Richard Stubbe

Nothing like getting up and running — well, mostly running — a 10K with no training whatsoever. And taking one’s camera.

Looks pretty much like every other 10K start ever.

This is downtown from the Elysian Street overpass.

You know Houston is known as the Bayou City, right? Well, this is the bayou they're talking about.

The race organizers didn't say we were going to be passing a shrine,

Two shrines, actually.

This church, which I believe is properly called the Antioch Church but which is informally known as the Jesus Saves Church, is across from our building at Two Allen Center. In the background — perhaps I should say consuming the background — are the Chevron building on the left and the Continental Airlines building on the right. (Google says it’s the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church.)

I finished a couple of books in the last two days, both of them good. One was Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand, about the 1930s era racehorse. It’s a nice weaving together of lives and times — the owner, the trainer, the jockey and the horse bring off an amazing story against the backdrop of the Great Depression.

The other was Banana by Dan Koeppel, which is about … bananas. It’s a wonder to me that Dan Koeppel can consider eating even one more banana after researching and writing this book. However, that said, it’s a fascinating read as science, as history and even as economics. It will make you think twice before complaining that bananas cost 59 cents a pound. I poked around on Google to see how Panama disease is progressing and didn’t find out much. Everyone expects Panama disease to eventually wipe out the Cavendish, the banana that’s No. 4011 at the grocery checkouts, and no one knows what might replace it.
Also, I learned that four different places claim to be the birthplace of the banana split. Who knew?
Not sure what’s next — whatever looks good at the used bookstore, I suppose.

Last night I saw Grace Potter and the Nocturnals at House of Blues in Houston. Fun show, not a great show. I was hoping to hear “Mr. Columbus” and they didn’t play it, as they’re heavily emphasizing the guitars and drums and not so much keyboard work. But still, a good time.

A couple of photos of Grace:

I walked around downtown tonight after work and took a few pictures.

Top photo is of the Houston Pavilions, which looks like it’s supposed to be high-end retail. It was rather quiet on this night. The middle two were taken as I came back west on Dallas Street. The last one is where Houston’s rail line crosses Dallas.

I saw an Internet ad offering me the chance to ask a psychic one free question. Now that I think about it, I’m not sure the ad said the answer was free.

Even so, I’ll answer two questions. Free. But I’m not a psychic.

I finally made it to Salsa Fuego in Fort Worth last night after it made Texas Monthly’s list of 50 best Tex-Mex restaurants in the state. It’s a tiny place over on the Weatherford traffic circle, and it’s as good as the magazine said.

Spinach and mushroom enchiladas with New Mexico red chile sauce were excellent, as were the veggie enchiladas with a mushroom cream sauce and the veggie-stuffed poblano pepper. Presentation was outstanding. The caramel-filled churros for dessert were also quite good, although I think I’d try something else next time.

I’ve now tried all five places in Fort Worth on Texas Monthly’s list — Salsa Fuego, Lanny’s, Esperanza’s, Benito’s and Paco & John. (The man at the table next to us said breakfast at Paco & John is fabulous.) They’re too different to rate but I like them all. I also am a fan of El Paseo on Jacksboro Highway.

I shot this video from the corner of Vickery Boulevard and Hulen Street in Fort Worth.

I finally managed to make a loaf of bread that broke into the “excellent” category. The problem is I did some things differently and I’m not sure what the cause was.

Instead of using butter, I tried grapeseed oil. Why? Because I ran out of corn oil and I bought a big tank of grapeseed oil at Costco because Mark Bittman says “neutral oil, such as grapeseed or corn” all the time in his cookbook. Previously I had used corn oil instead of butter, which makes the bread vegan except for the honey, and also, I’m not a vegan. (Would I be vegan or a vegan? Different topic.)

So, the recipe became 500 grams of bread flour, 2 teaspoons of salt and 2 teaspoons of instant yeast mixed in the food processor using the dough attachment. Then combine 1.3 cups of 2 percent milk, 3 tablespoons of honey and 3 tablespoons of grapeseed oil and heat the mixture to 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the microwave (about 40 seconds) and stirred. Then turn on the food processor, pour in the liquid and watch it turn into dough in 30 to 40 seconds.

Put the dough in a covered, lightly oiled bowl and let it rise, then turn it into a loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, or until it reaches 200 degrees. I used a Pyrex loaf pan and then included a second loaf pan filled with boiling water.

Anyway, it came out perfect — great color, great flavor, and very sliceable. Sample size of one, so beware.