Varmint

Two questions: has anyone ever purchased frozen duck confit? I saw some in Whole Foods that I'd like to try tonight. Second, can I make a confit ragout to be served with fresh tagliatelle, much like I've done with braised short rib meat? I'm looking for a very rich pasta dish to serve with some kick-ass barolo tonight (I'm cooking at the in-laws).

Just for you, then: This breaker panel was in the middle of the kitchen, and we had planned on moving it to the other side of the same wall, towards the baking area. This would not conform to code, as you need to be able to stand in front of the box, apparently. So, we moved it into the pantry, where no one can see it anymore! All the wires will be covered with plywood, of course, matching the rest of the pantry. Also recognize that we had to put in a new breaker box in the laundry room broom closet, as that was the dangerous one. So far, we've paid the carpenters about $6,600 for labor and materials, including the new casement window, two slab doors, floor underlayment, lumber, drywall, hardware, and dump fees. There isn't a heck of a lot more lumber to buy, except for the deck for the countertop. The electrician will be billing us half his fee, which is about $1,800, now that he passed the rough-in inspection. The plumber just billed us $500 for his part so far. Of course, we are asking the workers to do "other stuff" for us, including burying a french drain to offset the additional run-off we're getting from the construction site behind us. We'll have them build us some more shelves for the pantry and laundry room. It's obviously the right time to do this. I'm looking for some counter stools to replace what we have. Here are the requirements: no swiveling; arms not ideal; they should have a base of 4 legs; they must be easy to clean; they must be fairly well-built, to endure the abuse of several children. Oh, and they need to be no more than $150 a piece, as we'll probably be getting 6 or 7 of them. I'm going to Ikea in a week, so I'll see what they have. Anyone else have any ideas? Have I mentioned that I'm really having fun with this?!

The Spoleto Festival may very well be enough for you to consider elsewhere. Savannah is indeed a great choice, and although it's a bit of a haul to get down there from Durham, it might be what you're looking for. Of course, you could go all out and head up to The Inn at Little Washington. You're sure to be pampered there.

Oops, Arne was right about one of those cans. Damn. It does sit about 18-20 inches away from the wall, and it is too close to that upper cabinet. I'm probably just going to live with it, though, as otherwise, I'd have to get the workers to change the position of 6 cans, and I'm not going to do that. Geesh, I had to have something that wasn't perfect!

Yes, the work site has been kept very clean. They take care of that every single day. As far as the lights are concerned, there's only one that sits above the sink, where there will be no cabinets. The other one is not by the cabinets -- it just looks that way. It's located in the "open" end of the kitchen. Thanks for looking closely, though!

You asked for photos, so here you go. My nice, level concrete floor. My almost smooth ceiling, with new recessed lights. Note the cut-out for the window to the right. We'll break through there in about a week. The frame to the left is for the wall which will be at the end of the SubZeros. Duct for the hood. Where the range will be. Where the eating bar will be. That's the single post that'll go through the eating bar. The framing is for the new closet. You can also see the rough-in plumbing. The wires hanging from the overhead beam are for the low voltage lights that'll be over the eating bar. The new doorway for the extended pantry. The old door was where the insulation and brown tile flooring ended. The workers store a lot of their tools in the pantry. Note the new breaker panel to the right. The baking area. Here's a view looking back towards the laundry room. Looking at the kitchen from the living room. So, as you can see, a lot of work remains. They'll be fixing up the walls over the next few days, complete the ceiling drywall work, and then wait for the cabinets. The electrician can now come in and finish his work.

Oh, and I am driving the 3 younger L'il Varmints down to New Orleans in a couple of weeks. The oldest child will be in Colorado snow boarding with his godmother and will fly in on Good Friday. Mrs. Varmint will fly down on Wednesday, so I'll have a 3, 6 and 9 year old to myself for several days. Brooks has offered to join me.

OK, maybe I just don't get it. I just got a call from the carpenters that the electrical inspector came (even though he said he wouldn't), spent 2 minutes looking at the new breaker boxes, and passed us on the rough-in. Very, very bizarre. That allows the carpenters to get back to work on the drywall, closing up lots of open areas that they thought the inspector would want to see. We only have one more rough-in inspection to go, that being the general inspector. There shouldn't be any issues there, I'd think. I don't understand the government, and I think I shouldn't begin to try. To ensure that this thread is food oriented, I intend to cook a meal for my crew when the kitchen is done. As I mentioned above, one of the guys is from the Czech Republic and is a little homesick. So, anyone have any good Czech recipes?

The electrical inspector is being a pain in the ass. He said he probably can't make it today or tomorrow, and he isn't quite sure when he'll come. Meanwhile, we wait.

