Varmint

When exactly is crawfish season, by the way?

Ribs and chili! A shot of Pitocin on the side helps, too!

The regular drawers have Blum Tandem full extension runners. The pull-out drawers in the cabinets have CV full extension pull-out guides. That's what the invoice says! Hinges, by the way, are Blum Compact 33.

Cabinet Installation, Day 1. Much of the day was spent organizing the cabinets and making sure the window was in the exact right place (the carpenters left themselves a little wiggle room, just in case!). At 7:25 this morning, I got a call from Russell, the driver for Cabinetry Direct. Russell left the factory in Nettleton, Mississippi yesterday morning and although he could have made it here in a day, took his time, taking a few naps along the way. When he opened the back of the trailer, I asked, "Is all that mine?" Of course it was! It was another hour before my crew arrived to haul the stuff into the house. I inspected every piece, commenting on how beautiful it looked. Then, we ran into a problem -- they did two of the upper cabinets wrong, with finished end panels on the wrong ends. I was quite surprised. Of course, Russell then pointed out that we had those upper cabinets upside down!!!! So, in the end, everything was perfect! I got into work shortly after 10AM, got a little bit done, and then at 11AM got a phone call from the truck driver who was hauling my appliances. Not only that, but he was 15 minutes away from my house! Well, I headed right back home, and Driver Mike pulled his 18-wheeler beside the house. He pulled off the range and hood. We uncrated the range in the driveway, inspected it, and began to salivate! Man, it's a nice piece of equipment. I let the "crew" carry it into the house, saving my back. In came the wall oven, the dishwasher, the hood, the disposals. It's too cool! My family and living rooms were quite crowded. I then headed back to work. When I got home, the cabinet installation had begun. And so, I offer you these photos. A view of the kitchen from the laundry room. The full size cabinet at the far wall has pull out drawers on the bottom. The hole in the middle is for the microwave. There's a base cabinet beside it, then a trash pull-out, and the sink base cabinet. The first upper cabinet has been installed, and you can see our new window. The trash pull-out. I have two of these, the second by the sink at the eating bar. Here's a different view of the new window. The sink base cabinet has these flip-down features to house sponges and the like. This gives you an idea of how the cabinets were wrapped. They were very well protected. That big cabinet is my "magic corner", which is way, way cool. This pictures starts to give you an idea of the open space I've created. This picture that includes the two L'il-est Varmints really shows the space. This picture of the cabinets that will go above the SubZeros shows some of the details in the work. Needless to say, I'm pleased. Everything went smoothly today. Folks have called me crazy for doing all of this stuff over the internet, but I'm starting to prove them wrong. I hope I can continue to do so. I'll post some more pictures before I leave for New Orleans, as the cabinets should be completely installed by then.

My goodness, Arne has been blogging for the entire day and has yet to mention anything about beer. And he calls himself a Canadian??

I haven't chimed in on this discussion, simply because my kitchen is not in any shape to make fried chicken. However, I'm drooling along throughout this entire process. I've made fried chicken maybe 300 times in my life, and I think I've got it pretty well worked out. There's a few keys, and all the rest ends up as personal preferences. First, brining is good. I use buttermilk (not low-fat) to which I've added some salt. Add other flavorings if you wish. I recently saw the former fry-cook at Jacques-Imo's use dill pickle juice as his flavoring brine. Regardless, use the buttermilk brine. Use seasoned flour as your coating. Let the buttermilk drip off, then shake the chicken in the flour. Let the chicken air dry for awhile -- 45 minutes is good. This is a pretty important step. Use vegetable shortening (i.e., Crisco) as your primary frying fat. Adding other fats for flavor (e.g., bacon grease) is a matter of personal preference. Keeping a loose lid on the frying during the first side actually helps the cooking process, so feel free to do that. One other thing I do is to cut the breasts in half before beginning this entire process. That way, they cook as quickly as the other pieces of chicken. It's as simple as that. Everyone el

Quite well. Last night I made a grilled vegetable salad and then a pasta with olive oil, garlic, grilled asparagus, grilled tuna and feta. Again, having a second kitchen has made this process not only tolerable, but quite fun.

Cabinets arrived early this morning. Man, they're beautiful. Our house quickly filled up with these in place! To make things even crazier, the appliances came today, too! That was somewhat unexpected, but now they're here. And they are beautiful, too! No dents or scratches. I'm very, very excited about my kitchen, as it's starting to take shape. I'll try and post pictures tonight.

New window is in. Cabinets go in tomorrow and Wednesday. Floor tile will go in later this week. Next week, the work on the countertops begins, along with whatever electrical work has to be installed into the cabinets themselves. I'll be sure to take pictures tomorrow and post them here! The downside of all this is that I leave for New Orleans this Friday and won't get back until March 28, the day after Easter. Of course, it's hard to say that going to New Orleans can ever have a downside!

Cabinets will be here first thing tomorrow morning. Ceiling looks great. Walls are looking great. Who's excited??

Actually, it's because the pantry houses the beer fridge, and with all the crazy Canadians who visit us, with their propensity to overindulge in their national drink, they often shower the pantry walls with the golden suds. And we all know that plywood hides beer stains better than white-painted drywall.

