McKinney Square, my Mecca

Finally we have milk on the square!! The only reason I ever had for the leaving the square was for milk, and now I have access to milk with the cream at the top. It's delivered every Thursday, and I'm now making a pilgrimage over there for it. Oh sweet jesus! Another dream come true! First there was Square Burger and now Patina Green. Everything in their deli is local, fresh, homemade, organic, healthy, and just oh so good for you. I just got back from there having Robert slice up his best quality meat for me to graze on during the day. I've been doing a lot of energy work here at the spa and needed some protein to gnaw on between sessions. He told me what he sliced for me, and all I know is that it melts in my mouth and erupts into mouthgasms.

They're also a home decor boutique. The pictures at the top of the post are a few of their many splendored things. If I were ever inclined to fix up my house, that's where I'd do it. For now it's great just to go in there and feel at home. And, if you can't see how cool this place is from these pictures then get over there and look at it all first hand. It's the only way to do it.

Also, Tammy Davis, shown here in the bathroom invites any and all to "her" bathroom. She's deemed it hers as soon as she saw it, but is willing to share it with anyone who needs the facility. What a gem she is!

Patina Green Home and Market is located at 116 N. Tennessee, Suite 102 on the square in McKinney. It's owned by husband and wife team, Robert and Kaci Lyford, and her mother, Luann Van Winckel. Just to let you know, mom and daughter are more beautiful to look than the store, and that says a lot because the decor in there is breath taking, and Robert is soooo accomodating, friendly, and full of information about the food products. He makes fresh scones in the morning that you cannot possibly live without. Thank you so much for joining our mecca we call the McKinney square!

And, of course, my blog wouldn't be complete without a note or two about my new home, Square Burger.

We so enjoyed ourselves again last night where everyone knows my name. There's my UFO on the table, and a great way to end the night. I met the other chef besides St. Craig. Her name is Ngoc and she is a goddess in and out of the kitchen. When I had the salad the other night with goat cheese, Craig was sitting at the bar near me. As I was eating the most amazing tastes of my life, I told him that I was in love. He immediately let me know that he had a girlfriend, and I got to meet her last night. Square Burger is incredibly fortunate to have her in the kitchen. Her beauty and her lovely energy makes her food that much more delicious.

I have to give a shout out to Alex who shook his booty just a little bit with me while Fleetwood Mac was playing. (Brandon, he only did it for a second and he was coerced.) I am so happy to have Square Burger here. It livens up the square even more, and gives us another wonderful place to gather and eat incredible food.

McKinney Square, my Mecca

Finally we have milk on the square!! The only reason I ever had for leaving the square was for milk, and now I have access to milk with the cream at the top. It's delivered every Thursday, and I'm now making a pilgrimage over there for it. Oh sweet jesus! Another dream come true! First there was Square Burger and now Patina Green. Everything in their deli is local, fresh, homemade, organic, healthy, and just oh so good for you. I just got back from there having Robert slice up his best quality meat for me to graze on during the day. I've been doing a lot of energy work here at the spa and needed some protein to gnaw on between sessions. He told me what he sliced for me, and all I know is that it melts in my mouth and erupts into mouthgasms.

They're also a home decor boutique. The pictures at the top of the post are a few of their many splendored things. If I were ever inclined to fix up my house, that's where I'd do it. For now it's great just to go in there and feel at home. And, if you can't see how cool this place is from these pictures then get over there and look at it all first hand. It's the only way to do it.

Also, Tammy Davis, shown here in the bathroom invites any and all to "her" bathroom. She's deemed it hers as soon as she saw it, but is willing to share it with anyone who needs the facility. What a gem she is!

Patina Green Home and Market is located at 116 N. Tennessee, Suite 102 on the square in McKinney. It's owned by husband and wife team, Robert and Kaci Lyford, and her mother, Luann Van Winckel. Just to let you know, mom and daughter are more beautiful than the store, and that says a lot because the decor in there is breath taking, and Robert is soooo accomodating, friendly, and full of information about the food products. He makes fresh scones in the morning that you cannot possibly live without. Thank you so much for joining our mecca we call the McKinney square!

And, of course, my blog wouldn't be complete without a note or two about my new home, Square Burger.

