At The River Bottom

Spring break is a wonderful time of the year to go vacationing, especially, if it means getting away from Baytown, school, and work. It is always a good time to visit our “river house” a home away from home where our best memories are created; we spend time together relaxing on the beach, swimming, four wheeling, fishing, and least appealing of all we tediously clean up our yard and the camp house, after all we must maintain the property because we only spend 6 months out of the year over there. We usually plan our schedule ahead of time taking off from work and social events so that we can spend time together doing things we love and doing the arduous chores, and all this in quiet tranquility. Our vacation destination is located in Tarkington, Texas and is off a main road that I will keep secret, but I will say that it leads off into a paved road that leads to an unpaved road that takes you deep down into the river bottom where our house is located perched on stilts.

Every time we enter into the river bottom the unpaved roads are likely to be rough, muddy and full of water, but of course I failed to take a picture of the muddy roads we came across. The only way you can enter in to the river is by four wheel drive and having some general knowledge of how not to get stuck. The roads are made of sand, full of sediments like rock, gravel, silt and the occasional cement block. By the way the cement block should always be avoided unless you want to be stranded! Anyways as you go straight through the road all the way down the winding bumpy roads and maybe past three or so left turns you will make it down to our house. Before getting there you must stop at the river’s edge a cliff where you can take and should take pictures of the old Trinity River especially if it’s your first time. I don’t know if many think it’s beautiful but we think it is, or at least where it is located! You’ll be greeted by the panoramic view of the green tinted river and the white beach that boarders its edge. I always get the occasional there’s a beach there, huh? But really there is a beach that I dare say is superior to Galveston’s nasty seaweed, bacteria infested waters, unless you like that, but anything is better than that!

At this time of the year we saw many Wisteria Vines a native species of Texas; I must say they were absolutely beautiful. The vines are lilac purple with oblong cascading flowers that dangle like a pendent chandelier. The picture I took was of the vines along the road before reaching our house. We or in other words, my sister, cousin and I like to do a little nature exploring, so when we arrived we set off towards the beach, like we always do, we walked to the sand bar, kicked off our shoes and walked along the water. While walking we came across all kinds of rocks and a sweet painted dainty butterfly with jet black, yellow, and sky blue wings.

After our exploration of our beach and our stroll we came back up the steep sand hill to the house. To our shock my sister’s boyfriend found a snake which I have no recollection of what it is, but it was cool! He said he had found it around our shed and killed it because it was dangerous. He said that he was going to cook it I was like yuck! Well as night started to fall we set up a bonfire and he threw the snake on the camp grill which I was disgusted, but he did cook it at least. So after meditating around the campfire and prodding it with more wood he took it off the fire. He say’s “it’s good try it!” I was like “I don’t know?” because I was grossed out, so I reluctantly took a bite. It tasted like chicken, I know as cliche as it sounds it did! It looked like burnt chicken too! I will say this; the thought of eating a snake is still too gross so I will not be eating it again.

The next day after breakfast we set off to the beach and took our reels, umbrellas, and packed our cooler with drinks. We road down the hill in fourth gear, if I remember clearly, and then set up our tent and chairs which were on the four wheeler. We love to fish and swim in the water and that day it was really nice and sunny. I took a look at the water and as green as it looks it was pretty and clear. We did set up some crab traps in which we lost a lot of chicken to those pesky crabs. I went out into the water and to my relief the trap I had set had one crab and it was pretty big! I remember saying I couldn't wait to eat because it did look pretty good.

Being down at the river bottom is always fun we mingle and enjoy each other’s company in the water while we swimming, laugh and just relax. The water is cool and melts your worries away. The sun was a blaze and our day was winding. My cousin came running down the beach and was scared out of his wits and said that the four wheeler had ran out of gas and that he had been walking along the beach near the cliff when he saw an alligator. I, of course skeptical, said no way! Because he’s prankster and likes to scare me, I do scare pretty easy. What we saw at the cliff was no joke it was a good size alligator and it was right their scales and all just bobbing its head in the water. We came back to the tents and showed my parents the picture that I had snapped they laughed at my cousin because they said what he was doing in the first place without checking the gas tank because by now he should know not to leave without checking it first. Anyways, they told us to get his four wheeler running and that they bet he won’t do it again as they chuckled.

