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Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

Johnny Manziel, Sam Ehlinger, and Jumbo Fisher photo illustrationEveryone knows that the annual meeting of the Aggies and the Longhorns went on hiatus after 2011. But we’d like to presuppose this: What if it didn’t? Peering through the multiverse like Marvel’s Doctor Strange, we’ve found a timeline in which, while the Aggies still joined the SEC in 2012, a state law in the 2011 legislative session mandated that Texas and Texas A&M keep their football rivalry alive by playing a head-to-head grudge match every season, no matter how impractical their annual meetings become. Here are some of the rivalry’s memorable installments from the alternate universe where the Longhorns and Aggies never stopped playing each other. 2012: Texas A&M 70–Texas 17Aggie fans can still close their eyes and see freshman phenom Johnny Manziel slip out…

The post The Texas–Texas A&M Games That Got Away appeared first on Texas Monthly.

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Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

It was the July Fourth parade that sold Ryan and Katie Grametbaur on Martindale. There were people on horses and lawnmowers and tractors. Kids on bicycles with streamers. A Model T Ford. The route consisted of two passes down a single block because that is the entirety of downtown Martindale—but what a block. On both sides of Main Street, a half dozen restored redbrick buildings made for a picture-perfect time warp to late-nineteenth-century Texas, and people came in from all around Caldwell County to watch “the cutest thing ever,” as Katie puts it.  Four years later, Ryan and Katie are the heavily tattooed owners of Duett’s, a Martindale bar, restaurant, and music venue named after their young daughter, Duetta. The Grametbaurs had both grown up…

The post How a Tiny Group of Believers Turned a Dying Cotton Town Into a Storybook Refuge appeared first on Texas Monthly.

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Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

Texas Politicians: Take Them or Keep ThemIf you hold a local political position, such as school board president, you can have an enormous and direct influence over the lives of many of your neighbors. Paradoxically, if you are at the very top of government, you can struggle to make any difference at all. I remember, in a more innocent age, feeling real trepidation about the prospect of James Richard Perry, of Paint Creek, serving as secretary of energy, which mostly, despite its name, oversees nuclear security and high-level physics research. I felt a certain appreciation for the former governor and his great political skill, but the thought of him taking responsibility for the slowly deteriorating plutonium waste pits at the Hanford Site gave me pause. Years later, though, I talked with some…

The post Which Texans Should We Wish Upon the Trump Administration? appeared first on Texas Monthly.

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Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

Covering the most creative Texans, which we do all year long, is always a joy. But it’s especially so during the holidays, when we get to recommend 25 of our favorite Texas-made (or at the very least, Texas-concepted) gift ideas. Listed in order of price, we hope they inspire you to shop Texan—a fact that any Lone Star Stater on your list is sure to appreciate. Happy y’allidays!Courtesy of TwangGrapefruit Cocktail Rimming Salt, Twang, $5All of Twang’s flavored beer, drink, and snack salts make ideal stocking stuffers or host gifts—they easily turn a basic bottle of tequila or other spirit into a thoughtful present. But the Grapefruit Cocktail Rimming Salt is especially fun. We tried it with straight tequila as well as a classic Paloma…

The post The Top 25 Texas Gifts of 2024 appeared first on Texas Monthly.

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Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

photo of tacos at paprika atxMargarito “Mago” Pérez remembers the part of his childhood spent in Ville Hermoso—just outside Matamoros, Brownsville’s sister city—well. The one-room home had no air-conditioning, running water, indoor plumbing, or roof.Pérez’s father supported his wife and children by working as a mechanic at the garage he owned. Unlike his male cousins, who were told to go outside and play, Pérez stayed in to assist the family matriarchs in the kitchen, grabbing ingredients for dishes. “I knew it meant snacks,” Pérez says. “I got the first tortillas, the first slice of carne asada off the grill.” He also rode his tricycle to pick up limes. He didn’t know it at the time, but such occasions made him the taquero he is today.Pérez, who now owns Paprika ATX,…

The post This Taco Truck Was Supposed to Be on the 50 Best Tacos in Texas List. Then It Closed. appeared first on Texas Monthly.

