ROUND TOP ANTIQUE WEEK

My husband calls Round Top "Adult Camp"... we are like kids anxiously awaiting Antique Week in Round Top, Texas. Andrew and I have only missed "camp" once in seven years. I don't know which is more fun, besides antiquing... staying at the Outpost at Cedar Creek... or eating dinner at Royer's Round Top Cafe.

Here are some pictures of the Outpost...five miles from Round Top's town square, on a beautiful 48 acre compound, there are 13 guesthouses perfectly placed on the property. Owner, Lenore Prudhomme, is the ultimate innkeeper. The Outpost has been featured in most every magazine you can name, and recently won Best Inn in the Southwest & West. Not only is each guest house wonderfully appointed with the finest linens and plush down pillows, but each morning all the guests walk up to her great barn, called Rangers Lounge, and eat a fabulous breakfast with guests like Rachel Ashwell, Mary Emmerling, and other inspiring and well known shop owners & designers from all over the country.

RANGERS LOUNGE AT THE OUTPOST

But if you are thinking you might call and make reservations to stay at the Outpost this week....THINK AGAIN. It's probably easier to get a meeting with President Bush, than it is to get a reservation at the Outpost, during Antique Week. I feel like I won the lottery a few years ago when Andrew and I were eating at Royers one night during the show. We sat at a community table with a gal named Janice, who owns a garden shop in Phoenix. We had such a great time getting to know a fellow shop owner that I gave her a copy of our Dove's Nest cookbook, as we left that night. A year later, I took a chance and logged onto the Outpost website and put our name on the waiting list. Surprisingly Lenore recognized my name, remembering that Janice had showed her my cookbook when she returned that evening. Lenore responded almost immediately and said she just received a cancellation....I GRABBED IT and have never looked back. You don't dare check out of the Outpost without renewing your reservation for the next season.

We have stayed in several of Lenore's guesthouses over the years, but her Casita Bungalow is one of our favorites.....

CASITA BUNGALOW AT THE OUTPOST

A TRIP TO ROUND TOP IS NOT COMPLETE IF YOU DON'T EAT AT ROYERS....

Bud Royer is an institution in Round Top, Texas, and his family cafe is half the fun of going there. After spending hours in the fields, shopping for fun props and goodies for the store, or helping my husband, and his partner (RUG MAN) in Warrenton,the next town up the road....folks make their way to the town square and sit on bales of hay waiting for Bud to call their names for dinner. Even though reservations are a must, you still end up waiting out front and drinking glasses of wine or beer, on the honor system, until your name is called. A few years back Texas Monthly Magazine voted The Dove's Nest, and Royers, two of the top ten best small town restaurants in Texas. We also published our cookbooks through he same company...Favorite Recipes Press. The whole Royer clan works their tails off each night to serve hoards of people who have come to the antique show. Bud's wife Karen, daughter Tara, and sons Todd, Micah and JB help run the show.....and eating at one of Royers community tables can be the highlight of your trip...you never know who Bud is going to put you with and over the years we have made great friends with many of our nightly dining companions. Last year he sat us at the big round table with actress Mary Steenburgen. You just never know who is going to show up in Round Top, Texas...population 72, on most days, but during Antique Week, literally thousands of people come to shop at what has become the largest antique show in the country. I just can't tell ya how much fun it is...it's one of those things you have to experience to believe.

BUD ROYER AND DAUGHTER TARA HOLDING THEIR FAMOUS PIES

AN ASIAN SHINDIG

Andrew and Mark rolling at the sushi bar

We catered a great party in the backyard of Dr. Jeff Kosoris...for his 50th birthday.... his wife, Susan wanted to do something fun and different...for Waxahachie at least. So we used bamboo folding chairs and square white plates with black folded napkins, and tucked the chopsticks into each place setting. As guests arrived we were rolling sushi and shaking up mandarin martinis, at the bar. After cocktails, almost 70 guests were seated in the backyard and we plated sesame lacquered beef on a bamboo skewer with coconut rice and snow peas in a wonderful mango ginger sauce. The grand finale was a dessert sushi made for us by a great new bakery in Dallas, called Petit Fours Cakes. We thought we had hired an Asian woman to come read tea leaves, but a palm reader showed up instead...oh well, apparently everyone was happy with their fortunes and danced till the wee hours of the morning. As usual, I don't ever have time to take pictures AFTER the party starts, but here are some shots before guests arrived....