Well, it has now been a year since the work started on my kitchen and I still don't have doors on the unit that houses the sink. July was the last time I saw our carpenter, and the old dishwasher sits face-down in what is supposed to be my kitchen garden. I have a new selection of herbs to plant to replace the ones that died from the heat when I couldn't get them into the ground. Here's hoping I can get it done this weekend. I did go out this morning before work to start some of the clean-up. If only it didn't get dark so darned early.
We're waiting to hear whether our friend Jack Dann is showing up to stay at our house this weekend and if we've convinced him to stick around a few extra days for Thanksgiving before heading back to Australia. Jack is always a welcomed guest. At the moment we think we've got a dozen people for Thanksgiving itself, which is a small crowd for us (we've had twice that in the past.) There's still plenty of time for that number to expand, as we've often learned in the past.
This weekend, we'll go out and pick up our turkey and I'll make pie crusts. I took the afternoon before Thanksgiving off last year, but I decided I didn't need to do that again this year. Having two ovens means I really do have the ability to bake my pies during the day on Thursday. I was inspired by Alton Brown last week when he made the green bean casserole entirely from scratch and I pulled down the recipe to try it myself. I hate the version with canned beans although the one with frozen beans is edible.
Our appetizers are being taken care of by a friend who will bring them in. Len's big contribution is his stuffing. Susan Ellison will bring a pumpkin bread. I get to do pretty much everything else, which I don't really mind. I just wish I liked Thanksgiving food more. It's just not Italian.
Calvin Trillin did a wonderful article about why pasta carbonara should be the national dish at Thanksgiving. It had to do with Thanksgiving being about home comfort food and that it was always served at his family's Thanksgiving table. I have vague recollections of similar Italian foods at Thanksgiving when my grandmother was alive, but there was always a turkey as well. The Trillin article was frequently reprinted. I think that article also made reference to Brits putting brussels sprouts on the stove to cook for 400 years, by way of reference to terrible British cooking versus wonderful Italian cooking.
I get to use my good china and silver at Thanksgiving and the table looks very pretty. Len grumps and says that before I came along, he was happy when he had enough superhero glasses to go around. I probably wouldn't get so pissed about his attitude it if he didn't highly complement other people who pull out the good dishes and fuss and decorate at various holidays.
Len has promised me that he will get the wall of comic books out of the living room this weekend instead of waiting until the last minute. We've also got to go to storage to get out the folding tables. Dinner for a crowd means that the couches go out on the patio to make way for tables and chairs in the living room. Last year (or the year before), I bought a dozen incredibly comfortable folding chairs with high backs at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. It took me quite a while to save up enough 20% off coupons to pull the purchase off, but I did it.
Len promised me a new dining room table for my birthday, but that hasn't happened yet. I actually found a table I like on-line. It is a 48" round table that can seat a whole lot of people when it opens up with 12" leaves. I think it can take 12 or 14 of them. Right now, I use four 6' folding tables and one 5' folding table to do the same thing. The table comes in oak or cherry and I've always been partial to cherry. It has a pedestal which splits and leaves a center support. I had hoped to find something with dropped leaves that opened, but this is would be just fine. In my perfect world, I would be able to have a round table that seats 12 comfortably but I don't have the room. (I saw a spectacular round table that adjusts from seating 6 to seating 12 with intricate triangular pieces but the $14,000 price tag did scare me away.) So this table will go from round to a very long oval and that will do quite well and be not quite as wide as my current system. That will make it easier to get around things for dinner. Maybe I'll have it by next Thanksgiving.
Here's hoping the refrigerator keeps working this year.
Showing posts with label Kitchen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kitchen. Show all posts
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Friday, November 9, 2007
Back in the Kitchen
On Thursday morning, I watched the woman driving the car in front of me blow-dry her hair all the way from where I pull out of our cul-de-sac to the college campus. Multitasking at its finest. At least she wasn't on the freeway, where I've seen even worse.
In my effort to keep my kitchen somewhat tidy before I have to go into a panic the day before Thanksgiving, I've been going through the containers which were in the back yard for most of the past six months and sorting the contents to get rid of the duplicates (if Len can't find something, he never asks; he just goes out and buys another one) and the stuff that doesn't work.
I've got more sets of measuring cups and spoons than I can count. Many are plastic and have developed stains and tackiness that are best dealt with by throwing them in the trash. I just bought a good, heavyweight set of metal measuring cups which have no place for crud to build up and I'd like to find a replacement for my Tupperwear dry-measure cups which have the in-between sizes. Maybe if I go to the Rose Bowl Flea Market on Sunday I can score it. I reconfigured a couple of sets of measuring spoons and have the rest set to go away. I've gotten rid of all of the stained and melted plastic spoons which seem to be replacing good old wooden spoons. When I wasn't looking, Len went out and bought a number of plastic cutting boards and every time I try to get rid of the one shaped like a Scottish Terrier, he retrieves it. I've still got one more paper bag to go through and I just hope that my cleaning lady doesn't think she's doing me a favor by going through it and hiding stuff all over my kitchen for me. I need to have a yard sale or have my son move out to a place I can outfit for him.
Sometime in the last year, I felt the need to replace the Fry Daddy we had. The non-stick had partially peeled away and it seemed like a bad idea to use it any more. So I went off to Bed, Bath, and Beyond with a 20% off coupon (which I collect like crazy) and found a nice little number from Cuisinart. It got taken out of its box for the first time last night and it will now go into a much smaller space.
As part of the pre-Thanksgiving prep, I'm trying to get rid of stuff in the fridge and freezer, so last night's dinner was frozen fish and French fries. I have to say frozen French fries taste a whole lot better when they are fried than when they are cooked in the oven. The new deep-fryer did a great job on them.
Maybe I'll use the fryer for some of the traditional Italian Christmas sweets that I usually don't make like chichi cookies that have a sweet chick-pea filling and look like fried ravioli or the cone-shaped tower of fried dough with honey syrup and sprinkles called struffoli. The Christmas after my father died, I sat in the kitchen and watched my mother make all of the traditional Italian sweets and made notes in the margins of the recipes I had written out so the actual ingredients and amounts matched what she was doing and not what was written down. I've had a lot more success with the family recipes in the years since then than I did before.
