Howdy to Houstonist

I have lived in Houston for over 6 years. This city didn't impress me much at first. But now I enjoyed the life here. The rest of Texas is not my cup of tea but Houston is different. It is very modern, culture diversify and metropolitan. You can find any kind of cuisine here, even the very authentic Sichuan MA PO TOFU - it's a real treat to a Sichuan girl like me. I just had a dinner at YAO's Restaurant and Bar(owned by YAO's parents) last night. The food is so so, but for Yao's fans, the deco in the bar, the YAO's posters, and the 3 huge flat screens showing the Rocket games can make up the disappointments in food. It 's alreday a big attraction to Mainland Chinese tourists.

Actually the places that raise the most eyebrows are West Virgina and Kentucky.

Those two states seem to be targeted the most when it comes to making jokes about where people are from due to their infamous backwards residents.

We here in Seattle generally consider Texas not just strange but compleatly insane.

I'm not sure about oddest -- most non-Americans I have met here seem to think my whole damn country is pretty strange.

There has been talk of an Austinist-Houstonist BBQ cook-off. I would like to challenge Houstonist to a sprawl/air-pollution-off. Shanghai will kick ass!