Eventually, the sun was setting to low orange hue and the water became still and greener than before. It was about that time we packed up everything including our catch and went up to the house where we packed and prepared for our long haul back to Baytown. As we packed my uncle was cooking the crab and fish we caught earlier. It smelled heavenly like Spicy Cajun mix and in a couple hours or so our feast was ready; the couple of days we stayed in the sun were coming to end and we ate and enjoyed ourselves with music blasting Tejano and Country music as our fire roared and slowly whimpered to a low ember. We then walked up to our beds and shut our eyes that were tired from the sun’s rays and into a deep sleep we all went. In the morning we awoke up early packing our bags, equipment and cargo into our trucks knowing it was time to depart we said our good byes and back to reality we went.

Our trip to the river bottom is always a blast as it is quaint and not anything extravagant, but we manage to enjoy ourselves even for a little bit, but if anything we learn is that family is important and what brings us together is the bond, kinship, love, and respect for each other. I can really say that my spring break is and always is a trip to be remembered.

Visiting Cedar Bayou Cemetery

I went to the Cedar Bayou Cemetery for my project on a late evening Friday. It was cold, wet and getting dark as night approached. It probably wasn't the best time to go since it was getting late. I came to the cemetery with my mom, I know, it’s odd but I needed someone to go with, so why not her? We approached the oldest part of the cemetery and it was soaked in water as it had rained a day earlier. We walked and explored the area, searched the graveyard and came across many masonic lodge stones. With many conspiracies that my mom and I heard of masonic people and such we were intrigued, especially, at the amount of people who were masonic and lived in Baytown. 

We came upon some unusual stones and one that stood out was the woodmen-of-the-world stone and it was carved into the form of a tree stump, unusual, but very beautiful in my opinion. It was excellently carved and from the looks of it, it was done with much care and love. I couldn't help but think what a nice thing to memorialize a loved one’s passion by reflecting their love for wood working onto the stones with such great intricacies, or so I thought. I found through research that the stones are actually a gift for members of the organization of woodmen-of-the-world an organization that holds charity events and is active in communities. The organization used to give stones to its members that passed and purchased life insurance and mortgages through their membership. The organization still stands today and does not provided stones to all of its members, but only to those who cannot afford one of their own.

Just a stone throws away is this white colored classic church that stands across a gravel drive way that looks as if it was frozen in time. It is old and you could tell by the looks of it that it’s not from this time, that is, today not many churches are made from wood and wood siding, and being fairly modest in size is also a dead giveaway. The church although was not something I expected to see in a graveyard because I’m accustomed to the church being separate from the cemetery, at least, that’s how most modern churches are set up. I guess nowadays it’s a taboo thing because church is about life, living and not so much about death, but hope and good messages of god.

My mom and I noticed that the masonic men and women have different symbols above their names; the men have the compass and women have a star with symbols inside of the triangles. We had no idea what the women’s symbol meant and why would they add such a symbol to the women’s side in the first place. We hear from many rumors that the masonic lodge only adds men, so why add something symbolic like a star to the women’s side, and what does it even mean? As it happens there is a masonic organization for women called the order of the eastern star and it is marked on the grave stone of women who were members. The symbol itself depicts five different heroines from biblical stories in the bible, and each describe lessons that women "should" follow under the eastern star and these are duty, obedience, honor, justice, loyalty, faith, charity and hospitality.   

While walking through the cemetery I came across a grave marker that was one of the examples we went over in humanities on our trip to the Hill of Rest Cemetery in Baytown. I looked at one stone we came across and told my mom that this is a pretty neat find because I had learned from my professor that the gates open to heaven could symbolize the gates being open for a loved one to enter. However I noticed one big difference and that was that this one had a dove etched into the center of the gates being released into the gates. I got to thinking and wondered what does the dove symbolize or mean? After doing a quick search on the internet I found that Stephen F. Austin University had a web page that talks about symbols on stones and it says that doves depict the “soul winging its way to heaven” or if one wing is down as if it’s broken it means “mourning” and “sorrow.” 

Visiting Cedar Bayou Cemetery was a treat because I learned a lot from seeing the stones and examining them. I found that the markers are more than just identifying a person and that they show a history. I believe if we all slow down a little we can learn a bit more about our self and history too. I for one didn't really read into a stones context and with a bit of technology that is searching on the internet what I didn't know and then discovering answers to my questions about masons, the woodmen organization, and dove symbolism. Overall, the visit was a window into the lives and history of people and that stones capture theses to preserve them for years to come, so people like me can learn a little about them and their lives. 

Nara Thai Dinning & Sushi Bar

What to expect when you don't expect much

By: Daylan Santos

Have you ever researched a restaurant and hope that the place you choose would be good? Well, that person was me and I picked this place called "Nara Thai Dining & Sushi Bar" for my cultural food report in humanities.

