Murals Around the City

I’ve been keeping my eye out for murals and here are some I’ve seen.  Anyone know of anyother murals I’ve missed?

Cazadorez Restaurant on Texas Avenue on the East side of the building. Nice use of the existing window, and the deer just looks like he wants to be shot, doesn’t he? (Oh, Cazadores means “hunters” in Spanish). This would be a great target, so I’m assuming that the artist meant to make a point that this is a good place to hang out. deer come here and are at peace, so you can come here and eat.

Cazadorez Restaurant West. This side is a little more “artsy” with the large deer head on the horizon, but still keeps with the theme of hunting. I think that’s supposed to be a winding river. Honestly, I’d say the the ever watching buck god of many points is beckoning me to eat at this restaurant. Not sure if I was a hunter that I would see this mural and say something like, “i must eat here.” It’s actually a really good place to eat…they don’t serve venison.

Fritellas Restaurant. Made to look like a postcard. I like the swirlies in the Italy shape. My take on this is that this is an “authentication” mural. They are trying to tell me that this restaurant is a transplant direct from Italy. Truth is, the way they’ve decorated it looks like that’s what they are going for. Those purple flowers outside are called “plumbego” and they sure are pretty.

Jose’s Mexican Restaurant Part 1. This part is more like one of those spray paint fantasy looking paintings that you see people doing on the street in Austin. Not sure why that star is so bright, or if that’s the sun, and they disregarded the archway there. This mural is sort of a “This is our land” kind of thing. See the next picture where the musician is singing toward the expanse and mountain, not paying much attention to the girl next to him.

Jose’s Part 2. This part is cool. I like the disproportionate look of the head and hands. Therege’s a girl to the left in traditional Mexican clothing, but notice that the musician is not looking at her. He seems more smitten with the land than her. Maybe this is a nod to how proud they are of where they come from.

Los Molcahetes Part 1. Still in progress, but it looks nice. This is one of the funkier in town. Sort of a Picasso meets Matisse or something like that. I like it. The story of the fingers holding the cup is here. In this section, you can see a molcajete on the right. It’s traditionally a stone bowl made out of volcanic rock where you smash and mix spices, salsa, guac, mole, anything. This holding up of the cup is a quirky little thing they do here, and Iwould assume they want people to ask about it. I’m actually really glad they included it into the mural. The mural has a “high art” kind of feel, but it’s offset by this humorous and mysterious finger cup thing.

Los Molcahetes Part 2. This is the other end of the mural. These are at Texas and Villa Maria. It’s a large mural, and it’s still not done, but it looks great. Here the woman is making tortillas. This seems to be an “authentication” mural as well. Handmade food. There is another painting inside by the same artists.

I think this one is on 26th or somewhere around there…in Bryan. It’s old, looks like it’s an attempt at Yosemite Sam, and it’s just funky. I like it. It’s obviously a detailing place, but with the gunslinger there, maybe they do it fast? Or they don’t take crap from anyone? I’m not sure about that part. The funny thing about it is, if they meant they do it fast, then drying them on the line is actually a slow way of drying. Also, the cliche “hung out to dry” comes to mind which actually means that they would abandon us when we needed them. I think I’m reading too much into this one.

Las Lomas Part 1. This one I almost missed. It’s kinda hidden under a patio. Truth is, I’ve never been here, if I had, I would have seen it. A “loma” is a hill or hilltop. I like the little scene here with a lake at nestled in the mountains, and see there are three waterfalls coming into the lake. This seems to me to speak of a fertility and that it’s a “healthy”and lush area.

Las Lomas part 2. This is next to the one above. Portrayed here is a suitor courting or wooing a girl. They’ve got some traditional Mexican colors on the blanket, the guy has his own horse, and he’s given her a flower. Iwonder if that white flower has significance. They are holding hands, so maybe they are soon to be married. It’s either that or he’s going off to war or to market.

So, there’s my take on a few murals in town. There are a few others I knw of, I’ll be collecting pictures of those and post them in the future. Any help would be appreciated, especially if they are hard to find. I’d be up for grafitti as well, but I haven’t seen much other than on trains passing through.

jorge

What to do on Your Anniversary

OK, so today is our 14th anniversary. We’ve got a few errands to run, and we’re down to 2 kids this week (the two older ones are with their grandmother).

We’ve decided not to have a babysitter and take the kids with us in whatever adventure happens tonight.

1. OK, first things first…I took out the trash. I also cut the fat off the chicken we were going to freeze. My wife’s love language is Acts of Service, so I think the day started well. Oh, and I gave her a card that said all the right stuff.

2. We need to go to the library because we have some overdue videos. (those are $1 each day they are overdue by the way).

3. Next thing we want to do is go to Hobby Lobby. We have this wooden elephant that kinda got handed down to my wife, but the tusks are gone. We looked up what the gift for the 14th anniversary is and the traditional gift is ivory. Well, last I heard, buying ivory is illegal, so we’re gonna go and see if we can find something that resembles 2-3 inch long elephant tusks. Maybe they’ll have a cool mirror on sale at like 80% of or something. (the modern 14th anniversary gift is Gold Jewelery and my wife doesn’t like gold. She likes nickel free!