The pre-holiday attack on the kitchen was also precipitated by a search for a special cupcake sheet that was given to me last year. It has many of the shapes of the Nordic Bundt cake molds reduced to cupcake or petits fours size. I searched literally high and low and began to panic that somehow it had gone missing when stored outside during the reconstruction (which is still not finished.) After two weeks of looking, I found it when I sat down on the floor to open my cookie sheet storage boxes once again, and there it was tucked high on top of one I could not see except by sitting on the floor. I was greatly relieved to find it.
I saw some really large baking sheets and a 24 hole cupcake sheet at Smart and Final the other night. I would never be able to use them in my wall oven, but the new oven could easily accommodate the big sheets and I could make a whole lot more cookies in less time that way. If I can figure out where to store them, I might just indulge myself. Parchment and heavy-duty shiny pans are much better for baking than dark, non-stick pans are.
In my effort to keep my kitchen somewhat tidy before I have to go into a panic the day before Thanksgiving, I've been going through the containers which were in the back yard for most of the past six months and sorting the contents to get rid of the duplicates (if Len can't find something, he never asks; he just goes out and buys another one) and the stuff that doesn't work.
I've got more sets of measuring cups and spoons than I can count. Many are plastic and have developed stains and tackiness that are best dealt with by throwing them in the trash. I just bought a good, heavyweight set of metal measuring cups which have no place for crud to build up and I'd like to find a replacement for my Tupperwear dry-measure cups which have the in-between sizes. Maybe if I go to the Rose Bowl Flea Market on Sunday I can score it. I reconfigured a couple of sets of measuring spoons and have the rest set to go away. I've gotten rid of all of the stained and melted plastic spoons which seem to be replacing good old wooden spoons. When I wasn't looking, Len went out and bought a number of plastic cutting boards and every time I try to get rid of the one shaped like a Scottish Terrier, he retrieves it. I've still got one more paper bag to go through and I just hope that my cleaning lady doesn't think she's doing me a favor by going through it and hiding stuff all over my kitchen for me. I need to have a yard sale or have my son move out to a place I can outfit for him.
Sometime in the last year, I felt the need to replace the Fry Daddy we had. The non-stick had partially peeled away and it seemed like a bad idea to use it any more. So I went off to Bed, Bath, and Beyond with a 20% off coupon (which I collect like crazy) and found a nice little number from Cuisinart. It got taken out of its box for the first time last night and it will now go into a much smaller space.
As part of the pre-Thanksgiving prep, I'm trying to get rid of stuff in the fridge and freezer, so last night's dinner was frozen fish and French fries. I have to say frozen French fries taste a whole lot better when they are fried than when they are cooked in the oven. The new deep-fryer did a great job on them.
Maybe I'll use the fryer for some of the traditional Italian Christmas sweets that I usually don't make like chichi cookies that have a sweet chick-pea filling and look like fried ravioli or the cone-shaped tower of fried dough with honey syrup and sprinkles called struffoli. The Christmas after my father died, I sat in the kitchen and watched my mother make all of the traditional Italian sweets and made notes in the margins of the recipes I had written out so the actual ingredients and amounts matched what she was doing and not what was written down. I've had a lot more success with the family recipes in the years since then than I did before.
The pre-holiday attack on the kitchen was also precipitated by a search for a special cupcake sheet that was given to me last year. It has many of the shapes of the Nordic Bundt cake molds reduced to cupcake or petits fours size. I searched literally high and low and began to panic that somehow it had gone missing when stored outside during the reconstruction (which is still not finished.) After two weeks of looking, I found it when I sat down on the floor to open my cookie sheet storage boxes once again, and there it was tucked high on top of one I could not see except by sitting on the floor. I was greatly relieved to find it.
I saw some really large baking sheets and a 24 hole cupcake sheet at Smart and Final the other night. I would never be able to use them in my wall oven, but the new oven could easily accommodate the big sheets and I could make a whole lot more cookies in less time that way. If I can figure out where to store them, I might just indulge myself. Parchment and heavy-duty shiny pans are much better for baking than dark, non-stick pans are.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
This Old House, Part 8
This photograph of the kitchen gives a better idea of how much stuff is crammed in everywhere. There's a lot of wasted space that collects dust and cobwebs that putting in a few doors would help.
In an ideal scheme of things, we'd move the wall that's on the left about 10 feet out into my garden. The carpenter has suggested moving our refrigerator (that chrome thing on the left) to the place where the cabinet is on the back wall, next to the built-in oven. The entire wall of cabinets would have to be reconfigured, but that's o.k. There is a very narrow area between the sink and the refrigerator, so moving the refrigerator would be really nice.
Currently, a lot of interior space in the back upper cabinets is lost to a lint vent from my dryer and I just found a lint vent that goes out to the roof tucked up in a hall closet that used to hold our heater. (When we switched to central air, that all went up on the roof.)
You can see the microwave sitting on the dryer and the water dispenser. I'd like to move the microwave to a space above the wall oven and get rid of the water dispenser. Now that we've got a filtered water dispenser in the refrigerator, that's an expense in space we no longer need.
Oh, yes. We've already gotten rid of the terrible track lighting you see here. The new fan and light unit on the counter has been installed over the dining room table on the other side of the wall on the right.
In an ideal scheme of things, we'd move the wall that's on the left about 10 feet out into my garden. The carpenter has suggested moving our refrigerator (that chrome thing on the left) to the place where the cabinet is on the back wall, next to the built-in oven. The entire wall of cabinets would have to be reconfigured, but that's o.k. There is a very narrow area between the sink and the refrigerator, so moving the refrigerator would be really nice.
Currently, a lot of interior space in the back upper cabinets is lost to a lint vent from my dryer and I just found a lint vent that goes out to the roof tucked up in a hall closet that used to hold our heater. (When we switched to central air, that all went up on the roof.)
