Fun With Our "Kids"

In Spring, Texas (Houston)...

Following our disappointing tour of Thousand Trails at Lake Conroe, we took up residence at Woodland Lakes RV Resort near The Woodlands.  This is a nice park with a couple of small ponds where wild ducks gather to be fed by the owners and tenants and where you can almost always catch a fish if you're so inclined.  I am not much of a fisherman, however.  My idea of a fishing trip is a trek to a restaurant where the seafood that was caught, cleaned and cooked is served fresh and hot.  Such was the case when we celebrated Mindy's birthday at the Monument Inn near LaPorte, Texas.  Overlooking the Houston ship channel, Mason was transfixed by the unending parade of vessels that passed by. The food was excellent, and everyone had a great time.

Tyler, Mindy and Mason, cutting up for the camera at the Monument Inn

Later, I took Mason on a duck feeding patrol at the RV park.  This didn't turn out all that well, as the wild ducks weren't quite tame enough to venture too close.  Mason enjoyed the outing, however, and after several attempts to corral the ducks, he pronounced them "tricky."  I had to agree.  

Poppy and grandson Mason, hunting the ducks.  Now I ask you, is there anything Poppy likes better than this?  Not much.

The next couple of days, I offered to contribute my culinary skills--such as they are--so that  Sandy and Mindy could spend the day goofing off shopping.  I fired up the Traeger smoker and barbecued  a dead chicken which was well received by the weary shoppers and Tyler, who joined in after w*rk.  (I just can't bring myself to type that awful word.) The next day, I used the huge leftover chicken breast to make a killer chicken salad with celery, grapes and walnuts.  We ate it on fresh cranberry bread and boy, was it good!

Since I was on a roll, I picked up a couple of racks of baby back ribs the next day and cooked them on the Traeger. I didn't have all the ingredients for my usual rub, so I made do with a combination of commercial pork rub and Montreal Steak seasoning.  Near the end of cooking, I slathered the ribs with Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce to which I added melted butter and some orange marmalade. (Please don't tell my doctor.)  I sent a rack home with the kids, and Sandy and I confess to eating every bite of the remaining rack.  Yum!

By the way, if you don't have one of the super little Traeger PTG (Portable Traeger Grill) smokers, you should get one.  This is a mini version of my larger Lil' Tex Traeger grill at home, and it is so easy to use this wood pellet smoker on our trips.  Just load the grill, turn it on and forget it until you're ready to eat.

  
Tomorrow, I'll be cooking my relatively famous chicken and dumplings (that means they are famous mainly among relatives), and Sandy will be baking something chocolate (Mason's favorite, but I'm sure that didn't enter into the decision.)  

We are looking forward to meeting fulltime friends Ed and Marilyn in Beaumont on Friday for some cajun seafood. We always have a fun time with these great folks, who are on their way to their winter digs in Mercedes, Texas.