Kitchen Changes In Progress, Or: How To Tell If Your Marriage Is On Solid Ground

Whether you've been married for 6 months or 60 years,
there is one surefire way to test the strength of your marital bond:

Wallpapering.

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 As we are nearing the end (fingers crossed!) of our year-long Kitchen Makeover,

trying to turn our kitchen into something that will look as if it belongs in That Old House

(the inspiration photo was in yesterday's post),

we are tackling the ultimate challenge: The kitchen walls and cupboards.

This involves many buckets of paint, and also wallpaper. 

 

(Cue scary music.)

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Last week we finished the conservatory project.

Below, the freshly painted sunroom.  Just beyond . . . the kitchen.

That's the stair wall at the end of the room, where the back stairs come down to the kitchen.

Everything is still in its last-homeowner gold.

With swatches of paint and wallpaper adorning the walls.

"Wallpaper?"  asked my husband.  "Really?"

"Yes, please," said his wife.

"Well, okay," said my husband, which is why we've been happily married for 32 years.

At least, I've been happy.

A little bit of selective amnesia helps greatly in the decision to wallpaper a room.

The last painful episodes of Man Vs. Paper fade from your memory.

You go into the project mercifully stupid and optimistic.

How bad can it be, after all?

Witness this man's happy face:

 And body language.

But then you step back, after spending 'way more hours at this than you'd planned, and admire your handiwork.

The words you used that you didn't even realize you knew now fade from your memory,

and you are filled with a warm rush of pride and happiness, all bathed in the glow of relief.

It's over.  Finis.

Until the wife says, "Turns out I ordered more paper than we needed.  How about we do the butler's pantry?"

(Cue scary music.  Again.)

Stay tuned.

If you are wondering why I didn't paint before putting up the paper, which would be logical,

it's because I can do the painting on my own.  If you've ever tried to wallpaper all by your lonesome, you know that

-- even with all the extra time spent hollering at one another -- it still is easier with four hands than two.

I only had Howard's help for what turned out to be part of Sunday, so I took advantage of it.

I'll spend this week doing the painting.

Today I am priming.  Woodwork, wainscot, bottom of the back stairs.

We had to empty and move the big old walnut cupboard and the jam cupboard

into the middle of the room to do this project; where did all the dishes go?

A whole lot of them went into the study:

I hope that plastic folding table stands up to the load!

The sun just came out.  Dion and I are going for a little walk before

I start inhaling primer, and he starts finding wet paint to lie down next to.  A hobby of his.

Happy Monday!  -- Cass

Visit Susan at Between Naps On The Porch for Metamorphosis Monday.  Click here!

Visit Cielo at The House In The Roses for Show Off Your Cottage Monday.  Click here!

 

The Kitchen That Was . . . And What It Will Be

On our weekend of rest, Howard and I are working once again on our slow-moving kitchen makeover.  It began last November . . . and you can share a bit of it with us, in this post from November 5, 2009.

It was Step One of our Kitchen Makeover . . . so step into the Way Back Machine

(please keep your arms inside until the ride comes to a full and complete stop):

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Posted Originally on November 5, 2009

A glimpse of the kitchen that was . . . .

Today  I dutifully cleared off all the clutter from the "L" shaped kitchen counter.

(That brightness to the right is our sunroom.)

I put all the counter clutter here for the time being:

Why am I sharing this mess with you?   Yikes, it looks awful.
Have I no shame?  Nope, guess not.

But the mess was worth it.  Template man came and did this:

I never realized they actually made a wooden template, stapled together like a big frame.

Isn't this cool?  It is like a giant puzzle.  I took these pictures from the sunroom.

Ah, goodbye, smooth top cooking surface!  It's not your fault I hated you,

and I hope we can find you a good new home.

We should hear in just a few days when our new soapstone counter will be delivered and installed.  This is Step One in our kitchen re-do -- new countertop with a new sink and faucet, and a gas cooktop.   It's a beginning, but a really good beginning!

