Plaza San Saba at La Cantera Resort & Spa. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Ring in the New Year with a Great Gatsby inspired New Year’s Eve Celebration at La Cantera Resort & Spa. Come dressed as a flapper or don a tweed jacket, vest, and bow tie to bid adieu to 2020 in 1920s style. The New Year’s package includes resort room accommodations, New Year’s dinner for two at SweetFire Kitchen and a midnight toast presented by Moët & Chandon. (La Cantera Resort & Spa, 2020)
SweetFire Kitchen will be serving a southern style three course meal with old-world flair. After dinner, enjoy live piano music by Ken Brown in the resort lobby overlooking Plaza San Saba. Then, at the stroke of midnight raise your glasses and toast in the New Year provided by Moët & Chandon. Your ride home is the elevator to your floor and room.
The New Year’s Eve package for two is $399. For reservations, call 210-558-6500 and mention promo code SOIREE. Space is limited, social distancing and masks are required.
The Resort strives to provide the safest and cleanest environment to our guests and to our associates, as much as possible. The Resort has teamed up with safety, engineering and chemical partners, consultants, and adopted recommendations from the CDC in the development of their CLEAN TOUCH initiative.
For a complete list of New Year’s Eve offerings and to review the resort’s Clean Touch initiative, visit La Cantera Resort & Spa online.
La Panaderia’s Rosca de Reyes. Photo: La Panaderia, used with permission.
La Panadería continues to share their traditions and bread cultura with San Antonio residents. Starting on Tuesday, December 29, La Panadería will begin selling their traditional Rosca de Reyes for Epiphany Day on January 6, 2021. (La Panadería, 2020)
The sweet bread features orange and guava flavors with chocolate and vanilla butter crust and cherries, and in Mexican culture, it is tradition to hide a plastic baby to symbolize baby Jesus. Whoever finds the baby traditionally must throw a party on February 2 for family and friends, though this year they might just oversee sending the Zoom link for a virtual party. As not everyone is familiar with the tradition, La Panadería includes the baby separately so people can hide them on their own.
Guests will have the option to purchase a small Rosca de Reyes for $4.50, a six-pack of small Rosca de Reyes for $24, or a family size Rosca de Reyes for $24. Rosca de Reyes can be preordered online starting December 29, 2020.
Winner in the Fiction category: ‘The Midnight Library’ by Matt Haig. Photo: amazon
These are the winners of the 12th Annual Goodreads Choice Awards, the only major book awards decided by readers. Congratulations to the best books of the year. Winners in other categories include: Nonfiction: ‘Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You’ by Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi, Memoir & Autobiography: ‘A Promised Land’ by Barack Obama and History & Biography: ‘Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents’ by Isabel Wilkerson. The complete list of winners is available online.
Highlights include:
Fiction: ‘The Midnight Library’ by Matt Haig– Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?
Mystery & Thriller: ‘The Guest List’ by Lucy Foley– On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast. And then someone turns up dead.
Historical Fiction: ‘The Vanishing Half’ by Brit Bennett -The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it is not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it is everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation when their own daughters’ storylines intersect?
Fantasy: ‘House of Earth and Blood’ (Crescent City) by Sarah J. Maas – Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life―working hard all day and partying all night―until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She will do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.
Romance: ‘From Blood and Ash’ by Jennifer L Armentrout– Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers.
Science Fiction: ‘To Sleep in a Sea of Stars’ by Christopher Paolini – During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first she is delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move. As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact is not at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human. While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation.
Horror: ‘Mexican Gothic’ by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – After receiving a frantic letter from her newlywed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She is not sure what she will find; her cousin’s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region. Mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, Noemí may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.
Pluckers Wing Bar’s Fried Twinkie dessert. Photo: Pluckers Wing Bar, used with permission.