You can see the microwave sitting on the dryer and the water dispenser. I'd like to move the microwave to a space above the wall oven and get rid of the water dispenser. Now that we've got a filtered water dispenser in the refrigerator, that's an expense in space we no longer need.
Oh, yes. We've already gotten rid of the terrible track lighting you see here. The new fan and light unit on the counter has been installed over the dining room table on the other side of the wall on the right.
This Old House, Part 7
Here's a better look at the useless corner of the kitchen. Underneath all of that clutter is a utility sink, a washer, a dryer, and a microwave oven. That bit of blank wall backs a closet which is accessed from the hallway to the bedrooms, across from the putative dining room which is my home office. If it was deep enough, we could consider putting the washer and dryer behind doors opening on that hallway. I'm not sure Len would go for that. It makes a great deal of sense, though.
On the upper left, you can see the containers we use for storing little used items. Better we should go through them and just get rid of stuff.
This Old House, Part 6
Here's a look at what's being done to the kitchen. This is the partially demolished and partially rebuilt cabinet which will hold the sink. You can see where the upper cabinets used to be. They will be replaced with higher cabinets (they go to the top of the white wall, so I should be able to get one more shelf in each unit--three on the sides and two in the middle. There is now a window to the living room in the center of the wall. I'm still unsure of what the final drawers in the bottom of the cabinet will look like. I was confused when I spoke to the carpenter today. What I do think it means is that I will have less space and I'm not happy abut that.The whole thing is almost 100 inches long. You'd think that would be plenty of space. Hah!
If you look at the left side, you'll see the clutter going to the utility sink. That's where we may put a stacking washer and dryer. Since the clutter's been put outside, it is so much nicer in that corner. Frankly, taking down all of the storage boxes makes everything feel a lot airier and bigger.
This Old House, Part 5 (I Think)
I had intended to show some pictures of the work in progress, but Blogger doesn't want to let me post pictures right now. I'll try again later.
We now have one upper cabinet and drawers at the bottom of the two base cabinets either side of the sink cabinet. I moved my pots and pans last night to get a sense of where the other drawers should go. I need to talk to Bill today about these things, but it is going to be so much easier to get to the heavy equipment than when I had to sit down on the floor and dig to the back of the cabinet under the old counter-top range. I also won't have to scrub the rust off my cast iron skillets which were damaged when the cleaning lady used too much cleaning fluid and it dropped onto the things below.
I'm trying to figure out what else will be moving where to make up for the fact that I no longer have room for the cd cabinet which held our liquid flavorings. I need to put rarely used items in less accessible places and oft-needed items close by.
Then I need to convince my husband that we only need a maximum of two of most kitchen tools and only one will do in many cases. If you can't find something, ask, don't buy another one. I think we have six or so sets of plastic dry measuring cups. Do you have any idea how much room that takes up? I'm going to do a big cull on Tupperware that's gotten yucky. That also takes up much too much space. I put many of our coffee mugs away last year and an amazing number have grown to replace them. It's hard to avoid the accumulation of coffee cups as keep-sakes and gifts. My current favorite happens to be one of the "Trail of the Painted Ponies" over-sized mugs, which I confess I bought for myself.
My own sin in all of this is that I've got a thing for dishes. Our everyday dishes are plain white Correlle, which I've owned for more than 30 years. Contrary to advertising, it isn't unbreakable. When it does break, it shatters terribly, just like glass. But it does put up with a tremendous amount of abuse. Len really likes the divided grill plates to keep the different parts of his meal from mixing together. I could easily give them up.
We have a pretty set of dishes which have a sun, moon, and stars motif. This grew from Len's collection of moons with faces or figures on them. This is an "informal" set of dishes, but we have 4-piece place settings for 16 in it, plus some serving pieces. It gets used most often during the Christmas holidays, but I'd like to start using the it for everyday, getting rid of the Correlle.
I have a huge set of Noritake china in the Adagio pattern. I have place settings for 24 people (in case, god forbid, I ever have that many people at the Thanksgiving table again), and cups, saucers, and dessert plates for 36. Early E-bay was very good to me, since the pattern was discontinued before Len and I got married. I scored a great find at a flea market where I paid $225 for 11 place settings (adding to my original 8) plus some serving pieces about 10 or 12 years ago. At the time, the same china would have cost me almost $1200 from Replacements, Ltd. The only pieces I'm missing that I really want are the tea and coffee pots, but they are so very expensive that I can't justify the purchase. It would be nice to have the salt and pepper shakers and the candle sticks, but I have a lot of cobalt glass items which look just smashing with the dishes so they aren't a necessity. I've never liked the matching etched glassware, so that's not an obsession. The Noritake is not kept in the kitchen, since I use it so rarely, so I don't have to find a place for it in the new configuration.
I have been collecting pieces of a Stangl pattern called "Country Garden." Stangl was made in New Jersey until mid-century and my mother used it for her every-day dishes. She had two patterns: Thistle and Fruit. My sister took up the Thistle and I had no interest in the stuff until I ran across "Country Garden" which uses different flowers for different pieces. It's pottery, with carved designs which were then hand painted, so every one is slightly different. It is much easier to find on the East coast than out here, but I've had a lot of luck and E-bay has made things easier (though shipping costs have soared from the early days.) I particularly like the snack or luncheon plates which have a spot to hold a cup (or soft-drink can.) It's a very cheerful pattern and I like to use it when I eat outdoors in my garden. When I had a garden. I'll have one again soon. Really.
I also have a collection of milk glass in a pattern called Orange Blossom. That started when I discovered them in a snack set that had a triangular plate. Snack sets were very popular in the fifties, as near as I can tell, and I just love them. I'd probably have a room filled with them if I could get away with it, but I can't. I'm certain the cups were originally intended to hold punch, but I use them for tea parties and dessert, where it is quite convenient to be able to hold your food and balance your cup in one hand and eat with the other. If it weren't for the stack of dishes that would result, I'd use them for most of our big parties because they'd be ideal for the finger-food I usually serve.
