Comments on: Neighborhood Guessing Game: Panel Discussion

By: movocelot

movocelot — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:39:29 +0000

Ok I’m getting hungry. Got to go to the store now.

By: Miz Brooke Smith

Miz Brooke Smith — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:18:53 +0000

Yum! Here’s what else is good post-hurricane after the trees are smashed to bits: Lamb and vegetables grilled over pecan wood. Hmmmm, maybe Houstonians should allocate a certain percentage of replacement-tree plantings to species that are good for cooking with when the next horrendous storm knocks ‘em all down again. This could match the wonderful biome and culinary geographical diversity that meets at Allen’s Landing: Hickory in the eastern part of the county, oak and even some mesquite to the west and north, pecan in Inner Loop and points south.

By: movocelot

movocelot — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:59:52 +0000

Absolutely true story: right after Ike, I cooked a whole turkey in an iron pot under my burn pile. Cowboy style. It was fantastic! just a bit charred on the outside.

By: Miz Brooke Smith

Miz Brooke Smith — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:00:22 +0000

Movocelot, you’re on target there. Shoot, the way the economy is going we’ll soon all be growing our own greens and roots, making our own moonshine, and cooking up Hoover hogs for supper. At least we live in Houston where armadillos are plentiful.

By: movocelot

movocelot — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:33:58 +0000

I think the problem with this kitchen redo is two-fold. 1) when granite slabs are for sale along every thoroughfare in town you know their desirability has tanked. 2) the granite/tumbled marble is just tacked-on to those iconic wild-grained, clunky, greenish-yellow ash cabinets; you just can’t hide them things! (best bet, in my mind, would be to paint and glaze them for that ‘aged homestead’ look.)

I love Miz Brooke’s prediction for the next new thing in countertops - moss!
And like plastic-lam it’s warm to the touch so your plate of food stays hot longer and your elbows don’t get chilly!

However, the decking would have to provide nutrition to the moss - perhaps a living oak stump could be planted beneath - think Mayor White’s Ike Clean-up Initiative - and a retractable roof installed for sunlight - totally doable.

That’s it! ‘Everything old is new again!’ Award-winning kitchens in the near future will feature cooking in a lean-to out back: brick grill, cleavers stuck into planks of wood on sawhorses, tin pans hanging on nails, moonshine sipped from jelly jars…

By: Miz Brooke Smith

Miz Brooke Smith — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 03:42:59 +0000

We, too, have formica counters — rather nice-looking, attractively textured and easy-to-care-for laminate — plus a useful bit of stainless steel around the sink. Past abodes have had concrete, little 1940’s hexagonal tiles, or 1960’s 4″ tiles in the kitchen. But, yes, Cathy, all this granite business has got me to thinking about the Next Big Countertop Thing. I predict that it will be Spanish moss. Cheap, renewable, non-toxic, pleasantly yielding under a cutting board, and doubling as garnish for everything from humble casseroles to stuffed breast of veal…what’s not to like?

By: Cathy

Cathy — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 03:02:49 +0000

Flake, dagnabit, I pretty sure you’re correct: it’s not a water hazard; it’s a driveway. Looking closer, I see that it’s in the front of the house, making the water hazard idea very hazardous indeed.

I’ll stick with Quail Valley though — and it could still be on the golf couse — not very good views out those back windows.

Quite a number of pans of the granite countertops — I’d like some ideas of what anyone would recommend instead. (I still have formica — so I am really interested.)

By: KJ

KJ — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 23:33:08 +0000

I am going with Huntwick. Champions Forest guesses are close, but I lived in Huntwick for 8 years and I seem to recall the exact kitchen floor plan. The Den was the same as mine except for the built in bar was slightly larger than mine. Bathroom matched my neighbor’s across the street and the windows in the dining room are the same as my other neighbors. Definitely a Kickerillo neighborhood.

By: Karen

Karen — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:20:52 +0000

My first impression of this place was a large townhome, probably in the Galleria area. Who puts the breakfast room right by the entryway in a free-standing home?

I’m also perplexed by the nook in the sheer rock face of the vaulted entryway. I agree that it was added during some remodel. But why? Oh, the mystery….

By: tcpIV

tcpIV — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:16:01 +0000

Those mirrors in the dining area make that room SO MUCH LARGER! I wish they hadn’t of spent the money on the kitchen ‘upgrades’ I’m sure what was there was more interesting. I’m going for Copperfield even though I’m not really sure where that is.

By: Lauren

Lauren — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:51:51 +0000

I’m going to guess this is anywhere from an early 70s to early-90s home with mid-2000s upgrade. The shrubs out front look kind of leggy and unkempt, which means these owners have been here for a few years but don’t car much for yard work.
This is the second house in a row with the flat electric cooktop (bleh!), the kitchen cabinet hardware looks cheap and original, and are those parquet floors real, or “par-kay?” No one has had the will or way to put something in the recessed knick-knack-nook opposite the stairs, and the wood beams, floor to ceiling paneling, arched windows, and small sitting area in the bathroom suggest this was a custom home, but the kind picked out of a builder’s three-ring binder.
All that being said, this could be in Anytown, USA. For diversity’s sake from previous postings, I’ll guess Oak Forest/Ella Lee Forest.

By: Harold Mandell

Harold Mandell — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 06:22:09 +0000

You guys,that parquet EVERYWHERE is a major clue. This is a late 70’s house from the floody part of Olde Oaks.
A hard working family, not born here, but grabbing the dream real fast, bought this big house to live in. But the schools were a disapointment, so they moved to a better school district for their 3 kids (2 spelling bee champs and a valedictorian). Now they are renting the house to newly arrived members of their large family, helpfully furnishing it with leftovers from the couple of budget motels they operate out on 290.