A Hard Weekend's Work

Installing the three wall cabinets and the microwave on the stove side of the kitchen was this weekend's business. We succeeded, but we are tired. I drank a bit of tequila at the conclusion of it; I believe this was the hardest weekend yet. The satisfaction is profound: we have closed the cabinet chapter on this remodel project, and we ended up with a nice, neat row of cabinets and a functioning microwave oven. The ductwork was a bit of a pain in the ass (plenty of time up in the attic, of course). I had to wire an outlet for the microwave, too.

We haven't had a microwave for three years. I've only occasionally missed it, but I suppose it will be cool to have one. Lindz defrosted some frozen sausages for this evening's dinner, and to my astonisment, it thawed them. Every other microwave I've ever used in my life cooks the hell out of the edges and leaves the middle resolutely frozen. I suppose years of convenience privation will lower one's expectations. It's close to being the cheapest model in the Kenmore line, but it does more than we are likely to ask of it. We were silly enough to go to the mall on a December Saturday looking for an appliance, but that actually went pretty well (I unexpectedly was given a model that cost $50 more for the same price because they didn't have the one I wanted). We're rather pleased with ourselves to have gotten that 54-pound bastard into position ourselves. My main complaint is the feeble light it sheds on the cooktop. The old hood had a brighter light. It also had a weaker fan, a dated bisque color, and 25 years worth of greasy dust inside of it. When we get the counter, sink and faucet replaced, there will be nothing left of the original kitchen but the floor.

Raleigh Stollen 2007

This year's version is without icing or powdered sugar, and it does not contain candied fruits, only dried fruits: pineapple, apricots and blueberries. The spices are nutmeg and cinnamon, and the nuts are toasted pecans.

I baked a large loaf for a potluck at work and a smaller one for us at home. Historically, the dough is folded in such a way as to symbolize the infant Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes. I went one step further and made a loaf as big as a healthy newborn. Born late. To a mother who took too many prenatal vitamins. And human growth hormone.

Anyway, people liked it, and none of the monster loaf made it home with me at the end of the day.

Dedication

All right, y'all! This long-distance dedication is going out to Zeuthen! The Blauhaus wine cellar has German wine that isn't riesling! Come on, let's make some noise!

Afternoon Snack

A pan-seared flatiron steak with salt & pepper, a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of black truffle oil.
We chased it with a bit of the Death by Christmas Brownies that arrived the previous day (shudders with pleasure).

Scallops for Christmas Eve (updated)

Addendum: I didn't elaborate on the meal when I posted this picture. The repast consisted of these scallops (I put them on a mesh rack in a sheet pan and cooked them in a 400 degree oven until they felt done; they came out pretty well) with a wee drizzle of lemon butter, roasted asparagus with pecans and balsamic/maple glaze, parmiggiano risotto, a very tasty, snappy Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand and a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Brut Champagne that Bryan brought (That was superlative stuff: granny smith apple, croissants, a hint of caramel, and fine bubbles. It's what Champagne drinking should be). Dessert consisted of Christmas cookies and an apple tart.

Triptych: Christmas Day

Rib Roast
Salad
Cat

Another Triptych: Enjoying the new camera

Roast beef carnage:
After Christmas dinner:
The cooking wife (I cranked it up to ISO 1250 and turned off the overhead light. 1/100 sec exposure):
The camera is the Panasonic Lumix FZ8. It does a lot. We had been wanting an SLR, but Lindz had her eye on this one. It was quite a bit cheaper, and we really like it.

Sunday Afternoon Coffee Table

(Listening to "Blues Dues" by Joe Pass, preceded by "Half the Perfect World" by Madeleine Peyroux and "In Rainbows" by Radiohead)
Lindz and I are loafing around. We ordered the countertops today, so the kitchen will move forward after a holiday hiatus.
I'm going to make spaghetti alla carbonara this evening. I got some good quality eggs at Trader Joes today specifically for that purpose. I wish I could get this relaxed and smug by Saturday afternoon, but it's been taking me longer to relax lately. Oh, well. As you can see, I have no real basis for complaint. Life is better than I deserve.

The Jaws of Carbonara

Only smoky bacon and luxurious eggs will slake this monster's thirst for vengeance!

Rather a lot of packaging for just a desk calendar, hm?

