Georgetown, Texas Real Estate Blog      Your Host: Edward Lui

We made a family trip out to Coopers Old Time Pit BBQ in Llano, TX a few weeks ago and our friends Brett and Lisa came with us.  We decided to go easy and not over-order like we normally do.  We picked a variety of their meats for comparison purposes and overall the meal was pretty good, sausage was better then Snow’s BBQ, but nothing was really “out of the ballpark” for me.  No disappointments, but no “wow” factor either…just good ‘ole dependable BBQ.  Afterwards, we hung out at the Llano River Bridge for some rock-throwing and picture-taking.

Coopers is just about 1 hour and a few minutes away from Georgetown and is an easy drive down Hwy 29.  Check it out and feel free to share your comments on how you feel this place compares with others!  The readers of this blog would love to hear your opinion!  Check out the pictures below:

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At 9:30am I called Snow’s Barbeque to find out their hours and the guy on the phone says, “They’re going fast!”  The restaurant closes whenever they run out of BBQ, which is usually noon at the latest.  I tell him that I’m coming with 3 kids and ask him to save me some BBQ and so he takes  a quick order and tells me to see Sarah when I get there.   We pile in the minivan and head off to our weekend day trip:  Snow’s BBQ in Lexington, Texas for what Texas Monthly in 2008 calls the “Best BBQ in Texas.”

At 10:15am we got to Taylor and took a rinky dink “shortcut” called FM 112 towards Lexington.  The whole trip is about an hour from Georgetown, Texas so it makes for an easy day trip.

When we got there, the line was already formed but the wait really wasn’t too bad.  We stocked up on our order to make sure we could try everything they had on the menu.  We sat down outdoors and stuffed ourselves with pure, smokey goodness.  Fatty brisket, pork ribs, sausage….and some side dishes to reduce the “meat-guilt” of eating too much barbeque.  Autumn and I loved the way they cooked their pork.  As a 10 year resident of Germany, I’m very picky about the way pork is cooked and how it tastes.  This may not be your typical compliment, but the guys at Snow’s cook pork like Germans!  Das is Gut!

We had plenty of leftovers to take home, wrapped up beautifully in some large pieces of foil.  I also got to take a picture with Pitmaster Tootsie:)

Afterwards, we were told about a cattle auction right around the corner, so we had some fun listening to the auctioneer talk a mile a minute and then went out on the catwalk to see more cows then I’ve ever seen in my life.

We had a great time and the food was excellent.  If you want to know what makes Texas famous for BBQ, make sure you stop by Snow’s ya hear!?

Check out this Smoker!

The weather is nice.

Walking is good.

Kids need to learn the value of work and earning money.

I need to do real estate marketing.

All of that adds up to our newest monthly LUI FAMILY TRADITION - Deliver real estate fliers door-to-door!

The Task: There are about 400 homes in my neighborhood in Georgetown Village and it takes my family of 5 about 1 hour/100 fliers.

The Method: I am on foot and I carry the fliers in my shoulder bag. Joshua is on the scooter, Chloe is on the bike and Autumn pushes Sabrina in anything that has wheels.  In the newer development, where houses are spread apart, we load up in the minivan.

The Loot: I pay the kids 5 cents per flier.  That’s a ton less then postage!

The Side Benefits: 1 hour of family time, walking in great Texas weather.  Teaching kids about work ethic and simple math.

Check out this month’s and last month’s flier below:

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Last week I took my wife to Austin for a date…complete with babysitting and everything:)  We were going to go to one of our favorite restaurants in Austin, Texas:  Wink

The last time we were here, we saw the sampler menu and thought, “Gee, this looks yummy!  And it’s only $65 for all this food!”  For some retarded reason, we thought it would feed the both of us.  Over an hour later, to our surprise, we got the bill and it was $65 per person!  So needless to say that meal was memorable in many ways.

There were two items that left an impression on us so we decided to order them again:  The Scallops and the Foie Gras.  Disclaimer:  These pictures were taken with my dinky point and shoot in a very dimly lit restaurant.  So they are bad pictures.

Seared Dayboat Scallops with mixed bell peppers, Italian roma beans and shellfish veloute:

These scallops are unlike anything you’ve ever tasted.  They’re velvety smooth in the inside and have so much more flavor then those dinky scallops you normally see in restaurants.  The difficult thing to do is to cook these right.  You undercook them and they’re too fishy, you overcook them and they’re too tough.  These were done perfectly.  You can order this as an appetizer or a meal.  Since Autumn and I were splitting everything, we got the meal size for $29.  Too much of this can be a little overwhelming, so make sure you share and don’t be greedy.  Or just ask the waiter for more bread.

Seared Foie Gras on brioche with pickled rhubarb, black pepper strawberries, and almonds:

Now this was an appetizer…but for $22, it sure wasn’t priced like one.  If you’ve never had foie gras, you’ve got to taste it at this restaurant.  It’s full of flavor and just melts in your mouth.  Why do they give you so little of it?  It must be bad for you that’s why.  I’m not even sure I know what it is.  Something about fat and liver is what Autumn told me.  Hey, it’s French, what can I say?  Just eat it and quit worrying.