I thought that Nara would be a great place to eat because I had researched on Yelp and found that many of the people who reviewed Nara were favorable. A lot of them often referred to a peanut sauce and how good it tasted. I thought it was a neat concept and had never heard of anyone cooking with that, or for that matter would I have ever thought to cook with peanuts and cashews. For that reason and it's good reviews I made my decision to eat at Nara's restaurant for my cultural food report. 

Finding Nara is not easy if you're not looking for it. It is located behind the McDonald's and Chevron on Garth road in Baytown. Many people frequently pass up this shopping center when they are looking for somewhere to shop and eat. I can only hope this new establishment will thrive in Baytown because it is one of the better Asian restaurants here. On the negative side of things Nara is located in a kind of shabby shopping center that makes it blend in with the other masses of Asian cuisine that runs along it. On the other hand, it's a really great place to sit, eat, and experience especially since there's not many Thai restaurants around.

When you walk up to Nara you might think it's not the greatest of places, but don't let that fool you. When you walk into Nara it is actually a very nice place to eat. Entering into Nara you are greeted by a friendly hostess and are able to pick your own spot to eat. Me and my sister noticed the nice oriental decor and the red, black, and gold theme. At the time we went it was very quiet, so I guess we caught them on off peak hours. The bright red walls that surround the restaurant have pictures of Thai gods and on the tables were yellow hibiscuses. Towards the back in the foreground a sushi bar is flanked on either side by two gold and colorful paintings of geishas.

The booth we sat in was covered in gold fabric and the tables had red linens with white paper on top which I thought was odd. I guess they have that for families with kids since at the end of the table there were a cup of crayons. Other than the odd paper and crayon situation the service was fairly good. The waitress we had was kind and attentive and took our drink orders promptly and then asked if we would like to try an appetizer. We asked for the "Sampler Appetizer" that came with chicken skewers in peanut and cashews sauce, crab cheese wontons, fried green beans and carrots, fried spring roll, calamari, stuffed open dumplings, slaw and pickled slaw, and two sweet red and dark brown sauces.

As we waited for the appetizers and drinks to arrive I sneakily took a picture of the sushi bar that was behind us. It looked like a traditional Asian style sushi bar complete with rice paper shutters and bar stools. The bar was stocked with a variety of cold fish and some other things we couldn't make out, but It did look really good! However, I don't think I would try to stomach raw sushi. 

In a moments time our drinks and appetizer arrive and they look and smell real tasty. Our waitress then ask us for our main dish and she writes that down and we proceed to chow down on the goodies. My sister and I decide to try the chicken skewer with peanut and cashew sauce. Since I had been anticipating it I had hoped that it was as enticing as the reviewers had said on Yelp. As I bit into the chicken skewer the combination of the peanuts explode in flavor and tasted nutty and herb like that maybe was rosemary or jasmine. The fried portion of our appetizer was also great light, flaky, and puffy it had the texture of funnel cake and was semi-sweet. The cheese wonton had plenty of crab and cream cheese (I'm guessing) and tasted like it had chives which was personally one of my favorites. Likewise, the open face dumpling was great and had a flowery taste that varied in sweetness. For picky eaters, like my sister, this appetizer is the best way to go because it's on the "American" palate. 

For our main dish my sister ordered the Thai Fried Rice because she's not an adventurous foodie and I ordered the Thai Cashew Nut that had beef and Jasmine Rice. To our surprise the food didn't take long to arrive. Our reaction when we received the food was great because the it was piping hot and presented nicely.

The real taste test was tasting the real good looking food in front of us. My sister tasted her Thai Fried Rice and said it was very good and that it wasn't like another fried rice she had. She said for me to try it and I reluctantly tasted it. I noticed that it was light and airy tasting but also had an flowery aroma and herb like taste that pretty good. My dish on the other had was supposed to be spicy but was actually sweet. The beef in my Thai Cashew Nut was perfection and very tender even the vegetables were cooked perfect unlike some places that serve undercooked veggies. The cashews that encrusted the beef were really good  and I assume were lightly fried to the beef in a batter of peanut sauce.

Overall, my experience at Nara and my first try at Thai food was good. I think this is a place a lot of people would pass up because they would assume that it's just another "Chinese restaurant", but they would be pleasantly surprised at the great Thai food that Nara serves. I say, give this place a shot and you'll like it. Reflecting on my experience I found that my expectations were definitely met, and that it was as good as all the hype suggested on Yelp. As a result, I think I will give this place another go ahead.