I am definitely in the south.

That was my thought on the first night of my drive from Maine to Texas. I was shocked to learn that several hotels south of Virginia do not charge pet fees, I was given free alcohol, called ma’am about a dozen times on the drive alone, and on my last day, I saw a license plate that said HEEHAW. Yes, I am definitely in the south.

I’ve been here for about a month now, and I’m still so pleased with my decision to move that even the traffic isn’t getting me down. I’ve mostly taken the month to rest and settle in, but I’ve also done a fair bit of what I came to Houston to do, which is cook. I’ve done a roast chicken, which turned into chicken stock that went into mashed potatoes, reheated biryani, macaroni & cheese, dog food, and chicken & rice. I’ve been making my dog fresh food, which he has been enjoying immensely - he’s particularly fond of the salmon batches.

But it hasn’t all been my own cooking. The food scene here is amazing, which is a big part of why I moved. I’ve tried several new things already - kolaches, biryani, pho, brisket. And there’s so much more - probably more than I could ever try. In fact, traffic notwithstanding, there are a lot of things I appreciate about the city so far. A lot of things are easier here than they are in Maine. Getting my EZTag was so easy I thought I was being punked. Things like that in Maine tend to require multiple documents: two forms of ID, a contract signed in blood, current registration, and so forth. Having just moved, I thought it would be a lot more difficult than it was.

Actual image from inside the BMV.

So, why would I move myself all the way from Maine to Houston? Well, if you’ve never been there, you should know that Maine is very, very rural. That’s great for some people, but it’s not for me. Even before I made the move, I was already growing accustomed to being able to have absolutely anything delivered. I went to several shows and museums: Drunk Shakespeare, the Museum of Funeral History, a poetry slam with Write About Now, an art museum called Seismique. There’s just so much, and being here makes me feel alive in a way I didn’t before.

Okay Tala, but why Houston, specifically?

Right. Well, that was serendipity, really. My job sent me here for two weeks back in February. They offered me the opportunity right in the middle of a *horrible* cold snap, when I was driving to work in the mornings in -15º weather that made my car scream every time I started it up. If you live somewhere cold, you know the sound I’m talking about. If you don’t… nice.

Anyway, right in the middle of this cold snap they asked if I wanted to go to Houston for two weeks. They’re on fire, they said.

Being on fire sounded pretty good at the time.

So I said yes.

My dog, enjoying the cramped ride as best he could:

I jumped at it, really. It was spring break and I already had a ticket to fly my daughter to stay with her father for a week, so there was a little bit of finagling to be done with getting the schedule to work, but I managed to get to the Houston hotel a day after the rest of the people they sent. Two weeks later, when I landed back in Maine, my first thought was: I am in the wrong timezone.

So, I made a plan. I started making some moves, made a couple visits to the city in the meantime, and five months later, I drove myself - and my dog - down to Houston. I’ve taken the past month to get settled in, start getting to know the city a bit, set up my apartment, and otherwise, just get to cooking.

And I’ve started fermenting things.

My first big fermentation project here was garlic. I peeled about four pounds of it, and got four jars of garlic out of that: one plain lacto-fermented, one curried and fermented, one honey fermented, and one fridge pickled with jalapeños, red onions, and orange peel. I also shoved a bunch of the garlic papers into a fifth jar with some white vinegar. The honeyed garlic is already tasting amazing. I can’t wait to start using it: ribs, pizza, steak. This will be good on so many things! I might even try my hand at brisket - I almost have to, right?

Speaking of pizza… I love pizza. I mean, who doesn’t, but it’s a big part of the dream for me. It’s potentially going to be the cornerstone of what I end up doing here in Houston. I got my own pizza oven, and I’ve been working out how to use it well. I’ve made pizza before, of course, in a regular oven, but it turns out it’s slightly different in a pizza oven. Bit of a learning curve, but I like it. I like to drizzle a little honey on it at the end. Makes it a little wild.

So, why Half Wyld? Well, because Half Wild was already taken, first of all. (Dammit.) But really, it was the mead talking. No, really: when I brew mead, I never sanitize the fruit or use frozen, because I want that wild yeast in there, along with whatever strain I add on top of it. I figure whatever is already living on the fruit is probably pretty well adapted to that fruit, so hell, give it some honey and let it go. Half wild yeast, half commercial. There you go.

So that’s pretty much what I’m going to be doing here. Fermenting, cooking, figuring out new recipes, and putting it all on the internet, because if it’s not online, did it even really happen? Jury’s out.

To recap: I am Tala, this is my new blog. Intro posts are weird. About Me sections are weirder. Pizza is delicious. And now, I am going to spend the rest of the evening chopping up and processing a watermelon. Until next time, eat well and raise hell.