Seguin Gazette

SEGUIN

summer, well done summer, well done

date night

POWERS UP + healthy barbecue | whiskey milkshake | summer fashions

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Texas Cuisine with Scenic Views Daily Happy Hour Specials Open Everyday Private Events

www.SeguinPowerPlant.com 2006 Stockdale Hwy Seguin, Texas 78155 830-379-0000

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We’re cranking up the heat on life in Seguin

I

am pleased and proud to welcome you to the first edition of Seguin Sizzle! You are holding in your hands a lifestyle mag like no other. Sizzle is a quarterly journal for locals who are interested in food, fashion, fitness, hobbies and entertainment. It’s your magazine, Seguin!

As temperatures rise and the hot summer months are upon us, what better time to launch something called Sizzle? In this inaugural issue, you’ll find tips on what fashions are in for the summer, as well as how to stay in shape for those fashions without getting heat stroke. We’ll also take a look at how to keep the kids busy until school starts back up, where to go for a romantic date night, classic cars, and food from the grill that’s good for you, mostly.

This is an exciting time for Seguin. One look at our cover and you know that times they are a changin’. It’s time to celebrate the Sizzle. So enjoy this first issue. We’re already busy planning to put the next one in your hands in September. No rest for the wicked, or weary, or something like that. And like I said before, this is your magazine. If there’s something you’d like to read about or contribute, give us a shout or drop us a note at sizzle@seguingazette.com.

What are you waiting for? Turn the page and come on in!

Jeff Fowler, Sizzle Publisher

THE HOTTEST SPOT We take you inside the old hydroelectric plant where a new restaurant is sparking to life.

PAGE 12

Marion’s David Goerke grills up some thoughts on healthier barbecue.

PAGE 16 2 Sizzle ~ summer, well done

Jessica Limmer’s food column makes the move to Sizzle PAGE 4

Chris Lykins gives you a crash course in Minecraft to play with kids.

PAGE 22

How can you beat the heat and stay healthy?

PAGE 6

Teacher keeps today’s kids involved in yesterday’s cars and tomorrow’s industry.

PAGE 24

Valerie Mendoza opens her fashion vault PAGE 10

SEGUIN

WARMING UP

summer, well done

Sizzle magazine is a quarterly seasonal publication of the Seguin Gazette.

contact

Contact us at 830-379-5402 or email sizzle@ seguingazette.com

advertise

Contact advertising director James Jones at 830-379-5441 ext 207 or james.jones@ seguingazette.com

staff

publisher Jeff Fowler editor/designer Chris Lykins contributors Jeff Fowler Chris Lykins Jessica Limmer Felicia Frazar Ron Maloney Janet Grafe Valerie Mendoza graphics Melissa Crume Desiree Gerland Cassie Cantu

boring legal stuff

Vol 1, No. 1 All material herein c. 2014 Southern Newspapers Inc., dba The Seguin Gazette, 1012 Schriewer Road, Seguin, TX, 78155 All rights reserved

hot tip

Jump off the bed so the monsters don’t get you.

TAKING ROOT The toasty days of summer are coming, but the color of your garden needn’t be brown. Local chapters of the Native Plant Society of Texas (NPSOT) recommend four plants that love the heat and offer reliable summer color. These easyto-grow native plants are naturally suited to this region and bloom reliably in the Texas heat.

Rock Rose: (pictured) low bushes with bright pink flowers every morning Zexmenia: small, mounded shrub with orange-yellow flowers Desert Willow: a small, fast-growing tree with large pink to purple flowers Texas Sotol: a spiky specimen plant with a tall creamy bloom

In an education and nursery partnership program called NICE: Natives Instead of Common Exotics, the Guadalupe and Lindheimer NPSOT chapters recommend native plants each season and provide free handouts at participating nurseries.

Look for NICE native plants at Maldonado Nursery and The Green Gate in Seguin, South Texas Growers in Bulverde and Canyon Lake Ace Hardware in Canyon Lake. Gardening, homeowner and civic groups are invited to contact the volunteer group for a free presentation on many NICE plants for this region. For more information, call Nancy Masterson at 830-305-9104 in Guadalupe County or Mary Moses at 210-279-5748 in Comal.

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Well Done Jessica Limmer Jessica Limmer has been the news editor for the Seguin Gazette and twice-monthly food columnist for the newspaper. Starting with this issue of Seguin Sizzle, Limmer’s column moves to the pages of the quarterly magazine in the form of Well Done.

SUMMER SWEET TOOTH W

hatever was going on in my neighborhood, it would all grind to a stop when the ice cream man arrived.

Video games were paused, movies stopped, games of ball put on hiatus. When that awkward white truck rolled up the road, blasting “Turkey in the Straw” from its loudspeakers, we all fell under the ice cream man’s spell.

Suddenly we were raiding our piggy banks and beating the hot pavement — with shoes or without — to try to catch the elusive ice cream man on his rounds.

We didn’t know where he came from, or where he went. We didn’t know why he didn’t play other songs.

None of it mattered, though. We just needed a white lemon Bomb Pop or a Good Humor ice cream sandwich.

He disappeared almost as quickly as he arrived, leaving a rag-tag bunch of little suburbanites sitting on the curb, enjoying our treats.

I realized recently that it’s been years since I’ve contributed to the ice cream man’s salary. But the appeal 44 Sizzle Sizzle ~ ~ summer, summer, well well done done

of frozen treats hasn’t waned at all. Nothing signifies summer like enjoying an icy confection after a day of barbecuing, swimming, hiking or doing whatever it is you do during the hot months.

I recently told my husband I was going to write a column about making ice cream. But I didn’t want to buy an ice cream machine, so I told him it would be about making ice cream with stuff you already have.

Jimmy looked at me a moment.

“Here’s how you get great ice cream at home,” he said.

