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April 27, 2009

Planting Season

 

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We just found out that we have rhubarb and centuries-old rosebushes growing in our garden. Now that spring has come, I'm obsessed with the idea of planting even more stuff in the backyard. That is, until I learned we have a spider monkey buried back there... No joke, Jason found out from our neighbor today that the old resident here used to keep one as a pet!!! I painted these little plant pots to grow herbs on our kitchen windowsill, but now I'm having second thoughts about using dirt from the yard... At any rate, it's going to be interesting to see what other surprises pop up this year!

 

April 15, 2009

The Chocolate Threshold

 

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Oh, why am I finding dessert to devastatingly fascinating these days? Chocolate. Chocolate especially. I think it must be symptomatic of the end of the cold season - my eyes reaching out for that last shot of comfort food before feigning my springtime athletic persona. Nevertheless, chocolate mousse may be my first KitchenAid project when I eventually do get one. I've been craving a KitchenAid for, well, almost as long as I've been craving chocolate.

 

Cloud Nine... All Mine

 

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This dessert is my mom's specialty. Lemon-Meringue Pie. It's the dessert that intellectually I never think I want - too sweet, too lemony. And then, it comes out of the oven, the bottom layer steaming, the top layer perfectly whipped and articulated like a romantic sculpture. Yes, if it's left on the table long enough, I'll grab a crumb... and finally end up with a whole slice on my plate. As my dad always says, "You could sell that in a pie shop!"

 

Hot Fuss

 

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Was it worth the wait? Absolutely! We LOVE the new stove! We gave up five burners on our old stove for four, but this front fourth packs serious heat! There's an outer and inner chamber of fire - the inner setting a moderate burn, the outer, a virtual barbecue pit. Can't wait to roast marshmallows on this guy... or, better yet - make our first real dinner! Having the stove really helps the kitchen feel more "together" and like we finally have a hearth (of sorts) in our little home! Affording the gas behind this guy might be the only downside!

 

April 07, 2009

Seal for a Steal

 

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Last night we were lucky enough to score FREE tickets to the Seal show at the Orpheum. I'm not sure if it was that sweat-landing-on-your-face proximity or his larger than life stage presence, but it was certainly one of the most dynamic performances I've ever seen. He told a couple of funny stories, sang a bunch of old R&B tunes and spent most of the night out on the stage arm, which, incidentally, was about two seats away. Even though the audience was clearly focused on him, he gave lots of credit to the backing band, which always wins me over at a show. My friend later ribbed me for describing the mood of a rock show as sincere, but whether Seal believed the stuff he was singing or not, he certainly sold me!

 

April 04, 2009

Strata, Evolved

 

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The last of the countertops go in this weekend!! We bought a whole bunch of butcher block from IKEA and Jason's been cutting, sanding, and perfecting them on top of our new IKEA cabinets for a few weeks now. The main tops are on there now, with some class joint-work at the corner (with consultation and help from Dad) and a gorgeous undermount sink rim. The remaining pieces will be used to create a narrow bar top between kitchen and dining room and complete the two 12-inch cabinets flanking the new Italian stove! These things are beautiful, but oh-so heavy! I've been helping lug them around simply because there's no one stronger here to help Jason on a regular basis! I will be very happy to see the last of them pinning down something other than me!

 

The Little Things

 

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I'm marrying Jason for his coffee maker. Not quite true, but i absolutely LOVE this thing. He has an Estro Vapore espresso machine that he got 15 years ago and the thing is still chugging. That, and it's just about the only thing we have plugged in at our new home. We never had counter space for it before, but now we're using it about four times a day! I'm absolutely hooked and the coffee is so delicious. In my opinion, if you have good coffee and toast in the morning (and someone fabulous to make it for you) - that's just about all you need.

One of the best things about moving is that it totally brings you back to basics. You don't have any of the modern conveniences right away - your favorite clothes are all still packed, no television, your mail's still being delivered to the wrong address, and no Internet! (Of course, we have it now, thus my immediate attention to blogging again.) But we are still living in piles of boxes, with a shop vac and toolboxes filling a couple of the rooms and plates of cardboard covering the floors. We've got a basket of our favorite liquors that we pluck from to concoct nightcaps in the evening, which we then drink out of paper cups!

It's kind of like fancy camping. Of course, you can't live this way for long. If you're as antsy as me, you want to start having people over, cleaning up the rooms and revealing their full potential, cooking meals for dinner parties and actually being able to serve on real plates! But for now, I'll take a cappuccino, please.