We spent a long weekend in Texas for my oldest son’s birth mom’s wedding. It was a weekend of love–love of good food, love of funny family moments, love of planes taking off and landing smoothly, love of wedding vows, and love of new friends. The weekend began in Fort Worth with a well-earned vodka martini at the Little Red Wasp. I also ate a delicious Caesar salad (anchovies and all), and sweet cinnamon donut holes drizzled with a hot fudge sauce. Right after I took this photo (see below), the winds picked up and a small branch smacked me right in the kisser. Hello Texas!
After a good lunch, we joyfully (I was buzzed) walked around Fort Worth, and found sprinklers for the boys to play in at Sundance Square.
The next morning we headed out to the Fort Worth Stockyards. The stockyards used to be a livestock market, and now it is a fun tourist destination. It has shops, restaurants, a longhorn cattle parade, cowboys on horseback, and a difficult maze that I got so lost in I bailed out through the emergency door. I was getting claustrophobic. And hungry.
For lunch, we started with a basket of fried pickles at Riscky’s. I’ve never had a fried pickle before, and now I’m a devoted fan. They were salty, greasy and tangy–everything I’d want in a fried pickle. They came with a little cup of ranch dressing to dip. Food Network has a delicious recipe for fried pickles here.
I began to notice that banana pudding was featured on most Texas menus, so I finally gave in and ordered it at Riscky’s. It tasted exactly what you’d expect in a banana pudding. It wasn’t special. It was just sweet and comforting.
That night we attended a very lovely, very country, sunset wedding. To the surprise and delight of all of us, Keri (the bride) made her grand entrance on the back of a motorcycle. It was so bad-ass. She looked beautiful and Kenneth (the groom) looked handsome, and they both looked so happy. After the ceremony was finished an older man I was seated near started to talk to me. With tears in his eyes he said, “I’ve been all over the world, but no other place has made me as happy as East Texas.”
Cameron was very excited to be reunited with his big brother, Cody. Wesley, too, was smitten.
The next morning we went back to Keri and Kenneth’s house. Kenneth wanted to teach my boys how to lasso. It was adorable to watch, but my mind was on the the most delicious donuts we had just eaten in Keri’s kitchen. They came from Donut Palace in Whitehouse, TX. These donuts became my everything that weekend. I first tried the glazed donut. It was still warm. This donut was coated in a thin glaze, and it had a texture that was beautifully airy. I tried the apple fritter next. It was perfectly crisp, and a little bit gooey with a delicious apple taste. Finally, I had a frosted chocolate donut. Oh good golly, I wish I were eating that right now.
After saying our goodbyes to the newlyweds and their families we drove to Dallas. We had one last glorious meal before ending our Texas weekend. We ate delicious steaks at Y.O. Steakhouse, but it was the Hill Country Scotch Eggs we ordered for an appetizer that was the big stand out. These scotch quail’s eggs are wrapped in boar’s sausage, fried up, and served with ginger peach jam, honey mustard, and Sriracha aioli. Oh good golly, I wish I were eating that right now.
It’s not always easy being an adoptive mom. My heart breaks for Keri when she says goodbye to Cameron. My heart breaks for me, too. It’s a weird situation we find ourselves in as moms, and I know some people in our lives have disagreed with how open we have kept things. However, all I can tell you is this… Keri and I are creating a relationship for ourselves, our spouses, and most of all, for our boys, and this relationship is built from pure love. We are a different kind of family, but we’re still family, and I’m very proud of us.