“You go to the store, walk to the freezer section, and buy it.”

I hate to admit it, but he’s probably right.

So if I’m not making ice cream at home what can I do with it?

Well there’s ice cream sandwiches, which are absolutely self-explanatory. There’s ice cream cake and pie, which are delicious, but have been around for ages. I needed something new, or at least something not obvious.

That brought me to fried ice cream. Fried ice cream just might be the piece de resistance your dinner is needing. It’s hot, it’s cold, it’s weird, it’s wonderful.

Popular with Tex-Mex restaurants — particularly those that catered to a far-north-of-the-border crowd — this treat has nothing to do with Mexican food at all. But it does make a tasty follow-up to a taco dinner, or anything for that matter. And the combination of hot and cold makes for a fascinating dessert that’s worth a little time and some prep work.

My second frozen treat is much easier and quicker.

My very adult milkshake recipe takes inspiration from Facebook. A friend (she’s also a friend in the real world, by the way) posted a recipe on my wall for a liquored up milkshake that seemed too good to pass up.

I changed it up a little bit, adding some bitters for an Old-Fashioned cocktail flair. If my old buddy the ice cream man had served these, he’d have had parents chasing him down the street, too!own.

Not-For-Kids Milkshake (makes 1) 3 scoops vanilla ice cream 1 oz. whiskey (I recommend Rebecca Creek or TX) two dashes of Angostura bitters or the flavor of your choice.

Whipped cream Put all the ingredients except whipped cream in a blender and pulse two or three times. Pour into a glass, top with whipped cream and enjoy.

Fried Ice Cream vanilla ice cream 1/2 c. flour about 4 cups of crushed cornflakes 1 tbsp. cinnamon 1 egg 1 tbsp. sugar neutral cooking oil Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Scoop ice cream into individual balls and place on the wax paper. Freeze for about two hours.

Get three small bowls. Put flour in one, mix crushed cornflakes and cinnamon in the second and beat the egg and sugar in the third.

Get ice cream out of the freezer and — working quickly, this stuff melts fast — roll each ball in the flour, then the egg mixture, then the cornflake mixture.

Return the ice cream balls to the baking sheet and return the sheet to the freezer for 2 hours or overnight.

When you’re ready, heat your cooking oil in a medium skillet. You should have about 3 inches of oil heated to about 400 degrees.

Once the oil is heated, with a slotted spoon, drop your ice cream balls in the oil for about 30 seconds until golden brown.

Let ice cream drain briefly on a plate lined with a paper towel. Transfer to a plate and top with whipped cream, honey, chocolate sauce or anything else you like. summer, well done ~ Sizzle 5

SUMMER HEAT CAN BE A

KILLER W

By Janet Grafe~ Sizzle Contributor

hen Kristi Ellis, 18, woke up, she was laying on the ground with concerned teammates and coaches staring down

at her.

She had been training with Texas Lutheran University’s track team when she became dizzy and nauseated and her body temperature started rising.

“We were running, and I got so dizzy, and the next thing I knew, I was laying on the ground and

shivering,” Ellis said. “They took me to the athletic training room and put ice bags all over my body because I was so hot and gave me as much water as I could take.”

Ellis is a Michigan native recruited to TLU for her track and field talents.

She arrived in Seguin in August and was not prepared for the effects of a typical Texas summer.

Her coaches told her to keep hydrated

“Nothing can prepare you for how hot it is here and for the humidity.”

TLU senior Kristi Ellis drinks lots of water while working out under the hot Texas sun with the school’s track and field team. She learned the importance of keeping hydrated after suffering from heat exhaustion after moving here from Michigan.

6 Sizzle ~ summer, well done

Kristi Ellis, TLU track athlete

throughout the day, but she had never had to think about it before and didn’t take it seriously.

“Nothing can prepare you for how hot it is here and for the humidity,” Ellis said. “At home, I was competing in the snow. I really struggled my first year until I learned to drink more water and became more acclimated to the heat.”

Now a TLU senior, Ellis keeps a water bottle handy as she trains and has learned to make accommodations for the heat.

“I know how to adjust,” Ellis said. “I know when I need to take a break or need to shorten my workout. The coaches are great about it.”

Ellis is not the only one to get sick from the summer heat.

Dr. Curtis Carriker said he typically sees a patient with heat related illness every day during the hottest months as he works at the Guadalupe Regional Medical Center Emergency Department.

Many of them are people who work in the heat, like construction workers or oil field workers, but he also sees people who get overheated while working in the yard, playing sports or exercising.

Heat related illness includes heat rash, heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke.

Heat stroke is the most serious, and Carriker sees a couple of cases each summer. People with heat stroke usually have a temperature of 105 degrees Fahrenheit or above and are so dehydrated their skin is hot and dry. Heat stroke can strike quickly, especially in people with chronic heart or kidney disease, in the very old or very young, or in people who are not accustomed to the heat.

A heat stroke can mimic an acute stroke, and patients may be confused or unconscious or not able to move one side of their body. The treatment is to rehydrate and reduce body temperature as quickly as possible with ice packs, cool drinks and intravenous fluids.

Heat exhaustion is more common, with symptoms of muscle cramps, rapid heartbeat, heavy sweating, extreme weakness or fatigue, dizziness, nausea and fast shallow breathing. The body temperature may be slightly elevated.

Treatment is to rest in a cool area, drink plenty

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of water or other cool beverages and take a cool shower, bath or sponge bath.

Many people in Seguin have experienced the fatigue and headaches that come from overdoing activities in the heat, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t exercise.

“It’s always a good idea to get out and exercise,” said Certified Professional Trainer Kyle Harper, who graduated from TLU’s Kinesiology program. Harper works at the GRMC Wellness Center and encourages people to take steps to prevent heat related illness.

