Theagingcajun

I will now be posting on a new blog, Tess Abroad.  Check out my thoughts on living on a new side of the Atlantic.

I want these sheep!!!!!!!!!!!

An entry posted over the weekend to the website of Ziegler Cooper Architects indicates that the local firm has won Shorenstein Properties’ invited competition to remake the soon-to-be-former ExxonMobil Building (at right), a prominent, bristly, and standoffish figure on the southern edge of Houston’s Downtown since 1962. The redo, which will be far more extensive than a simple reskinning, removes the most distinctive feature of the building, originally designed by L.A. architects Welton Becket for Humble Oil: the 7-foot-deep shades, cantilevered from marble-clad columns, that help shield sunlight from all but the top of the tower’s 44 stories.

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The fate of those sunshades may explain why Shorenstein selected Ziegler Cooper’s design for the building on the block surrounded by Bell, Milam, Travis, and Leeland it bought from ExxonMobil earlier this year : The airspace formerly occupied (and cooled) by the shades won’t just be surrounded by a new glass skin; the newly enclosed area will be swallowed and captured for additional floor space, according to the architects’ drawings and description. That’ll fatten up the floor plates to a now-popular 42-ft. depth and increase the structure’s gross square footage by more than 100,000 sq. ft., to 1.4 million sq. ft.

In place of those unshaded top 2 floors at the top, now home to the Petroleum Club, the new building, referred to now by its address of 800 Bell St., will show off its new fancy light-up forehead. At the base, a new plaza facing Bell St. (above) will at long last tie the building into the downtown tunnel system.

ExxonMobil is currently leasing the building back from Shorenstein; renovations are scheduled to begin in 2015, after the company moves its last downtown employees to its new suburban North Houston campus headquarters.

• 800 Bell [Ziegler Cooper Architects]
• ExxonMobil coverage [Swamplot]
• Previously on Swamplot: No, the Renovated Bell St. ExxonMobil Building Is Not Gonna Look Like This, ExxonMobil’s Humble Gift to the City?

Renderings: Ziegler Cooper Architects. Photo: Flickr user lc_db

Ingredients:
8 oz shredded aged sharp cheddar
4 oz jarred diced pimentos, drained
1/4 cup diced fire-roasted Hatch Green Chiles
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 teaspoon ground garlic
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper



Directions:
Place all ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir to combine. Refrigerate at least 6 hours and up to overnight for best flavor.

My thoughts:

Last January as part of our annual decade-theme meal(s) we celebrated the 1920s with a "ladies who lunch" lunch featuring chicken salad with tarragon and slivered almonds, a zippy tomato aspic, classic creamy pimento cheese and deviled eggs along with celery sticks, carrot sticks and a relish tray. It was so much fun making a meal of all these little bites! When I was thinking about what to do with the Hatch chiles I didn't freeze, I thought making a green & red pimento cheese would be fun. Then I took it a step further and decided to make a whole meal out of it. Think of it as "ladies who lunch....in the Southwest". Normally Hatch chiles seem to be tossed mostly in spicy Southwest or Tex-Mex dishes like enchiladas, burritos, tacos, chili and stew (and I admit, I like them in that form as well) but I thought it would be fun to explore them in a slightly unexpected way and pop them into dishes that aren't known for their heat. Look for a couple of more recipes from this lunch in the next few days.