Fredericksburg Food and Fun

Steve wanted to celebrate his birthday (February 17) with a weekend trip to Fredericksburg, Texas. It also happened to be Valentine's Day weekend so we could celebrate both. First, we had to figure out how to exit the Azle house after a near record breaking foot of snow--no exaggeration.

After he ran the 4 wheel drive jeep over our long driveway enough times for us to get out and for the kids and others to drive in we were on our way. We've been to Fredericksburg more times than I can count. We started going there in 2001 and usually go once in the spring, once in the fall or winter and some years we've gone every season. The hill country of Texas is a world away from the metroplex and only a few hours drive. We stay at B & Bs and booked Cottages at Limestone on Main for this trip. The B & B is on Main Street, serves a full gourmet breakfast, and is simple, but clean. Arriving later than usual we had time to unload the car and head out to our dinner destination, The Herb Farm. Years ago the Fredericksburg Herb Farm was owned by the Varneys and had lotions, potions, and candles smelling of the herbs grown on the farm (8 acres). The restaurant was almost an afterthought then, small and unchanging menu, but really creative and delicious food. Now the Herb Farm has been remodeled into a real restaurant. The menu was not very imaginative--all dishes had "root vegetables" for the side dish. I tried the French Onion Soup for a first course and was a little disappointed--flat tasting and really soggy bread. Steve had seared beef tenderloin with truffle mashed potatoes and root vegetables and veal reduction sauce. I had pan roasted salmon with risotto and root vegetables. I had to send the salmon back for being pretty rare but when it came back it was very good. Nice flavors, but boring root vegetables.

They were a little pretentious with the amuse bouche of a bite of goat cheese (CKC Farms) and slaw and the little spoons of grapefruit sorbet between courses. Come one, it's Fredericksburg! The place is very quaint, not the setting for the over fancy acting by the wait staff.

Saturday morning arrived with the delivery of our gourmet breakfast on a silver tray by Joe and Carol, the inn keepers. They both cook the food, all from scratch, and with fresh herbs and local ingredients. Herb scrambled eggs, vegetable hash, turkey sausage, and a yogurt parfait AND some blueberry lemon cake along with a nice selection of unusual teas like grapefruit/vanilla.

I loved the herb scrambled eggs with tarragon and cream cheese the best. The vegetable hash with Yukon gold potatoes, carrots, and zuchinni was also excellent. I had to wrap up the coffee cake for another time.

A long walk to burn off some of those calories and to get outside was next on the agenda. We noticed all the changes since our last trip in March 2009, different business opened and old ones closed. We were surprised to see Rather Sweet Too, an extension of the popular Rather Sweet Bakery which has been written up in every popular magazine in recent years. Rather Sweet Too is a place to buy the bakery goods and also has a display case for El Rey chocolates ??? Unlike the original Rather Sweet Bakery it seemed more formal. You can still buy bakery goods in the original building but I guess the new building cuts down on some of the overcrowding. Like most good things publicity is not always a positive. When we first found it in 2001 there were only a few things for sale but everything was out of the world good. We would get bacon cheddar scones, muffins, oatmeal cranberry cookies, and triple chocolate cookies before they sold out. Now there are plenty to buy but we guess there are many assistants making the items and we've had our ups and downs with the quality. I miss the old days when it wasn't so famous.

We did a little shopping at my favorite spots, Der Kuchen Laden (kitchen store) where there are gadgets of every type for the cook. I always have to buy something and this time was not exception, although I got out of there very cheaply with a wooden scraper and a tea leaf coffee mug insert. We ran next door to the Linens & More store to buy a couple pillows. The B & B pillow was killing my neck! Lucky day for us, the owner's son told us the pillows we were looking at were $20 each and they were 100% down. We'll take them! He also told us about a new B & B owned by his parents called the Agape Cottages. We plan to check them out for our next trip.

We had to stop at Fromage Du Monde, the cheese store, for some snacks for later in the evening since we planned to skip dinner. I love this shop! They have a selection of fine cheese, allow sampling, and we've found a few pieces of cheese, crackers, and salami or sausage make for a snack in place of another meal we don't need.

Steve wanted to take a trip out to the Alamo Springs Cafe for a burger. Now I'm the one who discovered this place last year after reading a tiny blurb in Texas Highways. We tried their burgers last March and then in the summer saw a photo of their burger on the cover of Texas Monthly Magazine. Alamo Springs Cafe is the type of out of the way place that caters to gray haired Corvette club groups, as were there the day we were, or the bald, bold, black leathered biker types--a lot of the Harley crowd can be found there. After the piece in Texas Monthly there was a 2 hour wait to get a table. Waitress told us "money was exchanged" to get a table.

They had the magazine cover on the wall. I had intended to eat very healthy on this trip since I signed up for a biggest loser contest at work (ha ha). I have until March 30 and I was doing pretty darn well until this trip. My plan was to get the grilled chicken sandwich but when I saw all the burgers people were eating I caved. I rationalized that we were skipping dinner. You know how that goes. My burger with the add-ons of avocado, bacon, grilled onions, and grilled jalapenos on the jalapeno cheese bun was crazy good. Did I mention I also tried a cup of their homemade chicken and andouille sausage gumbo. I talked to the woman who made it and complimented her on the perfect roux and flavors. You have to go to this place!

No way I could eat anything for many, many hours. Good thing we planned to go dancing in

Luckenbach at the annual "Hug-In and Valentine's Ball". We would see Gary P. Nunn, of the Armadillo song fame. Luckenbach, Texas is famous for the popular song, "Let's go to Luckenbach, Texas, Walon and Willie and the Boys....." The town is so tiny the slogan is, "Everyone is somebody in Luckenbach." We had a great time, good music, dancing and people watching. Our two stepping is comical since I am so uncoordinated, but hey no one was watching us (I hope).

Sunday morning and the delivery of gourmet breakfast #2, peach stuffed French toast, raspberry syrup, homemade herb and apple sausage and grapefruit compote. They even have orange juice ice cubes in the orange juice. A pretty pink frosted heart shaped cookie and some Valentine blend tea bags as a special treat. I tasted the various items and didn't make a pig of myself. Off for another walk for 1 hour, a pretty sunny day and Valentine's Day to enjoy with one another. We had no big plans for the day, just relax, finish the shopping and try to enjoy the lack of work and stress.

A light lunch at Rather Sweet Bakery of the BLAT, Bacon, Lettuce, Avocado and Tomato Sandwich, shared and a cup of black bean soup. The sandwich, on house made sourdough, was great, but the soup tasted like canned black beans heated up with weak broth. No aromatics or anything else in there, and served lukewarm. Yuk.

Dinner plans for The Nest later tonight.