He recommends wearing light colored, loose fitting clothing and hats to reduce the effects of the sun. He also tells people to start slow and build up until they get acclimated to the heat.

They should also see a doctor for a checkup before starting a new exercise program.

“When people push too hard, too fast, they get burned out,”

Seguin resident Mike Mueller, 48, works out 4 or 5 times a week at the GRMC Wellness Center’s Cross Training Challenge to stay in shape and burn calories. He takes frequent drinks of water and cools off under a fan to avoid heat related illness during the vigorous workout.

Harper said. “It’s better to start with 10 minutes of exercise, perhaps several times a day, then gradually increase the time and intensity until you are doing an

hour a day.”

Tracking time spent exercising and keeping a log helps people see the progress they are making and gives them

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8 Sizzle ~ summer, well done

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time to get used to the heat.

“Logging your exercise makes the progression you are doing more real,” Harper said. “It’s encouraging to see how you grow over time into a fitter and healthier you.”

Plan ahead when exercising in the heat, he said.

Know where there is shade or a cool place to rest if things get too hot. Know if water needs to be carried or if there are water sources available in the area. It is also a good idea to exercise with a partner and to have access to a phone in case help is needed.

When Norma Riojas began working out with the Wellness Center’s Cross Training Challenge, it was outdoors and the heat was the biggest challenge.

As the program has grown, it has been moved into a building behind the Wellness Center where they have shade and fans as they do a circuit of functional strength and conditioning activities that guarantee working up a sweat.

People in the Cross Training Challenge have different reasons for working out for an hour in the heat. GRMC CEO Robert Haynes participates almost daily and enjoys watching the program grow as it provides a service to the community.

Seguin resident Mike Mueller, 48, likes to eat and the activities burn off a lot of calories.

“I need the discipline of the program,” Mueller said. “The other programs are like a smorgasbord where you have to choose what activity to do. Here they keep you moving from one activity to another.

I do it four or five times a week.”

Melissa Skogman, 57, does it to keep up with her grandchildren and to age well.

Sharen Frels, 58, exercises three or four times a week in order to stay healthy and strong.

“I want to prevent osteoporosis and all the old people stuff,” she said. “I like the variety of activities and tell myself I can do anything for 30 seconds or a few minutes. I’m sleepy when I get here, but invigorated when I leave.”

Many children in Seguin participate in summer sports and outside activities. That brings parents and siblings into the heat, as well, to watch them play.

Parents and caretakers need to be aware of the effects of heat on children, said Weinert Elementary Nurse Veronica Jimenez, RN. Infants and children can dehydrate quickly in hot environments.

“We encourage children to drink before they go out, while they are out and when they come in,” Jimenez said.

She recommends watching the news reports for temperature, humidity and heat index numbers before sending children out to play this summer. It is easier to get overheated when it is humid.

“Give lots of fruit, like watermelon, or watery treats like popsicles or Jell-O, to make sure they stay hydrated,” she said. “Children are more

vulnerable to the heat because their bodies are still figuring out how to regulate their body temperature. They get so enthralled in what they are doing, they forget to drink.”

She also recommended watching children in strollers or car seats, which can hold in the heat.

Keep young children in the shade and where a breeze can help cool them. Take them out and hold them on your lap from time to time to let them cool off. Don’t give them a bottle of milk in the heat because it reacts with the hot body and can cause stomach aches or vomiting.

Small children may also have difficulty communicating how they feel.

“Look for crying, sweating, flushing of cheeks,” she said. “When sweating stops, it can be a sign of severe dehydration. Push fluids.”

It is hard to avoid getting overheated when working or playing outdoors in the Texas heat, but planning ahead and being aware of the symptoms can help people take steps to reduce the effects.

That is a lesson Ellis takes to heart as she works out with the TLU track team.

Having experienced heat related illness, Ellis recommends that people exercising in the Texas heat start slow, keep hydrated, and listen to their bodies.

“When you wake up on the ground, it is really scary, and you don’t feel well for a long time after that,” Ellis said. “You have to take the heat seriously.”

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summer, well done ~ Sizzle 9

Va u l t

a l ’s Valerie Mendoza

Valerie Mendoza is a marketing coordinator for the Seguin Gazette newspaper and doubles as the fashion writer for Seguin Sizzle magazine.

You can contact her at valerie.mendoza@ seguingazette.com or 830-379-5441 ext. 204 or follow her on twitter @vsvault

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2

HANDBAG: Women of all ages need that beautiful handbag that will compliment their personal style and complete their fabulous look! Bright colors are a must-have and will dress up any outfit in any season. Find this gorgeous eye-catching teal one here at Fashion Magic Boutique.

1

ACCESSORIES: From floral headbands to pretty garlands the flower child trend has definitely made a comeback! This is sure to make your next ‘do look not only feminine, but fun and eye-catching! And nothing compliments your attire more than a few trendy, colorful pieces of jewelry to help pull your outfit together. Find this lovely mint green headband and all accessories including necklace, earrings and bangle at Sheek By J.

3

OUTFIT: This floral print crop top is an essential for the season. Dress it up with your favorite sheer blouse like we did on our model for a classier, elegant look. Find both tops locally at Serenity Boutique. It doesn’t get any better than lace… From the runways of New York to our small town of Seguin, lace shorts are a must-have this season! Be classic and timeless with these lace shorts which are available at Sheek By J.

4

SHOES: Let your shoes compliment your look, it’s the most important way to create a fashion statement. Look fabulous this summer in these pretty, pink Yellowbox wedges that are sure to draw attention your way. Wedges can be worn dressed up or even to complete that perfect, casual summer outfit! Find these at This, That & The Other.

