Foodie

It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve posted mostly because we’ve been in a sprint to get things done in the kitchen.  We are 2 days before Thanksgiving and my kitchen is still incomplete.  Did I mention that I was hosting it this year?  OY!   Who cares about all that…I know what you’re looking for….so let’s get to the good stuff!

First up…we’ve been painting the walls to prepare for the final steps. I carried the same color through from the adjoining walls because I knew it would match really well with the new counters.  It looks so much warmer now in the kitchen.  Sort of, cozy, if you will.

Here’s a sample of the countertop next to the new paint. See how the color pulls out the same shade in the counters? can’t wait to see the paint with the counters because it’s going to look GORGEOUS!

After painting was done, we changed out all of the plugs and switches to something a bit more transitional. This particular one that Keith is working on was the last one and biggest pain in the rear!  For some reason, when I pulled out the screws from the old switches, it ended up that the screw holes were stripped, so it was holding nothing!  After an hour + of struggling with it, we had to call in the big guns….so we called my Dad on Skype so he could assess the situation and help!

He gave us some tips that helped temporarily fix it, but after an hour with him, it was decided that we have no choice but to ask the electrician to replace the box. UGH!  Best part is, somehow the range hood is tied into these switches and now it doesn’t work!  Seriously?!?!?!

But, all of the other switches and plugs are fine and look great with the new switch plates and counter sample. Don’t you agree?

Today is countertop install day!!! Pulled the stove out in prep for counters…

Last look at the old sink and counters….good riddance I say!

They had the counters pulled lickety split!

And here it is! A close up of the counters. This is a jumbo slab of Quartz called ‘Tobacco’

This is one giant piece! There are no seams at all in this kitchen. Beautiful!

My beautiful new sink! Can’t wait to hook it all up and get this phase of the project complete!

Although there are a few things that will have to be adjusted and tended to, we are in the home stretch now of this project.  I have a punch list started so we don’t forget anything.  Biggest thing is that I need to be able to cook a Thanksgiving meal….after we leave everything to dry for 24 hours, it will be go time to get the sink hooked up and on our way.  Turkey will wait for no one!  🙂

It’s been somewhat busy around here this last week or so.  I’ve been painting as much as I can (ceiling is done!) and cleaning out cabinets, etc.  Everything is so dusty now with all of this construction.  I have to purge the dust!  I think if I get the majority scrubbed, the last little bit won’t be so bad.  Anyway, the electricians have come and started the install of the switches:

Mess of wires, but getting there…

We finally have light in the tray ceiling! It’s awesome!!!

Apparently I have to ‘keep off’ 🙂

The ugly oak backsplash (if you want to call it that) has finally been removed. It’s already made a difference at cutting the oak look down!

Another view without backsplash

I hinted in my last post that I was going to be doing something with lace.  Well, my Mom had given me a bag of lace that my Yiayia made (I believe for decorating pillowcases) but I wasn’t sure what to do with it.  Well, as a nod to my Greek heritage, I decided to use this lace in a different way.  You see, in Greek kitchens, you would typically find lace decorating shelves, so I thought, why not have a little of that in mine too?  I think my Mom would approve!  Take a look:

Doesn’t the lace look beautiful with my blue dishes?

Close up of the work….so much detail!

Now look at it with the glass doors on!

Swirly detail of the glass. Now I can’t wait to get the hardware for them!

The countertop template process begins….

They create the template with these plastic sheets. It’s interesting.  I’ve seen it done with lasers and all computerized.  These guys are quite old school.  Eh…I’m okay with that. 

Thankfully, this sink is going away! I will have an undermount sink when we’re all done.  I’ve asked for the sink to come forward as much as possible so my back doesn’t hurt anymore.  Washing dishes in this sink is horrible!  That’s all about to change!  So, things are winding down here.  Counters will be installed on the 24th…so I have 2 weeks to finish up the painting and try to get some things in order.  I’m looking forward to having my kitchen back, that’s for sure! 