After Christmas, I picked up some pieces of a Lenox pattern with holly on it. (I am the queen of after-season, discontinued, and scratch and dent shopping.) I think I was first attracted by the cups and saucers which can also hold cookies or cake--kind of like a smaller version of my snack sets. We always do Christmas brunch at home with our friends Karen and Michael, and these dishes will be perfect for that.
Finally, I have some serving pieces of Aynsley china called "Cottage Garden." This is bone china, far more delicate than the Stangl. It has flowers and butterflies on it. It's very pretty and I couldn't resist it. I'd like to find a snack set in the pattern, but the closest I've come is an Asian knock-off which is similar. I've got four plates and cups in that. I have a fantasy of locating the pieces I need for a breakfast in bed set of this pattern just for me. Unfortunately, it's really hard to come by, even on E-bay. I did get a beautiful cake plate and a cheese & cracker server last winter when everyone must have been out celebrating rather than bidding.
So storing the china is a big issue. I'm thinking of getting rid of some of my less used things, like the Duncan "Caribbean" glassware I tried collecting for a while. The problem is, we live in southern California and glass breaks when the earth shakes. I just can't bring myself to use pieces that are worth as much as this glassware sells for. It stays wrapped up and out of sight. I've got two tiny liquor stems in Blue Caribbean. According to one of the collector books, they're worth about $250 each. I may just take the stuff to an E-bay seller and put the money to some other use.
Less stuff. That's the answer.
We now have one upper cabinet and drawers at the bottom of the two base cabinets either side of the sink cabinet. I moved my pots and pans last night to get a sense of where the other drawers should go. I need to talk to Bill today about these things, but it is going to be so much easier to get to the heavy equipment than when I had to sit down on the floor and dig to the back of the cabinet under the old counter-top range. I also won't have to scrub the rust off my cast iron skillets which were damaged when the cleaning lady used too much cleaning fluid and it dropped onto the things below.
I'm trying to figure out what else will be moving where to make up for the fact that I no longer have room for the cd cabinet which held our liquid flavorings. I need to put rarely used items in less accessible places and oft-needed items close by.
Then I need to convince my husband that we only need a maximum of two of most kitchen tools and only one will do in many cases. If you can't find something, ask, don't buy another one. I think we have six or so sets of plastic dry measuring cups. Do you have any idea how much room that takes up? I'm going to do a big cull on Tupperware that's gotten yucky. That also takes up much too much space. I put many of our coffee mugs away last year and an amazing number have grown to replace them. It's hard to avoid the accumulation of coffee cups as keep-sakes and gifts. My current favorite happens to be one of the "Trail of the Painted Ponies" over-sized mugs, which I confess I bought for myself.
My own sin in all of this is that I've got a thing for dishes. Our everyday dishes are plain white Correlle, which I've owned for more than 30 years. Contrary to advertising, it isn't unbreakable. When it does break, it shatters terribly, just like glass. But it does put up with a tremendous amount of abuse. Len really likes the divided grill plates to keep the different parts of his meal from mixing together. I could easily give them up.
We have a pretty set of dishes which have a sun, moon, and stars motif. This grew from Len's collection of moons with faces or figures on them. This is an "informal" set of dishes, but we have 4-piece place settings for 16 in it, plus some serving pieces. It gets used most often during the Christmas holidays, but I'd like to start using the it for everyday, getting rid of the Correlle.
I have a huge set of Noritake china in the Adagio pattern. I have place settings for 24 people (in case, god forbid, I ever have that many people at the Thanksgiving table again), and cups, saucers, and dessert plates for 36. Early E-bay was very good to me, since the pattern was discontinued before Len and I got married. I scored a great find at a flea market where I paid $225 for 11 place settings (adding to my original 8) plus some serving pieces about 10 or 12 years ago. At the time, the same china would have cost me almost $1200 from Replacements, Ltd. The only pieces I'm missing that I really want are the tea and coffee pots, but they are so very expensive that I can't justify the purchase. It would be nice to have the salt and pepper shakers and the candle sticks, but I have a lot of cobalt glass items which look just smashing with the dishes so they aren't a necessity. I've never liked the matching etched glassware, so that's not an obsession. The Noritake is not kept in the kitchen, since I use it so rarely, so I don't have to find a place for it in the new configuration.
I have been collecting pieces of a Stangl pattern called "Country Garden." Stangl was made in New Jersey until mid-century and my mother used it for her every-day dishes. She had two patterns: Thistle and Fruit. My sister took up the Thistle and I had no interest in the stuff until I ran across "Country Garden" which uses different flowers for different pieces. It's pottery, with carved designs which were then hand painted, so every one is slightly different. It is much easier to find on the East coast than out here, but I've had a lot of luck and E-bay has made things easier (though shipping costs have soared from the early days.) I particularly like the snack or luncheon plates which have a spot to hold a cup (or soft-drink can.) It's a very cheerful pattern and I like to use it when I eat outdoors in my garden. When I had a garden. I'll have one again soon. Really.
I also have a collection of milk glass in a pattern called Orange Blossom. That started when I discovered them in a snack set that had a triangular plate. Snack sets were very popular in the fifties, as near as I can tell, and I just love them. I'd probably have a room filled with them if I could get away with it, but I can't. I'm certain the cups were originally intended to hold punch, but I use them for tea parties and dessert, where it is quite convenient to be able to hold your food and balance your cup in one hand and eat with the other. If it weren't for the stack of dishes that would result, I'd use them for most of our big parties because they'd be ideal for the finger-food I usually serve.
After Christmas, I picked up some pieces of a Lenox pattern with holly on it. (I am the queen of after-season, discontinued, and scratch and dent shopping.) I think I was first attracted by the cups and saucers which can also hold cookies or cake--kind of like a smaller version of my snack sets. We always do Christmas brunch at home with our friends Karen and Michael, and these dishes will be perfect for that.