4. Starbuck’s Vanilla Latte. It’s right across the parking lot.

5. I’m thinking about Fish Taco’s at La Bodega. They have really yummy quesadillas and rice and beans for the kids and we can use one of our coupons.

5. Cafe Capri for their chocolate toffee mousse with kahlua. I think we are going to need a whole piece each…well, we’ll each share a few bites with each of our kids. I just took another look at their menu and I might be considering the Cajun Tortelini. Yum.

6. We will probably go to Post Oak Mall to Victoria’s Secret (me and the kids will be at the little soft play park in the food court). Leigh received a coupon in the mail for free Panties…yay!

7. We’ll hang out a little while at the soft play park in the mall. We like watching our kids play. Plus we’ll get to talk a little.

8. If we feel like we need to talk a little more, maybe we’ll go to Wolf Pan Creek walk around a bit…holding hands of course.

9. Maybe rent a Redbox movie. Unless we get our NetFlix rental arrives today…John & Kate plus Eight is coming next.

But first, I have to work making websites and graphics and logos and flash games and stuff.

jorge

Gooeyest Pizza in Town

I’m going to go ahead and stick with the word “Gooeyest”, although it’s probably not an “official” word. Ayway, Mr’ G’s Pizzeria on University is my pick for the gooeyest. Very tasty pizza…and they had a whole wheat crust…that’s great.

Another place in town that has a whole wheat crust is Double Dave’s. I’d have to say that Double Dave’s is our favorite pizza in town. You have to ask the cooks to make a whole wheat pizza for the buffet…well worth the wait. We always ask them for two…it’s what we like for our family.

Back to Mr. G’s restaurant. When I first went in there, I just wanted to pick up a menu and get a dessert. We got the cream and chocolate canoli. I’m not exactly sure what it was called, but it was very tasty.

That’s when I found out that you can actually order from Cenare’s next door, and eat it at Mr. G’s.

Cenare’s and Mr. G’s is owned by the same people, and they are connected by a door on one end of the restaurants.

We liked the idea, so we got a large whole wheat pepperoni from Mr. G’s and a Gnocchi with Pesto Cream sauce from Cenare’s.

The Gnocchi was excellent. We had never tasted a cream pesto, and we are big fans of the potato pasta dumpling (Gnocchi).

I’d say that the only thing we didn’t like about the whole experience was that the Gnocchi ran out very quickly (6 of us eating it) and considering it was around $10, I sure wanted more. Maybe if I was the only one eating it…oh well. It was just so good.

The pizza was very good. So, why did I choose “Gooey” well, you know those pizza commercials where they pick up the slice and it’s attached to the rest of the pie with long strings of cheese? Well, that’s what happened. These strings of cheese went on forever.

So, we’re all eating, enjoying ourselves, and I hear some “gagging” coming from my boy’s direction. Turns out he had swallowed some pizza, and hadn’t bit through the string, so his little esophagus was not happy. I grabbed the end sticking out of his mouth and pulled out what seemed like about a foot of cheese. OK, maybe not a foot, but it was long. He was fine.

Anyway, the “large” pizza was a huge 16″, and the service was great. We sat and ate outside. Very nice.

I think they charged us around $13 for the large whole wheat Pepperoni Pizza (although a whole wheat pepperoni is not on the menu).

Next time we might try the Gyro Pizza on Whole Wheat. Sounds good.

Also, we thought the ranch dressing was over-salted. I did not tell the owner, but we won’t order it again. See, we make our own ranch at home and maybe we’re just used to not so much salt. I never know if I should complain or not. I didn’t feel like it deserved a complaint. Everything else was just great.

They’ve got TVs on with sports or cooking, and the atmosphere is great.

Enjoy…careful with the gooey cheese!

jorge

Cafe Capri in Bryan

Cafe Capri is incredible. I believe we were told by three people that this was the restaurant to go to when we first moved here. We have not been disappointed.

One of the times we ate there, one of the waiters had a shirt on that read “I Love Carbs”. So funny considering how many people are trying the South Beach diet.

Cafe Capri is an Italian restaurant, but the dish I’ve eaten (both times I visited) was their Cajun Tortellini. There’s spicy sausage and mushrooms in there, and just the right amount of heat. You know, when I go there again, as much as I’d want to try something else, I’ll probably get that again. Not because of any other reason than it’s just wonderful.

Also, if you go there, you’ll need to try their Chocolate Toffee Mousse with Kahlua. Wow. Just the mention of this makes me want to go get one and surprise my wife with it.

The place is quaint, interesting art on the walls, dark, kinda loud (at least the times I’ve been there) and the service is great. The price for entrees average at about $9, so it’s a special occasion for my family. Actually, we’ve not taken my kids when we’ve gone.

Originally, the building was a grocery store in downtown Bryan. Check out the ceiling.

When you’re done eating, take a walk up and down the street.

Jorge