Lifestyle

We can eat at the same restaurant every day for ten years and love it, but once it’s been on TV, well then the food tastes even better and we suddenly hear symphonies in our heads when we take a bite.  Call it the Guy Fieri effect. Here are five Texas restaurants that we should totally try, because they’ve been featured on TV shows.  And one is right here in East Texas.

East Texas has its share of hidden treasures, and this is another intriguing link to history that's easy to miss. Can you spot the ghost mural at this old soda bottling plant?

If you're so hungry that you don't have time to wash the strawberries before you eat them, you could end up in the bathroom for a few hours with a pretty awful stomach ache.  More Texans are heading to the toilet this year with a food-related illness called Cyclosporiasis, so we're offering up ways to spare you that pain.

It's so popular that you've got to call ahead and book your table at this Texas ice cream shop.  They'll serve you several courses of ice cream, and some of it is infused with alcohol!  If you're thinking it's a summer road trip waiting to happen, here's what you need to know.

Running out of the house to get the mail is an adventure this time of year.  It's so hot right now that our bare feet on sidewalks will make us do that quick tip-toe dance that kind of looks like we're trying to sneak up on someone, and also looks a little like Elaine's Seinfeld dance.  This just in -- hot concrete hurts the dog's feet too!

East Texas has some great spooky spots, but if you really want to freak yourself out, take this haunted journey on what some say is the scariest road in the entire state. Have you heard what's happening on Bragg Road?

Two East Texas cities are gaining attention for having great shops, good hotel prices, and pretty flowers, and that could mean more visitors are on their way to check it all out. Tyler and Palestine have made a "Best Weekend Getaway" list, and we'll give them some love while we try to figure out why Lufkin and Nacogdoches were left off the list.

Lots of cities have apps now for reporting complaints like potholes and barking dogs, but one Texas city is adding a happy new twist. They want everyone who lives there to report random acts of kindness.  Think it'll catch on?

Texas can brag about a lot of things, but not this.  Chicago has the most authentic, non-chain Mexican restaurants per capita, and other big cities in the US rank higher than places like San Antonio and Houston.  So what's the closest place to us, with the most authentic Mexican food?  A three-hour road trip will get you the best empanadas.

As a parent, this story might make you crazy.  Who would weld razor blades to a children's slide at a city park?  It happened in a Texas city not too far away.

This is a great way to beat the heat.  In honor of National Ice Cream Day, McDonald's will hand you a free vanilla cone one day this weekend, and all you have to do is show up at a participating location. You'll have a chance at winning free ice cream for life too.

One little hidden gem could quickly become your favorite vacation lake, and it takes just a few hours to get there.  I mean, who wouldn't love a summer afternoon on a trapeze swing?  And the lake is named after one of your favorite foods too.