It’s been a week or so since I’ve had a chance to post.  Not a whole lot has been happening because I’ve been so busy painting.  That may sound like an easy task….and to be honest, it used to be for me since I’ve painted every wall in this house over the last 10 years….but since I started nursing 2 bad knees, crawling around to paint has been difficult to say the least.  I can only get so far going up and down on a ladder and then I have to rest.  That’s not an excuse…it’s a fact I have to live with now.  Boooo.  Boo I say!  But, the ceiling is done which was the hardest part.  The walls will be tedious but much easier than working overhead.  The consolation is that the ceiling is probably the most properly prepared surface in this house.  You see, when my house was built, apparently they decided to cut corners and NOT prime the walls before painting.  That means that now, when I try to paint over the existing paint…no matter how much I properly prep them…the paint will eventually peel off the wall!  Perfect…NOT!  The ceiling in the kitchen on the other hand has been properly coated, primed and painted.  Anyway, because I’ve painted the area the fridge will be going into, it was finally time to move that into place.  HOORAY!!  Let’s take a look:

It’s time to start the move. Water is hooked up and now the testing begins

We are supposed to run the water for 4 minutes to ensure all of the air is purged from the line.  Souvlaki looks on as she supervises the process

Last 30 seconds….all air is purged and water is flowing well.  Keftedes now comes in the kitchen to check out what’s going on.  🙂

Keith is so happy that he won’t have to make ice anymore, he decides to give the fridge a hug!

Protective plastic is all removed and fridge is pushed in place. It fits perfectly!

Another step towards completion.  I like it.  We’ve purchased some new plugs and switches and will start changing those out this weekend.  I will also work on more of the painting and another small project.  Can you guess what I might use some of this for?:

My Mom gave me a pile of this beautiful lace that I believe my Yiayia made. I think they were originally made for pillowcases, but I have other plans….more on this soon.

Hoping to make more progress this week.  Another post soon…….

Living in this kitchen for a long time, I’ve had time to really think about what I wanted things to look like.  The lowered ceiling is a feature of the 80’s for sure and makes things feel closed in…and not in a cozy kind of way.  Between our limited budget and actual limitations of how high we could raise the ceiling (if we wanted to), I thought it might give the same effect for less cost if the fluorescent light fixtures were pulled, the opening made slightly bigger and a tray ceiling was created.  My handyman was pretty skeptical about it, but I had a vision.  I knew that this would be the right decision.  So, I came home from work the other day and found the work started on this part of the project:

As a reminder….this is what it looked like before

I had him make the area about 6 inches bigger to create a more even look

It’s already looks bigger!

Next, the last light will come out and the mud will come in…

It’s starting to come together….

What a difference already!

And once we get some lighting back in the kitchen, it will be even better!

Within a week, the kitchen spiff is underway!  Some of our appliances were coming in, work was happening, cabinets were starting to come out….lots of activity!  Time to take a look:

First, the floor protection goes down…

At the same time, the fridge and stove arrives! It was amazing to watch how they brought the fridge into the house. The delivery guys just used straps and walked it in like it was nothing.  Nuts!

My new fridge! We’ve kept the plastic on until it gets moved into it’s final spot. It’s going to temporarily live there until some other things get taken care of.  The stove will not be installed until the countertops come in.  That will be weeks yet so it will be hanging out waiting…..

We’ve prepared the desk area for the cabinet guys to come in and remove it. The lower cabinets will be adapted to fit into the spot where the old fridge used to be and soon this spot will be where the new fridge will live making for a much better work triangle.

Moved the microwave to the other side of the kitchen temporarily

Next day, the cabinet guys arrive and pull what they needed to start that process:

Desk and upper cabinets are out!

Upper cabinet doors are pulled to cut out panels in preparation for glass inserts

Next up….ceiling work!

After getting bids, doing research and talking to people, it was finally time to move things forward in the right direction….towards the long awaited kitchen spiff!  We’ve had to come to the harsh reality that we wouldn’t be able to get everything done at one time like we wanted to, but the majority will be done and then we will save up our money to finish things out in phase 2.  First, let’s take a look at what the kitchen looked like at the start:

Looking straight into the kitchen, here is what you see. Hello 1980’s!  How about that dropped ceiling and fluorescent light?  Lovely, right?