Fashion photos by Mary Heidelbach Photography Model Cassandra Cantu

5

PET ATTIRE: Every canine companion likes to look fabulous, too. People use clothes to show off their personality so why shouldn’t your pet? All pets love attention and theres no better way to receive it then with the perfect outfit. Find the latest seasonal fashions for your canine companion for any occasion at Thunderpaws Canine Solutions Grooming, Training and Pet Boutique. summer, well done ~ Sizzle 11

date night

POWERING UP Historic power plant turns on the charm for newest eatery 12 Sizzle ~ summer, well done

By Felicia Frazar~ Sizzle Contributor

A

date night out on the town doesn’t have to include traveling to another city.

From a night dining on the river or a picnic in the park, Seguin has a several options for an evening for two.

The Power Plant Texas Grill Restaurant has gorgeous views of the Guadalupe River and delicious food to boot, said Tracie Claypool, marketing sales manager.

“It is a historical, unique location. There is no other place like this in town. We have a great menu and a fun atmosphere,” she said.

The building that once housed a hydroelectric plant now suits a different purpose, setting up the backdrop of a great evening out, Claypool said.

“You can come out in your shorts and T-shirt, or you can come out in a suit and tie,” she said. “It is a restaurant for all occasions. We have two full bars

and an extensive collection of wine.”

Seating options include dining next to the engine with views of the pecan trees out front next to the river, while some guests will get to have their meal directly over the river in the Turbine room.

Both areas are air conditioned for those hot summer days and nights.

The outside patio overlooks the river and Starcke Park, as well as the wooded area next to the restaurant for a peaceful, outdoors experience.

“We tried to create a gorgeous view from almost any seat in the house, including a view of the water or the pecan trees,” said Mike Claypool, principal partner Lake Seguin Hydro-Electric Partners LLC. Mike added that the Power Plant is special in its own right.

“It’s a unique site,” he said.

“There are a lot of unique sites in the world, but there are very summer, well done ~ Sizzle 13

few that are not only at the water, but also in the water.”

The menu includes specialty items like chicken fried steak with queso or classics like steak and shrimp, Tracie said.

“We have everything from steak and seafood, soup and salad, wraps, signature Mexican food dishes — our menu does not have extensive Mexican food selection,” she said.

Anybody looking for something a little low key could also pack up their meal and find a spot along the banks of the Guadalupe River at one of the tables.

The experience can be turned into a full blown picnic with a blanket. But Starcke Park isn’t the only place where a picnic could be held.

Any of the parks in Seguin offer a nice backdrop for a romantic night.

A LITTLE FINE WINE If you’d prefer a winery tour, a drive to the Hill Country isn’t necessary. Blue Lotus Winery and Texas Mead Works, located on FM 20, offer public and private tastings of their collections, said owner Mike Poole.

“We have a full selection of our own wine and mead,” he said.

The winery is open on Saturday and Sundays

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ions out there. That place will be excellent when we finish.”

The new facility is slated to open later this “We commonly have people call and ask for summer and the owners are working on some a particular day and time and as long as we are new products, Poole said. available and don’t have anything else going “Pretty soon when we have the tasting room on, we are more than happy to open up for up, we’ll be doing some carbonated mead private tastings,” he said. “Having a private which is more beer-like than wine-like,” he said. tasting in the winery is a nice little deal.”

“Sometimes we get the husband who doesn’t like wine and they try this and really like it. We Guests will be able to sample all of the wine are also working on some cider as well. We are and mead on hand, and they will Enjoy get a little trying some new things.” life onein surround sound on-one attention from the owners,with PooleReSound said. ™ LiNX “When you only have a few people, me or my TAKING IN A FLICK now you can wife could talk to them a little bit Sound better,surrounds give you and them some history and let them try stuff right experience more natural, truer-to-life sound.

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GETTING YOUR GRILL ON healthily

(sort of )

“It’s really an oxymoron.”

David Goerke on healthy barbecue 16 Sizzle ~ summer, well done

Adding plenty of veggies can help cut back on the gut-busting impact of barbecue.

By Ron Maloney ~ Sizzle Contributor

F

or decades in Guadalupe County, the name Goerke has been synonymous with down-home German and homestyle American barbecue and country cooking.

Today, that mantle is worn by a retired but still very much active Freddy Goerke — renowned for his pannas and especially for his barbecue.

His son, David, is known for cooking up a pretty good plate of barbecue himself.

Seguin Sizzle decided it would be appropriate to consult a barbecue expert in its first edition for strategies someone might employ to try to get out of a weekend barbecue with his or her health more-or-less intact. “’Healthy’barbecue?”DavidGoerke mused at a recent cook-off in his hometown where he took down two prizes — second place for brisket and thirdplaceforbeans.Goerke’scooker and tent enjoyed a steady stream of

guests who wanted to sample his ribs or see what else he might be up to.

“It’sreallyanoxymoron.Mostpeople, when they think of barbecue, it’s ribs slathered in sauce or brisket slathered in sauce or chicken … the chicken’s kind of healthy without the sauce.”

But who likes their chicken — even grilled chicken — without sauce?

Someone who is more serious about their health than the taste of their food, or maybe someone who gets Goerke’s chicken.

“When I’m cooking, even without the sauce it’s still pretty darn good,”saidGoerke,whomakes10-12 International Barbecue Cookers Association-sanctioned cook-offs each year as well as a number of smaller local events and whose company,Circle-GBarbecueCo.,catersfor friends or those who know of Goerke and his culinary prowess by — of course — word-of-mouth.

Grill it!

For the healthiest outdoor cooking, Goerke said the simplest thing to do is turn the heat up.

It’s counterintuitive, Goerke said, but it works — with a little attention to fats and seasonings and how they work together.

“I’m a slow-cooker, but I think we ought to look more at grilling,” Goerke said. “And when it comes to seasoning barbecue, I do both — sauces and rubs. I soak them — brine them — and then I do admit I have a rub for them and I sometimes put a sauce on, but I let it cook on into more of a glaze, which most of the guys are doing now. It’s a trend; it’s kind of going around.”

