O Great Mystery

Happy Easter one and all!

More words and phrases men shouldn't use

A couple of years ago,  on these hallowed pages, I requested the American male population to refrain from using the word "Yum" or "Yummie." That request has been widely heralded and accepted amongst men across social and political lines.

Since then several more words have come to my attention.

Men should not use the following words:

• Adorable -- this one is borderline and in some cases could be acceptable. I said could. Around your wife or girl friend, maybe.
• Veggy -- first of all, it's a vegetable and that's not that difficult to say, and second, you don't need to be talking about something that doesn't matter to you.
• Share -- as in your feelings. Feelings are meant to be suppressed. That's what manhood is. Deal with it. Sharing is okay when referring to money spent on your grandchildren.
• Baby Bump -- this is to me the fingernails on the chalkboard phrase of the year. If you are using it stop, somebody's slipping estrogen into your cocoa puffs.

Also, it has come to my attention that men are attending "Gender Reveal"* parties where the sex of the expected child is announced in a cute, sharing kind of way in the presence of other couples and friends. Is there no end to the emasculation of this generation of men? Please stop.

That's all for now. Thank you.

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* New York Times. Gender Reveal Party
* The Ticket Podcast on same

Birthday Greetings

The following is taken from Garrison Keiller's, The Writers Almanac: http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/

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It's the birthday of the writer who said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd," and "Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to never was there, and where you are is no good unless you can get away from it." She didn't want a biography written about her because, she said, 'Lives spent between the house and the chicken yard do not make exciting copy."

That's Flannery O'Connor, born in Savannah, Georgia (1925). When she was five years old, she trained a chicken to walk backward, and a newsreel company came to her house to make a film about it, which was shown all over the country. She said, "I was just there to assist the chicken but it was the high point in my life. Everything since has been anticlimax." She spent much of her life on her family farm in Milledgeville, Georgia, raising poultry and writing novels and short stories: Wise Blood (1952), The Violent Bear It Away (1960), A Good Man Is Hard to Find (1955), and Everything That Rises Must Converge (1965). This last book of short stories was published after her death in 1964, at the age of 39, from complications of lupus.

She said: "Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them. There's many a best-seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher."

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The Good Life

A look at Dallas' Hofmann Hots, Babb Bros BBQ, Trinity Groves, and Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge

Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge

I like suspension bridges and I like re-developed neighborhoods. The old Trinity Groves neighborhood west of Dallas has both. An 80 acre block of this once-forgotten area of Dallas is being re-developed by a real-estate investment group. The new suspension bridge, courtesy of the city of Dallas, connects downtown and the Groves with function and beauty; calling it a bridge is like calling the Empire State Building a building.

Last week I decided to try the lunch fare at one of the new restaurants at Trinity Groves. I walked into Hofmann Hots at the lunch hour saw a 20 person line with one order-taker behind a cash register walked out and went next door to Babb Bros BBQ. Hofmann's would have to wait for another time.

At Babb Bros I had a well stacked and tasty sliced barbecue sandwich. Delicious. Babb's is a big place, 5,000 square feet, and by the looks of the pictures they are filling it.

Babb Bros BBQ

A few days later I was near the bridge heading back to Fort Worth about two in the afternoon and decided to check on Hofmann's again. Thankfully, no line. Hofmann's offers two kinds of franks, the Kielbasa and a German Frank both with assorted toppings and sides. I got the Kielbasa and roll with nothing added. The link is cooked while you wait so it's piping hot when served and it is good. The hot dog bun is a substantial roll unlike what you buy at the grocery store for the home cookout and I have to say the dog/bun combo is perfect.

At both Babb's and Hofmann's you'll spend about $10 for lunch if you get sides which I did not do at either place.

There are more restaurants and shops coming to Trinity Groves. And for those who follow the food and restaurant business, Phil Romano (Eatzi's, Macaroni Grill, etc) is a part of the development group and, most interestingly to me, the restaurant Group offers an "incubate program" for those who have an idea and are not ready or able to fund the idea or to sign long leases. You give up some of the profits and let them take some of the risk. Great idea.

Babb Bros. BBQ

Hofmann Hots menu 

Trinity Groves 

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