Guys, guys, guys. Remember who designed this kitchen in the first place; remember the maze. You expect something that we left intact to make sense? Actually, I don't know why, but I kind of like the plywood look for the pantry. It is just a pantry! Much of the house is exposed wood. Pine planks in the master bedroom, cypress in the family room, cedar siding. So, I guess a little plywood in the pantry isn't a problem now, is it??? I can't tell you the number of times my workers shook their heads over this kitchen, trying to figure out why it was done the way it was. For instance, the dryer's electrical path to the circuit breaker went up into the attic, down the long hall to the bedrooms (almost all the way to the back of the house), down into the basement, back to the front of the house, and into the circuit breaker that is located 5 feet away from the dryer. Why? At first we didn't know, but then we realized that the dryer was in the back of the house. Then the circuit breaker got moved. Then the dryer got moved. Thus, it was easier to extend the existing wires rather than do a straight-line shot. At least, that's the story I got! The electrician ripped out yards and yards of old wiring and has replaced it with pathways that make sense.

Let's start with some shots of this pantry. Here's the new doorway, where we're installing a swinging door. This picture may give you an idea of the pantry's dimensions, including its depth (taken just inside the doorway). Here's the wall where the range will be. The right side of this wall makes up part of the new closet. Here's a picture of that same wall a few days ago. The wall at the end of the SubZeros. I'm out of town tomorrow, so I'm not sure what they'll have going on. Regardless, I'll return to a nice surprise, I'm sure.

Remember, my next door neighbor is building a 9,000 square foot house (I was initially told it was going to be only 7,600 square feet)! We have a bit more land around these parts!

We've always had a pantry, but we're just adding about 30% more space. The pantry is about 4 to 4.5 feet wide, and it's now a good 20 feet deep, at least.

The last of the dry wall is up. Thus, we have a closet and two new "walls," one at the end of the SubZeros and one at the end of my Mega-Pantry. I think the one thing that will make visitors envious of my kitchen will be the pantry. It's huge! They've finished putting up the plywood on the walls and ceiling (it's currently all plywood). I believe they're now doing a lot of "mudding" of the new drywall to smooth out the screws, corners and edges. I'm quite excited, if you couldn't tell. I really can't wait for the new window to arrive and for them to install it. I'll try and post some pictures tonight, as the room has really taken shape. They'll be ready for the cabinets when they arrive on Tuesday. So will I.

Do you have a basement or crawlspace where you put the jacks? I fear we may have to do the same (we have a basement). I assume (hope) these things aren't that expensive. ← It's a crawlspace, and I think the jacks were less than 50 bucks each. It's made a big difference.

We passed the fourth and final "interim" inspection, so it's full steam ahead. Cabinets will be here in 6 days, and the appliances will arrive shortly thereafter. We had to add two stabilizing jacks under the floor, as it was in sufficiently bad shape that it was causing the concrete sub-floor to crack in two spaces -- too much "give." We sort of expected that. It looks as if this project will be finished by the end of the month -- right on time!

Cabinets will be completed this week, and although we could have them in the house Friday afternoon, I'm thinking that we may wait until Monday or Tuesday. This is primarily because the cabinets will take up a lot of space, we don't want them sitting around all weekend, and we also have a house guest. My foreman gets back today after being gone Friday and Monday, so we'll talk about the scheduling. He may want to get them here Friday, regardless, and if that's the case, so be it! I then need to call the appliance guy to set up his delivery for the middle of next week. This is fun! On a cooking note, I made a "vegetable plate" sort of dinner last night: Steamed artichokes, baked potatoes, grilled asparagus, and a grape tomato and feta salad. Clementines for dessert. It was quite a tasty meal! Raoul Duke, I think we're going to use your idea to create a recessed space between the studs. We don't have as much room as we'd like, but it'll work! Thanks for that great idea.

Chuck's Bar-B-Que in Opelika is liked by John T. Edge in his book, "Southern Belly." He also recommends Chris' Hot Dogs and Martin's, both in Montgomery and the Hotel Talisi in Tallassee. If they're good enough for John T, they're worth doing a Google search for their precise locations! Have fun, and report back, please.

Although we're discussing kitchen tasks that are therapeutic, we're talking about that in the emotional sense. However, some are physically therapeutic as well. My mother-in-law was in a car accident when she was in her late teens and injured her wrist badly. The physician told her that the best therapy for her would be to knead bread. Fifty years later, she still bakes bread regularly and if she doesn't, her wrist starts to throb. And as we all know, the smell of freshly baked bread is about as emotionally therapeutic as anything else!

Having cooked with Malawry for a crowd, the miracles she's been able to pull off here are no surprise to me. I also ate my share of fraternity and sorority meals over the year, and having someone as dedicated as her makes the entire college experience all the more meaningful. I wish I could come up and help her put on a good ol' Southern meal! A couple of days ago I noticed photos of you wearing gloves. Are you considered a restaurant under the state and local laws, subject to those regulations? Is your kitchen inspected? Or are you just following so-called "best practices" of kitchen hygiene?

Oh, by the way, last night I decided to make fried catfish in our little kitchen. It was great, and I served it with guacamole and grilled zucchini. However, one should not make fried catfish in a kitchen that is poorly ventilated that sits above (and is open to) the master bedroom. When I woke up this morning, it still smelled like fried catfish. I'll be cooking for friends at the in-laws' tonight!

Heh heh. Here I am, putting in a kitchen with peoples' least favorite surfaces: ceramic tile floors and granite tile countertops. For me, however, I did the research and went with what I like, what looks good, what's durable, and what's easy to clean. The ceramic tile floor may be somewhat hard on the feet, but I need to wear my shoes anyway. I can't stand on any surface barefoot for very long. For the counters, I made a compromise, but one with which I'll have no problems. I would have preferred granite slab, but I couldn't swallow the $70 a square foot cost. I like the durability of granite and the color. I do put hot pots directly on my counter, and I plan on doing this with the granite. If it cracks, well, I have about 20 extra square feet of it ready to go! Plus, the granite tiles are 12"X12", so that's a lot more surface and less grout than I currently have.

That's a great idea. I'll look at the space tonight and see if we can't do that!