In honor of the new year, Pluckers Wing Bar will feature an anti-resolution special from January 1 to January 7, 2021. During the week, guests can expect half-priced desserts and a $1 upcharge on salads when dining-in at the restaurant. The extra dollar will be donated to Breakthrough Central Texas, an education nonprofit that creates a path to and through college for students who will become the first in their families to earn a college degree. (Pluckers Wing Bar, 2020)
To ensure the well-being of guests and their employees, safety procedures and precautions currently implemented at all Pluckers locations include taking the temperature of all guests before they enter the restaurant. Any guest who registers a temperature above the current guidelines will be asked to place a takeout order; strongly encouraging guests to use the Yelp waitlist; kindly requesting that guests limit their dining times to 45 minutes after they receive their food; per Texas requirements, Pluckers will only seat parties of ten or fewer people at a table. Children of all ages are included in the party number; checking employees for fever upon arrival for their shift; installing sneeze guards at the host stands; requiring all back-of-house employees to wear gloves and requiring all employees to wear face masks. All Pluckers locations are currently open for dine-in service at 75% capacity.
Owners Mark Greenberg, Dave Paul, and Sean Greenberg, 2017 Ernst and Young Central Texas Entrepreneurs of the Year, opened their first Pluckers restaurant in Austin in 1995. Over the past 25 years, Pluckers Wing Bar has opened 29 locations, expanding to Baton Rouge, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston Killeen, San Marcos, and San Antonio. Pluckers is known for its signature wings and is consistently recognized as the best sports bar and chicken wing restaurant in the cities where it is located. Offering guests a fun, laid-back atmosphere where friends, family, and co-workers can enjoy a great meal and watch sports, Pluckers has been named in USA Today’s “Top Ten Wing Restaurants,” ESPN’s “Top 5 Sports Bar in North America,” and Dallas Observer’s “Best Sports Bar,” along with being named one of “Austin’s Best Places to Work” for three years by Austin Business Journal.
Wilfredo Lam, Untitled, 1965, charcoal and pastel. Art Museum of the Americas Collection. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
On February 12, the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) will open ‘No Ocean Between Us,’ an exhibition that explores the art of Asian migrations in Latin America and the Caribbean. The exhibition features approximately 65 works of modern and contemporary art by Latin American and Caribbean artists of Asian descent, including painter and printmaker Wifredo Lam; installation artists Carlos Runcie Tanaka and Eduardo Tokeshi; painters Manabu Mabe and Tomie Ohtake; and video artist Laura Fong Prosper, among numerous others. The works included range from paintings and works on paper to installation and new media. ‘No Ocean Between Us: Art of Asian Diasporas in Latin America & the Caribbean, 1945–Present’ will remain on view through May 9, 2021. (San Antonio Museum of Art, 2020)
The exhibition is organized around Latin American and Caribbean countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Guyana, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. Panels within the exhibition provide brief descriptions of Asian diasporic communities and cultures in these countries as well as context for the histories of migrations from China, India, Indonesia, and Japan. Global forces such as colonialism, plantation labor, and war shaped the courses of Asian migration to Latin American and the Caribbean.
Some artists featured in the exhibition engage directly with these histories of migration and diaspora, the intergenerational Asian Latin American experience, or the hybridity of cross-cultural exchange. Many of the featured artists converse with global artistic movements of their moment. For example, the art of Wifredo Lam engages with the legacies of colonialism and enslavement in his home country, Cuba, while deploying the aesthetic language of cubism and surrealism. Peruvian artist Carlos Runcie Tanaka has leveraged the formal qualities of ceramics, origami, glass, and video installations to break down and examine existing cultural understandings of identity and history. The exhibition also features American artists who identify as part of these communities, including Guyana-born, Denver-based artist Suchitra Mattai, whose works in painting, fiber, drawing, collage, and video question historical narratives and colonialism and reclaim cultural materials.
‘No Ocean Between Us’ was inspired by the permanent collection of the OAS AMA | Art Museum of the Americas of the Organization of American States, with additional loans from public and private collections. It was originally conceived by Adriana Ospina, OAS AMA’s Collections Curator and Educational Programming Manager, under the title Cultural Encounters: Art of Asian Diasporas in Latin America & the Caribbean, 1945–Present. At SAMA, the exhibition is being curated by Lucía Abramovich Sánchez, Associate Curator of Latin American Art, and Yinshi Lerman-Tan, Acting Associate Curator of American and European Art. Following its presentation at SAMA, the exhibition will conclude its tour at OAS AMA, opening there on June 5, 2021.
