Tag Archives: unique

Where To Go for Winter Vacay

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Monte Alban Ruins in Oaxaca

If your year has been as busy as ours, then you’re probably already dreaming of a winter getaway. Here’s where we would go if we could take some time off!

Oaxaca, Mexico 

Sure, it’s their rainy season, but that just means the valley and all the surrounding ruins are lush green. Oaxaca used to be a favorite tourist area before Mexico suffered from the media’s over-exaggeration of the cartel’s effect on this beautiful country. In fact, Oaxaca, a Southern state (with a city by the same name), is quite safe and far from all the troubles.

This magical land is filled with talented artists that use both ancient Zapotec techniques as well as modern ones to create incredible (and shockingly inexpensive) one-of-a-kind artwork. Small villages, each with their own skill set, surround Oaxaca. You’ll find weavers, potters, chocolate makers, mezcal makers and more. It’s also known as the land of seven moles, so be prepared to eat your weight’s worth in mole as well as tamales. Our favorite restaurant, Los Danzantes, offers a modern interpretation of traditional dishes and flavors. We recommend bringing an extra suitcase. You’ll thank us if you do!

The Cell Block – Clifton, Texas

For something really different, how would you like to stay a night in jail? Of course, if you’re going to do that, you might as well do it in style, right? Not far from us, between Austin and Dallas, is a small (perhaps unknown) town. Although unassuming, this town has a lot of character. Besides being the official Norwegian capitol of Texas – the King of Norway even visited here once – they’re also known for being home to several successful artists who produce Western-style artwork. The town has several art galleries as well as a museum.

While there are a few quaint options for accommodations, none are more interesting than The Cell Block. This luxury jailhouse was once a real jail. It didn’t see the likes of Bonnie and Clyde although rumor has it they lived nearby. There’s a bullet hole in a building next to the now historic theatre where Clyde was said to have shot at a guy who took Bonnie out on a date. The Cell Bock is a “bed and booze” as opposed to a bed and breakfast. For the night, you get a bottle of wine and a swig of whiskey to keep you warm. Relax on your rooftop patio then enjoy a good night’s sleep in jail. Just make sure you don’t lose the key! 

La Cantera Resort & Spa

If you don’t have time to get away, consider a staycation at the newly renovated La Cantera Resort & Spa. They’ve put an immense amount of money and effort into providing an amazingly relaxing and luxurious experience for their guests. The spa is easily one of the best in town and offers a plethora of both familiar and unique spa experiences. The best part is local celebrity chef, Andrew Weissman, is opening up a new restaurant here called Signature. It’s about to become the hottest place in town!

If you’re saving up your pennies for a new home instead of a vacation, call us at 210-494-5400 to set up a consultation. If you wish to be added to our private email list for our newsletter, please sign up here.

 

 

Favorite Thanksgiving Recipes

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If you’re struggling to come up with some yummy ideas for Thanksgiving Dinner – here are some delicious recipes that will impress any relative!

 

Adobe-Rubbed Stuffed Turkey (Courtesy of Molli Sauces)

Ingredients

  • 1 jar Mölli Oaxaca Marinade (You can find this at Central Market)
  • 2 tbsp. honey
  • 1 tbsp. kosher salt, plus more to taste
  • 1 12 lb. turkey
  • 1 large onion, quartered
  • 1 orange, quartered

Directions

  1. In a bowl, mix Oaxaca marinade, honey and salt until fully integrated. Set Oaxaca rub aside.
  2. Heat oven to 500° and place rack in bottom third of oven. Pat turkey dry with clean paper towels. Rub outside of turkey with Oaxaca rub and stuff with onions and oranges; transfer turkey breast side up to a rack set in a roasting pan. Roast for 30 minutes; lower heat to 325° and cook for 30 minutes more. Remove turkey from oven and, flip turkey breast side down. Roast, basting occasionally, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into a thigh but not touching the bone registers 165°, about 3 hours total for a 12-lb. turkey. Lower oven to 150°. Transfer turkey, breast side up, to a baking sheet; return to oven to keep warm. Remove turkey from oven 15 minutes before serving. Save roasting pan for Port gravy recipe.
  3. Serve this delicious turkey with our Port Gravy recipe on the side. You will love it!!

bread pudding

 

Savory Apple-Italian Sausage Bread Pudding Recipe (Courtesy of San Antonio Blogger, Wendy Weekend Gourmet )

