Friday, December 02, 2016

The National Hamburger of Texas

One of the advantages of living past your sell by date is the smallest thing can send you back in time and mostly, except for MsBubba, no one wants to lock you in the looney bin. Week tea I know but that's part of being older than dirt along with senior discounts and the Golden Eagle National Park pass.

Last night I needed to grab something to eat before show time. There is a Whataburger on the way and close to the Center. Most of the time it is just a quick in, eat a hamburger, and out in less than 15 minutes. Last night the time table held but soon I was back in, I believe, 1957 and remembering the first time I had a Whataburger. At that time I was a student in a San Antonio, TX boarding school, one of my fellow students, Bob Shoop, invited me to spend a long weekend at his home in Corpus Christi, TX. Bob's dad owned a large restaurant in Corpus but all Bob could talk about was having a Whataburger once we were in Corpus.

I was not disappointed, with the first bite it was like a Disney movie with blue birds singing and angels descending from on high. It doesn't happen often, in fact the only other time I can remember was my first visit to Mama Ninfa's on Navigation in Houston, TX.

A true quote from their web site "This is where it all started, where Mama Ninfa first stuffed chargrilled sliced beef into a handmade flour tortilla and launched the national fajita craze...". It wasn't just her Tacos Al Carbon but everything I had that night, the refried beans, the rice, it all had me licking the plate and wanting more. Shortly after that first visit Ninfa's was discovered and lines out the door stretched around the block. All good things, except Whataburger, end or are loved to death and Ninfa's is not the place it once was but for a few short years it was the best not just Mexican food but food you could find at any price. It was even better than K-Paul's in New Orleans.

Unlike many shops that expand, while today's Whataburger will no longer call down the angels or blue birds it has remained very true to the original.

Enough old farting. MsBubba's Mahjong box ain't the best....The Ebonizing of the White Oak lid and base is very pretty but it didn't play well with the glue and the Cherry box. Also I'm not sure the iron/acid will not stain the Mahjong tiles. It is back to the drawing board for the Mahjong box.


As always....click it to big it,

ken



10 comments:

  1. There's something special about getting a meal that will send you back in time.
    the Mahjong box looks good. I hope you will be able to sort out the glue thing.
    Brgds
    Jonas

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  2. Consider it a prototype. That's what I do.

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  3. Jonas,

    There are a couple of possibilities: the easiest is don't glue, the other is let the ebonized wood cure longer and see what happens.

    ken

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  4. Andy,

    I like your style :-).

    ken

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  5. you would think that once fully cured glue should hold?
    But to be sure, try epoxy, that is the only glue that stick to itself, hence why sizing first makes for stronger joints

    bob, who somehow missed supper last nite so I cooking pork chops for brunch :-)

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  6. Curious about the ebonizing - is there any finish on it? I am going to experiment with this and try oil and water based poly. I think the acids in the ebonizing stuff may interfere with the finish. I haven't had any problems so far with the shellac

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  7. I'm wondering if it makes sense to rinse with a baking soda wash to neutralize everything before sealing it? So far, I've only ebonised screw-in stool legs and a couple of applied panels (a la Studley chest) because I can't see any way to glue it to an unfinished surface without creating problems for the final scraping and sanding. I've looked at some ebonized Aesthetic Movement shelving online and a couple of instances it points out that ebony is also used; for the cabinet and shelf facings.

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  8. Bob,

    The problem was not holding but the iron/acid mixing with the glue and coloring everything it touched. Think black glue :-).

    ken

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  9. Ralph,

    I finished with Danish oil and a oil/poly finish....I wanted to seal the ebonized wood to stop color transfer. That part seems to work. The Danish oil made the ebonized wood "blacker".

    Will I use ebonizing again? Most likely but if I'm joining it to lighter wood I will need to figure out the glue problem.

    The ebonized White Oak is beautiful it does not look like a "stained" wood.

    ken

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  10. Paul,

    The baking soda is a thought but I think the answer will be someway to seal the ebonized wood prior to gluing and I do not know if that is possible and still have it take a finish.

    ken

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