I'm currently sitting in the world's best golf pub, which is located in St Andrews, Scotland, and has become my home away from home.
The Dunvegan Hotel, that is.
It's a place where hundreds upon hundreds of golfers from around the world, particularly Americans, cycle through every summer. It's a place that has served food and/or drink to Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Arnold Palmer, Tom Lehman, Jim Nantz … you name the golfer or golf-related personality and there's a pretty good chance they been here.
Guest blogger Becky Murphy brought her talent and charm to Waco in 2010 when she began work as a graphic designer at Hole In The Roof Marketing. Her work can also be seen on her blog, pishposhandsuch.com, and her Etsy page Chipper Things.
By Becky Murphy
One year ago I departed from Iowa to a place where the crickets are bigger and the weather rises above the century mark. A land that has a claim to fame on every corner and the hospitality runs as rampant as gun licenses. It was a scary thing being new to a town a thousand miles from where I called home.
July is gone and that's always kind of bittersweet.
July is definitely a fun month, what with Independence Day cook outs and fireworks. It's a good month to take vacation time with the family or friends. This year we had the Women's World Cup to get all worked up about. And, for the more traditional sports fans, there's always the Major League Baseball Home Run Derby and All-Star Game.
But on the other side of the coin, anytime you finish a month during which the high temperature never dipped below 100, well, maybe we're kind of glad to have survived that month and realize we're on the other side of it. A good friend of mine once said, "God gave Texas the heat because He knew we could handle it." So let's just smile and handle a few more days of this before cooler weather gets here.
Some days I wonder what I will write in this space. Mondays especially.
In that regard, today began like any other day. I sipped some coffee at Starbucks and did a little morning reading and put off thinking about it. And then I drove to Chipotle and today's blog was sitting there waiting for me in a tray right at the beginning of the line.
Trumpets sounded. A nearly audible voice declared "Here, my son, is today's blog. Chipotle has added brown rice to its menu."
In the beginning, Toph Whisnant felt as confident as he appeared.
He walked out of his office wearing his good, clean WacoFork T-shirt, an Alabama ball cap and aviator sunglasses that only added to his general bearing of determination.
Oh goodness, I've developed a habit of craving the Oso items on Taqueria El Crucero's menu.
As habits go this one is pretty safe. The green sauce packs a pretty good punch, but its nothing a splash of Coke won't settle.
Some of our users have experienced the Oso burrito. In fact, one of the first people to jump on board with WacoFork and begin writing reviews told me about the Oso. He insisted I show up at El Crucero and order an Oso with green sauce. It took some time, but I eventually took his suggestion and I'm glad I did.
Having just added a new Mexican food listing to our restaurant directory today — The Ranchito — I've been thinking about the plethora of taquerias and taco trucks and other assorted Mexican food restaurants we are fortunate to have in Waco.
(The smiling face of Kitok's, Kyung Brendemuehl, shows off a basket of Kitok's famous oriental fries before serving them to a table of happy patrons.)
I enjoyed a bit of a revelatory conversation during lunch with the UBC gang today at Kitok's.
During these lunches, it seems, I get to sort of play the Waco restaurant expert as new friends pepper me with questions whether this place is adding a location or that place is closing.
Today my friend Beth McCarty asked a bit of a loaded question.
"What is your favorite restaurant in town?" she asked. "Like if it was your last meal in town, where would you go?"
It's no secret, I enjoy watching sports at local eateries and watering holes.
Actually, it's one of my favorite things to do. "Do you want to watch the ball game at Shorty's Pizza Shack?" The answer is always "Yes." It doesn't matter if that ball game is women's soccer or little league baseball or college football. And the location could vary as well. The Dancing Bear, Salty Dog, George's, Hog Creek Ice House, etc.
Somehow, my friend Brian Patterson and I found our way to the conversation topic of monogamy among fish and birds and non-human mammals.
We were breakfasting at Cafe Homestead, but that's not what led us to the conversation. I would also like to point out that the conversation wasn't crass. I don't think we could have offended anyone at the surrounding tables, and I'm quite sure that no one was actually offended. The thing is, you can look up anything on the Internet and if you have a smart phone, you can do that while waiting on breakfast to arrive at the table.
So we reached the topic of monogamous animals and happened across a list called "Going Steady: 10 Animals More Monogamous Than Us." This is how we learned that black vultures will actually come together as a community and attack a vulture suspected of cheating.
And this piece of information, of course, stirred my imagination and led me to this potential vulture dialogue.