My sink area. A beautiful view to the backyard and lovely sunsets, but hard to move around in.

A decent amount of counter space overall in this kitchen but poorly laid out.

This weirdly open space is supposed to be…I’m not sure what. But this is where the dogs live during the day while we’re at work, so it’s okay for us.

And of course, every 80’s kitchen would not be complete without a desk…that NO ONE USES!

There are many changes coming…finally!

I have become the expert in chocolate chip cookie varieties.  I know exactly what my basic dough should look like just by sight and from there I can create tons of variations.  Last week, Keith had suggested adding Nutella into the mix.  At first, I dismissed him because I wasn’t really sure how that would work.  I pondered it for a while and just decided it was time to try it.  How else would I know if it would work?  Well, I can tell you that emphatically, these have got to be the best cookie I’ve created yet.  They were thick, perfectly baked and had the exact right amount of Nutella.  Not to mention the fact that they looked gorgeous!  That’s the first rule in cooking…you have to visually enjoy what you see way before you put it in your mouth.   These definitely did not disappoint and I will definitely make these for years to come!

Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Cookies w/Nutella

makes 12 good sized cookies

• 1 stick butter
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 ½ c. flour (I mix white & wheat flour)
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. baking powder
• Chocolate chips (I throw in 2-ish handfuls)
• ¼ -ish c. Chopped Hazelnuts (your preference)
• 2 tblsp. Nutella

Mix first 5 ingredients for 30 seconds in stand up mixer on level 2.  Stir mixture away from sides of bowl.  Mix again for another 30 seconds on level 4.  Stir mixture away from sides again.  Set on stir mode and toss in salt & baking powder…then SLOWLY add flour ¼ c. at a time.  Once all flour is in, let mixer run a little longer on level 2 (until dough starts to come away from the sides of the bowl).    Bring back down to stir level and then slowly add in chocolate chips and hazelnuts until incorporated into the mixture.  The final step is to add in the Nutella, but do NOT over stir.  You want the Nutella to mix in a little, but more to create that marbled effect in your cookies.  Bake at 375* for 11-13 minutes (depending on your oven).  Enjoy!

On Christmas Eve in my family, we always have fish for dinner. It’s an old Italian tradition that we loosely follow (history on tradition here). I had been watching a cooking show where they were making some kind of stuffed salmon recipe. Some of the ingredients they were using to make the “stuffing” was okay…but I knew I wanted to make it a little better. Who wouldn’t want it better? So, I created this recipe which I’ll probably tweak just a little each time I make it. 🙂

Crab Stuffed Salmon
Salmon Fillet (I buy mine at Costco or my local fish monger)
Flaked Crab
Olive Oil
Various Spices (salt, pepper, parsley, Greek Seasoning mix)
Light Cream Cheese
Parmesan Cheese (freshly grated)
Milk 1 tblsp.
More spices (I use pretty much the same as what I use on the fish)
Kitchen Twine
Parchment Paper (to line your pan with)

Heat oven to 350*. Line cookie sheet with parchment (I like to line it with aluminum foil, then put parchment on top of that…tends to be easy cleanup!). Cut 3 pieces of kitchen twine long enough to wrap around fish and lay on pan as in example below.

Brush olive oil on both sides of filet and season to your taste. Lay fillet down on top of kitchen twine. You will be folding the fillet in half, so center on twine accordingly. In a bowl, mix cream cheese, crab, spices, parmesan cheese & milk until creamy and pliable. Layer on fish and fold over half of fillet to create a “sandwich”. Tie up fish and bake in oven until fillet is pink and cooked through (different ovens vary on times…mine takes about 25-30 minutes). Once cooked, take out and immediately cover with aluminum foil for 10 minutes to rest. Once rested…cut off kitchen twine, slice and enjoy!

This was my feast on Christmas Eve…I used 3 types of fish…Salmon, Crab & Shrimp. It was amazing! Salut!