SAN ANTONIO – Today at 10:30 a.m. on SA Live, seventy-cent plates, ghost cupcakes and a card trick nobody saw coming.
CASA RIO’S 70-CENT ANNIVERSARY PLATE
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The River Walk landmark is marking 80 years downtown by rolling prices back to 1946 for a single day. The original dinner plate, priced at 70 cents, comes with a cheese enchilada, a tamale, chili con carne, rice, beans, tortillas and a choice of coffee or tea. It was a one-day-only deal.
LUCY’S CAKE SHOP HALLOWEEN GHOST CUPCAKES
The family-owned San Antonio bakery has been turning out cakes for more than 50 years, and the owner walked the hosts through a ghost cupcake built for the season. The method is simpler than it looks on the counter: a big round tip for the body, a second smaller squeeze for the head, a Reese’s Pieces basket, a dab of icing as edible glue, a sugar pumpkin and a piped little arm to hold it all. The hosts’ attempts came out closer to blobs, which rather proved the point about skill.
The owner talked about how much the craft has changed, from tracing designs out of coloring books by hand to printing an image off a computer and laying it on the cake, and from tiered wedding cakes dripping with swags and string work to the smaller, simpler cakes customers ask for now. The recipes still come from her mother, who taught her everything. The shop started in a garage and has expanded three times since.
STELLA’S GOLF GAME AND STELLAR BEAUTY CO.
Jada’s Rookie Report headed to San Pedro Driving Range and Par 3 for a 12-year-old golfer who is also a co-founder of a skincare line. Stella picked up the game watching her older brother from the golf cart, lost her first tournament without a medal, practiced harder and came back to win first place. Her brand, Stellar Beauty Co., is aimed at girls on the move who need their skin protected from the sun; the lineup includes a mineral glow guard sunscreen with no white cast and a splash face mist with aloe and cucumber, her own favorite. She helped design the packaging and worked the photo shoot.
Her family filled in the rest. Her brother described her as naturally talented from the first time she swung a club. Her mother said she was immediately on board with the skincare idea, and her father talked about investing time in a kid as the thing that pays off later. Her coach said she arrived at nine wanting to be as good as her brother and caught up fast, and noted that post-lesson trips were as likely to be to Sephora or Ulta as for ice cream. The range is open seven days a week starting at 6 a.m., sometimes 5:30 when the light allows. Stellar Beauty Co. is on Instagram at @stellarbtyco.
THE MAGIC SALOON
Magician Chris Blackmore previewed the show at the Magic Saloon, 217 Alamo Plaza, promising comedy, amazement and drinks arriving with smoke and bubbles. He built a routine around a beginner’s magic deck, the blank kind he joked is designed to protect a young magician’s ego, then layered a real trick on top of it: a card chosen, a secret sharpie mark confessed to mid-performance, a four of spades pinned under a host’s hand and, at the reveal, an entire deck that had somehow changed. Both hosts were thoroughly got. He said the best part of the gig is the families in the audience, and summed up the show in three words: crazy fun crazy. The venue is also teaching magic now.
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF SAN ANTONIO PIPE ORGAN
In a segment sponsored by First Baptist Church of San Antonio, the show got a first listen to the revitalized 1982 Schantz pipe organ at 515 McCullough Ave. The organist explained that the biggest change for him is the new console, which is friendlier to play, while listeners will notice two new stops: a bright trumpet that cuts through a full organ setting, and a sweet harmonic flute solo voice.
The associate pastor of worship and music said the sanctuary turned 100 years old last year, and a generous gift made the organ work possible as part of that celebration. Pipes hidden behind a facade for years are visible again, hand-carved filigree and all, and the work preserves the handcrafted instrument for the next 40-plus years. He described the organ’s job as undergirding congregational singing so people feel part of something grand. Sunday services are at 8:30 and 11 a.m., and more information is at fbcsa.org.
