The Lone Star Sheriff's Image

Sheriff Keith Gary, 2nd from the left

You Can Always Learn

Behind his desk, Sheriff Keith Gary of Grayson County leans toward me and says, “You can quote me on this, I was wrong!”

 

Let me introduce you to my friend Keith Gary.

  Keith was a 5’7” former drum major in college and after graduation, an insurance agent. Somehow by fate, accident, or an act of God he found himself sporting the badge of a U.S. Marshall assigned to East Texas.

  You can call Keith a conservative. He served under Nixon but resigned rather than serve under the Carter administration. With the election of Reagan, he was reappointed. When Clinton was elected, he resigned again and was again reappointed by Bush.

  Now, truth be told, he might have been replaced or not. It doesn’t matter because he didn’t wait around to find out.

  In 1996, he was urged to run for sheriff in a county that had never elected a Republican. He ran against a long-seated incumbent and along with two other Republicans began a trend. In 2013, all 23 elected county officials will be GOP!

  The sheriff's GOP win was so unexpected that the Texas Rangers were called in to investigate!

  To say he is beloved in his county is a statement that I have found can be said for many long-serving Texas Sheriffs. Keith is a gentle-natured soul who displays courtesy and respect with the ease of a guardian angel.

  As a matter of fact, as I sit across from him in his office, attend his Rotary luncheon, or wander around with him., I am ever fascinated by his frankness as we get to know each other. I think of a younger George Burns. I want to stick a short, fat cigar in his hands and take a picture, but he is not going for it.

The G-Man Look

 

Great Chefs and Coffee

Romancing the Bean Series

by Caffeine Cowboy

 Chefs Werner Vogeli and Karl Haas share childhood memories.

Tales from the Old County

  I count among my friends and mentors some venerable and highly respected chefs and hospitality specialist.  These gentlemen are revered in the Dallas culinary community. They are iconic.

  Many learned their craft in the shadows of WWII. Swiss, Austrian, French, and German influences ignited their love of exquisite dining that they eventually brought to a booming Dallas of the 70’s. It was time of great hotels and the explosion of fine dining in downtown Dallas that brought these adventurous young chefs that changed the image of dining and brought European luxury and elegance to the table.

  I always felt that they liked me, but after the research for this story I realized that my charm my have been secondary to my devotion and accessibility to great coffees! 

Chefs Karl Haas and Peter Klaus Curley

 

  Many thanks to Chef Karl Haas and to the late great men Chef Werner Vogeli and the consummate G.M. Helmut Frenzen who as a team, made the 69^th floor City Club in Dallas a legendary experience. 

  My 1st Dallas account as the Caffeine Cowboy was the City Club. I would tell people, "the closest coffee to heaven in Dallas was mine!"

  They shared pieces of their personal memories of coffee in their post war youth with me.  jb

Cleaning up an infestation!

When the government gets in the way, what do you do?
by J.B.Blocker 

  You are on a family vacation and anxious to get to your cousin’s home. It is night and you pull off to a side road at Mile Marker 13. You really have no choice because nature is really calling loudly and it is a few more miles to the next town. The boys have got to go and so do you.

  To your wife, 13 is already a bad sign and she decides she can wait. But the boys can’t and now neither can you. In the moonlight you find yourself in an area that is dried and desolate with dead fall and the remains of a recent fire. 
  The scene is spooky. You can’t wait to get done with your business and leave this stop far behind.  It is so daunting that no one even steps off the road. The boys just stand in front of the car and hope no one comes from the other direction. It is a place you never want to see again.

If you had been here a month earlier there would have been a real problem!

  You arrive at your cousin's home in the next town and make plans for a picnic the next day.  Morning comes and your families are headed to a favorite local swimming hole. There will be picnic areas, a clean sandy beach area, hiking paths, and great fishing. 

Paradise is what they call it.

I always wear a hat!

 

'jelly beans' i always wear a hat! jb

                                                                   i often

                                                               have ideas

                                                                 that are

                                                 much bigger than my brain.

                                                               who knows

                                                                 if my hat

                                                                   keeps

                                                              any of them

                                                            from escaping.

                                            i just know that plenty stay inside.

                                                            i can feel them.

                                                         bouncing around.

                                               multi- colored, multi-flavored

                                                              jelly beans!

                                                    wantin out of their box.

                                              lookin for a  doorway to reality.

                                                              if i didn’t

                                                            wear a hat,

                                                i’d be scratching my head

                                                           all the time.

Dotty's Coffee Cake

Dotty Griffith brought me into her circle as a food reviewer nearly 30 years ago. When I told her that I was collecting Coffee Dessert recipes, she offered one of her favorite childhood memories with her MoMo and PoPo. This is special to me even more so with her passing almost a year after she sent me this Coffee Cake recipe. Thank you Dotty 

  Mon 8/24/2020 4:03 PM To: JB Blocker JB Coffee Book Recipes

Hi, J.B. Here are my recipes. If you have questions or these recipes aren’t what you had in mind, let me know. Best regards, D Dotty Griffith True Texas Cuisine 214.356.5896 @dottygriffith  

Lots of kids went to camp. Instead, I went to spend a month with my grandparents in the small central Texas town of New Ulm. Summers with my maternal grandparents, Olga and Monroe Koch, were a blast. I called them MoMo and PoPo. The tiny town is part of the Texas German belt that runs from west of Houston through Austin and San Antonio into the Hill Country. Olga was an accomplished baker. She made their bread. She baked angel food cakes from scratch, separating a dozen eggs for the whites. Still, Olga was perhaps most renowned for what she called simply “coffee cake.” Full of butter, the crumb is airy and moist. Yet it holds together well enough to dunk into coffee. I’d love to be able to sit with her again in her small farmhouse over breakfast or her afternoon coffee break and dunk slices of MoMo’s cake into a cup of strong coffee. In the summer when fabulous Fredericksburg or Weatherford peaches are in season, I like to crown the cake with peaches. The remainder of the time, thumbprints filled with butter and sugar will do.  

