Maybe there is a little Texas here...

You know what? Even though I'm not in Texas, I can still find little bits and pieces of it trickling across the country and into my home. For example...

• I found an adorable Texas cookie-cutter at Hill's Kitchen, a cutesy little kitchen shop in Capitol Hill. I'm a total sucker for these kitchen stores. I could spend hours just wandering through them. Anyway, Texas shaped cookies are in my future, which definitely reminds me of this cake so lovingly baked by Mr. Vaughn, which just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and Texan inside.
• Homesick Texan, a food blogger I follow, fittingly has a little write-up in the July issue of Saveur because...the entire issue is dedicated to Texas - Texas food, Texas chefs, Texas Texas TEXAS. Oh, and Mom, I'll be calling you for recipes soon. All of that culinary wisdom needs to make its way onto a piece of paper and into my recipe box so I can start wowing my friends up here with things like chicken fried steak and red velvet cake.
• I fried something last weekend.
• I've spotted UT, A&M, Tech, and even UNT shirts adorning what I can only assume are summer tourists...but possibly locals. The footwear usually gives them away.
• Stephanie's husband, a native Texan, often wears cowboy boots. I find this a surprisingly refreshing change from the excessive amount of lobster-embroidered shorts and/or polo shirts adoring the prepsters.

Ok, so maybe these things don't just trickle in...you kinda have to seek them out. I'm more than willing to do so, though -- just take a look at the number of cans of Rotel I have stashed away.

And...two of my favorite Texans are making an appearance this weekend. As in...live and in person, coming to D.C., good times in store for all. The Vaughns are coming into town tonight! Diana and Trinity, get ready for your D.C. adventures, and if you feel like smuggling some Rosa's queso through the TSA folks (it's a liquid, right? Three ounces at a time, baby), I wouldn't be opposed to the idea. Except I'm writing this as you're already at the airport. Drat. Maybe next time.