I’m not a small town girl. I’m not a city girl either, but I grew up in a modest-sized city, and that’s what I’m used to. Neither am I from Texas (or the “Tale of a Kansas Girl” title would be a bit awkward). Going to school at OU only increased my dislike of the we’re-better-than-y’all Texas attitude.

These are just a couple of the reasons why visiting Dana in Texas makes me feel like a fish out of water. Small-town Texas is just different. I’m not saying that it’s better or worse, just different.

The difference between small-town Texas and middle-sized middle-America can be illustrated by the Mexican restaurant we went to on Saturday. I LOVE Mexican and have been disappointed with every restaurant I’ve been to around here. One thing Texans have going for them is they know how to make delicious Mexican food.

So Saturday Dana and I went to a Mexican restaurant called La Mesa. The food was great, but the interior of the restaurant looked more like a steakhouse than a Mexican restaurant. A whole wall was lined with buck heads, while another wall was lined with trophy bass (are those actually real fish or mock-ups? we’re not a hunting/fishing family so I don’t know). I can’t eat an animal while looking at a dead animal (just one of my many idiosyncrasies), so Dana graciously allowed me to face the fish rather than the deer as that wasn’t so bad.

Not only was I able to eat good Mexican while in Texas, I was able to eat good BBQ. I love BBQ, but really never ate it much while I was growing up. However, it was always there. So, when I’m stuck with Carolina BBQ (pork in vinegar – yuck!) I really crave beef brisket in a sweet BBQ sauce. The place where we ate BBQ was a hole-in-the-wall called Cackle and Oink. Not only was the BBQ delicious, but the staff was very attentive!

So, I enjoy Texas food, but I would prefer it without Texas attitude!