Birthday Boy

Becca thinks that this is a silly reason to like this birthday, but turning 27 is great. It's just a great number - 3 to the 3rd power (3^3). You only have 3 of these birthdays in your life - at 1 (1 to the 1st power) and at 4 (2 to the 2nd power). Unless you live until you are 256 (4 to the 4th power), that's it. Ok, so maybe that whole explanation falls right into a couple points my sister made in her blog post about my birthday.

I woke up a little early and went mountain biking. Since I was born in Walnut Creek, California, I rode this morning at Walnut Creek park. Ok, I almost always ride there since it is so close and has a great variety of trails, so it's just coincidence (or is it?), but it is one of my 5 favorite places to ride of all the trails I've ridden wherever I've lived. I did endo only 3/4 of a mile into my ride (I really need to stop doing that - my insurance isn't that great), but the blood dried enough to go a couple more miles. I got a nice laceration on my elbow, but nothing a little super glue and steri strips can't solve (yeah! Birthday scar).

When I decided to attend Texas for grad school, my brother-in-law gave me a book called "Backyard Brawl". It discusses the UT-Texas A&M rivalry. Anyway, in the book, the author talks about this great Texas BBQ place between Austin and College Station. It always comes up on great Texas BBQ places, sometimes in the top 3. I have always wanted to go, so today, we went.



Louie Mueller BBQ is about a 45 minute drive out to Taylor. I love Texas BBQ and this didn't dissappoint. It looks like an old gym with the smoking pit in the back. The menu is written on paper and taped to the wall near the counter and you get your food on a piece of paper. Don't forget the fixin's - pickels and onions. Brisket - moist and tasty. Pork Ribs - ok, I like the short ribs rather than the spare ribs (best ribs - Texas Roadhouse, by far!). Sausage - good taste, texture just ok (best sausage - Rudy's). Suace - different, runnier than I like with a little kick; didn't taste very good by itself, but was good with the meat. Potato salad - best potato salad I've had (mostly because I'm so particular about how I like my potato salad: mustardy, oniony, and with a kick from pickle juice). If you are going for a drive to BBQ, I suggest going to this place rather than Salt Lick. A real old town feel that just makes you know the food has to be good.

The other great part about driving to Taylor is that on the way back, you pass through Hutto, which has the Texan Cafe. We've eaten here a few times when we go to a Round Rock Express game (AAA baseball) and the food is pretty good, but the best part is the PIES! I like pies more than cakes, so why not get some birthday pie? It's so hard to choose since there are 10-15 pies that rotate each day. I went with an old favorite, rhubarb (brings back great memories of my grandma). Becca got strawberry cream cheese. Not so exotic for either of us (there are some strange ones), but they are so good!