We so enjoyed ourselves again last night where everyone knows my name. There's my UFO on the table, and a great way to end the night. I met the other chef besides St. Craig. Her name is Ngoc and she is a goddess in and out of the kitchen. When I had the salad with goat cheese the other night, Craig was sitting at the bar near me. As I was eating the most amazing tastes of my life, I told him that I was in love. He immediately let me know that he had a girlfriend, and I got to meet her last night. Square Burger is incredibly fortunate to have her in the kitchen. Her beauty and her lovely energy makes her food that much more delicious.

I have to give a shout out to Alex who shook his booty just a little bit with me while Fleetwood Mac was playing. (Brandon, he only did it for a second and he was coerced.) I am so happy to have Square Burger here. It livens up the square even more, and gives us another wonderful place to gather and eat incredible food.

Love My Buzz

Thursday nights on the square is Open Mic Night at Cadillac's with Buzz Andrews. Buzz was one of the very first people I met when I moved here almost two years ago. I've been his stalker ever since. He even wrote a song about Jill the stalker, and one time last year he sang You Look Wonderful Tonight to me. However, I think he'd be the first to say that I'm really sucking at stalking lately. I apologize, Buzz. I'll see what I can do to up my game on that one.

There are soooo many things to love about McKinney. I've just added two more -- Tammy Davis and Square Burger. Tammy Davis is the latest addition to RejuveNation LifeSpa. She's an aromatherapist among many other things. She bottled sex one night, and I decided to see what my chances were in finding someone who matched my body chemistry. Fascinating experiment and I so enjoyed the results. Since it's RejveNation LifeSpa's first anniversary this week, there will be many activities, one being Sex on the Square. I'm not sure if that's what they're calling it, but I'm partial to the name.

The picture of Tammy and me was taken at Cadillac's because it was a Buzz Andrews night and I needed to get my buzz on. However, one thing I discovered after all my tastings at Square Burger is that I'm not so much a Bud Light fan anymore. I missed my UFO draft. So what's a girl to do when she's not at Square Burger? Who else sells UFO? It's not only the selection of beer on tap at Square Burger that's so fabulous, but also the food prepared by St. Craig. He has to be a saint to make food taste like manna from heaven. Thank God, Square Burger's just down the street from me. I can look out the window to check out how crowded it is before bellying up to the bar. Oh my god! Life is so damn good!

Tasting Paradise

I have no sense of taste or smell since inhaling a product like Comet Cleanser when I was a baby. Chemical burns took care of taste buds and whatever's needed in the nose for smelling. That being said, if I don't write about my lunch yesterday at Square Burger, I'm going to explode.

I ate the turkey burger and COULD TASTE IT! If you've always been able to taste food, this may not have any significance to you, but for me, it opened up a whole new world. It gave orgasmic experiences a new flavor for me. I've never eaten so slowly in my life. I didn't want it to end. The texture of the meat with the taste of its juices rendered me speechless, but I have to say, I tingled from the top of my head all the way to my toes with every bite I swallowed.

I found out that the meat offered at Square Burger is grass-fed beef and pastured chickens. Now, I'm not sure where they get their turkey or salmon, but if they do that for beef and chicken I can just imagine how well loved and nurtured their turkey and salmon are. Let's just say that my taste buds can tell the difference between drugged animal meat and drug free. There's a huge party in my mouth when pulling an organic carrot out of the ground and snapping off the tip with my teeth, and there's just no one home when a store-bought nonorganic anything is eaten.

And then last night we had a business meeting at Square Burger with my daughter and her partners at RejuveNation LifeSpa. First thing we tried was the smoked salmon blinis. Oh my god, the chef should be knighted for sainthood! The description on the menu read: waffle fries with yogurt cream, smoked wild king salmon, salmon pearls, red onion, chives. I ate a masterpiece of culinary sensations that exploded in my mouth. Not only could I feel the round smoothness of the pearls and the dips and curves of the fries, but I could taste the salmon! I don't have words for what it tastes like, and I'm not sure I could get that explicit about how it made my body feel, so let's just say that it's an experience I would love to explore again.

Smoked Salmon Blinis

Square Burger

On November 12, 2008 I moved to McKinney, Texas, and at that time there was a closed building on the southwest corner of Kentucky and W. Virginia that had a sign promising that a restaurant called Square Burger was going to be opening.