It just started raining.  I knew I should have taken this guy for a walk 10 minutes ago. . . .

Dion and I wish you a lovely Thursday -- what is left of it!  We are about to get wet. -- Cass

P.S.  Funny note:  Template guy pointed out to me that some of my cabinets are not entirely level, and they will have to shim the counter.  Not level? Cabinets in an 1880s kitchen not level?    I told him I'd have been way more shocked if he'd told me they were level.  :-)

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Back to the Future, and October 2010 . . . .

We're making progress.

This weekend, our time was spent getting up close and personal with this:

Wallpaper that isn't, as my niece Emily says, "Evil."

Emily has lots of experience with Evil Wallpaper.

This is my inspiration photo for our kitchen.

I'm up to my elbows in Biscuit color paint, Howard's on a ladder wrestling with wallpaer,

and come Heck or High Water we're knocking off at 6:00 to have dinner with my Dad.

I better get a move on, eh?

See you Monday!  -- Cass

You can see more re-run posts at Chari's Happy To Design Blog, on Sunday Favorites. 

Go visit here!

The Cauliflower That Ate New Jersey

James Beard, the great chef and cookbook author, said that the very best cauliflower was grown in the sandy soil of eastern Long Island.  I always agreed with Mr. Beard on this, and made many a pilgrimage to the east end farm stands in the Fall to gather up the delicious, plentiful, and cheap cauliflower heads.

Showing and Telling and Foodie-ing, on this Friday.  Links at the end of the post.

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Reluctantly, I may have to bump Long Island off its Cauliflower Throne.

Guess what I got at a New Jersey family farm stand?

I bet you guessed.  

But this ain't no dainty supermarket veggie.

No sirree.

This is the biggest cauliflower I have ever seen in person.

I took a picture of my sister holding it up next to her head, for size ratio, but for some reason the shot didn't turn out.

Dang.

She also bought one.

They were $2.00 each.

Two bucks!

That's a boutique tissue box in the lower left, for size comparison.

Not as much fun as my sister's head, but beggars can't be choosers.

We watched the farmer bring this vegetable and several of its brethren right in from the field.
It was so freshly cut, the stem was still wet.

Don't you think this magnificent product of God's good earth

is just as beautiful as this other pale and interesting beauty:

No?  Really?  

What if Ms. Cauliflower is all decked out in her Sunday best?

So what am I going to do with this enormous vegetable?
Sadly, it will not last indefinitely as sculpture, so I'm going to cook it.
By halves.
Half into soup.
And the other half into roasted florets.

Roasted cauliflower makes believers out of the most stubborn veggie-phobes.

Recipes below.

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Random Friday nonsense:  our garden bunny, in the good old days,

roaming free amongst the weeds and frolicking, tra-la-la.

Oh dear.

It seems Mr. Bunny has done something naughty

and now he's serving a bit of time behind bars.

Whatever could he have done?

Confession:  Mr. Bunny is actually a law abiding citizen of the border, but the gentlemen who came last week to give the yard its Brazilian wax, yanking out weeds and trimming hedges, put Mr. B. in this basket, and Mr. Goose in another basket.

We have no idea why.

But it makes me laugh.

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Roasted Cauliflower Florets

I know there are people who think Cauliflower is only edible if it is put into the Witness Protection Program and completely disguised.  As in, hiding under a blanket of cheese sauce.

 Give them a serving of this.

Cauliflower, cut into individual florets -- I like to leave a bit of stem, it's delicious.

Olive or vegetable or sesame oil.  Amount depends on amount of veggie.

Salt and Pepper.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Toss the florets in a couple of TBS of oil, to lightly coat, then spread out on a rimmed cookie sheet.  One of those stone sheets works fabulously.

Into the oven ... and you can shove them around a few times while they roast, if you want; I don't but I'm doing them on stone so maybe that makes a difference.  Check them in 20 minutes to see if they've hit the done-ness you like.  I usually let them go 30; I like my Cauliflower florets dark and mysterious.

That's it!

