Proof that You Southerners were in the new kitchen

Also incidentally proof that Jim empties the garbage. Sorry Sweetie! :)
Oof, I've been overwhelmed with work and not getting out in my garden enough. This week is going to be cooler - it's been hot, hit 92 one day but I didn't notice I was in my office where it was 76 - but this weeks' going to be in the 70s, perfect for weeding my beans that are just sprouting. We don't have Mississippi gardening weather up North, but on the plus side, we don't have Mississippi weather.

Alexe showing yet? :)
*hugs n kisses!*

Compare & Contrast

Jim spent a lot of the weekend in the attic, all sweaty & hot... and hooked up the ductwork for the hood! Yay Jim!

Before

After

I say, it's coming along nicely, eh old fruit?

Hi Kittens :)

How is everyone doing? I'm working a lot, & I've been cranky, which turned out to be helped a lot by a deep cleaning of the house. I spend a lot of time in here, and when my house is not in order, it affects my mood. Evidently. :)

Naughty Romni! Watch where you throw that thing, I mean, just look at Caesar's feet! :)

Two of these things... are not where they should be...

Glorious Sunset, April 30th.

This photo has not been retouched in any way.

Cabinets going in...

Mmm, photos are worth a thousand words.
What do you think? :)

Mmm, Island hood. Mmm, new ceiling.

Mmm, new ceiling. Note also the hood, which was a royal pain to level.

Mmm, the hood. those post-its were to help me level it, and say things like "low" or "high" or "good". Those two little ones under the lip say "No!" because the power is ON but the blowers are NOT vented to the outdoors yet. So, no touchy. You'll never guess who turned one on by accident and got dust all over the island a couple days ago ;)

Oh & while there was no island under it, William walked right into the corner making a beeline for the sink. Then he told me about it later, and he was pointing at the corner he walked into, and there was a little sprout of hair stuck to it! CSI Vermont! My response? "You better not have knocked it out of level! - I mean, are you OK?" :)

My goodness, you look familiar. Have we met before?

Seriously, you even smell familiar.

Didn't I murder you the other night?

Well shoot, I guess I'll have to do it again later.

Now, how to knock this over...

The floor goes in...

It's adorable Kagan, the way you think Natalie might want to help with annoying kitchen remodeling tasks. How amusing. =)

She did help a little bit with the rip out.

New 1/4 inch subfloor... We did NOT do our own floor, that was done by a nice guy named Randy that subs for Main Street Flooring in Essex. They were pretty good even though there was a giant delay in getting samples and thus it set everything else back, that's not really their fault.

Long view of the subfloor

Mmmmm, blue. This is a really nice floor y'all will see when you visit, and not at all too dark because the light bounces all around the cabinets and counters and doesn't have a chance to get sucked up by the floor. Which I polished until it shines like the top of the Chrysler building.

Grrr.

Grrrrrrrr.

Yikes.

What we've been up to :)

Some ceiling tiles in place! Kevin and Jim started it, we hired Kevin to take down the old tiles and do a bunch in the middle, then Jim and I finished up about the last third. And the part around the hood, which was tricky. :)

Naughty kitty, helping hold down that little stack of tiles.

Jungle kitty! This beautiful amaryllis bloomed (I have photos of that too), then was mysteriously broken off in the night. It *was* leaning, but this kitty likes to sit in the pot so I can't help but be suspicious. (It's in a vase now.)

No more cooktop!

No more island!

Mmm, linoleum from 1972.

Whoah, Yech! (cute doggy though!)

Yep, nothing left but the sink at this point (this was wed night very late of last week, 4/11.) As it turns out, not having a sink like just the last few days is *very* annoying.

Next, the new floor! :)

Kitchen Demolition Derby

March 18th.

Several Days Later...

Aww, the Peeps. :)

The white & black kitty is Chadwick, Romni's nice cat.

(as opposed to Max, the other one.)

No crappy hood over the island...

No ceiling over the island...

Natalie's (other) birthday party :)

Mock up of the new island. Jim is testing out our mock rangetop.

New cabinets AND floor are in, pics over the weekend!

Natalie's Birthday Blanket

Here are some pictures from Natalie's birthday party.
Mama stole the show with her fah-bu-lous birthday blanket, made of scraps of many of Natalie's pajama pants. What a lovely brand new heirloom! :)

The partygoers

The cake, which was covered in saran wrap with candles poked through. Ha HA, NO GERMS! =)

Mama's beautiful blanket, installed.

Susan's most excellent Adobo Chicken recipe

Hello Peeps, sorry it's been so long - we're wrapped up in getting the kitchen ripped out and replaced. I've taken lots of pics to post, but 'til then here is a delicious recipe that Susan made for us that was so yummy I got the recipe from her and made it for Natalie's birthday. (Natalie had pork fried rice, too.) Mama wanted the recipe, so here it is. Note I doubled the onions and used more legs, probably about 30+.


Susan's Chicken Adobo:

* 2 large onions
* About 20 chicken drumsticks. You could use wings also, but there's more meat on the legs.
* a bay leaf

* cup water
* cup soy sauce
* cup vinegar. Susan uses 1/4 cup cider and 3/4 cup rice vinegar, vary to taste.
(Use equal portions of the liquids. Depending on how large a batch you are making the amount can be varied.)

Slice & cook the onions in a large fry pan w/Pam or a little oil until softened. Meanwhile, skin the drumsticks. (If you don't skin them, eat a lot less of them, and if you are using a crock pot you definitely want to skin them). Add a bay leaf to the fry pan, and brown the legs in the onions. If you are doing a lot, transfer the onions to a separate dish, then brown the chicken in small batches with a portion of the onions and transfer each batch to the crock pot or a braising pan as you finish browning them. Add the liquids to the crock pot or braising pan when you are done browning, and cook on a crock pot for 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high. If cooking in a regular pot, cook for about 45 minutes to an hour on low. The chicken is done when the tendons snap.

So delicious, it can't be described by reading the ingredient list alone, you have to try it. =)