Finally, I have some serving pieces of Aynsley china called "Cottage Garden." This is bone china, far more delicate than the Stangl. It has flowers and butterflies on it. It's very pretty and I couldn't resist it. I'd like to find a snack set in the pattern, but the closest I've come is an Asian knock-off which is similar. I've got four plates and cups in that. I have a fantasy of locating the pieces I need for a breakfast in bed set of this pattern just for me. Unfortunately, it's really hard to come by, even on E-bay. I did get a beautiful cake plate and a cheese & cracker server last winter when everyone must have been out celebrating rather than bidding.
So storing the china is a big issue. I'm thinking of getting rid of some of my less used things, like the Duncan "Caribbean" glassware I tried collecting for a while. The problem is, we live in southern California and glass breaks when the earth shakes. I just can't bring myself to use pieces that are worth as much as this glassware sells for. It stays wrapped up and out of sight. I've got two tiny liquor stems in Blue Caribbean. According to one of the collector books, they're worth about $250 each. I may just take the stuff to an E-bay seller and put the money to some other use.
Less stuff. That's the answer.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Dinner Party as a Status Symbol?
I love to cook. I really do. I started collecting recipes when I was in high school--I still have the note books. I used to take great pleasure in having friends over to my house for a good meal and conversation which lasted for hours. This goes back to college, where I'd go off campus to borrow my aunt's place to cook. I impressed the hell out of my first boyfriend when I researched and gathered the recipes to do a complete Greek meal, starting with the lemon-egg soup and ending with home made baklava (a sure-fire winner at parties I held for years.) My roommates at the New York apartment I where lived after Hofstra and before Columbia decided that they would clean up after me so I would cook most meals. That was an excellent arrangement, since neither one of them could cook.
Some of my more memorable parties include the chocolate party I gave for painter Michael Whelan when he was in the D.C. area for a gallery opening, the one I gave photographer Corson Hirschfeld the night after he had an exhibit of his hand-colored "Places of Power" open at the National Museum of Natural History which was mostly mezze, the dim sum brunch I did for friends on a challenge, and the night out here in L.A. when screen-writers Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, and Paul Guay wanted to have dinner with Harlan Ellison and I cooked Italian (Marcella Hazen is my kitchen goddess.) That dinner for ten is the closest thing I've had to replicate what I used to do all the time in D.C., except for cooking Thanksgiving dinner, one of my least favorite things in the world.
I did try to do a big Christmas dinner one year. It was our first anniversary (yes, Len and I were married on Christmas) and we had to get Michael to the airport for a trip back east to his father's late that evening. I did invite friends and, although the food was very good, it was a rushed evening and I've vowed never to do it again.
Len's idea of entertaining is to throw hot dogs on the grill and watch TV. That's not entirely fair. He's in love with Rachael Ray, so dinner (at least in winter) will often be something from 30 Minute Meals, which always take at least 90 minutes to make. It's an improvement, but his reason for having friends over is to watch television. Therefore, dinner never takes place on the dining room table, even when friends are present. Except for Thanksgiving.
I hate Thanksgiving because it involves the least imaginative cooking and no one wants to mess with the traditional turkey, stuffing, two kinds of potatoes and all other manner of starchy foods like green bean casserole. Thanksgiving's only redeeming points are baking pies and the fact that people sit around a table and talk to each other for hours. And that the television is turned off once guests arrive. In all the years Len and I have been together, I've never had fewer than 12 people at the Thanksgiving dinner table and I have had as many as 23.
So, as I said above, I used to take great pleasure in having people over for dinner or to come to my place when I make a party. The point is, I enjoy cooking for my friends who appreciate what I've done. I don't waste my time cooking for people I don't like. Cooking has always been one of my hobbies. I have deflected any suggestions that I turn to catering as a profession because I've already turned one hobby (photography) into a business. I am considering opening a bed and breakfast artists' retreat someday, though.
Today's New York Times had a terrifying article entitled "Dinner at the Foodies': Purslane and Anxiety" by Katherine Wheelock. First off: what the hell is purslane and why do I need it? (It's an herb from India, said to be Gandhi's favorite, and is used in salads raw or as a cooked vegetable. It looks a little like one of the succulents I've got potted in the garden.) The gist of the article is that dinner parties are becoming a status symbol like a good car or a great lawn, which aren't things to be had in Manhattan. Some people in New York are going nuts giving dinner parties, jumping on the latest trends and traveling hours to get just the right ingredients, or trying to avoid looking like they are responding to a trend instead of being on the cutting edge of new trends. One woman, in the midst of a divorce, talked about throwing a first birthday party for her child and ordering pizza and then having her husband go out and buy $1000 worth of food to serve. There is apparently a one-upsmanship competition going on among foodies in New York. I knew there was a good reason I didn't want to live there any more.
Very few people I know are particularly competent or interested in the kitchen. What does the well-educated woman make for dinner? Reservations. I'm good at that, but I was raised in the time when girls took home ec, not shop. I was raised in a kitchen where one grandmother made pasta by hand (when I think of her I smell flour and eggs) and the other could make a translucent strudel pastry stretched across the dining room table (I have her mother's Hoosier kitchen cabinet with an enamel top in my kitchen for a prep area.) Dining out, except for Sunday breakfast after church, was a rare occasion, reserved for The Little Venice restaurant in Binghamton (some 60 miles away) although the women in my family were excellent Italian cooks. The nearest pizza place was Molinari's in Oneonta (30 miles away), so we made pizza at home. I learned by watching and reading. I firmly believe that anyone who likes food can learn to cook if they are curious, know how to read, have a decent set of taste buds, and a sense of adventure.
