New Kitchen. As promised.

I know I've probably promised pictures of the newly remodeled kitchen at least a couple of times in the past two months.  After all the rush, rush, rush to get it done by Christmas - well it wasn't completely done.

We had most of it installed, and it was all back to working order so we could cook Christmas Eve dinner.  But we were still waiting for the windows to come in, so we had big torn out spots with the old ones there for weeks.  It was just after New Year's that we finished that part.  Which meant another round of painting - trim and touch ups.  By then I wasn't in such a huge hurry to get that done, and it was several coats over the course of a week.

It's been so grey during the days this month, that I took pictures but they don't look all that great.  I should have taken new ones this past weekend when the sun broke out for a few hours.  But holy moley.  When the sun shines in through those back windows it's so darn bright you're practically blinded!  The sun is low in the sky in January and it just beams right into your eyeballs and reflects off all the shiny new stainless.  I need sunglasses to walk around in there.

So I'm posting a few quick pics, with the apology that the color is not great.  It's better than nothing.  I always hate when people say they are going to show us the stuff they've been yapping about, and then never do.  And I don't want to be one of those people.

It's hard to see the actual colors, but the floors are a barn grey stain of bamboo.  The lower cabinets are called 'peppercorn' and are also a slightly darker color slate grey stain.  The upper cabinets are called 'flour' and are a creamy off-white stain.  The wall and trim color are also a creamy white color.  The island area counter is a quartz composite, Eco by Cosentino "Luna" which means it is mostly that same sort of cream color with flecks that are mostly natural tones of grey, slate, brown, beige and a little silver shiny stuff.  Butcher block counters in the other two corners.  Big deep single sink in stainless.  

We knocked out a little section of the wall where the island part is, so that it was open to the dining room and the rest of the house.  It was all wall cabinets before with a tiny doorway that made the rest of the house darker.  So much sunlight comes through the kitchen that we wanted to open it up and bring it into the other rooms - this is a really small house so it makes a huge difference.

I love the new look.  It's actually much prettier in person than it seems here. It's way easier to cook in there and a lot more fun.  I've never even had a dishwasher before!  It didn't cost a fortune and came in under our little cheapie budget. And it's finally, totally, absolutely done.  It's starting to get back to normal around here which is the biggest relief.

Since this isn't a home decor blog, I haven't blathered on about brands, styles, appliances etc.  But I'm happy to share details if someone wants more info.  Just leave me a comment or something.

What's for Dinner: Greek

Earlier this week, I was scanning through my site, just checking to see if anything glaring was out of whack, out of date, or generally wrong.  Plus I updated the calendar with a bunch of fall dates, but that's a different post.

As I read through my blog page, the one that directs you from my SoapworksStudio.com site over here, I noticed that I had announced I would sometimes post recipes, or what's for dinner, or general cookery type stuff.  I LOVE to cook, and cook almost everything and every meal from scratch.  Plus, I'm pretty good at it.  Which is probably why I originally thought I should share some of my best finds or secrets or kitchen whatnots.

I don't think I've done anything like that in forever. But tonight I'm going Greek.  There is very little I like more than Greek food.  Truly.  Any of it.  You can name every single item on a Greek menu and I love it.   So a few of those things are in my standards list.  Like tzatziki, black olive tapenade, Greek salads, grilled lemon chicken or souvlaki - with a fresh, soft, pita?  heaven.

So that's what we're having, all of the above.  And courtesy of Pinterest, I'm going to post pics with links to recipes, along with my notes for how I make mine - different, easier.

First:  fig and olive tapenade (via Sophakicooks.com).  This is a great all around recipe if you want to make it extra fancy.  Today's is the super simple version.  Equal parts pitted black Kalamata olives and figs, and it doesn't matter if they are the dark Mission figs or the lighter Calmyrna figs like this recipe has.  I use both and they are equally good. Then pour a glug (technically?  maybe 2 tbps?) of olive oil on top of them in the food processor. Whiz. Done. The fancier version, for company, includes lemon zest, or rosemary, garlic, but usually not as much as they've got. Sometimes a little feta to make it a bit creamy too. I serve with wedges of pita - sometimes fresh, sometimes just heated with a spritz of olive in a pan to warm, sometimes toasted a bit, sometimes grilled a bit on the grill - whatever the mood strikes. These two food items together are divine.

Main Course:  chicken skewers (via Foodiecrush.com).  Love this marinade.  Like the idea of the sliced lemon pieces in between the meat.  But I'll skip the green onion part, or sub a chunk of red onion, because that's all I've got today.

