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    Tattered Jeans

    Stirring the pot: Kitchen cookware conjures up magical memories fresh as the smell of gumbo

    Katie Oxford
    Dec 21, 2014 | 3:00 pm

    These last few years, I’ve takin’ to cookin'. My current weight is a sign of this but never mind food. Something else draws me to my kitchen too. Chi. A heat that doesn’t come from fire.

    Our kitchen is chock full of it. It’s in the pots, bowls, a butcher block that bows in the middle, a pitcher full of wooden spoons — in the spoons themselves.
    The pots are more than iron works. They are steeped in history and in spirit. If you don’t believe this, just come on over. It’s something you feel in your hand the second you pick one up.
    My favorite pot is one I brew gumbo in. It’s a deep iron pot with a blue rubber cover over the handle the color of a sky I saw a million times growing up in Beaumont, Texas.
    I didn’t collect these pots. They belonged to kinfolk, now dead. Sorta magically and one by one, they settled in my kitchen on a rack underneath an old butcher’s block. Some sit stacked, others, like a row of old shoes. They are easy to reach, on the ready and to my eyes — sittin’ pretty — in dulled, worn out glory.
    My favorite pot is one I brew gumbo in. It’s a deep iron pot with a blue rubber cover over the handle the color of a sky I saw a million times growing up in Beaumont, Texas. It used to belong to my pop-in-law, my favorite on my husband’s side of the family.
    Pop and I enjoyed doing the same stuff — rootin’ around in his garden, admiring the sweet peas on the chicken wire, planting okra every Lent and fiddlin’ around with his bird dogs. One called Sally I can still smell today. When I’m stirring the pot, these things wash over me like a wave — as fresh as the smell of the gumbo rising. Strong. Sweet.
    Next to Pop’s pot sits an orange metal colander that, to anyone else — looks like a colander with rusted handles. When I’m washing lettuce in it, I think of Mama making “sink salad,” she called it. I see her standing over the kitchen sink, digging down deep, tossing lettuce like a child playing in sand — hear her sing.
    No telling how old the pitcher is – now holding wooden spoons, some burned from fire. I was told that it belonged to my great grandparents in Tennessee. When they packed up and moved to Texas, they brought it with them. Clearly, with a heap of care. On the bottom, there’s something handwritten. I’m not sure but best I can tell it says Orlena Vines. Wondering about Orlena conjures up a whole other world to think about.
    Christmas Eve I’ll be in the kitchen. I’ll stir pots and sling salad for the folks coming for dinner. Mostly, though — for all the folks who brung me. Pots and all.

    Grandmother's teapot with the perfect mole.

    5 Katie Oxford Chi December 2014 Grandmother\u2019s teapot with the perfect mole
      
    Photo by Katie Oxford
    Grandmother's teapot with the perfect mole.
    unspecified
    news/city-life

    This Week's Hot Headlines

    2 high-profile Houston steakhouse shutters lead our top 5 stories

    CultureMap Staff
    Mar 1, 2025 | 11:01 am
    Andiron interior
    Photo by Julie Soefer
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    Editor's note: It's time to look back at the top Houston news of the week, including two sudden restaurant closures and a delicious kickoff to rodeo season. Plus, we celebrate Houston's best neighborhood restaurants. Get the details on our hottest headlines of the week below, then find your best bets for weekend fun here.

    1. Award-winning Houston steakhouse will close after only 2 years. One of 2023’s most promising new restaurants will soon serve its final meal. Andiron Grille & Patio will close after service on March 1.

    2. Houston's 11 best neighborhood restaurants keep people coming back for more. Accessibility is an essential component of being a neighborhood restaurant. These are the places we turn to when we’re too tired to cook dinner or when a break in the day’s schedule allows for a quick lunch. Meet the 2025 Tastemaker nominees for Houston's Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year.

    3. Top Houston restaurants lasso big prizes at Rodeo Best Bites Competition. Marsala-braised short ribs and sundried tomato spread on cayenne pepper toast took two of the top prizes at this year's Rodeo Uncorked! Roundup & Best Bites Competition.

    4. Houston's most ambitious Korean steakhouse suddenly closes in the Heights. Houston’s most ambitious Korean steakhouse has served its last meal. Karne Korean Steakhouse has permanently closed, owner Jason Cho told CultureMap earlier this week.

    Karne Korean steakhouse spreadKarne has closed. Photo by Jenn Duncan

    5. Meet the Texas restaurateur serving oysters and burgers in 3 states. In this episode of “What’s Eric Eating,” restaurateur Larry McGuire discusses MML Hospitality, his Austin-based group that operates restaurants in California, Texas, and Colorado, as well as the Hotel Saint Vincent in New Orleans.

    closingssteakhousetastemaker awardslarry mcguirerodeo best bitesmost popular storieshot-headlines
    news/city-life

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