Goerke talked a little more about chicken as he was slicing, arranging and panning up his brisket cook-off entry, which he would

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“You’re grilling your vegetables. Lots of people grill vegetables today. You can look at prosciutto-wrapped asparagus.”

only do alone in a tent set up beside his 20-foot, boilerplated barbecue smoker trailer. Goerke built the trailer himself.

Competitive barbecue, like cook-off chili, has many secrets, not the least of which is presentation — it being said that most folks “eat with their eyes.”

What Goerke ended up with for the judges was a take-out tray containing seven slices of perfectly shaped, perfectly cut and steamy moist slices of beef.

He took a moment to deliver it to the judge’s tent, promising to try a healthy recipe when he returned.

First, though, Goerke was going to continue to talk chicken before moving on to The Other White Meat.® “For a boneless, skinless chicken breast, you can use a basic, salt-and-pepper rub, something like that,” Goerke said, a gleaming carver bobbing up and down in his hand for emphasis.

“And you’re grilling your vegetables. Lots of people grill vegetables today,” Goerke said. “You can look at prosciutto-wrapped asparagus. A lot of people are doing grilled asparagus.”

Never a problem in properly prepared barbecue, the internal temperature of the grilled chicken is important in terms of food safety. It needs to be above 165 degrees fahrenheit — but only just if you want it to remain moist.

Eat your vegetables When it comes to reducing fat on a grill, pork tenderloin is one of Goerke’s favorites.

“When I started looking at it, for dietary purposes, tenderloin and chicken breast are almost identical to one another,” Goerke said. “They’re within a couple points on calories and they’re almost identical in terms of fat grams. I love a good tenderloin.”

All of his cook-off entries in, Goerke reached into a 18 Sizzle ~ summer, well done

cooler and brought out a pork tenderloin. In another cooler, he had some zucchini, some mushrooms and a few bell peppers.

He sliced the zucchini into long tongue-like slabs, popped the stems off the peppers, removed the pulp inside and cut them into squares before moving the tenderloin to the center of the cutting board and slicing it into medallions.

“Now a tenderloin, prepared maybe with some bell peppers, mushrooms and stuff is going to be all low-calorie, low-carb, low fat … it’s actually not a bad alternative if you’re trying to live a healthy lifestyle and you’re grilling,” Goerke said. “I’ll just use an offthe-shelf pork rub.”

A lot of cooks prefer to add a tinge of sweetness to pork, and it’s the same for Goerke when he smokes spare ribs.

It’s also the same for someone who smokes fish.

“If you get a good plank, put the fish on top of the plank, get a really good smoke and it doesn’t burn. I’d just add a light seasoning, maybe something lightly spicy,” Goerke said.

“Secret” seasonings Goerke doesn’t give out his or his family’s recipes — one never knows who will be reading, after all. He offered general ideas for cooks to consider, though, and acknowledged that while a rub that didn’t include sugar or was lower in salt might be healthier, the cook would pay a price in taste. So he tends to overlook a little sugar.

“I never think much about them having sugar because I know the amount is so minute,” Goerke said. “It’s one of probably a dozen ingredients.”

Buy a basic rub or create your own, Goerke said.

There are plenty of commercially available barbecue

“For dietary purposes tenderloin and chicken are almost identical to one another. They’re within a couple points on calories and they’re almost identical in terms of fat grams. I love a good tenderloin.”

seasonings and rubs out there.

“If you really want to experiment, you could make your own mixture, beginning with one part salt, one part pepper, one part granulated garlic, maybe one part of a good, granulated sugar and half a part of cayenne if you like it spicy,” Goerke said. “That actually would be a good brisket rub and it would work well on steaks, too.”

If you can’t have the sugar, make or buy a rub that doesn’t have one, he said.

Ask about restricting salt, and Goerke sees the red mist rise.

“I’m sorry, you just have to have salt,” he said.

“You’re not going to get around it. It brings out the flavor, and it’s the same with fat. That’s where it all kind of comes together.”

And once he was rolling, Goerke didn’t stop.

“You can use sea salt. When I do my brisket rub, I put a part of sugar in it, but for steaks, I don’t think you need the sugar,” Goerke said. “People say you can eat well and eat fat free. Man, I’ve had fat-free salad dressing, and it just ain’t that good. The real stuff

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is really good, but you’re going to pay for it in calories and fat grams. Fat is flavor.”

Rant over, Goerke was a little more circumspect considering the health implications of his rib glaze. He wasn’t saying what was in it, but all afternoon he’d enjoyed a steady stream of visitors who wanted to try his ribs — mostly other cookers. People picked them up carefully, lest the meat fall from the bone before it could be raised to their mouths.

“If you’re diabetic and you’re eating my ribs, I either have to change the recipe or give you a warning because they’re so sweet,” Goerke said.

Goerke began assembling the tenderloin and the vegetables on metal skewers, coming up with a tray of kabobs in pretty short order.

“Usually, you give me a pile of vegetables and a good steak and the vegetables … they kind of end up going somewhere else,” Goerke said. “I want the steak!”

He filled a grill with kabobs and around them, he laid down slices of zucchini. Each would get one turn and all would be done in about 10 minutes, he said.

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“You have to hit the right temperature,” Goerke said. “If you’re going to do tenderloin, what I do is bring it up to 142 degrees — just out of the ‘danger zone’ for food-borne illness. I’ll wrap it in foil, which will get it to 145 degrees. Even at 145, it’s very juicy.”

Healthy skepticism Goerke acknowledged it’s not necessarily easy to cook healthy on a grill — and that it can sometimes be difficult to convince a skeptical cook that it’s even possible at all.