Olga’s Coffee Cake (Maybe with Peaches) 3 cups all-purpose flour ½ cup sugar 1 package yeast 1 teaspoon salt ¼ cup water ¾ cup milk ¼ cup unsalted butter, cubed 1 egg 6 tablespoons butter, melted, plus additional as needed 3 small peaches (optional), halved and pits removed 6 tablespoons sugar plus additional as needed Heat oven to 350 F. Lightly coat a 13x9-inch baking pan or 2 (9-inch) cake pans with cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine 1 ½ cups flour, ½ cup sugar, yeast and salt. In a 16-ounce microwave safe measuring cup, heat the water, milk and butter to 120-130 F. Add to dry ingredients; beat just until moistened. Beat in egg until smooth. Stir in remaining flour to form a soft, sticky dough. Cover loosely with a piece of plastic wrap and a towel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 50 minutes. Stir dough down and spoon into baking pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double, about 30 minutes. Melt 6 tablespoons butter and cool to room temperature. Using your thumb, make 6 thumbprints evenly spaced on top of cake. Divide sugar evenly between the indentations. Pour melted butter over sugar in each thumbprint. If using peaches, press a peach half into the thumbprint so peach is deeply embedded into the dough. Divide sugar evenly between the peaches. Pour melted butter over each. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until light golden. Remove from oven and brush surface with more melted butter. Sprinkle surface with more sugar. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes 12 servings. Recipe adapted from The Texas Holiday Cookbook, Second Edition (Taylor Trade Publishing) by Dotty Griffith • This is quite simply the best cobbler ever. Why? Because it has two crusts. Not a soggy bottom crust and a beautifully brown and flaky top crust. No, this recipe makes a cobbler with two crisp top crusts. It is a cobbler baked on top of a cobbler. Try it. You’ll love the double crust. It comes from my Celebrating Barbecue (Simon & Schuster) cookbook. I always wonder how anyone can find room for dessert after a plate of brisket and ribs. But this cobbler makes you want dessert with a cup of coffee no matter how much ‘cue you put away at your favorite barbecue joint. Double Crust Fruit Cobbler 8 cups peeled and sliced fresh peaches or other fruit such as apples or berries 2 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon 2 tablespoons lemon juice 3 tablespoons butter Pastry for 2-crust pie 2 tablespoons melted butter Heat oven to 425 F. Lightly coat a round 3-quart round or 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. In a large saucepan over low heat, combine peaches, 2 cups sugar, flour, nutmeg and cinnamon. When mixture bubbles, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes or until the peaches are barely tender. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice and 3 tablespoons butter, stirring gently until the butter melts. Spoon half of the peach filling into the baking dish. Top with a layer of pastry cut to fit the dish. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and spoon the remaining peaches over the baked pastry. Top with a second layer of pastry cut to fit the dish. Pierce the top of the pastry with a fork to vent and brush with melted butter. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar and bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes 8 servings. ###

- J.B. Blocker is a media consultant based in Collin County in North Texas. Advertise with J.B. by calling 469-334-9962.

Recruiting a Winning Team

The Andrew Principle

Campaigning 101

jb blocker

John 1: 40  One of the two who heard Jesus speak and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41 He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas" (which is translated Peter)

  

  You don’t hear much about Andrew the apostle. We know he was one of the first to be chosen by Jesus along with James and John. Later in the Bible, he is the one who brings the boy to Jesus with the fish and loaves that feed thousands. He is also at the resurrection. But Andrew is also mentioned for one other thing that has resonated throughout the ages.
  You see, Andrew met Jesus and went to his brother Simon to tell him he had found the Savior! Simon's name was changed to Peter. "Upon this rock, I will build my church."

  That is some really good recruiting! That is like finding Babe Ruth and introducing him to baseball. 

I call it ‘The Andrew Principle’.

J. B. becomes the writing cowboy.

Romancing the Bean, A Series of Short Stories   by J.B. Blocker

Cowboy Coffee

Sunray, Texas 'just a ways from Dumas'

  By the time I met Tom Robinette, he was walking with a cane to help him bear the years he carried on those stooped shoulders.  I didn’t know it then, but now I know that years are like gravity.                     

  His short-cropped balding head was usually covered by a very worn and venerable cowboy hat. All scrunched up and sweat-stained, that hat was usually tilted to one side. Tom would scratch the side of his forehead when he was contemplating serious questions. I caused him to scratch a lot.

  I clearly remember those hands. His fingers were bent and knotted. His skin had the look of fragile leather as they opened and closed in an almost robotic dance I have witnessed often.

  Tom ran the old pool hall in Sunray, the tiny West Texas town where I spent my teenage years. I watched those hands many times as they caressed his pool cue with chalk and then slowly plant those fingers on the pool table to set his bridge. They looked like the roots of an old vine growing out of the green felt of the table and into his long shirt sleeves that were always buttoned.               

  I don’t know why they call it West Texas. We’re the very northern part of the state.  It’s the Panhandle! It should be called North Texas, but that name was taken by the Dallas/ Ft. Worth area. Still, if you drive about 400 miles north and west of Dallas you’re near my home town and you are still in Texas!

  If you keep on driving north past Amarillo, Dumas, and Stratford you are in the Oklahoma Panhandle and another 40 miles will get you into Kansas. Now, that’s really North Texas! From there, only a barbed wire fence separates us from Canada ‘so they say’.