I probably have four or five women friends out here who are as good or better than I am in the kitchen: Laurie, Suzenna, Karen, Gillian, and Suzanne. I've recently made friends with someone who writes about food for a living, Tory (connect to her blog on the right.) Karen's taking up baking as her third career (she was a second-career trademark attorney) and she's turning out fabulous breads. Laurie and Suzenna are phenomenal cooks and make a party's food, no matter how complicated, look totally effortless. Either one of them could be a professional caterer. Laurie works as an editor for the same company that produces Gourmet and Bon Apettite. Suzenna has a cookbook and food magazine collection which puts my considerable library to shame. (I've often said that my goal is to have as many cookbooks as Phyllis Richman had in her office at the Washington Post.) We've met many interesting people at Suzenna's house on those Sunday evenings when she does her dinner parties. While I do find Laurie and Suzenna's skills admirable, I know that I would have nothing to be embarrassed about when they come to my house, if left to my own devices.
O.K., so I do like to show off in the kitchen but remember: I only cook for people I like. I'm hoping that the remodel will make working in the kitchen easier so I spend more time there. I'd like to have people over for dinner and conversation, without the television on. If I intimidate some of the people in our circle of acquaintances, that's not really the intention (unless its a new way of counting coup, in which case I'll make notches in my new counter.)
If you don't think you can compete with me in the kitchen, you can reciprocate for dinner by taking me out to a good restaurant. I'd be happy to suggest one.
Some of my more memorable parties include the chocolate party I gave for painter Michael Whelan when he was in the D.C. area for a gallery opening, the one I gave photographer Corson Hirschfeld the night after he had an exhibit of his hand-colored "Places of Power" open at the National Museum of Natural History which was mostly mezze, the dim sum brunch I did for friends on a challenge, and the night out here in L.A. when screen-writers Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, and Paul Guay wanted to have dinner with Harlan Ellison and I cooked Italian (Marcella Hazen is my kitchen goddess.) That dinner for ten is the closest thing I've had to replicate what I used to do all the time in D.C., except for cooking Thanksgiving dinner, one of my least favorite things in the world.
I did try to do a big Christmas dinner one year. It was our first anniversary (yes, Len and I were married on Christmas) and we had to get Michael to the airport for a trip back east to his father's late that evening. I did invite friends and, although the food was very good, it was a rushed evening and I've vowed never to do it again.
Len's idea of entertaining is to throw hot dogs on the grill and watch TV. That's not entirely fair. He's in love with Rachael Ray, so dinner (at least in winter) will often be something from 30 Minute Meals, which always take at least 90 minutes to make. It's an improvement, but his reason for having friends over is to watch television. Therefore, dinner never takes place on the dining room table, even when friends are present. Except for Thanksgiving.
I hate Thanksgiving because it involves the least imaginative cooking and no one wants to mess with the traditional turkey, stuffing, two kinds of potatoes and all other manner of starchy foods like green bean casserole. Thanksgiving's only redeeming points are baking pies and the fact that people sit around a table and talk to each other for hours. And that the television is turned off once guests arrive. In all the years Len and I have been together, I've never had fewer than 12 people at the Thanksgiving dinner table and I have had as many as 23.
So, as I said above, I used to take great pleasure in having people over for dinner or to come to my place when I make a party. The point is, I enjoy cooking for my friends who appreciate what I've done. I don't waste my time cooking for people I don't like. Cooking has always been one of my hobbies. I have deflected any suggestions that I turn to catering as a profession because I've already turned one hobby (photography) into a business. I am considering opening a bed and breakfast artists' retreat someday, though.
Today's New York Times had a terrifying article entitled "Dinner at the Foodies': Purslane and Anxiety" by Katherine Wheelock. First off: what the hell is purslane and why do I need it? (It's an herb from India, said to be Gandhi's favorite, and is used in salads raw or as a cooked vegetable. It looks a little like one of the succulents I've got potted in the garden.) The gist of the article is that dinner parties are becoming a status symbol like a good car or a great lawn, which aren't things to be had in Manhattan. Some people in New York are going nuts giving dinner parties, jumping on the latest trends and traveling hours to get just the right ingredients, or trying to avoid looking like they are responding to a trend instead of being on the cutting edge of new trends. One woman, in the midst of a divorce, talked about throwing a first birthday party for her child and ordering pizza and then having her husband go out and buy $1000 worth of food to serve. There is apparently a one-upsmanship competition going on among foodies in New York. I knew there was a good reason I didn't want to live there any more.
Very few people I know are particularly competent or interested in the kitchen. What does the well-educated woman make for dinner? Reservations. I'm good at that, but I was raised in the time when girls took home ec, not shop. I was raised in a kitchen where one grandmother made pasta by hand (when I think of her I smell flour and eggs) and the other could make a translucent strudel pastry stretched across the dining room table (I have her mother's Hoosier kitchen cabinet with an enamel top in my kitchen for a prep area.) Dining out, except for Sunday breakfast after church, was a rare occasion, reserved for The Little Venice restaurant in Binghamton (some 60 miles away) although the women in my family were excellent Italian cooks. The nearest pizza place was Molinari's in Oneonta (30 miles away), so we made pizza at home. I learned by watching and reading. I firmly believe that anyone who likes food can learn to cook if they are curious, know how to read, have a decent set of taste buds, and a sense of adventure.
I probably have four or five women friends out here who are as good or better than I am in the kitchen: Laurie, Suzenna, Karen, Gillian, and Suzanne. I've recently made friends with someone who writes about food for a living, Tory (connect to her blog on the right.) Karen's taking up baking as her third career (she was a second-career trademark attorney) and she's turning out fabulous breads. Laurie and Suzenna are phenomenal cooks and make a party's food, no matter how complicated, look totally effortless. Either one of them could be a professional caterer. Laurie works as an editor for the same company that produces Gourmet and Bon Apettite. Suzenna has a cookbook and food magazine collection which puts my considerable library to shame. (I've often said that my goal is to have as many cookbooks as Phyllis Richman had in her office at the Washington Post.) We've met many interesting people at Suzenna's house on those Sunday evenings when she does her dinner parties. While I do find Laurie and Suzenna's skills admirable, I know that I would have nothing to be embarrassed about when they come to my house, if left to my own devices.