The San Antonio Museum of Art serves as a forum to explore and connect with art that spans the world’s geographies, artistic periods, genres, and cultures. Its collection contains nearly 30,000 works representing 5,000 years of history. Housed in the historic Lone Star Brewery on the Museum Reach of San Antonio’s River Walk, the San Antonio Museum of Art is committed to promoting the rich cultural heritage and life of the city. As an active civic leader, the Museum is dedicated to enriching the cultural life of the city and the region, and to supporting its creative community.
“Cross-cultural exchanges and dialogues have had an incredible impact on the development of global art movements and continue to shape the creation of art today. No Ocean Between Us offers an opportunity to learn about the under-explored influences of Asian artists in Latin America and Caribbean, as well as the history and contemporary identities of the region.” – Lucía Abramovich Sánchez, SAMA’s Associate Curator of Latin American Art
House of Má and Hugman’s Oasis will be opening in early 2021 in downtown San Antonio. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Restaurateur Chris Hill, responsible for the award-winning Esquire Tavern and Downstairs at the Esquire Tavern, is excited to announce both a new restaurant and a new bar coming to downtown San Antonio in early 2021. The bar concept, Hugman’s Oasis and the restaurant, House of Má, will be in the Historic Witte Building on East Commerce Street. (Hugman’s Oasis, 2020)
Jill Giles and Project Lead Mark Anders conceptualized and designed Hugman’s Oasis and the street level space for House of Má. To assist with the design of Hugman’s Oasis, Giles Design Bureau brought in Bamboo Ben, a well-known tiki bar expert whose work has been featured in numerous bars throughout the country including Frankie’s Tiki Room in Las Vegas and Luau in Beverly Hills.
The bar menu will feature drinks like the Bermuda Triangle, a tropical rum-based drink, a Piñagroni, a pineapple version of a traditional negroni, and more under the supervision of Beverage Director and Boulevardier Group Owner Jeret Peña. Hugman’s Oasis, named for the visionary architect responsible for the creation of the San Antonio River Walk, Robert H. H. Hugman, will occupy the river level of the Witte Building.
House of Má is a concept by Louis Singh and Eric Treviño, the same team behind the popular Singh’s Vietnamese restaurant in San Antonio. Guests will be able to order items from the menu like Hủ Tiếu (Cambodian Noodle Soup), Phở Gà (Chicken Pho), and more from House of Má, while dishes like Candied-Jalapeño Rangoons, Seasonal Yakitori Skewers, and more will be featured on the bar menu at Hugman’s Oasis.
Jeret Peña will also lead the bar program at House of Má, where guests can order cocktails with names like Old Siam, Soi Cowboy and more. House of Má will occupy the first floor of the building, with private dining available on the second floor. Hugman’s Oasis will be located on the river level directly on the River Walk.
The Witte Building received additional transformations to accommodate guests including a new elevator and a set of stairs leading up from the River Walk to the street level. The new elevator tower was designed by Architect Tobin Smith. Andrew Douglas of Douglas Architects served as the lead architect on the project and Lewis Fisher of Fisher Heck Architects served as historical architect for the project.
“We are particularly excited to add some depth and interest to not only the Riverwalk, but to the overall food and drink scene in San Antonio. We wanted to create an environment on the River Walk that can be enjoyed by locals and visitors alike.” – Restaurateur Chris Hill
The ‘Tango Frogs’ have a new home at the Truck Yard. Photo: google
For six years, the late Texas artist Bob “Daddy-O” Wade’s beloved “Tango Frogs” — a collection of three 10-foot-tall frog sculptures perched atop Taco Cabana’s former Dallas Greenville location — brought joy to Taco Cabana guests and passersby. Following the location’s closure earlier this year, several members of the Dallas community have begged the question, “what will happen to the frogs?” Today, Taco Cabana has officially announced their new home. (Taco Cabana, 2020)
Taco Cabana will donate the “Tango Frogs” to the Truck Yard at 5624 Sears St. off Lowest Greenville Avenue in Dallas where they will take up permanent residence. The “Tango Frogs” will be prominently positioned atop the popular beer garden’s roof facing Sears St., welcoming visitors to the venue.
The former Taco Cabana location was originally a nightclub called Tango, where the “Tango Frogs” first claimed their home in 1983 and reclaimed the rooftop in 2014 when recovered and reinstalled by Taco Cabana.