Thanks for destroying the whole ecosystem, Barnes & Noble. I suppose the air in those packing bubbles was sucked out of the lungs of eagles, leopards and baby otters, too! I'm filled with self-important, artifically righteous rage!
Seriously, though, it does seem quite a bit more than necessary.

Eggs Blauhaus

Serves 2 sumptuously.
Ingredients:
4 or 5 strips of good bacon (smoked, uncured bacon from Trader Joe's is what I used)
4 good, cage-free eggs, preferably organic (especially if you like runny yolks)
4 slices of crusty bread, or perhaps crumpets or English muffins
4 slices of brie (amount depending how naughty you are)
A big handful of grape tomatoes, halved
A shot of vodka (white wine or vermouth would probably work fine)

Hardware:
A knife
Two teacups
Two plates
A big saute pan (or any wide pot/pan for poaching the eggs)
A skillet (cast iron is good)
A means of toasting bread (I did it under the broiler)
A spatula
A perforated spoon or skimmer

Cut the bacon into 1-inch pieces and put them in a pan (I used my deep cast iron skillet). Turn on the heat and cook it until it starts to get some brown color. Add the tomatoes, a generous dose of black pepper and a few shakes of salt. When they start to soften a bit, add the alcohol. Let them cook, stirring occasionally.
Fill a big saute pan most of the way with water. Bring it to a simmer. You can add a bit of vinegar, but it doesn't make a huge difference.
How are the tomatoes doing? You want to gently cook them for a while to concentrate the flavors. It's not critical how long, but the more moisture you cook off, the better the flavor.
Toast the bread with some olive oil. Arrange it on two plates, and put a slice of brie on each piece of bread.
Into each of two teacups, crack two eggs. Simultaneously and gently slip the eggs into the simmering water (each cupful on opposite sides of the pan, so you don't get one big mass of poached egg). Let them cook until the yolk is done to your liking (I am necessarily ambiguous here; it seems to go differently every time I poach eggs).
Cover the brie and toast with bacon/tomato mixture (I put the egg on first this time, but Lindz and I agree that it would work better to put the egg on second). Top with the egg. Eat.
Although I didn't have any at the time (I made this whole breakfast up on the spot), I imagine that topping the whole thing with a confetti of basil chiffonade would be the cat's ass.

This dish is all about the flavor of the bacon and tomato, supported by the luxurious, yielding beauty of the poached egg and the brie. Cheap bacon would have diminished it, and I'm not so sure it would be as good if I had used canned tomatoes.

I liked it. It's not exactly fat free, but I get sick of EggBeaters and whole wheat tortillas now and then.

The Pantry

We worked our asses off this weekend. It's not completely done yet (the doors still need to be painted and attached), but we went from here:

to here:
It involved moving the entire contents of the pantry, painting the pantry, painting the old kitchen wall cabinets, installing them, building some shelves to fit the corner (out of the old shelves) and moving everything back in. We'll have to live with it for a while and fine tune the placement of everything, but I think we gained significant storage space.

It looks great in there. It's the same color green as the kitchen (amazingly difficult to photograph; it looks completely different in different lights). As an amusing side note, we found a date stamped on the back of one of the cabinets: January 13th, 1981. We installed these cabinets in their new location 27 years to the day after they were built.

The Unbearable Blizzard of '08

Hoo-whee! I do declare, Mother Nature is one ruthless lady. We're purt-near buried under snow, and it's colder'n eighteen witches' teats.
It's cold enough to freeze water solid!
Yep, this here storm's a real sonofabitch. Came up on us like celery stalks at midnight. Fortunately, I had time to go to Caspian Interational Food Mart on Brentwood Road, and I got some good, God-fearin' processed meats to see us through this ordeal.
They had plenty of news people standing out in the rain and snow on television, 'cause that makes it more serious-like. As you can see from the pictures above and below, there's enough snow to justify the 383 closings and delays reported on WRAL.com.

They're worried about black ice. Black ice?! Who ever hearda such poppycock. Nice, shiny, regular ice is the ice for me. If I'm gonna go tumblin' into the ditch, ain't no make-believe black ice gonna do it, it's good old regular ice.

Tired of not having enough space to bathe a baby hippo?

Then try BIG ASS SINK!

