BSG Blood And Chrome Episodes 5 And 6

For all you Battlestar Galactica fans.  Sorry I'm just getting around to posting last Friday's webisodes for BSG Blood and Chrome.   Hope SyFy is considering making this a weekly series. . 

Loving this so far..

Bennigan's Is Back In H-town!

One of my fondest memories of the 80's and 90's was hanging out at Bennigan's.   When I wasn't scarfing up their food and having drinks there as well, I was soaking up the atmosphere.  

There were two of the then 20 locations in Houston that regularly got me to part with my money.  One of them was located on Loop 610 by the Astrodome and the other was by my old apartment on Bissonnet.   It was across the street from the Pappas Barbecue location I was on a first name basis with most of the staff who worked there during the 90's.  

That's another post.  This one's about my love affair with Bennigan's.

The Bennigan's on Loop 610 got the nickname of 'Black Bennigan's' by me and my friends at the time for an obvious reason.  It was a short drive from Third Ward, South Park and the nearby condo and apartment complex filled neighborhood chock full of Buppies and young professionals.  If you said you wanted to eat at Bennigan's and the answer to the 'which one?' question came back "Black Bennigan's", you knew immediately which direction to point the car and drive. 

That particular Bennigan's was more fun at times than paying $5 cover to go to any club and was always packed.  There were times when the restaurant would be closed at 2 AM and people would still be hanging out in the parking lot until 3 AM.

There were more than a few times I hung out at the 610 location with friends during the 80's.  When I moved to my new Bissonnet and Beltway 8 southwest Houston neighborhood in 1991, one of the reasons I picked it was because my apartment complex was less than two blocks walking distance from that Bissonnet Bennigan's location..

That particular location liked to put Rockets and later Comets games on their televisions, and when the Rockets won their 1994 NBA title I was sitting there cheering with everyone else when it happened. 

So when I moved back to Houston, I was shocked to learn that all 20 Houston Bennigan's locations closed when the chain went through bankruptcy in 2008.  I still get depressed when I pass by the old Loop 610 location that had been bought and remodeled into a Mexican food chain restaurant.  

Was estatic to learn that Bennigan's is reentering the Houston market and the new franchisee is planning to open up to 10 restaurants around the Houston area.  That's half of the total that were around prior to the 2008 bankruptcy, but it's better than not having any here at all  .   

And yes, for those of you who loved the Monte Cristo sandwich, it's still on the menu. 

Yo HBO, Where's The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency Season 2?

One of the joys of the 2009 television season for me was getting to watch Jill Scott and Anika Noni Rose and the rest of the cast of the wonderful Peabody Award winning television series on HBO entitled The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency.

It was such an enjoyable show for me when it hit DVD I bought it for my collection as I eagerly awaited news along with the rest of its fans for the announcement it had been renewed for a second season.   There were rumors pro and con, but no confirmation of filming for new episodes, much less word from HBO about the popular show getting a second season.     

Finally came the August 2010 announcement from HBO Michael Lombardo that the show wasn't being renewed for a second season, but two feature length films were being considered.  

Frankly, I and the shows fans would rather have the television series.     

It's rare that you have a dramatic series featuring a predominately African descended cast portrayed in a non stereotypical manner.  It's even rarer that said show is based and set in an African nation like Botswana, one of the nations that since independence in 1966, has been well run and wisely managed its mineral wealth to the benefit of its people.         

If any show deserved to be on the air, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency was it.   But since it portrays African descended people in a positive light, it's gone.

We'll see if the feature length films based on the series get made, but not holding my breath on that one.

Shipley's Donuts Turns 75!

One of the things I missed about Houston and have happily gotten reacquainted with since I moved back home is Shipley's Donuts.

Shipley's is our local iconic donut chain that is such an institution in H-town that when Krispy Kreme tried to enter this market in 2000, they found out they couldn't overcome decades of history with Houstonians and pulled out of this market in 2006.

Krispy Kreme didn't have kolaches on their menu either which was another reason they got slammed in this area..

I have a Shipley's location right up the street from the house in easy walking distance, but since I busted my behind to get my Coke bottle shape back, I'm not going overboard on them like I used to.   Back in the day I'd inhale a dozen without thinking about it or gaining an ounce, but now since my metabolism has slowed down as a estrogen based lifeform, I have to think about it. 

But I will admit to indulging my need for donuts and getting a half dozen glazed or chocolate ones every now and then.

I'm going down donut memory lane again because I discovered while perusing their Facebook page that Shipley's is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.

I know I've done my part to keep Shipley's in business for most of the 75 years they've been here along with generations of Houstonians and the folks in the rest of Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma where they have stores as well. . .   

So happy 75th birthday Shipley's!   May you have many more and I'll be picking up a half dozen glazed donuts very soon.

Fiending For Blue Bell Ice Cream In Winter

The temperature in Houston as I write this post is 39 degrees (4 degrees C for my international readers) and I'm happily scarfing up a pint of Blue Bell as I type this. 

Nope, that's not a typo.   Yes, it can get that cold in Houston and yes, I'm eating ice cream in the middle of winter. 

Since they were out of the chocolate chip cookie dough and homemade vanilla pints at the nearby convenience store I had to go to my backup flavor called The Great Divide.     It's homemade vanilla on one side and Dutch chocolate on the other.

And like any Blue Bell ice cream it's good.

If you're wondering why I'm writing a post about ice cream, like any Texan my long love affair with Blue Bell ice cream is throughly documented on this blog.    My mousepad du jour  is the 100th anniversary Blue Bell ice cream one.    

One of the happiest days during my time in Kentucky was the day they started selling my fave ice cream up there.  I even made a trip to Nashville on my birthday in 2007 to catch the traveling Blue Bell exhibit that was motoring around the country during its 100th anniversary year.

The dry rub barbecue I had at Corky's with Dr. Richmond, Dawn and Polar that day wasn't bad either.   

Now that I'm back in the home state, I'm going to have to take that pilgrimage up to the Blue Bell creamery in Brenham just northwest of H-town and do the tour soon.

But back to why I'm eating ice cream in the middle of winter.  I simply had a taste for it and interestingly enough, I seem to eat far more ice cream in the winter months than I do in the summer .     

The fact it goes on two for sales more frequently had nothing to do with it.