Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas with support from the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program

We’re in the midst of the holiday season, and what better way to celebrate than with rainbows – rainbow trout, that is.

13— We do winter stockings when the water temperatures permit it, to provide an opportunity for anglers to catch trout in Texas. It’s a species of fish that anglers wouldn’t catch otherwise, so we stock them, and we intend them all to be caught out during the season.

Carl Kittle is a program director for Inland Fisheries. Last year’s severe drought meant less water and less water meant fewer trout. But this year looks better.

13 – This year, things are pretty well back to normal. It’s very dry out west, but it looks like our normal level of stocking in over 120 sites will happen. In fact, we’re looking to stock about 130 sites this year.

Texas Parks and Wildlife plans to distribute approximately 275,000 rainbow trout amongst the various locations.

07 – We publish a schedule on the Texas parks and Wildlife Department webpage. Look for the winter trout stocking link. We stock rainbows in winter because these fish cannot survive our hot summers. So, when you reel one in this winter, take it home and eat it.

We have a recipe for you to try at www.passporttotexas.org.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series and celebrates 75 years of funding diverse conservation projects throughout Texas…

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Trout Amandine
by Chef Cindy Haenel

Ingredients

8 (4-ounce) lake or rainbow trout fillets
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup (about 6 ounces) sliced, blanched almonds
Handful fresh parsley leaves, finely chopped
1 lemon, wedged

Directions

Heat a large skillet over moderate heat. Combine egg and milk in a tin pie plate, beat with a fork. Place a cup of flour in a second pie tin and season well with salt and sparingly with pepper. Coat trout fillets in egg and milk, then in seasoned flour. Collect fillets on a plate until all of them are dredged and ready to be cooked.

Add 1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil to your skillet. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons butter to the pan. When the butter foams, add trout and gently saute 4 fillets for 2 or 3 minutes on each side, until golden. Transfer trout fillets to warm platter in oven.

Return pan to the stove and add 1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin oil and 1 1/2 tablespoons butter. When butter foams, repeat cooking process. When all of the trout is cooked, add last tablespoon of butter to the pan. When the butter melts, add almonds and brown until lightly golden, 1 to 2 minutes.

Remove trout from oven and pour almonds over the platter. Garnish platter with chopped parsley, lemon wedges, and serve immediately.

Serves 4

This is Passport to Texas

The custom of decorating trees for Christmas took root in German villages during the sixteenth century.

07—A lot of Germans, as you know, settled Texas. And they brought a tradition with them of the tabletop Christmas tree.

Cynthia Brandimarte is program director for Texas historic sites.

12—When you look at interior photographs of Texas houses, you see many tabletop Christmas trees ornamented for the season, particularly in German households in the late nineteenth century Texas.

Ornaments were handmade then, and small gifts often dangled from branches. Eventually, the tabletop conifer gave way to larger trees that became “floor models,” and the decorations sometimes mirrored the day’s events.

22—You saw more and more seven or eight feet trees that were placed on the floor. And because we had just ended the Spanish American war in victory, there was a fashion in the early part of the twentieth century to decorate trees with a few American flags here and there. We have photographic evidence for that.

If you celebrate Christmas, we wish you a joyous holiday. And if you do not, then it’s the perfect opportunity to spend time in nature, because Life’s Better Outside.

That’s our show… we record our series at the Block House in Austin, Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

This is Passport to Texas

Across Texas state parks and historic sites are celebrating the holiday season. Our state park Guide Bryan Frazier has the inside scoop on holiday fun.

61— Christmas and the holiday season is one of the most popular times to visit a state park – and rightfully so. Most of the parks will decorate or have some holiday event. But there are several that are more signature events around the state. And this year we’ve got at LBJ State Park and Historic Site it’s their Centennial Celebration, which would have been the 100th birthday of Lady Bird. And we’re also doing the lighting of the state Christmas tree – it’s their 43rd year for that. It’s a tradition here in Central Texas. And then at Washington on the Brazos State Historic Site, they’ve changed up what’s a very popular event and given people an even greater reason to go there. Having Santa Claus and a hay wagon there and craft stations around Barrington Farm that would have been happening in the 1850s. And you can see all of those Christmas experiences from the 19th Century –so that’s a great event. And we have caroling events at Cedar Hill State Park and inside Longhorn Cavern State Park. Just check the activities page at texasstateparks.org or there are links throughout that page to find out these various events.

Thanks, Bryan.

That’s our show for today…with funding provided by Chevrolet, supporting outdoor recreation in Texas; because there’s life to be done.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

This is Passport to Texas

Chris Holmes, Director Interpretive Services, was honored recently by Texas Parks and Wildlife for his work with the Texas Outdoor Family program. And you can see his story this month on the Texas Parks and Wildlife PBS series. Producer: Karen Loke.

60— When he was awarded this employee award, it was for all of his work with the program Called Texas Outdoor Family Workshop.

My real passion is to get people back into our parks. I think they’re such valuable places in Texas.

And what he does is get people back into our state parks that have already taken a workshop with us; we’ve taught them how to camp, how to put up a tent – all these things you can do at most of our state parks. And once you register with a workshop, you get an ID, and we can find out if you come back to a park. And Chris says, based on the information they’ve gathered so far, there’s a 40% return. So, that’s outstanding; and that’s why he won an award.

He’s probably the best thing the British have ever given to the United States.

He loves his job and he loves camping – he’s so enthusiastic about what he does. Just so dedicated to getting people into our parks. Believes our parks are the best places in the world.

So, what do you want people to know about Chris after watching this? What do you hope they take away from this?

Well, in his honor, I hope they visit a state park.

Great idea…thanks, Karen.

Catch the show with Chris Holmes this week (Dec. 9-15) on your PBS station.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

This is Passport to Texas

A comfy chair, a hot beverage, and a good read make a winter’s day pure pleasure. You’re on your own with the chair and beverage, but Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine has you covered with the reading. Editor, Louie Bond.

62— Well, I always like to think of the deep winter issues as the ones you want to snuggle up and spend some time reading. So we put a little smorgasbord of things in our January/February issue. And the cover story is by Russell Graves, and it is about how to teach your kid how to love the outdoors, called “Dirty Nails and Goat Slobber”. And it’s all about kids letting play in the dirt. And Russell is such a great person to write this article. He was Ag teacher of the year in Texas. He has two kids of his own who are great outdoorsmen. And he’s got six quick steps to teach your kid be a great outdoors person. And then, to counter that, we have this beautiful photo essay by our own Chase Fountain called “Into the Night”, which is this whole variety of starscapes and light and all kinds of things that go bump in the night, and I think people are really going to enjoy that. And then our final feature this month is on pond management. Now who wouldn’t want to have their own pond in their backyard where they could just stick a line in, catch a fish, and while away a lazy afternoon? It’s a really wide variety of articles this month, and I think there’s going to be something in there to please everyone.

Thanks, Louie. Look for the January/February issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine on newsstands.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.