Tag: houston

Button Sunday


Buttons included in Timothy’s Christmas gifts to Tom and me for Cactus Music in Houston.

Those are Tom’s, and the ones below are mine; both came with gift cards to Cactus (this is one of three of my most-visited locally-owned record stores, the others being Vinal Edge and Soundwaves).


Also included was this canvas tote, because it held special prints of Houston spots by artist Jim Koehn.


KPFT Radio station where Timothy and I were once interviewed after It Had to Be You was published. I don’t remember much about the interview except when we were asked if any of our characters were based on real people, I quipped, “Yes. I’m Aunt Jen. Without the money.” (I chose the word quipped because Aunt Jen was a quipper.)


Lucky Burger is closed now, but it was one of Tom’s and my favorite takeout spots when we lived in Montrose. I still miss it.

I became aware of Jim Koehn’s work thanks to Cactus’s Instagram account, and I’m already starting to order prints to give for holiday and birthday gifts over the next year, for friends who’ve moved away, and friends who’ve visited and have their own favorite Houston spots. This will be fun.

Revisiting a tasty memory

Back in the age when my friend Steve R was alive, he had a favorite Tex-Mex restaurant on Kirby in the River Oaks area called Jalapeños. Here’s an old review that describes it better than I could:

A visit to this bright Upper Kirby cantina decked out in eye-popping colors and playful artwork on the walls is always a fiesta. It hops at happy hour, which features more than 40 tequilas and most every Mexican beer. We like the innovative menu items like crawfish quesadillas, quail frito or outstanding spinach enchiladas—a dish that’s creamy and garlicky, with just the right amount of bite from poblano peppers. They’re evenly matched on a combo plate with corn enchiladas that are sweet yet spiked with onions. Seafood fans go for the extensive fresh fare from the Gulf, including snapper and shrimp Cancun, baked in a banana leaf. Traditional fajitas are even done right here: charred and tender with rosy centers and sizzling onions and peppers on the side.

One of the things not mentioned is that you might spot President George HW Bush and wife Barbara dining there (not a selling point for us, particularly at the height of the AIDS epidemic).

Back in those days, I didn’t eat Mexican food, or Tex-Mex, but I’d go with Steve and get something basic like nachos. One day, he persuaded me to try a bit of his spinach enchiladas, and I was hooked. It was the cilantro white sauce–not overly spicy like the red sauce usually on entrees, and I liked it so much.

Tom and I were sad when Jalapeños closed in 2005, because it became a favorite place to go with friends and for him to take his father when he visited Houston. I don’t know if it was last year or this year that I had reason to research it and discovered that one of the former chefs, Seco, had his own Mexican-Latin fusion restaurant in the Rice Village area called Seco’s, where it’s possible to get spinach enchiladas based on the old Jalapeños’s recipe.

We were in the area on Tuesday and picked up carryout that included the enchiladas, rice, and beans (I got the refried black beans; Tom had the charro beans). The spinach enchiladas don’t taste exactly as I remembered them, but they’re better than those I’ve gotten at any other restaurant, so I was full and happy.

It’s not near us, so I don’t know how often we’ll get food from there, but if you’re in Houston, it’s neatly tucked behind the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream shop on Kirby. Give it a try!

What a week

This week was a little crazy. I’m not even sure why. I did have to get a new phone after I launched my previous one on the river to ruin, and that was the same day I also had my car in for its regular maintenance.

Let’s see. We voted. We went over to RubinSmo Manor for an hour or so for a photo shoot and got to meet Honey the foster kitty, see Pepper, and hug Lindsey and Rhonda for the first time in SO LONG–especially Lindsey, because we have been able to see Rhonda two or three times since we last saw Lindsey.

ETA: I forgot the tornado warnings and the power outage. That sucked up some of the time I’d normally be productive.

I’ve been out of the house running errands more frequently than usual this week. But none of this seems like a lot, and I don’t watch TV unless Tom and I watch something while we eat dinner. So other than cooking, housecleaning, and spending time outside (the weather is so nice) with dogs, I guess most of my time has gone to this art project I’ve embarked on and writing. I sure don’t get more than six hours of sleep a night, so who knows where all the hours go.

Today while I was working on stuff I had an overwhelming urge to listen to Peter Gabriel’s album Us. There used to be a record store next to the bookstore where I was an assistant manager, and I was in there browsing one day when they played a song. It sounded so much like Dennis Wilson or a song he’d have written or sung that I remember walking to the cash wrap in a daze and asking, “WHAT OR WHO IS THAT YOU’RE PLAYING?” It was Peter Gabriel, and the song was “Washing of the Water,” which I’ll include below. A moving song, and I can understand why it caught my attention and still gets to me.

Another noteworthy thing about the album is the song “Fourteen Black Paintings,” which he wrote about Mark Rothko’s paintings installed in Houston’s Rothko Chapel. They are among my favorite works of art, and Mark Rothko is one of my favorite painters in the world. Just some Becky trivia there. =)

Weird Wednesday

Woke up this morning just as the power went down. We were under a tornado warning because of a front moving in. It had lots of cold air behind it. After the rain and wind stopped, it became a gorgeous day like the fall weather many of you have but we seldom do (until sometime in November, maybe).

Electricity was out until afternoon, which propelled me from the house to get a few errands taken care of. Those had me driving through the city with my sun roof and windows open, blasting music and keeping me far from the Internet. Consequently, I’m behind on a few of today’s goals. Like writing.

Here’s another snippet showing items I may be using as part of my current art project.

Thanks to the cooler weather, our dinner was of homemade chili and cornbread. Yep, don’t tell the Texans, but those are beans with the turkey meat in the chili. Texans prefer no beans in chili.

Mr. Simon turns 80

Happy birthday to Paul Simon, turning 80 today! He’s one of my favorite poets/ songwriters/ singers/ musicians/ performers. I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing him live with or without his former partner Art Garfunkel. But I have lots of his CDs.

One thing I’m missing?


You can see that the waterline from the Harvey flood goes all the way to the upper corners. This was a big loss for me because of its sentimental value.

The birthday that my mother (I mention only her because my father was overseas at the time) bought my first record player, she also bought me three albums. The Simon and Garfunkel album was one of them. I’m not sure why she picked the ones she did and suspect it was because she wanted to listen to them, too (although on the big stereo console in the living room).

I’m sure I have all of these songs on a Best Of… CD, but when I find this used on vinyl, I will certainly replace it.

If you’d like to know the other two records she bought me for that birthday, they are:

Lynne spotted a replacement for my badly damaged copy of Mark Lindsay’s first solo album, so though it isn’t the one my mother bought, it’s back in its rightful place in the collection.

Finally, Mother also bought Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits, which came through the flood unscathed, though I lost my other Bob Dylan albums. At some point when I have an income again, they’ll be replaced.

Tiny Tuesday!

Look at this tiny, handsome obsidian raven I got from Body Mind and Soul after their buying trip to Denver. They picked up SO MUCH great stuff. If you live in or near Houston, this is one of the best-of-the-best locally-owned businesses to shop. The moment you walk inside, your energy lifts, and the end of any transaction leaves you renewed for going back to the outside world.


I named him Paulus and posed him in front of this colorful postcard from Marika to honor Maleficent’s raven confidant popularly known as Diablo in the 1959 animated movie and named Diaval in the 2014 film. The love and respect I feel for crows, ravens, and other corvids (there are 133 species in the Corvidae family!) are bonds I share with several friends. They’re smart and complex birds.

One of my characters thinks of himself as a “lone crow,” and I’ve planned a future house for a different character that will use one of the corvids in its name.

It’s fun to tuck little homages to these creatures inside what I write.