Word of advice: Get reservations.  I thought I could just mozy on in the restaurant, but good thing I called.  The guy on the phone told me I had a choice of 6:30 PM or 9:30 PM.  Gee, thanks for the choices.  We went for 6:30 PM and decided to catch a Realtor event afterwards.  We didn’t eat too much here because there was supposed to be food at the following event (turned out that there wasn’t much there either).  When you get to Wink, they also usually give you a little pre-meal tasting of something they made to whet your appetite.  This time Autumn and I got to try some Ginger tea with a Ginger snap cookie.  Impressive, I know.  What’s impressive about these restaurants is how they can serve you so little and give you the silliest things and yet they taste so good and seem to cost so much.  In the end, is it worth it?  Well remember, we came back for a second time…and considering that we only had a choice of two reservation times that night… other people come back as well.
At the Realtor event, the food was pretty lame, but check out the fire dancer!

It’s good to be back in Texas!  After spending about 2 1/2 weeks in California on a family vacation, It’s good to be back where it’s 30 degrees hotter, I sneeze because of the allergies and I’m now back burning the midnight oil in my business.  Yet it’s still home, and I missed it.

My youngest brother, Edwin, finally got married in California and so now there are no more bachelors in my immediate family. Everybody in my wife’s family is hitched too. I’ll be posting pictures soon, but all of that vacationing has made me pretty quiet on the blog-front. For more regular updates, check out my Facebook page: www.YourFavoriteHomeboy.com and become a Fan!

~Edward

Mel’s Lone Star Lanes in Georgetown Texas

Yeah, not your typical bowling alley, Mel’s Lone Star Lanes in Georgetown, Texas is probably the nicest bowling alley I’ve ever been too.  And I’ve been to a lot!

I went here last week to spend some family time and we had a blast.  We took along our friend Claire and we paid for an hours worth of bowling.  If I had to do it over again, I might have chosen to just pay per game since we took so long to bowl with 4 kids!  Anyway, keep that in mind when you come here:  Paying hourly is great if you’re going to be bowling some quick games, but if you have the kiddos, you might want to opt for the pay-per-game option. They have a large selection of balls so your 5 year old won’t be stuck with a 12 pounder, and the shoes here are all pretty new since this place just opened.  I brought my own shoes though, since I’m cool.

Unlike many old-school bowling alleys, you don’t have to stick some cumbersome object into the lanes, but rather the bumpers come out automatically depending on how you set up the system.  This is nice, because you can have an adult bowl, without the bumpers, and then right before a small child bowls, the bumpers can automatically extend outward. They also give you this ramp that the kids can just stick the ball on and push it down into the alley. This helps the kids get better results and is much more productive then watching a 6 lb. bowling ball slowly (and painfully) creep down the alley until it stops in the middle and you have to call a service guy to fetch it.  Go for the ramp, that way your 18 month old can bowl, like my daughter Sabrina in the picture:)

Another nice feature here is the service.  You can order your food/drinks without having to stand in line.  Just push the service button and a waiter comes out and takes your order.  Every time we come here, we usually get the sweet potato fries.  They come out hot and tasty!  They have the usual bowling alley fare:  pizza, sandwiches and salads and some other stuff.

After our game, we walked through the sports bar, CJ’s, and played a game of shuffleboard.  They have two shuffleboard tables and some pool tables too.  They also have an arcade on the other side of the bowling alley for the kiddos.  I like bowling at CJ’s because they’ve replaced the hard bowling alley seats, that we’re all used to, and instead there are some nice couches!  If you’ve ever wanted to know what it would be like to have a bowling alley in your home, this is it!  There are also more big screen flat panel TV’s in this bowling alley then Circuit City!  How relaxing is it to watch TV, check on your bowling score and munch on your sweet potato fries all from the same spot?

If you’re looking for something to do in the city of Georgetown, Texas, check out Mel’s Lone Star Lanes and put down those nunchuck controllers from your Nintendo Wii bowling game.  The crashing sound of the bowling ball with the pins just doesn’t sound the same from your television!  Speaking of video games, sometimes we take the kids here just for the arcade to kill some time:)  This place is clean and it’s never really been too crowded when we come here.  Check it out for yourself and let me know what your experience is!  I love reader interaction on this blog so please comment below!

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This post is a little late, but it’s a restaurant review nonetheless.

Autumn and I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day anymore, we celebrate Autumn’s Day which is the day before.  Awww, how romantic I know.  However, as we were driving into Austin to celebrate a day early there was a TON of traffic heading into the city at the same time!  Hmm, looks like the rest of the world has their own “Autumn’s Day.”

This year we decided to double date with our good friends David and Melissa and we headed down to Louie’s 106.