Served with tzatziki (via FedandFit.com).  This is a good recipe, and seems a lot like mine, but I usually only make about half this much at a time.  I like it fresh rather than sitting in the fridge for days.  I grate the cucumber on a cheese grater because it's faster and it leaves nicer bits in the dip.  I don't bother de-seeding it either - the English cucumbers have almost no seeds, and regular cukes - well, the seeds are really good for you, why toss them? Instead of all that draining bit that a lot of recipes call for, the grated cucumber can just be squeezed out in your hand.  Don't toss that juice! - just drink it down in one big swig.  It's the best tasting stuff ever and holy moly good for your health.  I could drink just cucumber juice on a daily basis (well, I almost do).  Red wine vinegar works too, that's what I usually have more of.  Love adding fresh dill and/or fresh mint, sometimes lemon zest.  I always skip the extra olive oil - I just like it clean and light.

Side dish - salad.  Love any kind of Greek salad.  I'm especially partial to any of those watermelon and feta type recipes too.  My go-to has a bit of lime juice and a pinch of salt, toss in the red onion and let sit for a couple minutes while you chop the rest, just to take the bite out of the onion.  Add chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, some pitted Kalamata olives, chopped mint and/or parsley, then toss dressing stuff on top, like a couple of glugs of olive oil, black pepper.  Feta cheese - if it's the crumbles, add it last after everything else is tossed, and gently fold in.  If it's nice big cubes of the harder stuff, you can put it all together at once.  Oooh la la.  This stuff is great.

This recipe is a simplified watermelon, feta, mint combo (via Twopeasandtheirpod).  A great way to dip your toes in if you've never tried it before.  But if you're a fan of the Greek Salad anyway, don't be afraid of throwing in a handful of watermelon into the whole mix. 

I'm famished now.  Get your Greek on!

Tomato Jam

Tomato jam. Best stuff ever. And it uses up a whole bunch of tomatoes that are coming at me too fast to eat fresh right now. I've made batch after batch of sauce in the last month. The little sungold cherry tomatoes, which ripen at about 100 a day, make an amazing sauce. But I've already got lots of bags of various kinds of tomato sauce in the freezer.

I've oven dried tomatoes, and frozen more tomatoes. And then yesterday I tasted some tomato jam at a restaurant -- just dotted on the plate with some cheese and a chunk of baguette. I had forgotten how delicious it is. And since I had another whole basket of tomatoes at home on the counter, I decided to make jam this morning. Oh, I'll need to do more sauce too, probably later today, and still have a few sandwiches for lunch and salads for dinner. There's still more tomatoes every day.

SInce I haven't made the jam in awhile, I googled a recipe and decided to go with Mark Bittman's recipe in the New York Times from last summer. Of course I had to make my own little tweaks to it. Mostly because I used more tomatoes than called for - so I added a touch more sugar, adjusted all the other stuff to my liking or due to pantry shortages, etc. Not too sweet, it has a kick of heat to it, and some great spices. Lordy, it came out good. And the best part? Two whole pounds of tomatoes are gone which made just these 3 little jars of jam. It will be eaten up so fast I didn't even process the jars. Just stuck them in the fridge.

Mmmmm. I just might need to make this again before the season is over. I'll want to have some of it last into the winter.

Snow!

Whee - a snow day! We got a few little inches of snow overnight. Man, it's cold. And it's going to stick around for a few days too.

It's a little bit unnerving for the cats, but exciting too. They've been in and out and in and out all morning. Out just long enough to get cold ears and toes. In just long enough for a quick warm up and a snack. Then back out to hop around some more, each time going a little farther away from the house. Lots of fun to watch.

No business today. None at all. It's a day off, and a snow day to boot! Peppermint white chocolate scones. Best recipe ever. I've never been great at baking, mostly because I like to improvise, and hate to measure stuff. But I make the effort sometimes and this was worth it. Of course I improvised from what the actual recipe said, but not too much.



Since I changed a couple ingredients and did the whole thing a bit differently, I guess I can print my own version of the recipe that I found in a magazine a couple years back. Here's mine:

Peppermint White Chocolate Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbsp cold butter, cubes
1 cup white chocolate peppermint mint candies, chopped into bits
1 cup heavy cream
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease baking sheet.
In a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt - just a few times until well mixed. Add the butter and pulse again until very well blended. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the cream, egg yolk and vanilla. Add the dry mixture to the cream mixture and stir together to form a wet dough. Gather it into a large ball. Dust your surface with a bit of flour and knead the dough ball a few times til it holds together well, but don't over work it. Flatten it out into a large circle and cut into 12 pizza slices. Place on greased baking sheet. Brush tops with a bit more of the cream and sprinkle with a pinch of sugar. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes.

