Round and round we go

Yesterday I found two potential houses to rent. One in Houston Heights (near north), one near Rice University (near south). After work we headed out to look at them, choosing the north one first.

It's $2400 per month, 2200 sq ft, built in 2006. On paper it looks OK, and when we get out there ... it IS OK. We can't get inside, but we prowl around the yard. Looks clean. I like the front porch. There's a little problem with standing water in the front where it looks like they had a pipe leak. But, generally, not bad. The neighborhood is older. They must have torn down an old house to put up this one. GoogleMap says 11 minutes to the office. It looks like a bus stop to downtown is only a couple blocks away.

Then we drive about 20 minutes out south to the other place. Wow. We're in the upscale area now. Beautiful huge homes. Older, some built in the 1930s, but immaculately kept. It's cool. We find our house and, unfortunately it's right on the busiest street. Looks cute though. This one was built in 1950! It's only 2000 sq ft. They're asking $2250 per month, but I'm not living on a busy street. Sorry.

We drive around the neighborhood. We find one house we like after another. All older, but beautiful with big trees. Stately. Even Wife allows how she might relax her new-new criteria for these. Of course, we imagine that they are all over $1,000,000. They're huge. Here's an example.

I suffer a severe brain cramp and beg to go home.

We decide to eat out. We drive out W. Gray Street and pull into the same shopping center that had the Cafe le Jadeite we liked so much. Next door is Tony Mandola's Gulf Coast Kitchen. It's packed. The hostess says, "Wait two minutes and I'll get you in." And then she does. The menu is fabulous: straight out of the New Orleans French Quarter. Gumbo. Oyster dishes. Snapper. Salmon with shrimp and crab meat. We each have a glass of Kendall-Jackson chardonnay and consider the options. The waiter strolls up and says, "The specials today are blackened snapper ..." with some stuff that I immediately forgot, because then he says "... or tri-color fettuccine with grilled salmon, scallops, and shrimps in a zucchini, tomato and garlic-olive-oil sauce." For me: end of story. Wife reads every item on the menu, as usual, and then picks "Salmon Sophia": salmon topped with lump crab meat. I decide a cup of gumbo couldn't hurt me either. We order. Hot French bread shows up. Yummy. Wife's salad and my gumbo arrives. Gumbo is not QUITE as good as my own, but darn near. It's got a huge crab claw floating in it. The entrees show. All conversation stops. Wife loves hers and won't even share a bite. I love mine and share 1/4 of a scallop, which is still almost more than a mouth-full. On the way out we tell the hostess, "We'll be back."

Brain cramp was totally relieved.