Susan, the renovation has not been a hardship at all. The mini-kitchen has been a godsend, and because the carpenters and electrician are great guys, this has actually been very entertaining. The kids are actually loving it. The lead guy is a former snowboard instructor who actually has a college degree in parapsychology. The second guy is from the Czech Republic who drinks San Pelligrino and loves all kinds of weird music. The youngest guy is Canadian, and we all know that's entertainment in and of itself. This younger guy used to be a chef, so I try and chat him up as much as I can. We'll definitely cook for these guys when the kitchen is done. We've been making pasta and grilling up in the mini-kitchen. Last night I made a red clam sauce, and for the first time in ages, we remembered that we can still drink wine -- so we split a bottle of Rioja. I also grilled some bread, rubbed them with garlic, and drizzled with EVOO. It was a very nice meal. Hate me if you want, but we're having a great time. We'll be excited when it's done, of course, but we can live without our kitchen for another month. Of course, I reserve all rights to change my mind in a few weeks!

Plumbing and HVAC passed the first round of inspections. Of course, the one inspection that we needed to get done today, electrical, didn't happen. The inspector just didn't show. We need him to come, as a lot of the walls are exposed to allow him to see the wiring. Damn inspectors!

The cement subfloor was poured yesterday. Perhaps for the first time in this house's history, we have a level, flat kitchen floor. This is a fast working cement that we can walk on today. It fully cures in a couple of days, but I think the workers will be doing some more sheet rock work, sanding stuff down. I received the cobalt blue glass trim for my recessed lights, and they look very cool. It'll be fun to get them up. First round of inspections starts tomorrow, I believe. Hopefully, the work is OK to them!

It's been sort of a slow week. It's not that folks aren't working hard -- they are -- but it's just that much of the work focuses on the infrastructure. The wiring, replacing the subfloor, patching and replacing sheetrock, building frames for new walls and a window. We decided it was more cost-effective to replace much of the old wood subflooring, as it was in horrible shape due to some water damage. No big deal, but we had hoped to pour the underlayment this week, but that's been postponed until Monday. We'll then get the inspectors here for the first round of approvals. I talked with my cabinet maker today, and we're very close to schedule. We were optimistically hoping they'd be delivered a week from this Monday, which would have represented a 6-week turn-around time, but the current worst-case projection is two weeks from Monday, or a 7-week process. That's still pretty darned fast. Appliances are ready for delivery, and I'll schedule them to arrive on the Wednesday after the cabinets get here. Of course, I leave for a 9-day spring break trip to New Orleans that Friday, so I'll be missing a lot while I'm gone. Bummer.

The carpet is cleaned, the ductwork for the hood is positioned properly, and the gas line is almost where it needs to be. It should be fine, but it's still not exactly right, despite my drawing per Rachel's suggestion. Un-effing-believable!

Gomer and Goober are back today to fix their HVAC screw-ups. I'll swing by at lunchtime to see what they accomplished. If there is going to be a "Dumb and Dumber 3", I nominate these guys to be the leads. On a positive note, their reconfiguration of the ductwork has improved the air flow of the house. The electrician has nearly finished all his wiring, and it was a LOT of wiring. I haven't added any new pictures because the progress right now is not very noticeable. Lots of repair work is being done. The kids are doing great, as is Mrs. V. The second kitchen is a godsend.

The HVAC crew will be coming back out tomorrow. I hope they bring a carpet cleaner with them, but red clay doesn't come out of anything. I also failed to mention that the ductwork for my hood was off by 3 inches. Dagnabbit.

