first got here, it was one of the places that many of the people we met recommended. We were not and have not been disappointed.

I grew up eating these things in Puerto Rico, they were called “piraguas” or “Raspados”, (translates to “scraped”). They would literally have a block of ice and scrape the top or side of the ice with a hand plane, you know, the kind you scrape wood with and produce those little curls of wood. I don’t know if it was a plane or not, but it looked like it. I found the picture to the left here of the actual instrument used.

Anyway, JJ’s is one of the only places whose ice is “shaved” around here, and it’s reminiscent of what I experienced in Puerto Rico.

So, I go and ask if they have Guava, they don’t. Tamarindo? No. But you know what they did? They got some. Man, Guava/Tamarindo is so yummy.

OK, so they told me that Pickle Juice is one of the biggest sellers. That’s crazy. I have not tried that and I’m not sure I will.

This week I tried the Snozberry…that was really good. My wife tried the Yellow Cake Batter with cream and it was like eating frozen yellow cake batter.

We’ve tried the Wedding Cake, Bahama Breeze, Coffee, Chocolate, Tutti Frutti, bubble gum, and others.

I was told the Charlie Brown is a good one, but haven’t gotten around to that one yet.

You can add cream, Ice Cream, a gum ball and even buy a pickle if that’s what you want. My suggestion is to try flavors with the kiddie, then graduate. Like I said, so far, all the flavors have been excellent.

Kiddie: 8 oz. - ¢.75
Shorty: 10 oz. - $1.25
Small: 12 oz. - $1.75
Medium: 16 oz. - $2.00
Large: 20 oz. - $2.25
Jumbo: 24 oz. - $2.75

They are on the corner of Villa Maria and Carter Creek, right next to the Blockbuster Video. That little shack with the funky spray paint all over it and usually a line of people.

The owners and workers are really great people.

They are open every day from 12:30 - 8:00pm except Sunday, they’re open from 1:00 - 7:00pm.

Enjoy

jorge

We have a prayer meeting at our house on Monday nights where around 5 families get together, each bringing some dish or side or dessert. We eat, then hang out, then pray and sing songs. It’s a perfect way to start the week. We all look forward to getting together.

Well, this last week, we were blessed to have our desert supplied by Delicious Moments, and Husband and Wife team who caters small parties in the College Station and Bryan area.

They brought us a whole bunch of really yummy mini cheesecakes. They were so good. Everyone commented on them and wanted to know where they came from. I was happy to tell them that Zack and Lauren from Delicious Moments brought them over.

Being the first time we used a catering service, I was not sure what to expect, but let me assure you, Delicious Moments has set the bar pretty high, at least in our eyes.

They emailed me in the morning asking me what time would be good for them to drop off the food, then in the afternoon (way before people started to arrive), I got a call from them telling me they were on their way.

They brought the cheesecakes in cute little pink boxes, and they looked just perfect. They brought us original and peanut butter cheesecakes. Wow, they were good. In fact, there were way more than we needed, and were looking forward to having some the next day, but at the end of the night, while my wife and I were cleaning up after everyone left, we looked in the boxes and they were all gone. Bummer. They were obviously very good, maybe even the best in town!

We were all very impressed with these guys, and will definitely be the first company we call.

They also offer a personal chef service and in home cooking classes.

They even offer to go to the grocery store for you. Here a quote from the Delicious Moments website:

How many people hate grocery shopping? Either it takes too long, you have little kids who seem to always throw a tantrum once you get to the store or who just want to load the cart up on candy and cookies, you’re too busy to find time to grocery shop, you hate waiting in long lines, crowded aisles, finding a close parking spot, etc. Well, if you just want someone to do your grocery shopping for you, call us up and let us know! We would be happy to be of assistance! Just send us your list and we’ll do the grocery shopping for you! Simple as that.

Call these guys soon, even if your event is later this year. Visit their website for more catering, personal chef and cooking class information.

jorge

Are you wanting to go out to eat or call in a to go order, but you can’t find the restaurant’s website, and you don’t know what to order? Well, College Station and Bryan restaurant menus can be viewed at a website called “Aggieland Menus”.

Aggieland menus is a cool website that lists many (if not all) of the restaurants in town, and links to a pdf of the restaurant’s menu. So even if the restaurant doesn’t have a website, chances are, the menu is posted at AggielandMenus.info.

It’s a free service, so if you are a restaurant owner, contact them. And if you are a restaurant owner and need a website, contact me…it’s what I do.

