Mmmm. Smoked onions and chilis. Pasta salad. Mmmmm. You use vidalia onions? Which chilis?

This sent me into a meditative trance....

I grew up in Wisconsin (bratwursts!), but we spent years in So Cal and in Texas. Really enjoy Mexican food (and Mexican food in the NJ and Philly area is, um, well... Let's just say that if we want a good mole or chicken enchilada, we make it ourselves*). But in Austin, used to go to a place called the Salt Lick. Great BBQ. Outdoor picnic tables, cold beer. Good times. Another place was higher end. We were grad students, could only go with a two-fer coupon. Hudson's on the Bend. You'd walk up to the old house containing the restaurant and the smoker would be going outside, with mesquite and hickory smoke. Man, that place was great.

These days, we have a superb firm near us that smokes a lot of fish. Tasmanian trout. Salmon. And the weirdest one of all: smoked scallops. They're terrific too. Sugartown Smoked Specialties.

*My wife makes the best guacamole I've had.