 

Ingredients:

  • 8 ounces sourdough bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 3 tbs. olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely minced or grated
  • 1 tsp. chopped Italian parsley
  • 3 tbs. butter
  • 1 cup diced yellow onion
  • 1 cup diced celery
  • 1 Honeycrisp apple — peel, core, and chop into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 8 ounces cooked, crumbled Italian sausage
  • 1 cup coarsely grated sharp cheddar [NOTE: I used Cabot Alpine Sharp Cheddar]
  • 1 3/4 cups half and half
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 tbs. chopped Italian parsley
  • 1 tsp. poultry seasoning
  • 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
  • Salt & pepper to taste

Directions: Step 1: Preheat oven to 350. Add the cubed sourdough to a large mixing bowl. Drizzle with the olive oil and add the garlic and chopped parsley. Toss well, until the bread cubes are evenly coated with the oil and seasoning. Arrange on a large rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, until the cubes are browned. Step 2: Add the butter to a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook until the onion begins to soften and get some color — about 4 minutes. Add the apple and cook until the apples begins to soften. While the veggies and apple mixture is cooking, make the custard: add the half and half and eggs to a large measuring cup and whisk until combined. Set aside. Step 3: Add the toasted sourdough cubes to a large mixing bowl. Add the crumbled Italian sausage, sharp cheddar, and apple-veggie mixture. Add the custard and stir to combine evenly. Push the bread cubes into the custard. Let sit for 10 minutes, stirring 2-3 times to ensure all the bread sits in the custard. Step 4: Butter a deep 2-quart casserole dish. Ladle the bread pudding mixture into the casserole. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and cook the bread pudding an additional 30 minutes, until browned. Let cool 30 minutes before serving.

 

Classic Buttermilk Pie (Courtesy of Southern Living)

 

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted
  • 1 tablespoon loosely packed lemon zest
  • 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Pastry Crust of your choice

Garnishes: fresh berries, whipped cream, fresh mint

 

Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 350°. Whisk together first 2 ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk eggs and next 5 ingredients into flour mixture; pour into Perfect Pastry Crust. 2. Bake at 350° for 35 to 45 minutes or until almost set, shielding edges with aluminum foil after 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and cool 1 hour.  

Custom-Made Furniture for Your Custom Home

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If you’re going to spend the time and money to have a custom home built, why not fill that beloved home with some extraordinary custom furniture as well? If you plan ahead you can create a symbiotic environment and have furniture designed to fit the exact space it’s going to live in.

If this is something you’ve never considered, you may not know that San Antonio, and certainly Texas, is home to some brilliant and highly-skilled custom furniture designers, who can make furniture that’s either traditional or avant garde. Here are just a few local furniture designers/builders you might want to consider.

George Schroeder of Schroeder Design

George Schroeder has earned a reputation as one of the leading large scale metal artists in the United States, and we’re lucky that he’s located right here in San Antonio. Schroeder somehow manages to translate fluidity and energy into his pieces, so that they’re all incredibly creative and unique. Although the scope of his work really runs the gamut, from modern sculpture to paintings, his ability to construct magnificent custom furniture that are iconic pieces in any home is a rare gift.

Peter Zubiate of Zubiate Projects

Peter is known for his beautiful wood furniture and often works with local architects and builders to create specifically-designed furniture, including tables, chairs, beds, built-ins and unique pieces. Whatever you can think up, Zubiate can bring that vision to life.

WOOD by Alberto

Another talented, but perhaps lesser known woodworker in San Antonio is Alberto of WOOD by Alberto, who makes handmade, original Texas wood products, including furniture. He recently completed a commissioned project for a local home of stunning large custom barn doors that are connected via heavy duty metal wheels that allow the doors to slide open.

Cortese Brothers

Cortese Brothers is a family owned and operated furniture company in San Antonio. They work closely with customers to create furniture that’s beautiful yet affordable. They incorporate your initial design research into the finished piece.

Deep Fried Design

Although Andrew McGuire hails from Austin, we won’t hold it against him because his furniture is absolutely stunning. He makes stylish modern furniture like beds and tables using reclaimed wood. He has a photo on his website of a funky coffee table he made from a reclaimed gym floor. It’s clear this custom furniture maker not only thinks outside the box, but lives there.