The Great Faucet of Doriath

And in those days, King Thingol dwelt in his mansions of Menegroth in the kingdom of Doriath, which is called North Raleigh in the tongues of Men. His queen, Melian, had great foresight after the manner of the Maiar, and it was her wish that the kitchen should be remodeled. Cabinets were hewn of hardwoods, and adorned were they with finest hardware. The origin of the counter tops is lost in the mists of antiquity; some say the solid surface was wrought by Fëanor himself, and the Elves call it Corian.
During this great labour King Thingol took thought, and it was his desire that his faucet would be the greatest in all of Beleriand. He spoke with the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm and bade them fashion for him a mightier faucet than had ever risen from their smithies before.
The brown-clad courier arrived with the Faucet, and Thingol was well pleased with the handiwork of the Dwarves. It was wrought of mithril, and more than one score inches did it tower above the Corian.
So was the kitchen in Menegroth enriched. The Orcs feared and cursed the Faucet, and never did they approach it. With the modifications to the P-Traps and successful reinstallation of the garbage disposal did Thingol's glory wax to the fullest, and there was gladness and wine in those times.

Yet, the tiling remained...

Tiling the backsplash has commenced

Tiling the backspash is more further accomplished than yesterday it was.

We put tiles good. Much straightness.

I believe the correct spelling is 'beeves.'

The Reveal

We completed tiling and grouting today. Aside from the toe kick, a bit more grout sealing and a bit of moulding, this kitchen remodel is full-wrought.
In an effort to diminish the green pallor cast by the fluorescent lights, I used an incandescent work lamp (you can see its reflection on the fridge).
Big Red looks rather handsome with a backdrop of subway tiles, wouldn't you say?
And my favorite part: the capacious single bowl sink and the Great Faucet.
We moved into this house in the summer of 2004. Of the items in the kitchen at that time, only the floor and the window remain unchanged. Old carpeting in the hallway will next undergo our wrath.

The Visit

My sister and her hubby came down from Meechigan for a long weekend of above-freezing temperatures, fellowship, food and drink. Here are a few selected images, in no particular order.

I made this pizza (half is marinated mushrooms and artichokes, half is caramelized onions and bacon, with a blend of Italian cheeses over all:
Tim brought me weisswurst from Willi's in Frankenmuth. It was part of breakfast one day:
Here is evidence of the newly remodeled kitchen being used for a food porn photo shoot:
Big Boss Coffee Stout, as enjoyed at the Raleigh Times Bar:

Caramelizing onions for the pizza:
Blurry people:

We Went to the Farmers' Market

Lettuce:
The hands of a beet murderer:

Roasted beets with olive oil, salt and pepper:
Local NC beef (chuck steak) with a bit of kosher salt:
Lindz took all these pictures except for the meat. We also got good tomatoes, radishes, squash, sweet potatoes and many fell meats. I look forward to the beef ribeyes and the smoked pork chops in particular. They have goat available for special order, too.

A Little Dose of Ollie

In case anyone in Germany wants some.

That's NPR in the background talking about WWII Bulgarian tanks being found and put up for sale.

Oliver is quite mushy, and he was a shameless mooch last night when I made chicken for dinner.

IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND DECENT, GIVE ME SOME SODDING CHICKEN

Yes, we did eventually give him some chicken (we're not made of stone, you know). He wolfed it down and then resumed his plaintive staring at us. Too bad the purring didn't come through; he was rumbling prodigiously. Sehr nette, as we say in German.

Triptych: Beer, Lamb, Corks

Bell's Doppelbock (Lindz and I went for a walk, and we went into the Taproom at my urging):
Local NC lamb shoulder chops braised with lemons, olives, tomatoes and rosemary, perched on top of some grits:
A bowl of corks:
It has been a good weekend. Lindz took the first two of these photos. She also whipped up a tasty dessert to follow the lamb: Vanilla ice cream with toasted pecans, dates and honey. Ausgezeichnet.

Good Locovorous Weekend

I did a big shopping run at the farmers' market on Saturday. I decided to turn some of the local eggs into pasta:
The rolling of the sheets:
The cutting of the tagliatelle (they're actually more easily handled when I cut them by hand):

And the kitty cat keeps everything under surveillance:

The tagliatelle was adorned with a sausage ragu (the sausage also came from the farmers' market) and roasted asparagus and walnuts. Walnuts are good on pasta! Why didn't I stumble on that before? We didn't starve.