“So many people don’t believe that,” he said. “They say, ‘There’s no such thing.’ But when you think about it, you can grill healthy. You have to think about what you have. Look at your vegetables and at what cut of meat you’re getting. A pork butt isn’t going to be that healthy, but a tenderloin’s going to be. A loin is not the same as a tenderloin, either.”

Beef can be healthier on the grill because the fat drips away, Goerke said.

“That’s why so many people bought the George Foreman grills,” he said. “It’s a little healthier because all the fat runs away from the meat.”

It’s the same using an outdoor grill, Goerke said.

“It’s bad in a way because that juice carries a lot of your flavor, but all of that excess fat’s going to run away from it,” Goerke said.

When it comes to grilling beef, Goerke likes a good ribeye or a good sirloin, but he has trouble choosing between them.

“I love both for different reasons,” Goerke said.

“Some of my friends, they’ll go straight to a ribeye. I like a good sirloin. A lot of it depends on how it’s been cooked. I’ve had some sirloins where they didn’t — or I didn’t — do that good of a job. But I’ve had others that were, ‘Wow!” Still, it’s tough to beat a good ribeye, Goerke said.

But he came close recently — smoking off an entire sirloin.

“I did a sirloin roast for some guys a little bit ago. I smoked the roast, then cooked it over the grill and it was like prime rib,” Goerke said. “It was nice and well on the outside, but you cut into it and it was rare with juices flowing all over the place.”

Begin with the basics Goerke likes to experiment and create his own seasonings. But he recommends starting with someone else’s — as a kind of control or baseline for applying more creativity later.

“I tell a lot of people when they’re first starting out that, ‘I know you want to make your own, but there are a lot of great seasonings out there and people have invested their time in and it’s usually actually cheaper to buy theirs than to buy the ingredients to make your own’” Goerke explained. “There was one cooker I heard an interview with and she says she can actually 20 Sizzle ~ summer, well done

buy it off the shelf cheaper than she can make it herself because of the volume they make it in.”

A lot of seasonings are good, but they’re good in different ways and in different flavors, Goerke said.

Their creators are looking for different things.

“A lot of people say, ‘I like it really sweet,’ some people like it peppery, but in the same aspect, they’re both good. Each is just a matter of someone’s own personal preference.”

You can’t bake a full-blown wedding cake until you can do a basic sheet cake, Goerke said. Once you can do a basic cake, you can start improving on it.

It’s the same with barbecue.

“Once you can cook a brisket that’s just ‘Plain Jane’ but good — then you can start getting creative,” Goerke said. “If you start throwing everything in there all at once, you’re not going to know where you’re messing up at. You have to start somewhere, and everybody’s tried to start too far up the scale, I feel.

Goerke knows, because it happened to him.

“I was cooking a good, basic brisket, but then I tried to go too high and I was missing out in the middle. I was working at a certain level, my product wasn’t coming out right, and I said to myself, ‘Hold on. Let me go back two steps and start over again.’ You have to sit back, think a little bit and ask, ‘OK, what am I doing wrong here?’ So I had to go back, and then I found I started improving.”

Goerke peeled the zucchini off the grill and looked at the kabobs, which sure had to be healthy, and probably tasted pretty good.

It’s tough to say, because there was a jar of Goerke’s rib glaze sitting beside the smoker.

“What do you think, should I put a little glaze on them to make them look pretty?” Goerke asked to nobody in particular. “I love my sweet rib glaze!”

He grabbed the brush and painted them all, let the fire warm the glaze a little and laid the kabobs out on a tray.

All were gone shortly even if they were slightly less healthy than Goerke originally intended.

“This was tender with a butter-like melt,” said sampler Traci Donaho, who was visiting from another team. “There was no ‘tug’ in it and it’s just awesome.”

It was about the cut of the meat, Goerke said.

“That and the marinade,” Donaho said.

“I didn’t marinate it,” Goerke said. “I’m just a good seasoner.”

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A WHOLE NEW WORLD LRN2PLAY - CHRIS LYKINS

For many of us video games have been a constant companion.

From Pac-Man to Super Mario the bleeps and bloops defined our generation’s hobbies. Now many of us have children, nieces and nephews who play a whole new suite of games. LRN2PLAY will get you ready to play alongside them or at least help you avoid looking like too big a noob.

If you’re a parent and haven’t heard of Minecraft then we can only guess this magazine has somehow found its way to whatever cave you call home.

The game has sold more than 35 million copies across numerous platforms. If you have an electronic device in your home there’s a good chance there’s a version of Minecraft available for it.

So what is Minecraft?

Some people object to calling it a game. There’s not really an “end” or a way to “win.”

At the outset you’re dumped as a single player in a random place in an entirely random world.

From there your goal is to survive.

At the outset the only dangers are environmental. You can fall off a cliff.

You can drown. You can burn in lava.

When you do die — and you will — you lose your stuff and pop back into the world where you originally appeared. You have to run to find where you died to collect your items.

Unless you died in lava. Then you can kiss all your items goodbye.

The difficulty ramps up once the sun goes down as all manner of nasties emerge with the night.

You’ve got zombies, skeleton archers, spiders and the most deadly of the nocturnal denizens — the Creeper.

22 Sizzle ~ summer, well done

YOUR ENEMIES ZOMBIES Shambling, shuffling undead foes that wander in close range to hit you.

SKELETONS Rattling reanimated piles of bones that shoot arrows that knock you back.

SPIDERS Screeching jumping arachnids that will bring death from above.

CREEPERS A sort of living cacti, it moves silently only hissing before it explodes.

SLIMES Hopping cubes of gelatinous goo that break into smaller ones when hit.

There are many more, particularly in the underworld.

NEXT STEPS You’ll want to have a rudimentary structure built before nightfall. You can use wood or planks or even dirt. Think of it like Legos. Every block can be placed down in the world.