If you already have the furniture and just need the perfect home to put it in, call us at 210-494-5400. To be added to our private email list to receive the Stone Creek Custom Homes newsletter, please sign up here.

 

Xeriscaping: Beautiful and Sustainable Landscaping for Your Home

Living in Texas, especially South Texas, means water is almost as precious as gold. Water restrictions are just a part of daily life, and nothing suffers more for it than our lawns. If you’re looking to build a new house or are considering landscaping alternatives, consider xeriscaping.

If you’re not familiar with the term, xeriscaping is landscaping and gardening that minimizes the need for supplemental water from irrigation by using plants natural to the environment. In fact, a xeriscaped yard uses about half the water of a traditional yard.

Other Benefits of Xeriscaping:

-          No need for pesticides or fertilizers.

-          It’s pollution free.

-          It creates a natural habitat for your local wildlife.

-          It requires a lot less maintenance, so it’s perfect for families who are always on the go or travel a lot.

-          Drought-proofing with Xeriscaping is a great way to improve the value of your property.

Beautiful and Green (sustainable)

Unfortunately, xeriscaping has earned a bad reputation as being unattractive. Sure, this type of landscaping means that you may not have an endless carpet of feather-soft grass in your front yard, but let’s face it, even with unlimited watering, that’s just not realistic. Still, this doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice beauty for practicality.

At Stone Creek Custom Homes, we work with some of the best landscape designers who seamlessly combine their knowledge with your own personal aesthetics to create a stunning outdoor environment for our client’s new homes.

Here are some things to keep in mind for your own Xeriscaped yard:

-          If you like to have a colorful yard, you can plant native wildflowers that are as hardy as they are gorgeous.

-          Use structures like walkways, pavers, stairs, a small bridge or other aesthetic elements, such as fountains, to minimize the need for plant life.

-          Make sure to consider the overall style of your home to help inspire the outdoor environment.

-          If you want to do some pre-planning and designing on your own, make a sun chart that delineates how much sun and where your property gets throughout the day. This will help you properly match the right plants with your home’s sunlight exposure.

-          Get your soil analyzed. You can send in samples to your local agricultural government office. This will help you determine what plants are realistically sustainable on your land and where your soil might need to be augmented.

Feel free to call us at your convenience at 210-494-5400 to discuss your own home and xeriscaping needs! Also, if you’d like to be added to our private email list to receive the newsletter, please sign up here.

Meet Stone Creek Custom Homes’ Darla Strawther

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You may have spoken with her on the phone or even seen her in person, but oftentimes Darla Strawther, the Office Manager for Stone Creek Custom Homes, is working behind the scenes making sure everything stays on track. Among a million other things, Darla is responsible for the accounting, ordering and coordinating with clients.

Darla:  I’m pretty much a jack of all trades. I do a little bit of everything except go to the house and physically build it.

Darla jokes that the biggest challenge of her job is keeping up with six men, i.e. Jason, Jesse, Brad, Blake, Jimmy and Bill, but regardless of any challenges, she finds her job extremely rewarding.

Darla:  I work with wonderful people – our customers and the people here, our own staff – it’s a good group.

Those who have worked with Stone Creek before know that the relationships we build are of the utmost importance. In fact, our relationship with Darla started back in 2008 when we built her new home at Waggener Ranch. She began working for us part-time in 2009, and then full-time in 2010.

Darla:  It’s all about the relationships here – it truly is! The majority of the time we have had wonderful relationships with our customers. All of us go to the same eye doctor [for example] because we built their home. We keep in contact with several of our customers.

When it comes to her own family, Darla has been married to her husband, Tim, for over 28 years, and they now have two grown children, Jonathan and Natalie.

Darla:  We all do CrossFit together, and we like to travel. Tim was in the U.S. Air Force for 26 years, and we lived in Germany for six, so we have traveled a lot. Last year we went to Rome, and our next trip is to Ann Arbor for Labor Day, where Tim is from.

When asked if she goes on any of the hunting and fishing trips that the guys like to go on, Darla explained that although they’d certainly welcome her, it’s not exactly her cup of tea.

Darla:  I’m not going six miles into the ocean – no way could you get me to do that! They always bring me back some fish or deer meat. It’s really nice that they do that. I don’t always know where they are or what they’re doing, but they’re always there for you, and that’s what’s great about it.

To speak with Darla, give us a call at 210-494-5400. She’ll make sure your next custom home project runs smoothly!