“I couldn’t be more hoppy. Truck Yard has always desired and worked toward being an iconic Dallas location that our city can be proud of. We will position the ‘Tango Frogs’ so they can be an Instagram-worthy staple in our city and to continue to show the appreciation of this ‘unfrogettable’ artwork.” – Jason Boso, owner of Truck Yard
Taco Cabana, a subsidiary of Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: FRGI), was founded in 1978. The brand specializes in Tex-Mex-inspired food including enchiladas, fajitas, quesadillas, flautas, burritos, tacos, flour tortillas and a selection of made-from-scratch salsas and sauces. Restaurants feature open-display cooking, a selection of beer and tequila margaritas, patio dining, drive-thru windows, curbside pick-up, and delivery. As of Nov. 1, 2020, Taco Cabana operates 144 company-owned restaurants in Texas.
Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc., owns, operates and franchises Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana® restaurant brands. The brands specialize in the operation of fast casual/quick service restaurants that offer distinct and unique flavors with broad appeal at a compelling value. The brands feature fresh-made cooking, drive-thru service, and catering.
Emmer & Rye pasta boxes. Photo: Emmer & Rye, used with permission.
The team behind the highly acclaimed Emmer & Rye is excited to announce that beginning Tuesday, December 15, Emmer & Rye pasta will be sold by the package exclusively at Whole Foods Market in Austin, San Antonio, and select Dallas locations. This is the first time the beloved pasta will be available for purchase in a national grocery store. (Emmer & Rye, 2020)
Since its inception in 2015, Emmer & Rye has focused on highlighting the depth and complexity of flavor in freshly milled heritage grains. Each specialty pasta features heirloom grains which are grown and milled by Hayden Flour Mills in Arizona and Barton Spring Mill in Dripping Springs. The pasta will be sold in 12oz. packages (about 2 – 3 servings) and the options are Blue Beard Durum Spaghetti, Egyptian Emmer Rigatoni, and Rouge de Bordeaux Strozzapreti. Each individual package will be $7.99. The pasta will be available in all Austin and San Antonio Whole Foods Market locations and will be available in select Whole Foods Market Dallas locations, including Highland Park, Lakewood, and Plano.
Emmer & Rye has been recognized as one of the most prominent restaurants in Austin. In 2016, Executive Chef Fink was named Food & Wine’s “Best New Chef.” He was also named a 2018 James Beard semifinalist and 2019 finalist for “Best Chef Southwest.” Emmer & Rye was named one of America’s best new restaurants in Bon Appétit.
Directed by owner and Executive Chef Kevin Fink and partner Tavel Bristol-Joseph, Emmer & Rye brings cuisine that is rustic and seasonally inspired to Rainey Street. Emmer & Rye is a restaurant designed around the farmer’s haul, featuring a menu that changes daily with a focus on seasonal and local cuisine. Heirloom grains are milled fresh for house-made pasta, bread, and desserts, and an extensive in-house fermentation program captures flavors at their peak and preserves them for the offseason.
“Pasta is a staple in our house. It is such a simple product—flour and water. When you use heirloom grains for your flour it adds a richness to the pasta that you can’t help but fall in love with. These flavors are something we have played with at Emmer & Rye for five years now. I am really excited to get to bring something that we treasure in the restaurant to your home kitchen.” – Kevin Fink, Executive Chef
‘Dying With Ease’ by Jeff Spies, M.D. Photo: amazon
Jeff Spiess, M.D. has spent his medical career caring for those facing serious illness and death, first as an oncologist, then as a hospice physician. He is ‘mostly’ retired as associate medical director of Hospice of the Western Reserve and has been recognized as a leader in his field. Believing that death may be inevitable but fearing the end-of-life is avoidable, in his new book “Dying With Ease: A Compassionate Guide for Making Wiser End-of-Life Decisions,” he gives readers thorough information about advance care planning, hospice, palliative care, and ethical and legal issues surrounding dying in America to help them learn how to put their fear of their final days to rest.
