Old Fashioned Easter Eggs

My Swiss grandma told me how to paint, well color is the better word, Easter Eggs. After some searching in the back-40 I found the little grasses and flower petals I wanted to use to “enhance” my eggs.

With some elbow grease these little nature fragments easily adapt to the egg. When I asked my girlfriend if I could have an old pair of pantyhose I got quite the stare. Explaining her, that I now have to wrap the grasses and eggs into an old piece of women’s garment and tie it up, trash bag twists work perfectly to hold the pantyhose in place, her eyes softened a bit. I was off the hook.

Now I had to come up with some sort of natural magic potion to dye the eggs. A mixture of balsamic vinegar, red and yellow onion shells, coffee grounds and a bit of turmeric did the trick and gave me the subtle sand-like color I was looking for. Every egg will look differently, not in color, but in shape and texture.

So the raw, but decorated eggs were boiled for about 10 minutes in the tincture, cooled down and then freed from the pantyhose pieces. (Some may wanna wear gloves doing this, as the color-dye will stick around your fingernails for a couple a days.) They will look awesome in any Easter basket.

The whole thing is a bit labor intensive but if you involve your kids this will leave a memory and maybe in 40 years they will be posting a similar post about Old Fashioned Easter eggs.

Koffee Kup in Hico, Texas

Koffee Kup Family Restaurant in Hico

Driving by the "Koffee Kup Family Restaurant" several times, I was intrigued to try their food. especially after reading two old Texas Monthly columns about "The 40 Best Small-Town Cafes" (2008) and "The 50 Greatest Hamburgers In Texas" (2009) which both included the Koffee Kup.

The following is my Yelp Review:
"Yes this is typical "home made" food you may find around Texas in small little towns, as in the "Country Kitchen" in Lampasas, the "Blue Bonnet Cafe" in Marble Falls, "Maxine's Cafe" in Bastrop or at "Ham & Eggs" in Lewisville.

That said, I don't expect a place like this to cook me a gourmet meal, just honest, good-tasting fare, I will enjoy and will come back to enjoy over and over again. And es I will be back at the Koffee Kup.

The burgers, a Bleu Cheese and a Jalapeno Cream Cheese Burger were tast and cooked to perfection, mine being cooked exactly medium-rare as I ordered it.  The steak fries were excellent and the onion rings from out of this world. Yes some of it needed a bit more spices, but this is my personal taste and I can easily adjust that. Less salt and pepper is somewhat the norm in every diner.

If there is some space left in your tummy after the succulent burgers, try one of their 16 different pies - they will make your heart sing and will make you remember your grandma's cooking. I can only tell you to try the Banana Blueberry and the Black Forest pies.

The service was friendly and she actually had some funny banter to go with. We will be back!"

This is the closest restaurant from our new place, so I will update you on other menu choices when we go there.

Food: 🍴🍴🍴/🍴🍴🍴🍴🍴 (3/5)

First House Guest

Eryngium leavenworthii - Leavenworth's Eryngo

House hunting in between Austin and North Texas led us to look around  Hamilton, hence the same named county. After some dead leads we stumbled upon a property on top of a ridge, outside of Carlton, Texas.
Exploring the 17 acres that are for sale, mostly populated by cedar trees and shrubs we found tons of this wildflower, that closely resembles thistles. But some research actually showed that this false thistle is in the parsley family and is called Eryngium leavenworthii, after its discoverer, Melines Conklin Leavenworth (1796-1862), a US army surgeon and botanist.

To our surprise a bumblebee paid a first visit and we welcomed this gnarly insect as our first house guest. I'm sure we will see tons of creatures crawling, flying, stomping, running and slithering around.

As soon as the contract comes through and we move in, I will put some of these delicate yet thorny flowers that can grow up to more than three feet in a huge vase as a dry flower arrangement.