Here are the two happy couples:

David and Melissa have two children, Claire and Jonah, and they play well with our three kids:  Joshua, Chloe and Sabrina.  We’re just happy to be friends with ANYONE who has kids that will play with ours:)  But Claire is the best when it comes to watching Chloe and Joshua so that Autumn can have a sane moment during the day.    What would we do without her?!

Back to the food: We tried the crispy calamari with red pepper rouille and roasted garlic aioli (not pictured), Prince Edward Island Mussels and House made mesquite smoked salmon for appetizers.

For our main course, we ordered The original Baby Louie’s Hot and Crunchy Trout, some meat dish (my memory is fading fast), and creme brulee for dessert:

Notice that somebody (ahem, Autumn), couldn’t wait for me to take a picture before diving into the dessert!  This was a fun place to go and the presentation, as you can tell from the pictures, was very nice.  The Prince Edward Island Mussels were my favorite as they reminded me of our honeymoon when we went to Prince Edward Island and had these for the very first time.

This is another great Austin restaurant located in the heart of downtown.  They have valet parking and accept resrvations!  My only gripe?  Well, I made reservations and indicated that it was also for the celebration of David and Melissa’s anniversary (which it was) and I was hoping they would have given us a free dessert or at least mentioned it to them.  Nothing happened…maybe it was because we had already ordered dessert or maybe because it was super busy that night.  Nonetheless, great food at decent prices.  Check it out and let me know what you think!  Have you been here before?  I love reader interaction, please comment!

I love free things.

We have one of those Redbox kiosks at our local Walmart and if you sign up online you can actually get a text message every monday for a free movie!  So that’s sort of been my cheap family tradition that the kids look forward to every Monday.  They usually get a kid’s movie and then I rent one for myself.

This time, the kids got this frog cartoon movie and I got a movie called:  Wanted

“Wanted” is about a guy stuck in his boring account manager job and finds out that his true calling is to be an assassin.   So, naturally, he begins his “training” by getting the snot beat out of him until he can answer the question, “Why are you here?” He finally gets it right and says, “Because I don’t know who I am.” and that’s when he really gets serious about his training.  He needed to come to a place where who he was or thought he was really didn’t matter, as much as who he was destined to be:  A kick-butt assassin like his daddy!

I was learning in Sunday School this week that when Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the tree that God forbade them to eat, they suddenly were self-aware.  They realized they were naked, not just externally, but internally as well.  They lost their innocence and became focused on themselves.  Since then, the pattern has never changed.  The more aware of ourselves we are, the more that it’s “all about us” and the more selfish we become; the more we fall short of what God destines us to be. Like the old hymn, we need to “turn our eyes upon Jesus” and get them off ourselves.

Like graduating from a boring account manager position and into the exciting life of an assassin, we will never realize our true calling until we can answer the question, “Why are you here?” with an answer that speaks less of what we want out of life and more so of what God wants.  When we give up our right to ourselves and decide to wholeheartedly become  a follower of Jesus Christ we realize our true potential.  Why?  Because Jesus is the originator and giver of life.

He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.  In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. - John 1:2-4

It’s foolish to think we can live a full life, without the Originator of Life.  It’s time to graduate.
CLICK HERE to watch a preview of “Wanted”….I’m featured on it towards the end!

My church RLG (Real Life Group) just had our annual White Elephant Gift Party and I was able to get rid of give away a beautiful food gift basket…filled with a wild assortment of things from my pantry that we never would eat.  The “lucky” recipient will have food for weeks:)

For those of you who don’t get out much - A White Elephant gift exchange is wrapping up stuff around the home and exchanging it with other people.  One man’s junk is another man’s treasure!  Here are some of the pictures of the gifts.  We also had a book exchange for the kids.

Notice the look of gratitude on each recipient’s face (click to see complete picture):

If you’re interested in looking into a RLG for yourself, check out my church’s website:  Hill Country Bible Church.  We have groups for all ages and throughout the week studying topics on finances, marriage, raising kids, etc. and you can also sharpen up those white elephant skills.

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I don’t have all 5 yet…but I do know one that will top the list:  Hard Drive Crash!
Yes, I’ve been dealing with that for the past week or so and I feel 3 months behind.  Literally, 3 months, since that’s the last time I backed up.  Usually I back up EVERY HOUR, but since I had been moving into my new home/home office, I turned that system off.  I was planning on backing up this week when suddenly it happened…

So, I’m making lemonade out of lemons: I just purchased a Macbook Pro and am spending all day restoring my 3 month old backup.  Having a new computer kind of lightens the “ouch-effect”  What’s up with hard drives these days?  You would think they would be more reliable.  That was my second hard drive in 12 months!

Here’s the rest of my top 5 worst events for a small business owner (off the top of my head):

5.  Hard drive crash - (Technology failure)

4.  Getting a bad review from a client

3.  Working with a client for weeks and never getting a sale

2.  Getting through a slow business cycle

1.  Not being able to recover from the first four events and having to work at McDonalds.