Rockport Sunrise On A Cloudy Day

Rockport is a great little town on the Texas Gulf Coast. We took a little vacation there with family this past week. It was nice to get away for awhile and I think we needed a change of scenery! Nothing better than waking up and throwing open the curtains to a waterfront view of the sunrise over Aransas Bay!

Our trip included BBQ's and a crab boil at the picnic spot right off the water, fishing on the 1000 foot long pier, crabbing and eating the freshest seafood, including the best oysters on the half shell I've ever had plus lots of walks down the bay front road with our two dogs and family.

We also visited The Big Tree at Goose Island State Park, the Lamar Cemetery, Rockport Beach Park, and a beautiful place named Schoenstatt!

Here's a photo I took while we road the Ferry Boat to Port Aransas:

I have a lot more pictures to share plus suggestions on what to do if you ever find yourself in the charming Rockport-Fulton area. More to come!

Grillin' and Chillin'

I love to grill!

A few weekends ago we grilled some turkey dogs, steak medallions wrapped in turkey bacon, and Cajun boudin. I added some soaked oak chips to the coals just before I laid the meat on the grill. Smoking the meat and veggies with oak, mesquite or pecan chips is a must in my opinon.

Everything looked so good I had to take pictures! The summer we bought our first grill I went to Half Price Books and bought the book How To Grill by Stephen Raichlen. It's a very useful book for newbie grillers. I highly recommend it!

We immediately fell in love with grilling and literally grilled every single weekend for about two months straight. Every time I grill my husband raids the fridge looking for every single piece of meat and vegetable that is even remotely grill-worthy to add to the grill. It got so crowded on our grill, we eventually ended up buying two grills: one for veggies and one for meat!

I've never tried a gas grill because I love grilling with charcoal. Currently, we use plain old briquettes but I'd like to try natural wood lump charcoal because I hear it's the best choice. As you can see from the pictures, we make enough food to feed an army even though there are only two of us. We grill it all up and refrigerate the meats and veggies so we can eat them throughout the week.

My favorite things to grill: portabella mushrooms, button mushrooms, peppers, onions, salmon, and last but not least, marinated steak!

My favorite thing to do while grilling: sitting on the patio in the shade listening to the radio while drinking a beer and chatting with my husband.