Rachel Perlow

Crab (especially Alaskan King & Stone)

I started by making a shrimp stock (pureed shells in blender then strained), then made a roux, added stock for a veloute. Finished with a little half & half and some chopped shrimp.

On another note, I made Shrimp Bisque a couple weeks ago. There was leftovers that I knew wouldn't get eaten within the next few days, so I froze the leftovers in an ice cube tray. Besides reheating a few at a time as portions of soup, does anyone have any other ideas for its use? Perhaps as a sauce?

I don't know if I want to let these people know about eGullet and that he posts here. It seems a little too stalkerish.

Hmm, I think I should bring our extra few packages to China 46 on Sunday (see NJ forum) to auction off to the highest bidder.

Shouldn't the flood to the top left be centered over the kids' bar? You mentioned you like the "sexy" halogen lights. I think this would be a good location for 2-3 small hanging halogen fixtures. This isn't the best picture of them, but I love these small lights over each table at a local restaurant. Make sure the light in the doorway by the bookcase is not a hot spot light. You will from time to time be standing in that spot for several minutes while perusing your titles and you don't want that shining down on your head, a cool flood light would be best there. I don't recomment having upper cabinets to the right and left of your hood. They get greasy there, even with the hood. Make sure your hood has a built in light.

That's exactly what I was going to say.

Click here for a discussion of the NYT review of Fuchsia Dunlop's book. And Florance Fabricant's, the reviewer, clear mistake in research for not mentioning the ban on importing Sicuan peppercorns.

Jackel's brave. I was going to say something similar. That after this whole thread Betts aparently thought we were all just discussing that work island. No, we meant your whole kitchen.

pictures?

My favorite spot would be directly on a counter. I think it's the safest space for one. That's why I also said it could fit right on the countertop across from the fridge, right there in the corner on top of the wine fridge.

Upthread I mentioned how the peninsula base cabinet will need to be finished on the end and back. But there are also cabinets that open from the front and back. One of my base corner cabinets opens with a hinged door from the "front" and regular cabinet doors on the "rear" which faces the dining room. I'm sure they make regular rectangular cabinets with front and rear entry. It's the countertop that has clipped corners, not the cabinet under it. I like the idea of open shelving under the cooktop for several reasons. But the main one being that cabinets to the side of the cooktop cabinet will have to be so narrow as to be nearly useless (I have two narrow base cabinets on either side of my stove with pull-out shelving. I found uses for them, but it was not their intended use. One holds mugs and coffee & teapots, the other holds various sieves & strainers on one shelf and knife sharpening tools on the other). It looks like you have about 14" on one side and less than that on the other, plus the angled corner. It would make a lot more sense, storage-wise, for this to be one big open area of shelving. Although someone else pointed out that the cooktop will invade the center area quite a bit. You'll have to look at the specs of your chosen cooktop to see how much space it will need below the surface. Pot drawers seemed like a nice idea at the time, until several of my pots just didn't fit. Instead the pots & pans ended up in the base corner w/lazy susan (I need to put a light in there!) and one pot & pan drawer is used to hold all the various tupperware & other plastic storage devices (originally in the lazy susan area, but they are better contained by a drawer) and the other holds nesting steel bowls, colanders, salad spinner, and a few small frequently used appliances like my blender, mini-chop fp, and coffee/spice grinder.

I think the microwave could go either on top of or in a shelf built into the lower cabinets in either the L-prep area or the new counter created by moving the subzero. Also, since I'm on the next page (100-posts per page view), I'm copying the latest floorplan here: And, looking at that floorplan, I think a microwave shelf should go in the base cabinets between the sink and ice maker. That's right across from the fridge (easy access to leftovers), under the dishes (if you put them where I suggested upthread), and low enough for the kids to use.