Simple Cauliflower Soup

There are soup recipes for this veggie that are uber-rich; this is not one of those.

Cauliflower, cut into small chunks.  Like big dice.

Olive or vegetable oil.

One small onion, finely chopped, or more if you have loads of veggie.

A couple of cloves of garlic -- minced.

Chicken stock.  Low sodium lets you control the saltiness.

Finely grated Parmesan.

S&P.

Into a hot soup pot or big saucepan -- the oil, onion and garlic.  Cook 'em till they've gone limp with the heat and are demanding Margaritas by the pool.  This should take about 5 minutes.

 Add in the cauliflower, turn it around a few times in the oil, then add the stock and bring the whole thing to a boil.  Cook till cauliflower goes soft.  20 minutes or so.

Then, if you are lucky enough to have an immersion blender, now's the time to use it.

Plunge that puppy into the pot, and blend the whole batch of soup into a lovely creamy smooth delight.

No immersion blender?  Into a blender-blender in small batches then back into the pot.

Stir in the Parmesan, add S & P to taste, and you've got it.

No cream, no white sauce -- but pure veggie goodness.

Quantities of stock, onion, etc., will depend on how much cauliflower you are making into soup.

You can always add more stock.

**** Thrifting alert -- If you live in my neck of the woods ... the New Jersey Goodwill Stores are 50% off on Housewares, Frames and Pictures from today through Sunday.  Woot! -- Cass

Join Designs By Gollum for Foodie Friday.  Click here!

Cindy at My Romantic Home hosts Show and Tell Friday.  Click here!

A Rustic Harvest Table; Come Celebrate!

We've got a few tomatoes still hanging on in the garden border, but I may have to ask my cousin Anne for a recipe for Fried Green Tomatoes; my biggest tomatoes are just clinging to their vines, stubbornly green.

It's Harvest Time!

The local farmstands are bursting with bounty.

Yesterday, at the farm where I take my Dad to buy apples,

I bought Winesaps, Northern Spys, and the world's biggest and most gorgeous cauliflower.

Come back tomorrow for nekkid photos.  Of the cauliflower.  Before I cook it.

 (Links to Thursday blog parties at the end of the post;

I'm Tablescaping and Thrifting!)

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There's a place at the table for you in That Old House's dining room today.

A rustic, harvest table.  No shiny things!

What I used:
+ My Thanksgiving china, bought 20-plus years ago at Bradlee's.  Used one day each year.  I've got service for 24, so I now have to supplement with other white dishes.  I bought them for the price and because I thought the Della Robbia-type border suited Thanksgiving so well.
+ Mixed vintage flatware, some rather tarnished.  Ambassador silver from 1920, hotel plate from mid-20th century, and nickel silver from late 1800s.
+ Mis-matched handblown wine goblets.  Thrift shop finds.
+ Very old pewter goblets.  They were my mother's; she loved old pewter.
+ Tan linen napkins from Sur le Table -- I got 7 of them for $1.99 on eBay.  That's a $26 savings over retail.  Tags still on!
+ Covered pewter dish -- a wedding present.
+ Tiny funky gourds, from the farmstand.
+ Heavy pewter candleholders -- wedding present.
+ Wine from Williamsburg Winery -- Two Shilling Red.  A gift!
+ My Mom's old pewter salt and pepper shakers.
+ Pewter and amethyst glass hurricane -- gift!
+ And a heavy cotton woven tablecloth my sister and I gave my Mom about 8 years ago.

I think that's it.  Oh!  And a pot of ivy in an old silver bowl;

I know ivy doesn't live well indoors, but it's so pretty and photogenic I bought another pot anyway.

So what are you waiting for?  Have a seat!  -- Cass

It's Tablescape Thursday. 

Visit Susan at Between Naps On The Porch for a slew of beautiful table settings!  Click here.

Leigh of Tales From Bloggeritaville hosts Thrifty Thursday.  Check it out here!

At Coloradolady, Suzanne hosts Vintage Thingies Thursday. Go see her Thingies, here!