a coastal christmas

Moody Gardens makes holidays bright with dazzling shows, lights, cruises, and more

Houstonians looking to celebrate the holidays and toast the new year have a one-stop shop at Moody Gardens in Galveston.

Winter holiday fun starts with A Christmas Wish: Holiday Spectacular. Created in partnership with Mirage Entertainment, this one-hour extravaganza is a rich tapestry of live musical theater-style songs, dynamic dance performances, daring stunts, and acrobatics, interlaced with comedic moments and a heartwarming holiday narrative.

A blend of Broadway and Cirque du Soleil, the show aims to enrapture audiences of all ages with its captivating visual and special effects. Guests can indulge in light snacks, explore all of Moody Gardens' attractions, and take in a dinner show performance

Admission to the show includes admission to the popular Festival of Lights, an illuminated walking trail illuminated with 2 million lights themed to holiday music.

Moody Gardens holiday Moody Gardens decks out for the holidays. Photo courtesy of Moody Gardens

Families will delight in the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in 4D film, along with other holiday flicks in 3D. Swoosh down the Arctic Slide, catch a train ride, and enjoy that most popular of campfire cuisine, s'mores.

New Year’s fun, cruises, and more

One of the island's top attractions has multiple options, including the New Year's Palooza, NYE Silver Celebration celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Moody Gardens Hotel, a New Year's Eve Cruise, or a fine five-star dinner at Shearn’s.

Taking place all weekend long, New Year's Palooza is a multi-day party with games, tasty food, and activities for all ages.

Check out the entertainment in the Convention Center. No celebration would be complete without fireworks, which illuminate the sky over Offatts Bayou. The celebration concludes with a kids' New Year's Countdown and Beach Ball Drop, while adults can raise a toast with sparkling cider and bubbly. When the calendar flips to January 1, there's breakfast, games, activities, and a Mimosa and Bloody Mary Bar.

Colonel Paddlewheel boat on the water. Moody Garden's New Year's Palooza includes a series of events, including performances, dinners and more. Enjoy a performance of A Christmas Wish: Holiday Spectacular stroll through the Festival of Lights, set sail on the Colonel Paddlewheel, and enjoy an elegant dinner at Shearn's. Moody Gardens

Photo courtesy of Moody Gardens

Moody Gardens Festival of Lights blends holiday with coastal charm.

Moody Garden's NYE Silver Celebration is a sophisticated, adults-only soiree. The Mambo Jazz Kings headline the show, where guests can ring in the New Year with dancing. The celebration also includes appetizers and an iconic champagne toastat midnight.

Guests who reserve their table at Shearn’s on New Year’s Eve can feel like VIPS. They'll indulge in a five-star meal and take in the fireworks display from the restaurant's panoramic 9th floor. The dinner package also includes tickets to the NYE Silver Celebration.

Those looking for something that feels like a trip back in time will enjoy the Colonel Paddlewheel boat's New Year's Eve Cruise, where guest will have a waterfront view of the Festival of Lights displays complemented by music, dance, gourmet hors d'oeuvres, and two complimentary drink vouchers. A midnight Champagne toast completes the evening.

Those spending the New Year's holiday at the hotel, or those wishing to drop by for a day or two, can also take part in the rest of the attraction's festivities.

Reservations and more information can be found on the Moody Gardens website.

Rising up

Houston chef slices into Gordon Ramsay-led cooking competition show

A Trinidad González/Facebook

Chef Trinidad "Machete" González is competing on Next Level Chef.

A Houston chef is showcasing his skills on Season 5 of Next Level Chef. Trinidad Gonzalez, better known locally as Chef Machete is one of the professional chefs who will compete in cooking challenges for the opportunity to win $250,000 and professional mentorship from celebrity chef judges Gordon Ramsay, Nyesha Arrington, and Richard Blais.

This Fox show has a unique conceit. Chef teams work together in three kitchen stacked on top of each other, like a strange multi-story culinary incubator where the top floor's kitchen is pristine, with state-of-the-art equipment, the bottom floor's kitchen is decrepit, and the middle floor is an average commercial kitchen. Other twists bring added challenges.

Locally known for his Bay Area taqueria Gordo Niños, Machete is a self-taught chef who serves fusion style tacos and burritos. Available with fillings such as chicken, pastor, and beef, the chef's "secret menu" of over-the-top items such as deep-fried burritos or the "Surf N Turf Killa-Dilla," a quesadilla stuffed with shrimp, carne asada, french fries, guacamole, two kinds of cheese, and Mexican ketchup — add the chef's signature "Lean Sauce" for another $1. He's also a multi-time winner of taco competition that's part of the University of St. Thomas's popular Two Saints and a Taco fundraiser.

Machete survived the first episode, which aired on January 29, making him eligible to be drafted onto a team led by one of the judges. A new episode, which debuts this Thursday, February 5, will feature two Texas-based "social media" chefs, Tim Laielli and Christian Alquiza.

Laielli, who is based in Dripping Springs, has 1.4 million followers on Instagram and 910,000 subscribers on YouTube. He doesn't have an obvious signature style that viewers can expect him to lean on in the competition. If anything, his strength may be his willingness to try new recipes, often using his daughters' requests and cuisines around the world as a springboard (whether complying or completely ignoring them) into dishes like Thai curry, homemade McGriddles, and a lot of steaks.

Over in Austin proper, Alquiza posts videos under the punny account name @illsqueezeya. He's also worked for the channel First We Feast, where he hosts Hot Kitchen, a snappy instructional show focusing on indulgent, dramatic foods like super-hot chicken and a 10,000-calorie cheat meal.

Alquiza's personal videos follow more of the standard food show format, with the chef speaking to the camera and offering step-by-step instructions to follow along with. Even though his image is mostly wrapped up with First We Feast, Next Level Chef considers him a social media chef.

The two Austin chefs have even collaborated before. Things seem to have gone well on the show, since all three Texas chefs posed for a picture at Beyond The Lines Tattoo in Austin, with a text overlay revealing that the chefs got inked up together.

Next Level Chef season 5 contestants at Beyond the Line Tattoo Looks like the chefs had a good time.Beyond the Lines Tattoo/Instagram

Viewers can watch Next Level Chef every Thursday on Fox or streaming the next day on Hulu.

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Eric Sandler contributed to this article.

$Trinidad Gonz\u00e1lez Next Level Chef$

A Trinidad González/Facebook

Chef Trinidad "Machete" González is competing on Next Level Chef.

chefs celebrities cooking shows tv shows competition reality-tv

a coastal christmas

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Rising up

Houston chef slices into Gordon Ramsay-led cooking competition show