Shopping and hanging around

Woke up to cold weather (47) today, sounds like a shopping day to me.  After a delicious pancake breakfast we headed to the outlet mall in Mercedes.  we have not been there yet so did not know what to expect.  It ,is a high end outlet mall and pretty crowded.  we just wandered in and out of the stores, not really looking for anything in particular.   I found a pair of jeans at Ralph Lauren.  the clerk said all jeans were $19, when she rung up my purchase I thought she said $26.75!  well mine were marked $24.95, but they fit well so what the heck.  I get outside look at my charge receipt it was $6.75!!  should have bought two pair!! 

by afternoon the weather here was at 50 and in Birchwood Wi it was 55!  thats not suppose to happen!

then we headed to the flea market.  bought some Mexican 1015 Onions and Red Rio grapefruit,  What is a 1015 Onion??  they are just harvesting them now:

Released in 1983. The Texas 1015 onion was developed by the legendary Dr. Leonard Pike of Texas A&M University, it's name derives from the planting date in Texas (October 15).

Texas 1015s were grown in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas and took some 10 years to produce, this onion was dubbed the "million dollar baby" because of the enormous cost and amount of time it took to develop this exceptionally sweet onion.

1015's have flattened yellow bulbs with rounded shoulders.

Texas 1015 is the sweetest of the sweet onion varieties and I remember my mother always buying them at the local market where I grew up in Texas.

The bigger it gets the sweeter it gets. Texas 1015 onions can weigh up to a pound or more!

We have not cut into one yet but will soon! 

Since we saved so much money on the jeans and produce we headed off to Pappadeaux's for a well deserved lunch/dinner.

Eric had never been to one before, know it is a $$ chain but usually pretty good.

I ordered the:

it was very peachy and very delicious.  it cost more than my new jeans!  but well worth it.

We ordered the Papa deaux oyster plate:

although the oysters were kind of small they were both good.

I ordered the shrimp and catfish dinner.  the shrimp was a bit spicy (red pepper in the batter), the catfish was wonderful, sweet, flaky and cornmeal batter. 

Eric ordered the crayfish combo plate with dirty rice.  Fried crayfish and crayfish etouffee.  they were a bit too spicy for me but great flavor.

It was 2 in the afternoon and the place was jammed.  people just kept coming in!   we are not seeing any signs of the recession in South Texas!

Sunday started out cool and rainy.  by afternoon the sun came out, temp up to 77.  did not do anything!  just hung around the compound.

Our time here is getting short. But I guess it is time to get ready to head back home. Amost all of the volunteers will leave by the end of the month.  The three couples that came in Feb will remain until April 1.