Tour:Smart - Martin Atkins at Avant Garden Tonight.
H-Town Rock
Missed Connections: November 2 - 5
Daily-ist Thursday: River Oaks Theater 70th Anniversary Celebration
Get sticky at Lawndale's Sugar Skull workshop
Tropical Storm Edouard was essentially a non-event for Texans on the Gulf Coast. Please flip your Wikis to Hurricane Rita, Hurricane Alicia, and Tropical Storm Allison for real storms. Most folks got a day off which should make up for the inconvenience of the rain storms, which we needed anyway. Now, if we could only figure out a way to get the media knuckleheads from seeking out a "Storm Ground Zero" from which to file their reports.
In any case, Edouard's pump fake should have served as a wake-up call for you about emergency preparedness. The TX DOT signs keep suggesting that you keep your gas tanks full. The Feds suggest being informed, having a plan and making a kit. Houstonist, ever the public servant, would like to assist you with creating your kit.
A good kit is a key ingredient to surviving outside of Texas or even some places in it. No matter how misinformed or ignorant you are, a good tool kit can bail you out of any situation, just ask MacGyver.
According to the National Hurricane Center web-site, our kit is supposed to consist of, among other items, all things battery powered and extra batteries. Blah blah. Those things will help you survive the storm. Houstonist is more concerned with surviving the culture in strange lands.
Click through the jump to see items we can't live without.
- Music - Radio stations are horrible - even the satellite varieties have their crappy moments - so you should plan to bring a healthy dose of good tunes. Load up your MP3 players with Lyle Lovett, The Scabs, Beyonce, El Orbits, Tontons and other Texas favorites. Check out our iMixes for more suggestions.
- Food - The cuisine crappiness factor increases exponentially the further north you travel. Be sure your pic-a-nic basket includes at least some of the following: La Mexicana tamales, Chuy's tres leches, El Milagro Restaurant Style Tortilla Chips, a sack of marranitos from El Bolillo, and maybe a quart of hummus from Kasra.
- Hot Sauce - In keeping with the crappiness factor, food outside of our friendly environs is not muy caliente. We suggest taking matters into your own hands in the event that your jerked chicken wrap tastes like it was jerked from the side of the interstate. Make sure the bottle of Cholula in your glove box is full before you evacuate. Toss in some Chuy’s creamy jalapeño ranch if you've got room in your cooler. You may not think creamy jalapeño ranch is that hot. It is after you've had a gallon of it.
- Drinks - We're not alcoholics, but it sure is easier to take the edge off with a cocktail after sitting in contraflow for eight hours. Space challenged Houstonisto's should pack Tito’s Vodka since it mixes with everything, including the sixer of St. Arnold's Root Beer and case of Dublin Dr. Pepper that's crammed in your trunk. Also, a case of St. Arnold's Fancy Lawnmower is a smooth drinking oat soda. But, serious imbibers would do well to pack some top shelf brown water like Woodford Reserve. Nothing warms a rain-soaked hurricane refugee quite like a nice bourbon on the rocks. Note: only use three rocks. And, no we didn't read that in GQ.
- Duct Tape - OK, so duct tape isn't exactly a cultural addition to you survival kit. However, it wasn't on the NOAA list and there isn't anything on the planet that can't be fixed with duct tape. You may want to include baby oil to get the duct tape adhesive off your skin - particularly if you were cocktailing before duct taping. Don't ask how we know this works. Let's just say we saw it on the Discovery Channel and stop there. You can thank us later.
Think we missed something? Drop us a comment.
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Photo by Flickr user ShutterSharpster.
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so, if it's not sticky and should be or should, duct tape. if it's sticky and should not be, baby oil - roger that. Advice to live by.