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A perfect dish for a New Year’s Day brunch

This recipe for “Pan-Fried Eggs and Mixed Mushroom Sauté on Toasted Sourdough Slices” from “Sunday Brunch” (Chronicle Books) by Betty Rosbottom can be just the dish to begin a new year.
Photo by Metro Creative

A perfect dish for a New Year’s Day brunch

The late-night revelry of New Year’s Eve has made New Year’s Day brunch a go-to tradition for millions of people. Staying up until the calendar officially turns from one year to the next at the stroke of midnight can make it harder to get out of bed on the morning of January 1, so there may be no better day to plan a brunch than the first day of the calendar year.

EXPLORING NATURE

Season’s greetings, spider lovers. Though female tarantulas can live for 30 years, male tarantulas generally die months after mating.
Photo by Justin Harris

EXPLORING NATURE

Exploring Nature: Last of the GIANTS

On my first trip to Africa, many years ago, I was riding in an open Land Rover when we came to a clearing in the Kenyan forest and I saw my very first wild animal. It was a massive elephant and perched on its back was a small bird, an oxpecker, according to our guide.

First Day Hikes

Lower McKinney Falls features carved channels beneath the water’s surface.

First Day Hikes

McKinney Falls State Park at sunset on Friday, Dec. 22. McKinney Falls is only a 45-minute drive north from San Marcos, but with views like this, it’s worth the traffic.
Photos by Celeste Cook

First Day Hikes

The diverse vegetation at the top of Enchanted Rock.

First Day Hikes

The peak of Enchanted Rock on Saturday, Dec. 23. Recent rains have collected in pools, turning the grass that grows there vibrant green.

First Day Hikes

Enchanted Rock starts with steps, but quickly graduates into steep, sheer slopes not for the faint of heart.

First Day Hikes

Celebrate 100 years of state parks in 2023

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year from Gary Job Corps
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year from Gary Job Corps
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year from Gary Job Corps
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year from Gary Job Corps
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year from Gary Job Corps

Photos submitted by Gary Job Corps

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year from Gary Job Corps

This year, Gary Job Corps celebrated the holiday season by sharing with the staff music, door prizes, toys for the kids, food and fellowship. Over the 2023 year, the staff and students have assisted with many local events such as Sights and Sounds of Christmas, Texas State University Football, Circuit of the Americas, Q2 Soccer, Jamaica’s in Martindale, Uhland and San Marcos, LBJ Bash and volunteering for the Hays/Caldwell County Women’s Shelter, Southside Community Center, San Marcos Academy, San Marcos Chamber of Commerce and the Kyle Chamber, to name some of the many activities. Pictured are Santa Clause (Reggie Gilliams), Center Director Angelia Rackley Meadows, Deputy Direc-tor Chris Roff, HR Director Elva Zdeb, Community Relations Coordinator Randolph Goodman and various members of the staff. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2024 to you all from the staff and students from the Gary Job Corps Center.

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AN EARLY MORNING JUMP IN THE RIVER

While I was never the late-night, going-out type, New Year’s Eve used to be the one exception. Twenty-five or so years ago, our friends group — most of us co-workers from the “Daily Record” — would meet up at The Showdown and make our rounds on The Square to celebrate the closing of the year. At least once, a group of us wound up leaping into the river at midnight, me in a borrowed sequin cocktail dress (sorry Aunt Amy) that made me feel like a mermaid. But since then, times have changed. New Year’s Eve now means Wok N Roll takeout, board games and PJs. My son and his partner will come down from Austin. My brother and his family will drive up from East Texas. We will converge on my parents’ house and rekindle our decades-old Risk rivalry (sorry Mom) or engage in a game of UNO where the house rules allow us to stack endless chains of Draw Fours upon Draw Fours. As for jumping into the river, I don’t recommend it, unless it’s at the Polar Bear Plunge on Monday, in which case, I will probably see you there (though maybe not in a borrowed cocktail gown)

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BLACK EYED PEAS AND RESOLUTIONS

Leading up to New Year's Eve is an exciting time. A time to start fresh and to eat several foods to ensure that your year is successful like black eyed peas and cabbage. This New Years Eve will be spent at my home with my Mother and two of her friends. We plan to feast on all of the necessary foods and use the firepit out back, fire being another requirement for the holiday. I have also always felt that champagne was a pivotal part of any good New Years Eve bash. And like every other year, I will make plans for how I will be the improved version of myself in 2024 and follow through with those plans for about a month. I am currently fostering a dog named Yasmeen from the San Marcos Regional Animal Shelter (a fantastic match for anyone looking for a sweet one year old boxer/Basset Hound mix that gets along great with other dogs), so my resolutions have to do with the additional cleaning necessary to keep my place in the anally clean state that I prefer. I now wake up thirty minutes earlier to give myself time to sweep the yard for things in need of picking up and disposing of and to sweep my room and the living room. I have been doing great with it this far. Only time will tell.

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FIREWORKS AND BEDTIME

As the parent of young children, New Years Eve is a difficult holiday to participate in. We are the type of parents that will let their kids stay up late, but late for my four- and five-year-old daughters is more like 9 p.m.

Whatever it is, it surely isn’t after midnight.

That makes New Years Eve a bit harder to celebrate in the traditional fashion. Enter Roughhouse Brewing, whose owners also have young children. Last year, they set up an event on New Years Eve to shoot off fireworks just after dusk. We felt it was the perfect opportunity for us to get in the spirit of the holidays while also getting to bed on time. Let me tell you, we weren’t the only families to think so. We got in about 4 p.m. last year before the 6 o’clock fireworks show and parked pretty easily. Within an hour or so, it became apparent that every parent in Hays County had the same idea and eventually Oakwood Loop, which is the small neighborhood road that leads to Roughhouse, was lined with cars for what seemed like a mile. It was an incredibly well attended event.

This year, the owners said they plan on having a 10 minute firework show somewhere between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. There will be live music before and a 10:30 a.m. run to kick off the day with the San Marcos Runners Club. It should be a great time, but get there early and bring your own chair or blanket to relax for a while. You too can see fireworks and get to bed on time.

WHAT'S HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND?

Live Music

FRIDAY

Industry SMTX

Art on the Rocks Friday, Dec. 29, from 6 - 8 p.m. Monthly on every last Friday 110 East Martin Luther King Dr #126

Pages

San Marcos Record

(512) 392-2458
P.O. Box 1109, San Marcos, TX 78666