If you can find coal — look for stone blocks with black chunks in them — then you can make torches with one stick and a piece of coal above them.

Build you a small house using blocks and make sure your crafting table is inside. If you can’t make a door — six planks in a rectangle on your crafting table — then just wall yourself in.

I HAVE A SWORD! I WANT TO FIGHT! OK, Chuck. Go outside and things will find you.

Don’t wander too far afield or you might not be able to find your belongings in the darkness. Put your sword in your first slot of your bar across the bottom and click to swing it.

You’ll have to hit things multiple times — how many depends on what your sword is made of. When they die they’ll drop little green balls and rarely some items. The green balls will let you level up — good for enchanting your items much later in the game.

I DIED. Yeah, that’ll happen. We warned you about that over on page 22. If you’re playing with a child they’ll probably laugh at you. Embrace the learning experience — and laugh when they fall in lava.

NEXT NEXT STEPS GETTING STARTED Start by gathering wood. You do that by punching trees. Think of yourself as Chuck Norris. They just crack under your blows.

You’ll start by building a crafting table. Open your inventory (E-key) and drag your wood into the grid and it will turn your wood into planks. Putting one plank on top of another will yield sticks.

Putting a plank in each square of the grid will give you the crafting table you can drag back to your inventory.

You can place the crafting table and click on it to get a larger grid.

You can take use that crafting material and different combinations of sticks and planks to make basic tools like pickaxes and swords. For example, a pickaxe will be two sticks in the center and three planks across the top. A sword is one stick and two planks above it. For higher level tools the planks can be swapped for stone and different ore bars right up to the pinnacle — diamond.

Get your tools and get ready for nightfall.

There’s much more to Minecraft but it basically boils down to survive the nights, build during the day. You can build furnaces to smelt ores, craft armor to protect yourself and explore deep caves filled with abandoned mines, enemies and lava flows bursting from the core. On computer the game world is huge — theoretically larger than the Earth itself.

You’ll eventually need to eat and you can kill pigs for pork and cows for beef and even run a farm where you can grow wheat, potatoes and carrots.

There are villages and a rich underworld filled with Zombie Pigmen, Ghasts and other dangers.

Bookmark minecraft.gamepedia.com and refer to it as your journey truly begins. Good luck!

Chris Lykins is the managing editor of the Seguin Gazette and regularly plays video games with his 10-year-old son. He was the defensive engineer for the top Team Fortress guild on the planet in the late 1990s and a server-first raiding healing paladin and shaman in World of Warcraft until retiring from the game in 2014. He is on Twitter @chrisjlykins summer, summer, well well done done ~ Sizzle ~ Sizzle2323

HEAVY METAL

By Ron Maloney ~ Sizzle Contributor | Photos by Llamar Vasquez Photography

S

teve Garcia Jr. grew up in cars. When Garcia got to high school, his father gave him a ‘55 Chevy Bel Air he would spend three years rebuilding into a kid’s dream of a custom cruiser.

Garcia would work in his father’s towing and repair business after school and a brown paper bag of parts would be waiting for him at the end of the week.

“That was my pay — my father would get the parts I needed and I’d use his tools to work on the car,” Garcia remembered recently, sitting in the Seguin High School welding shop, where he teaches the trade to juniors and seniors like Cayton Germany and Trevor Weinaug.

Garcia might not quite have realized it then, but building the Chevy wasn’t all about fun or even about having a car to drive.

His father, the retired constable who runs the Garcia towing service off Interstate 10, would carefully lay out the tools his young son would need, chalk off each piece’s place on the bench and tell the boy, “Make sure those tools are all right there when I come back out.”

“It’s just the way I was raised,” Garcia said. “If you don’t have time to do it right the first time, what makes you think you’re 24 24 Sizzle Sizzle ~ ~ summer, summer, well well done done

“If you don’t have time to do it right the first time, what makes you think you’re going to have time to do it all over again?”

Steve Garcia Jr.

going to have time to do it all over again? So in my shop and in my classes, if you use it, put it back.”

The younger Garcia’s career would take him to some of the same places as his father — law enforcement, guarding prisoners and running a repair shop. He would also go beyond that as a popular local disc jockey and entertainer.

In 1994, Garcia became an auto shop instructor at SHS. Later, he moved over to teaching welding, even though his first love is building cars.

Welding?

It was another lesson Garcia learned in his car hobby, which has seen him build custom hot rod muscle cars, lifted trucks and drag racers, including one he raced on the “run what you bring” drag racing television show, “Pinks All Out,” once a staple of the now-defunct Speed Channel that can be seen in its latest iteration on the MAVTV cable channel.

Alongside machining, welding and fabricating are two of the most expensive shop services to pay for.

“If you can fabricate in metal and you can weld, you can build anything,” Garcia said. “You learn to weld, learn to solder, learn to braze, you’ve got it.”

And boy, has Garcia built it — from the Bel Air down over the years through a bunch of projects, including a ‘74 Corvette he finished last year and shipped to the East Coast, a custom trike completed over the winter and an ‘83 Chevy Silverado pickup

he’s helping a New Braunfels resident source parts for now.

Not only that, but over the years, Garcia has consulted with plenty of teenagers about the projects in their driveways — be they muscle cars, restomods or lifted, four-by-four trucks.

The vehicles Garcia builds and the ideas he shares with his students demonstrate a “real world” ability that translates into their own world — and gets the attention of the kids in their two-hour welding classes.

“I enjoy seeing them learn. They might not realize it now, but they’re going to appreciate it later on when they don’t have to pay someone to build things or work on their vehicles,” Garcia said. “They’ll know when a mechanic tells them what a problem is that it might be something else, instead. It’ll be a big advantage. I think anybody who’s mechanically inclined has a big advantage today.”