Eek! It's the dreaded current kitchen! Getting back to dish storage, I think they should go in the upper cabinets (you were planning on upper cabinets there, right?) opposite the sub-zero, to the right of the sink (to the left when facing sink). The window right above the sink will be nice as you enter the kitchen from the dining room, being able to see outside from there will be nice, I mean. The dish storage will be nicely adjacent to the sink & dishwasher, and nicely convenient for bringing stuff into the dining room. Edit: Credit Andy Lynes for my current overuse of the word "nice."

To Do for latest drawing: Add yellow spots or whatever it indicate lighting Change bookcase color because it is still indicated as countertop

Wooden drop-lid? Wassat?

Ice Maker Wine Refrigerator

OK, makes sense now. Too bad because having the ovens in the middle of the traffic pattern makes me nervous. One of my main dislikes of my pre-renovation kitchen was having the range opposite a peninsula end in between the the kitchen and dining room. Bad place to be bumping butts.

Wait, there's a window above the word "driveway" (in the latest picture) or to the left of the word "window"? If above "driveway" but not next to "window" (I assume that window is the one above the main sink), then the ovens can go into that nook. Next drawing you color in, make the windows blue or something.

OK everyone, chant with me: GET RID OF THE CLOSET GET RID OF THE CLOSET GET RID OF THE CLOSET GET RID OF THE CLOSET Seriously. Also, since the wall ovens are something that actually don't usually require that much attention while stuff is cooking, why is it smack dab in the middle of the room? Imagine standing there, basting something (i.e. the door open), while the lil' varmints try to get by you for some reason. Disaster waiting to happen. Move the wall oven to the guest cook L, right behind that little wall. If possible, get the wall ovens with the doors that swing out to the side, rather than down like a shelf. You'd have counter on both sides (the peninsula and the rest of the L) to put hot things down on, and standing in that U, no one is at risk of bumping their heads or touching hot things if they walk by. Then, expecially if you get rid of the closet (although that can wait till next upgrade with this design) you'd have a great expanse of countertop, adjacent to the kids' bar for the cooktop. Am I brilliant or is someone going to fault my logic?

If you have tall bookcase there a hole can be cut through the wall side (at desk height) for the telephone jack plate (have an electrical outlet installed there too, if possible). Then you could use it for a cordless phone base. I don't think you should bother with an actual desk configuration (i.e. actual countertop over base cabinet (or not) with bookcase above) because it is so shallow, and you won't be able to sit there because it is a doorway.

The dishes and plates need to go into a cabinet near the dishwasher, but not immediately over the dishwasher, IMO. With the dishwasher door open, it would be very hard to access anything above the bottom shelf of that cabinet. You would have to unload onto the counter, then close the dishwasher to put things away. They way I have it arranged in my kitchen is the dishwasher to the right of the sink and the dish cabinets to the left of the sink. ~~~ If you shorten the depth of the peninsula to the edge of the wall (sink side) then you'll get a few more inches standing room in the L shape "guest cook" area. This would also make the template much simpler, lessening the chance of error. Remember the base cabinet of the penninsula needs to be finished on three sides. Double check with the cabinet maker/contractor whether it is more cost effective to order it finished from the manufacturer or order veneer to finish onsite. ~~~ Since you have plenty of countertop opposite the fridge for putting down grocery bags, you don't need that little bit of countertop to its left. Instead, consider a bookcase. You could have it facing the doorway rather than the sink since you don't need a deep bookcase. It looks like that is about 14 -16 inches there, perfect for a bookcase. ~~~ The SubZero freezer doesn't make ice?

I agree with the Riesling suggestion, I don't like most wines, but I like most of those. Thank you Mark; for some reason I can't get it to work; but you've gotton me on the right track. Even though it is possible to add accent marks within eGullet, the preferred method is to not use them to simplify the search indices.

If IT works, why don't you donate to to Goodwill instead of a landfill?

If the garbage pull out is going to be to the left of the main sink, have you considered putting a hole (with lid) in the countertop for easy throwing away access (like they do on a lot of cooking shows)? I'm thinking that way the latest prep sink addition would have access to the garbage as well.