They are cakey, crumbly and soft, just the way I like them. I'm not a hard scone fan. And the candies? The original recipe talked about white chocolate chips and peppermint baking chips. I've never seen peppermint baking chips. But I used the seasonal flavored peppermint white chocolate thin mints that the Andes brand had at Safeway. You can improvise with whatever you find. Or do candy cane bits with white chocolate chips. That would be good too. Just make it a cup's worth of the add-ins.

Happy snow day!

She Cooks Too

We reached a record high of 98 yesterday and the heat was the only thing anybody could talk about. But I thought it was kind of fun to have a real hot summer day. It was only one. Today we are back to the 70's, maybe a high of 80.

Dinner was alfresco on the back patio. And I made something so simple but so delicious - Kitchen Sink Bread Salad. It's basically all the leftovers in the fridge tossed in a bowl. Since there is no real recipe, I won't even try to give portions, but this is the basics: take a large bowl and throw in whatever vegetables you've got. I had a couple ears of corn, sliced off the cob, a can of artichoke chunks, a can of white beans, a half of a tomato, a handful of pitted olives. I hadn't wanted to cook at all, but decided that I really wanted some carmelized onions, so I used up the last half of red onion and softened them in olive oil and a couple of cloves of garlic, tossed in at the end just to cook for a minute. The bread was the last chunk of chewy Italian loaf, cut into cubes. A piece of feta cheese crumbled in. The dressing was a balsamic vinaigrette, and I plucked a big bunch of basil from the yard and chopped that in last. Toss the whole thing so it's well mixed and the bread has soaked up a bit of dressing. Use more if it seems dry.

Tastiest cool dinner for summer! And I've got a little left for lunch today too. Heh, leftovers of leftovers, but I'm looking forward to it.

I've got more technology problems today too. My wireless internet connection is in total failure, so I'm borrowing a computer today. And my printer, which has been more than finnicky lately, is on strike this morning. I don't understand why my machinery is always acting up and behaving badly. I'm putting off even thinking about it until next week. So the internets stuff may be a little spotty for the next few days. Let those machines just sit and pout by themselves for awhile until they decide to play again - that will teach them. Or not.

Happy Valentine's Day

I've got Cole Porter songs running through my head today. I looked up the lyrics to "You're the Top", because it's such a fun and catchy tune. It was written in 1934 for the musical Anything Goes. I was surprised to find educational lesson plans for teachers and intellectual dissertations about how these particular lyrics illustrate the culture of the 30's so succinctly, by naming all the most prized and valued things of that era - sort of a snapshot into long ago times. Maybe I'm completely out of step, but I can't really find anything on that list that doesn't still sound pretty good.

I'd probably be happy with Greta Garbo's salary, even today. A turkey dinner with waldorf salad and an after-dinner nip of Napoleon brandy? Not so bad. So here's to cellophane -- and a day of snuggling up to your sweetie(s).

You're The Top by Cole Porter

At words poetic, I'm so pathetic
That I always have found it best
Instead of getting 'em off my chest,
To let 'em rest—unexpressed.
I hate parading my serenading,
As I'll probably miss a bar,
But if this ditty is not so pretty,
At least it'll tell you how great you are.

You're the top! You're the Coliseum.
You're the top! You're the Louvre Museum.
You're the melody from a symphony by Strauss.
You're a Bendel bonnet,
A Shakespeare sonnet,
You're Mickey Mouse!

You're the Nile! You're the Tow'r of Pisa.
You're the smile on the Mona Lisa.
I'm a worthless check, a total wreck, a flop!
But if baby I'm the bottom, you're the top!

You're the top! You're Mahatma Gandhi.
You're the top! You're Napoleon brandy.
You're the purple light of a summer night in Spain.
You're the National Gallery; you're Garbo's salary,
You're cellophane!

You're sublime; you're a turkey dinner.
You're the time of the Derby Winner.
I'm a toy balloon that is fated soon to pop;
But if baby I'm the bottom, you're the top!

You're the top! You're a Waldorf salad.
You're the top! You're a Berlin ballad.
You're the nimble tread of the feet of Fred Astaire.
You're an O'Neill drama; you're Whistler's mama; you're Camembert.