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Texas USA

Local favorite: Monument Cafe in Georgetown, TX

Monument Cafe exterior in Georgetown TX (photo by Sheila Scarborough)The Monument Cafe is located right off of the very attractive courthouse square town center in Georgetown, Texas (just north of Austin.)

It’s a restaurant that looks all curvy and Art Deco but was really purpose-built and is quite modern in sensibility, including free WiFi and with a “non-Flash website for mobile and iPad devices.”

The menu is also modern, emphasizing fresh, organic and imaginative food that is often grown or sourced locally.

It’s more of a bistro sort of place than a diner, with fare like burgers and sandwiches at lunch, but also quiche and fresh fish.

The kid’s menu includes a grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich; yum!

Monument Cafe interior in Georgetown TX (photo by Sheila Scarborough)Standard Texas diner fare like chicken-fried steak is available later in the day, but also ribeye steaks, pan-fried pork chops and that very Southern fixture, the vegetable plate.

The cobblers, pies and other desserts are homemade, of course, and delish.

The interior is larger than it appears from the outside, and there are always lots of families there.

We had lunch to celebrate my daughter’s high school graduation, and although we had to wait a bit to get in, it was worth it.

The Monument was written up in Jane and Michael Stern’s Roadfood, and one visit will show you why.

Monument Cafe raspberry lemonade Georgetown TX (photo by Sheila Scarborough)

It’s well worth a detour if you are in the area, for parents AND for kids.

I had to include this closeup photo of their raspberry lemonade, in case you have – like me – a sudden urge to take a swan dive into your icy drink on hot days.

Not that we have hot days in Texas, mind you….

The cafe is located at 500 South Austin Ave. From Interstate 35, exit University Ave. and go east 1 mile. Turn left on Austin Ave., head north a few blocks to 5th Street, and it’s on the left.

The phone number is 512-930-9586.  They are open from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm (until 10 pm on Fridays and Saturdays.)

(This post will be included in the fab Wanderfood Wednesday. Check it out!)

Categories
Texas USA

Peek behind the scenes with stingrays at SeaWorld

SeaWorld San Antonio shark mouth demo during a tour (photo by Sheila Scarborough)Breaking news….

….stingrays have very soft little vacuum-cleaner mouths.

I know this because when SeaWorld San Antonio hosted a group of Texas-based bloggers this past week, they took many of us on one of their educational tours (available to any visitor) to see some of the working areas of the park.

One stop included a small tank of young stingrays, and boy, do they like to eat!

Here’s a two-minute video with me, my son and one of our blogger group (Kristi and her family from Frugally Thrifty) perfecting our stingray feeding techniques. It was like being brushed with a cotton boll when they sucked the fresh fish bits from between our fingers.

Nope, no one was poked by any barbed tails.

Thanks, SeaWorld San Antonio and the San Antonio CVB, for hosting us!

Here’s the direct link to the stingray video on YouTube, if you can’t see the video box below:

Categories
USA

See the Miracle Worker performed at Helen Keller’s Ivy Green

Your annual June reminder if you’re anywhere near Tuscumbia in northwest Alabama….

Every summer at Ivy Green, the birthplace of the amazing author, speaker and writer Helen Keller, there is a professional outdoor production of The Miracle Worker, William Gibson’s drama about Keller’s early life and relationship with her teacher, Annie Sullivan.

This year the performance dates are June 4 through July 10, 2010, and tickets are $10 reserved seating and $8.00 general admission.

You may also want to visit during the Helen Keller Festival June 21-27, 2010 at Spring Park in Tuscumbia;  it’s a more city-wide, general event with live music, arts, food, sports and shopping specials.

The Festival is on Facebook, on Twitter and there are cool photos on Flickr as well.