Here’s what they have to say about their service:

Aggieland Menus is a guide serving the restaurants and consumers of Bryan-College Station, Texas. We are a free service that provides the most information about your restaurant to the most important person… your customers!

They have a rating system on the site, a place to write a review on the restaurant’s own page. It’s very well organized, and a great resource.

We just recently downloaded Spice Bowl’s menu for my wife’s parents. They wanted to try something different, and have another look at the prices.

I also downloaded the Pho John’s menu to see if they served Bubble Smoothies…they do.

It’s just a great idea to serve the restaurants in town.

You can even subscribe to the site with a syndication reader and get Aggieland Menus news as soon as it’s posted on the site. Nice. (click on the little orange RSS button in the corner).

And by the way, don’t you think the best menus are the ones with beautiful pictures of food items on them? I love those.

You should call in an order and eat in! Or order from Freebirds and go eat at Central Park.

jorge

Tanglewood park is a great park in town. It’s one of three “Splash Pads” in Bryan and College Station (one at Tiffany Park, and another at Lincoln Center).

These Splash Pads consist of fountains and even a water bucket that fills up and splashes down. It’s great fun in the summer and spring. It’s about the size of a basketball court…maybe smaller, and there’s a controller to turn it on when it turns itself off. The cycle is about 10 minutes, and the controller is just a post with a round top that is touch activated.

I read this about the Splash Pads from the Eagle website:

Based on the popularity splash pads in Bryan/College Station, city officials are considering including more of these features in future projects, so be sure to keep the look out for new splash pads this Summer.

I called the City of Bryan Parks and Recreation, and they told me that the water is City Water, just like you’d get out of your faucet.

Tanglewood park has several covered pavillions, three playgrounds, a sand volleyball court and loads of picnic tables.

We really like this park. Not as much variety as Austin’s Colony (well, except for the Splash Pad) but great playgrounds, and although it’s a well know park, we’ve never had trouble finding empty picnic tables.

You can get there from Villa Maria, 29th or Texas Ave.

And just so you know, here’s a website that sells these Water Play Features. I don’t know if Bryan and College Station get them any cheaper, but we can assume that these are approximately the price our city paid as well. I guess that’s what our taxes are paying for. I’m OK with that. Parks are fun.

Go play.

Jorge

Mine was due and I found a great place to use. Quicker Sticker on Harvey Mitchell (behind the NAPA Auto Parts Store close to Longmire) was professional, clean, quick and was done in about 10 minutes.

In fact, I had a reverse light that was out, and he had one right there, so I let him install it and was on my way.

State inspections as all this company does.The shop is behind the Auto parts store, so it’s a little hard to find, but it’s there.

There’s bathrooms and a waiting area, but I didn’t have to wait.

They are open Monday - Friday 8am to 6pm and Saturday 9am to 5pm.

They charge the state required amount like everyone else (should).

If you don’t go here, there are a bunch of other places that do this sort of thing, but wherever you choose, I suggest going to a place that can do small repairs and installations and has parts like wiper blades and light bulbs, so you don’t have to leave, go ge the part, install it, then come back and get the sticker.

Unless you like doing that sort of thing.

Here’s what they check for in case you want to make sure and have everything working before you go:

• Check for broken or burned out turn signals, brake lights, tail Lights, license plate light and reflectors
• Check for missing or broken gas cap & seal
• Check operation and condition of seat belts
• Check parking brake function (does it holds the car)
• Window Tint (1988 or newer only, check too dark/below AS1 line on front windshield)
• Rear view mirror
• Interior high beam indicator, high beam switch, turn signal indicators
• Check wiper blade condition and operation
• EGR, TAC, PCV components (present/working)
• Check operation and condition of power steering and power brakes
• Check EVAP cannister and air pump
• Check operation and condition of headlights
• Exhaust System (including manifold, check for leaks, proper hangers)
• Check catalytic converter function (1984 or newer)
• Check tires (rim condition, tire condition, minimum tire tread, all lug nuts, splits/cracks)
• You must present proof of insurance at the time of inspection
• during the driving portion of the State Inspection Test, the vehicle will be checked for steering slack or binding, horn operation, brake stopping distance and parking brake function

Check your sticker. Here’s what the City of College Station Fine Schedule says:

MVI Sticker - Expired or No MVI $ 170.00
(Note: A citation for Expired/No MVI will be dismissed upon presentation of a receipt for a valid inspection sticker, provided it is presented to the Court and a $10.00 administration fee is paid in full within 14 days from the date the citation was issued. Additional Note: We cannot dismiss the citation if the MVI has been expired longer than 60 days from the date of citation.

jorge