Garcia’s looking for a certain kind of student — one who will learn and who will enjoy a tech career.

Sometimes, he finds that student in unusual places.

One he’s especially proud of probably took the

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most work because Garcia had to help the boy pull his head up out of distractions on the street, give up his gang affiliation and focus on investing in himself and his own future.

It wasn’t easy, but it was rewarding when the kid texted Garcia a year after a graduation some school district staff thought he’d never see and thanked the instructor for imparting a good set of skills and work values that, before he even reached age 20, have enabled him to make a living most of his former buddies can only envy.

Garcia’s looking for students who are both intelligent and can work with their hands, and that’s what both Weinaug and Germany brought to the table, Garcia said.

“These boys can read and write and get things done — especially guys like these who are born to this work,” Garcia said. “I’d rather have students like these that I have now who can both work well with their hands and are smart instead of just being smart but not being able to work their way out of a wet paper bag.”

A trade education is far from an easy way out of school, Garcia said.

“It takes a special kid to put up with me, to be honest,” Garcia said, as two of his favorite students nodded their heads in agreement.

“You have to be thick-skinned in a way to work with Mr. Garcia — you have to be able to hold your own sometimes,” Weinaug said. “But he relates to us and the way we were raised, kind of like my dad.”

“I tell these kids, ‘You’re in high school, so things don’t have to be perfect,” Garcia said. “But it’s going to be very close to perfect.”

Germany agreed with his student colleague.

“There’s been a kind of bonding,” Germany said. “He’s always had cars and I’ve always been 26 Sizzle ~ summer, well done

interested in cars. He’s a lot like a father-figure. He pictures in his head what he expects and when he explains it, I can’t always keep up. But a lot of it is just respect.

We respect him, and it’s a twoway street: he respects us if we respect him.”

Mutual respect is important, Garcia said, in a shop as in the rest of life.

Part of the attitude toward respect and work ethic is a result of Garcia’s upbringing, but part of it also is understanding the demands of an industrial workplace where horseplay can make things downright dangerous.

Garcia wants his students to leave SHS not only with the skills it takes to work, but with the professional attitude it takes, as well.

“I hear it all the time: why are you here when you could be out in the field, making so much money? I wanted to be here in the school district when my kids were here, but it’s also because I love what I do. And I enjoy it when they call me years later — some of my early students are in their 30s — and say, ‘Mr. Garcia, I enjoy doing this. I had one of my students call a couple weeks ago. He’d been in my class in ‘97 and ‘98 and he thanked me for what he learned here and how it’s enabled him to make real money.

It’s difficult not to be attached to these guys. The older I get, the softer my heart gets.”

Weinaug and Germany will go out to college or the workplace, respectively, very well-prepared to succeed, Garcia said.

Weinaug plans to use his training to land a spot at Texas State Technical College in Waco to further study all aspects of welding.

From there, he hopes to work in an oil patch for a couple of years to build up enough of a nest egg to open his own shop.

“I know that anything anybody else can do, I can do, too,” Weinaug said.

Germany’s already lined up a high-paying job on an oceangoing tug, hauling pipe and other equipment to drilling platforms

around the world. The shifts on the boat are 28 days on followed by 28 days off, meaning Germany will work six months out of a year.

“My biggest reason for taking welding is to get out of high school with a skill I can always fall back on,” Germany said.

“Besides, working with your hands is really relaxing — and really good for stress reduction.”

Wienaug and his father, David Kirkland, put lift and leveling kits on trucks and do all kinds of custom work together. But what they’ve been working on lately is building a metal shop behind their house as a place to store their gear — and work on cars and trucks.

“He’s in his first year, and already he’s on his back, up in the air on a scissor lift, welding up his own shop,” Garcia said, beaming proudly. “Trevor’s going to be somebody!”

Weinaug has a ‘96 Chevy pickup. He dream car is a late ‘70s Trans Am, and he’s watching for one.

“They like those old-school Trans Ams,” Garcia said. “The ‘77, ‘78, — in ‘79 they came out with that silver edition with the big bird on the hood.

Weinaug is convinced he can build it — and between his father and Garcia, knows where to look if he needs expertise or a little help.

“If I can find the time to work on it,” Weinaug said.

Garcia says Weinaug will have no problem building the car when the time comes — he already has most of the experience he needs.

“He’ll find the time,” Garcia said. “He’s not afraid to work. I tell these guys, you have plenty of time later to get married and have kids and do all of those things. Enjoy your life. These guys are very good with their hands-on work. First, nail down

your career — the way you’ll pay for all of it.”

Meantime, Garcia’s father, Steve Sr., who owns the shop and towing business and who drives a Corvette (his wife, Margaret, drives a Camaro), has found another car he’s handed off to his son, but this one won’t be like the ‘55 Bel Air. It’s going to be passed through to Garcia Jr. to his own son, Ryan, 18.

“It’s a ‘73 Chevelle two-door hardtop, all original, with a small block Chevy engine,” Garcia said. “But this next project will be my son’s and I’m going to make some time for him.”

The way Garcia sees the project right now, he and his son will be rebuilding one of the big block Chevy engines sitting out at the towing yard, and shoehorning it into the Chevelle — with modifications, of course. Garcia expects his son to end up with a “pro-mod” drag racer that’s just about drivable enough to be used on the street, too.

“If we run a blower, we can get 600 h.p., and if we decide on a turbo, it’s around 700,” Garcia said, running through a list of ideas for the car.

The engine and drivetrain will only be part of the job. Ryan wants his car to have blue sapphire paint with silver racing stripes, Garcia said.

“I told him, ‘I can get it started for you, but you’re going to have to put some sweat into this yourself,’” Garcia said. “’That way, when something goes out, you’ll know how to deal with it.’”

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