O.K., so I do like to show off in the kitchen but remember: I only cook for people I like. I'm hoping that the remodel will make working in the kitchen easier so I spend more time there. I'd like to have people over for dinner and conversation, without the television on. If I intimidate some of the people in our circle of acquaintances, that's not really the intention (unless its a new way of counting coup, in which case I'll make notches in my new counter.)
If you don't think you can compete with me in the kitchen, you can reciprocate for dinner by taking me out to a good restaurant. I'd be happy to suggest one.
Monday, June 4, 2007
This Old House, Part 5
Our carpenter finally returned to work on Saturday. His idea of "first thing in the morning" is a lot later than mine. Ditto on Sunday, when I drove to Malibu for a swap meet of horse tack and such, and got back two hours later (at almost noon) after which he showed up. He's a very nice man, but clearly, time challenged.
I now have my window between the kitchen and the living room. I took advantage of it last night to work on part of our meal while everyone else was watching television--and I could watch while I worked. Hooray. Everyone who came by last night loves the way it looks. I think that's stressing Len even more. I wanted the window to be a few inches bigger by making the bottom lower. Len didn't want the top of the faucet to be visible from the other side. I could have gotten at least another inch or two, because the frame closes the space, but I'll live.
Problems right now include the fact that there is no water pressure for the cold water and the spray nozzle must have an air bubble or something because it isn't working with the cold water although it will with the hot.
The carpenter has suggested we could gain a lot more space by purchasing a stacking washer and dryer and tucking them into the spot where we now have a utility sink, which I've never found particularly useful. Our current units are almost 15 years old (when Len and I were first married, we took the laundry out to be done every week and then he reluctantly moved on to the pay laundry when we were up to about $60/week for the wash), so replacing them wouldn't be out of line. I went to look at stacking units and it will set us back something along the same order as our refrigerator did. We can probably afford it.
If we do that, the next thing will be moving the refrigerator and redoing the wall that's on the north end of the kitchen with cabinets and possibly counter space. It would be nice to have enough storage and work-space in that room. The new lighting has been enough to make me quite cheerful even if the rest of the place isn't done yet.
I now have my window between the kitchen and the living room. I took advantage of it last night to work on part of our meal while everyone else was watching television--and I could watch while I worked. Hooray. Everyone who came by last night loves the way it looks. I think that's stressing Len even more. I wanted the window to be a few inches bigger by making the bottom lower. Len didn't want the top of the faucet to be visible from the other side. I could have gotten at least another inch or two, because the frame closes the space, but I'll live.
Problems right now include the fact that there is no water pressure for the cold water and the spray nozzle must have an air bubble or something because it isn't working with the cold water although it will with the hot.
The carpenter has suggested we could gain a lot more space by purchasing a stacking washer and dryer and tucking them into the spot where we now have a utility sink, which I've never found particularly useful. Our current units are almost 15 years old (when Len and I were first married, we took the laundry out to be done every week and then he reluctantly moved on to the pay laundry when we were up to about $60/week for the wash), so replacing them wouldn't be out of line. I went to look at stacking units and it will set us back something along the same order as our refrigerator did. We can probably afford it.
If we do that, the next thing will be moving the refrigerator and redoing the wall that's on the north end of the kitchen with cabinets and possibly counter space. It would be nice to have enough storage and work-space in that room. The new lighting has been enough to make me quite cheerful even if the rest of the place isn't done yet.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
This Old House, Part 4
O.K., so now it is Tuesday and no work has been done on the kitchen since Saturday. After a brief panic, the fluorescent lights went in and my husband says we are the only house in Woodland Hills which can be seen from space. Visit his blog and see what else he's saying.
Rumor has it they've moved the pipes in the way of my window, so I will get the window into the living room. I'll believe it when I see it.
Meanwhile, I can use the sink, which is only temporarily hooked up. The counter was cut wrong and is 3/4" too short. Bill is having it recut. The sink and fixtures look great and I love having a spray hose. Someday I'll get to use it.
Rumor has it they've moved the pipes in the way of my window, so I will get the window into the living room. I'll believe it when I see it.
Meanwhile, I can use the sink, which is only temporarily hooked up. The counter was cut wrong and is 3/4" too short. Bill is having it recut. The sink and fixtures look great and I love having a spray hose. Someday I'll get to use it.
Friday, May 18, 2007
This Old House, Part 2
After reading my brilliant blog, I guess, the spousal unit relented and is willing to permit Bill to open a window over the sink into the living room. Hooray!
I can't believe how much bigger the kitchen looked with the cabinets out. It still looks pretty good with no top cabinets installed yet. My friend Karen and I discussed this and she said that she realized even tiny British kitchens looked large because they did not have upper cabinets. I need the storage space, so that is definitely NOT an option.
We went to the Lamps 'R' Us last night and almost immediately agreed on the new fan for the living room which has lights (the current one does not.) It will go over the area where we have our dining table. Then we spent a hour trying to figure out a solution to the problem with lighting the kitchen.
We didn't have enough head room for hanging lights that would offer diffusion (the high point of the exposed rafters is in the living room and reaches to a 12' or so point.) The track lighting just doesn't light evenly enough and is pretty warm once you get enough units in to light the room. Eventually, we gave up and went on to Lowe's to see what they had to offer.
I decided to look in the kitchen area of the store when inspiration hit near the counter samples: large fluorescent units which can fit between the rafters. So we'll put 2 2' x 4' daylight balanced units in and that gives me skylight without skylights. Len immediately agreed that was genius and when we got home, we chose the two spots for installation. They should also be a lot easier to keep clean than the track lighting has been.
The elves will be very busy today. Bill says he has to get the job finished so he can go on to other work.
I can't believe how much bigger the kitchen looked with the cabinets out. It still looks pretty good with no top cabinets installed yet. My friend Karen and I discussed this and she said that she realized even tiny British kitchens looked large because they did not have upper cabinets. I need the storage space, so that is definitely NOT an option.