On June 14, 2010 it became true. Here's Katy standing in front of the 33 beers on tap. Not only is she pretty, but the wall itself is a work of art. There's Moose Drool, Blue Moon, Lawnmower, and 30 others. Here you can have a flight -- three beer samples for $6.00. I highly recommend it. If you're not sure what you want, pick three names that sound good or let the bartenders pick them.

Here's to Brandon Horrocks, one of the owners. (He's the one standing behind my friend, Tom Michero.) Here's to someone who kept at it and made it happen, someone who brought people into his life who could fulfill this dream.

The building on the southwest corner of Kentucky and W. Virginia is open now. It has been for three days, and I've been privileged enough to be able to walk through those doors, to sit in the love stool, and belly up to the bar.

So, thank you, Brandon, for what you've done. It's brought a new place to the square that we can meet our friends, make new ones, and enjoy great burgers and 33 different beers on tap! And I haven't even mentioned their wines, appetizers, and desserts, or that the chef/co-owner came from Wolfgang Puck's Spago.

What are you waiting for? They're open Monday through Thursday 11-11, Friday and Saturday, 11-12, and Sunday 11-4. Get over there and keep them busy. The food's fabulous. The company's extraordinary, and you may just see me sitting on my love stool.

The Fifth Element

Everywhere I look in this town I see one beautiful porch after another. Every walk I take I want to capture at least a dozen images of these porches. This is a fairy land here with rows of cottages. My friend Cindy introduced me to the Fifth Element today, and I believe that's what McKinney is. Cindy pointed out to me in the book, B is for Beer by Tom Robbins, exactly what the beer fairy calls the fifth element.

"...That's right, another basic component of reality, one that's as nourishing as Earth, as shifty as Water, as invisible as Air, and as dangerous as Fire."

The beer fairy continues with: "I'm only labeling it an 'element,' understand, because it doesn't fall into the category of animal or vegetable or mineral. It disobeys the laws of physics and it moons the rules of logic, just as the two of us have been doing today, actually, although you seem to have taken it completely in stride. What is it? Some people call it transcendence, some used to call it magic...before that word got used up.

"It's a mixture of pure love, unlimited freedom, and total, spontaneous, instantaneous knowledge of everything past, present, and future--all rolled up in a kind of invisible ghost-sheet enchilada that can be periodically smelled and occasionally tasted, but rarely chewed and never, never digested..."

"There are those who regard it as a blast of divine energy, originating in Heaven, maybe, or in Another World. There're also people who are content to refer to it simply as the Mystery, and that's as good a term as any, I guess, although I'm rather fond of the jazz musician who, in a different context, once called it hi de ho."

"...they (people) are unconsciously pulled toward it, they hunger for it, they yearn to connect with it, to get next to it, even to merge with it."

"...adults still thirst for that connection, that alternative to the unsatisfying reality men have constructed for themselves, and which they feel locked into like a dungeon.

So, they resort to all sorts of things--a few enlightened, many destructive, most ineffective, some just plain silly--that might allow them even a breath or two outside the prison walls. To a certain extent, that explains the appeal of beer.

"Beer, if it's just the right amount--not too little and definitely not too much--may on occasion transport one through that crack and carry one close enough to the gates of the Mystery that one's granted a quick but entirely rapturous peek inside.

'"What's it look like?'

"The fairy smiled and rotated her wings. 'Everything. And nothing. Both at the same time. What does the electricity inside your atoms look like? What do forever and laughter and liberty look like? It's the face everybody shared before they were born and the joke they'll finally get after they're dead. It's the meaning of meaning, the other that has no further, and the which of which there is no whicher.'

"Be warned. When considering beer as a vehicle, one had better bear in mind that it's hardly reliable transportation. It's a very old cart, in fact; a wagon pushed and pulled by forgotten forces, by agricultural spirits, the ancient spirits of grain and the land. It's a wagon, my dear, that can easily swerve and run off the road."

So, therefore, dear readers, I am in the Fifth Element here in McKinney, Texas. It's the epitome of transcendence and magic! And especially at this time of the year when all the flowers are in bloom, including the magnificent magnolias. Fairies abound. I'm house sitting for some friends on vacation and while watering their hydrangeas this morning, I noticed a new subdivision of fairy condos. They are everywhere, my friends. Ah, relax and enjoy the magic that surrounds us all!