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Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

cuero turkey trot photoIn the Year of Festivals, Texas Monthly writers gamely join community celebrations across the state. Bring on the pageants, cook-offs, and parades! This Thanksgiving, thousands of Texans will lace up their sneakers to run a few miles in turkey trots across the state. But in the small South Texas town of Cuero, ninety miles southeast of San Antonio, devoted revelers converge a month earlier for a literal turkey trot. Most of the events at Turkeyfest, the community’s fall extravaganza, are typical small-town Texas festival fare: a parade, a barbecue cook-off, concerts, and a jalapeño-eating competition. But the main attraction is the Great Gobbler Gallop, a live turkey race that celebrates more than a century of Cuero’s rich turkey history. Turkeyfest is the latest iteration of a long line of…

The post Gobble, Gobble, Go! This Texas Town Has Raced Turkeys for 112 Years appeared first on Texas Monthly.

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Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

UT-A&M Rivalry: Coaching on Both SidesThe Texas–Texas A&M football game is back this week, after a thirteen-year hiatus. Texas Monthly, which has long covered the rivalry, rejoices in its return with a full collection of stories about the game’s history, off-the-field antics, major players, and more. Read everything here. On the late-June day that former Texas A&M baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle left for the same job at a certain school in Austin, University of Texas women’s basketball coach Vic Schaefer got a text from an old friend in College Station: “Today is almost as bad as the day you took the job at Texas.”Schaefer is an actual Aggie (class of 1984) who also spent nine years as an assistant coach to Gary Blair, including during the 2011 national championship season. But because he…

The post Can You Be an Aggie and a Longhorn? Yes—if You’re a Coach. appeared first on Texas Monthly.

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Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

texas monthly greatest moments of texas and texas a&m photo collageThe Texas–Texas A&M football game is back this week, after a thirteen-year hiatus. Texas Monthly, which has long covered the rivalry, rejoices in its return with a full collection of stories about the game’s history, off-the-field antics, major players, and more. Read everything here. What was the greatest moment in the 130-year history of the Texas–Texas A&M football rivalry? Was it Justin Tucker’s game-winning field goal in 2011? Was it the Aggies’ emotional win in 1999, just weeks after the Texas A&M bonfire tragedy? Or was it something off the field, a Thanksgiving Day memory that has more to do with family tradition and football on TV than winners and losers on the gridiron? Nearly every Texan has an answer. Texas Monthly asked a number of Aggies and…

The post Notable Aggies and Longhorns Open Up About the Texas–Texas A&M Rivalry’s Greatest Moments appeared first on Texas Monthly.

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Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

Viva-Tejano-Episode-4-Eva-YbarraThis week’s guest on Viva Tejano, Eva Ybarra, is a luminary in conjunto music, a self-taught multi-instrumentalist who’s been playing the accordion for seven decades. For all her talent, though, she’s had to fight to get her music published. She’s faced sexism from the very start of her career and has always refused to play the way anybody else wants her to.She loves blues and jazz and salsa, and it comes through in her music. Her live performances are thrilling, dynamic experiences, and she was even kind enough to get her accordion and play for us in the studio. “We are Eva Ybarra y Su Conjunto Siempre para Ustedes. We belong to the people. We’re nobody without the people.”—Eva Ybarra Subscribe Apple Podcasts — Spotify…

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Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

Viva-Tejano-Episode-4-Eva-YbarraTM Audio subscribers have access to this episode one week early. Visit our FAQ page to learn how to link your subscription to your podcast app. This week’s guest on Viva Tejano, Eva Ybarra, is a luminary in conjunto music, a self-taught multi-instrumentalist who’s been playing the accordion for seven decades. For all her talent, though, she’s had to fight to get her music published. She’s faced sexism from the very start of her career and has always refused to play the way anybody else wants her to.She loves blues and jazz and salsa, and it comes through in her music. Her live performances are thrilling, dynamic experiences, and she was even kind enough to get her accordion and play for us in the studio. “We are…

The post TM Audio Exclusive: Eva Ybarra Has an Accordion Lesson for You—If You Can Keep Up appeared first on Texas Monthly.

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