“Dying With Ease” begins with an Introduction where Jeff Spiess recounts the life of Socrates and how in his “seventy years of his life, he had killed no one, betrayed no one, robbed no one, lied to no one, yet he faced capital punishment.” His crime? In short, corrupting the youth by failing to adhere to the religious norms of the day because he admitted that death is a mystery – that one one knows what it is all about. After years of caring for terminally ill patients, the biggest lesson the author learned is that just like his patients, he will also one day die. Most Americans fail to accept death because conversations and decisions about the end-of-life topic are “unknown territory.” He quotes surgeon Atul Gawande, who in his book “Being Mortal,” writes “Death may be the enemy, but it is also the natural order of things.” Spiess’ focus is to present death as a personal process that everyone will experience eventually. The book is divided into nine chapters, including, among others, Dying in America, Suffering, and Envisioning Your Own Death. At the end, there are Notes and a Bibliography as well as a Discussion Questions section, by chapter, to help readers reflect on what they just read. For the braver ones, Chapter 7 contains a guided exercise to help them get an idea of what it may feel like to die; it may be too emotional for some. His hope is for everyone “to become more informed and at peace regarding your own dying.”
While most people agree that death is an inevitable part of life, not everyone has seriously thought about it, much less planned for it. It is a scary thought, but in “Dying With Ease,” Jeff Spiess attempts to arm readers with what they need to know about death, dying, and how to adequately prepare to lessen the pain and grief for themselves and for those who will be left behind. He successfully does this by using language that is easy to understand, the exception being Chapter 3: Hospice, but the material it contains is invaluable. The book is not too long and can easily be read within a couple of days and is also useful as a future reference guide. Some of the details of the case studies presented (like the infamous Terri Schiavo case) are heartbreaking but overall, it is a balanced work that includes examples of people who experienced death as well information on how to choose a hospice, religious/spiritual/cultural views regarding death and dying and what documents to have in place to prepare for the inevitable. Highlights include the three basic anxieties surrounding death: fear of what dying will be like, fear of loss and fear of the unknown; and Chapter 2: I’m Going to Die? What Can I Do? – an eye-opening account of what to expect when your health declines and how to plan for it. Chapter 4: Suffering contains options for how to deal with unbearable suffering: increased treatment intensity, palliative sedation, and voluntary shortening life, which includes Medical Aid in Dying. This highly practical guide is recommended for readers who appreciate a perspective on death from someone who has seen his share and therefore has the resources and credibility to educate others on the subject.
“…for the highest likelihood of your wishes being carried out, you should not only execute advance directive documents but also communicate their presence, location, and content to your family and friends, and care providers. A living will form lying in a file drawer with your other estate documents might get noticed, but most likely only when you are dead, and then it is too late.”
*The author received a copy of this book for an honest review. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.
Twin Liquors continues to observe safety guidelines, one of which is providing social distancing markers throughout the store. Photo: Twin Liquors, used with permission.
Today Twin Liquors announced the opening of its 12th San Antonio location. The Texas based liquor store began in 1937 as a small store in downtown Austin and has grown into a successful “home-grown” Texas company with over 100 locations. The new Twin Liquors is now open and will be located at 14311 Potranco Rd. #101 with business hours Monday through Saturday from 10a.m. to 9p.m. (Twin Liquors, 2020)
Twin Liquors is committed to its team members and the communities it serves. With the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Twin Liquors has established enhanced guidelines across all their locations across Texas to ensure the safety of customers and staff members during this time. Plexiglass “sneeze-guards” have been placed between the cash register and counter in all Twin Liquors locations, along with safety signage and social distancing markers and protective gear. Staff members are also actively disinfecting the stores.
Additionally, Twin Liquors recently announced the launch of its new Entertaining at Home guide designed to provide tips on hosting this holiday season. Featuring cocktail combo packs with recipes, wine combo packs, and recommendations for creating the perfect bar cart, the entertaining guide has something for everyone.
For those who prefer to shop online for delivery or in-store pick up, Customers can do so through Twin Liquors’ website or the Twin Liquors app, available to download on iOS and Android app stores. Online ordering will be available beginning tomorrow, Tuesday, December 15, 2020.
Born and raised in downtown Austin, Texas, Twin Liquors began as a small store and has grown into a successful “home-grown” Texas company. It has a unique and well-respected reputation throughout the United States for having impeccable team members, outstanding customer service, conveniently located stores, extensive selections of fine wines and premium spirits from around the world, and substantial community involvement. Twin Liquors currently operates 85+ neighborhood stores across central, south, and southeast Texas.
SA Examiner 