We went to the Lamps 'R' Us last night and almost immediately agreed on the new fan for the living room which has lights (the current one does not.) It will go over the area where we have our dining table. Then we spent a hour trying to figure out a solution to the problem with lighting the kitchen.
We didn't have enough head room for hanging lights that would offer diffusion (the high point of the exposed rafters is in the living room and reaches to a 12' or so point.) The track lighting just doesn't light evenly enough and is pretty warm once you get enough units in to light the room. Eventually, we gave up and went on to Lowe's to see what they had to offer.
I decided to look in the kitchen area of the store when inspiration hit near the counter samples: large fluorescent units which can fit between the rafters. So we'll put 2 2' x 4' daylight balanced units in and that gives me skylight without skylights. Len immediately agreed that was genius and when we got home, we chose the two spots for installation. They should also be a lot easier to keep clean than the track lighting has been.
The elves will be very busy today. Bill says he has to get the job finished so he can go on to other work.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
This Old House
My kitchen is the the back yard. And the side yard. And the garage. And the living room. And my office.
After a six-month wait, the handyman finally arrived with my new kitchen cabinets and:
1. I can't have the low to the floor toe-kick drawers because the support wall won't support the unit and now he's got to drill through the cabinets into the slab--no room for low to floor kick drawers.
2. I won't have two pull-out cutting boards because he missed that in the discussions. THAT I know we talked about--even Len remembered it. We will have one large one now, and possibly a smaller one right next to the range in the top of the smaller cabinet that will hold drawers there.
3. Len won't let me have a window over the sink into the living room. I gave up on my hopes to have it open under the upper cabinets into the living room and have a dining counter on the living room side where our ugly, big-but-not-big-enough dining room table sits (which we almost never use because Len's never met a surface he doesn't insist on covering with stuff.) But I did hope he would see reason and logic and let me open up the window over the sink. I HATE standing at the sink looking at a wall. It is so friggin' claustrophobic. I love having a sink that has a window looking outside, but we can't reconfigure the kitchen to do that, at least not without tens of thousands of dollars in plumbing work and a long construction period. Besides, Len would never stand for it. So, I will continue to stare at a wall. In my house in Virginia, I looked out into the front yard and the street. Where I grew up, we looked into the back yard, as did my grandmother's kitchen. This would be so much more cheerful. I guess he doesn't mind because boys look at the wall when they use a urinal. They like the comfort of boundaries. Very limiting. He won't even let us put it in with shutters, so he can close the window if it makes him feel more comfortable. You'd think he'd like to be able to watch TV while he does the dishes (the window would give a clear view through to the televisions, but no. Since Bill has to take down the sheet rock to make way for additional support and to enclose wires, this modification is a no-brainer and would definitely increase the value of the house. No woman would have bought the house we live in because of the way the kitchen is laid out.
The other problem with our kitchen is that it is very dark. It is lit by two track-lights, a small florescent over the sink, and an inefficient sconce in the corner by the old oven (it still works, and isn't that old, but I got my new range with a HUGE oven for Thanksgiving), but if you open one of the upper cabinets there, it blocks the light! So I will get to look at new kitchen lighting and a light for over the dining room area tonight after work. Bill wants to add skylights, but that doesn't add light at night, when I am most likely to be in the kitchen. I'd like a skylight over my bed, but I don't need one in the kitchen. I've heard they are prone to leak, anyway.
With the new cabinets, I'll be able to get my Kitchen-Aid mixer on the counter-top (the old upper cabinets were a tad too low for it to fit.) And I should have enough room for my glassware. If only we could get rid of more coffee cups.
After a six-month wait, the handyman finally arrived with my new kitchen cabinets and:
1. I can't have the low to the floor toe-kick drawers because the support wall won't support the unit and now he's got to drill through the cabinets into the slab--no room for low to floor kick drawers.
2. I won't have two pull-out cutting boards because he missed that in the discussions. THAT I know we talked about--even Len remembered it. We will have one large one now, and possibly a smaller one right next to the range in the top of the smaller cabinet that will hold drawers there.
3. Len won't let me have a window over the sink into the living room. I gave up on my hopes to have it open under the upper cabinets into the living room and have a dining counter on the living room side where our ugly, big-but-not-big-enough dining room table sits (which we almost never use because Len's never met a surface he doesn't insist on covering with stuff.) But I did hope he would see reason and logic and let me open up the window over the sink. I HATE standing at the sink looking at a wall. It is so friggin' claustrophobic. I love having a sink that has a window looking outside, but we can't reconfigure the kitchen to do that, at least not without tens of thousands of dollars in plumbing work and a long construction period. Besides, Len would never stand for it. So, I will continue to stare at a wall. In my house in Virginia, I looked out into the front yard and the street. Where I grew up, we looked into the back yard, as did my grandmother's kitchen. This would be so much more cheerful. I guess he doesn't mind because boys look at the wall when they use a urinal. They like the comfort of boundaries. Very limiting. He won't even let us put it in with shutters, so he can close the window if it makes him feel more comfortable. You'd think he'd like to be able to watch TV while he does the dishes (the window would give a clear view through to the televisions, but no. Since Bill has to take down the sheet rock to make way for additional support and to enclose wires, this modification is a no-brainer and would definitely increase the value of the house. No woman would have bought the house we live in because of the way the kitchen is laid out.
The other problem with our kitchen is that it is very dark. It is lit by two track-lights, a small florescent over the sink, and an inefficient sconce in the corner by the old oven (it still works, and isn't that old, but I got my new range with a HUGE oven for Thanksgiving), but if you open one of the upper cabinets there, it blocks the light! So I will get to look at new kitchen lighting and a light for over the dining room area tonight after work. Bill wants to add skylights, but that doesn't add light at night, when I am most likely to be in the kitchen. I'd like a skylight over my bed, but I don't need one in the kitchen. I've heard they are prone to leak, anyway.
With the new cabinets, I'll be able to get my Kitchen-Aid mixer on the counter-top (the old upper cabinets were a tad too low for it to fit.) And I should have enough room for my glassware. If only we could get rid of more coffee cups.
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