For me, ordering a chicken fried steak is the dining equivalent of picking a fight.

You see, like many of you out there, I've already eaten as good a chicken fried steak as I'm ever going to eat. Those past steaks of lasting glory were prepared by my mother and my grandmother. They were perfect in that the breading perfectly combined with the steak. There was absolutely no negotiating in order to keep the entree in one piece. That's the whole trick, but it seems to be a difficult one.

If nothing else, the future of Sebas' Cocina is in doubt.

However, Sebas' Cocina owner Sebastian Garduno told me directly on Thursday afternoon that the rumors about the restaurant's imminent closing were false.

Once upon a time, I wrote something.

It appeared in the newspaper that employed me, but it wasn't really an assignment from that newspaper. It was part of a series that I invented for myself to work on. And I did work pretty diligently on it.

I must be a glass half full type of person because right now, the day after Independence Day, I'm thinking the summer is only half over and I still have a vacation ahead of me and pretty soon after that it will be football season I'm even optimistic enough to think the NFL labor situation will be resolved in time to begin the regular season as scheduled.

Just in case you were wondering, the glass half empty perspective would be that we're less than halfway through the Central Texas summer heat, there's quite a few people taking vacations or at least vacating town for a while so things are slow, and there's a distinct possibility we don't even have Dallas Cowboys football to look forward to until mid-October, if then.

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy Independence Day.

Hope you're enjoying a good backyard barbecue with friends and family or something of the like. If you're having a slow 4th of July, there's still plenty of time to get downtown for a late dinner followed by the fireworks presentation by the river.

The second half of this BBQ Week has been an education.

At the beginning of the week, I perhaps planned to start with Tony DeMaria's and work my way through barbecue joints I had already tested and approved. From Tony D's to Vitek's to Uncle Dan's to Michna's and perhaps finish with Rudy's.

But somewhere along the way, I ventured off my beaten path and, to my benefit, experienced a slice of Waco barbecue I had missed until now.

In case anyone was wondering, eating barbecue for lunch every day isn't taking a toll on me. My stomach is made of steel (even if my belly is considerably softer than that).

However, I'm reminded that I've eaten barbecue ribs the last two days every time I scratch my nose. Every time I touch my upper lip, whatever I was pondering is replaced by the memory of barbecue.

With the celebration of Independence Day this weekend, I'm assuming the smell of all things barbecue and barbecued will be with me for the foreseeable future.

I'm going to admit something here despite some hesitation. Part of the reason I declared this week barbecue week is because I'm experimenting with a low-carb diet.

My logic is as follows: if I eat barbecue I can get plenty of meat and vegetables and just leave out the bread. Easy enough. That logic was confirmed at the Jasper's counter today.

Here's something I find kind of strange, or at least counterintuitive: vegetarians love barbecue.

I know I wrote yesterday about barbecue in Texas mainly consisting of brisket and sausage. And I realize eating those things makes a person about as carnivorous as he or she can get.

t's barbecue week.

Why? Because I decided so. Just like a couple of weeks ago when it was Mexican food week. It's a precise scientific process. I look at my weekly agenda and notice that I'm going to be eating a certain type of food on a certain day and I reckon whether or not I can eat that kind of food all week. And then it's done.