The first headache arrived yesterday in the form of the HVAC technicians. If I learned one thing from this process it's that when you hire someone, hire a small, one or two man shop. Our electrician, for example, is a solo operator and has done an amazing job in a very speedy fashion. He worked on Saturday to make sure we had power to allow us to return home on Sunday. He was back at it yesterday morning, trying to get as much done as he could. My carpentry crew of 3 is another great example of dedication. They may not put in the long hours, but when they're here, they're working their asses off and taking pride in their work. The wood subfloor has been totally secured with screws, the framing of the new closet and pantry doors has begun, and we'll begin pouring the floor "mud" in a couple of days. The HVAC company, on the other hand, has been terrible. First, after I got them committed to do the work and put them on the building permit, I had trouble with their representative returning my phone calls. Finally, I called the home office, asking what the heck was the matter. Well, one of the big cheeses was very apologetic and came out last Friday to take all the measurements himself. On top of that, he assured me that he'd have his crew here on Monday (yesterday), and they certainly were. Well, when I swung by the house at lunch-time, I realized they had put 2 of the 3 under-cabinet vents in the wrong location. They were about to install the gas line in the wrong place. The two of them tracked red-clay mud all over our backstairs carpet. And the guy doing the main work looked and acted like the worst charicature of a rube from the Andy Griffith Show one could ever imagine. I told him precisely where everything needed to go. I told him the gas line had to be 20 inches from the left wall and 4 inches from the ground, but it must be coming from the wall. Well, when I got home last night, there's the gas line, coming up from the floor. When the mud gets poured, it'll cover up the cut-off valve. My gosh, people!!!! Now, before y'all go and point fingers at my "foreman" carpenter, recognize that he was out all day yesterday, doing other things I had asked of him. He was ordering a window, purchasing a door, etc. He and I both relied on the HVAC guys to do their jobs properly. Well, we won't make that mistake again, that's for sure. Anyhow, we'll get this all cleared up. I did cook Mrs. Varmint our first meal in the mini-kitchen: grilled triggerfish, grilled yellow squash, and toaster-oven-baked potatoes. Not exciting, but not bad. And today's our 13th anniversary (and our oldest son's 11th birthday), so we're taking him and the extended family to a Japanese steakhouse.

I'm not sure if I truly have a finalized budget. Right now, the $50,000 figure appears to be right -- maybe $55,000. The appliance cost was about 9 grand, the sink and fixtures was $1,500, lighting was about $1,200, tiles for floor and counter was $1,400, cabinets were $14,300. HVAC costs are $1,400. Plumbing is about the same. Electrician will be about $3,500, which exceeded my budget by about $1,000, but that was for a safety issue. Carpentry fills out the rest (except for $260 in permitting fees). It was great to sleep in my own bed. I've been fighting this awful cold (and losing), and sleeping on an air mattress wasn't helpful. It beat sleeping in a dust-filled environment, of course.

I also noted that you had asked questions about ranges. This was one area that I researched exhaustively, and ultimately, I chose a 36" six burner dual fuel GE Monogram. Why? First, I liked the performance. It pumped out the BTUs that I wanted, it had low temperature simmer controls, and it had a continuous grate to facilitate pan movement. It's made by DCS (now owned by Fisher Paykel), but it's serviced by GE. No matter where you live, you'll find GE repair personnel. I'm not sure how many DCS repairmen/women there are across the country. Finally, you couldn't beat the price. This range cost me about $5,000, delivered. The comparable Viking unit was a couple grand more, which I couldn't justify. Actually, even if the Viking were the same price, I probably would have still chosen the Monogram. I just can't wait to cook with the sucker!

I nearly made a critical mistake a year ago when I thought I could "upgrade" my kitchen without a complete renovation. Had I gone through this mini-remodel, I would have been completely dissatisfied. What the delay did was allow me to reconsider everything I "knew" I wanted. I continued to research. I continued to analyze how the food would go from range to countertop or to sink. How dishes were to be cleared. How dishes were to be stored. And I continued to post here to get more feedback. I accepted a lot of suggestions (Get rid of that closet, as Rachel told me many times) and ignored others (flour bins and commercial vinyl). However, I considered nearly every option. From there, it was no longer a matter of what I was going to do, but how. I've spent the past week at my in-laws, working in a high-end kitchen with 3 ovens, 2 dishwashers, a big range, and a huge marble island. I used to love this kitchen, but having gone through this analytical process with my own space, I've recognized how horribly inefficient my in-laws' kitchen is. Too many things are not where they should be. That's not going to be the case with my kitchen. So, as many people told me, wait awhile. Start from scratch and bare walls. Let go of what the kitchen is now. From that shell, you can put everything exactly where you want it. You can make the kitchen look and function to meet your expectations. If you compromise, you may regret it. I would have been bitching and moaning today if I settled for less than what I'm currently getting. One final thing, if you do your research, you'll save yourself a ton of money. I'm still going to get my project done, including appliances, for about 30-50% less than had I not bought my own stuff, hired my own carpenters, and provided everyone with detailed specifications. It's already made a huge difference. So, listen to these fine folks. They really do know the right way to approach this.

Federal Pacific. In addition to the hazards inherent in the box itself, the wiring was screwed up.

The first week of construction is history, and it's been a great experience. I'm very glad I took the time to do this project the right way. There truly have been no suprises. The one time where I thought there might have been a problem with load bearing walls, we came up with an extremely elegant and simple solution. The I-beam that goes across the eating bar now continues across the length of the kitchen, tying into the doorway by the SubZeros. We ended up with what I expected, a single 4x6 beam supporting the ceiling, and it has been done precisely as I planned. My house is already transformed, as the kitchen is now completely opened up to the living and dining areas. This is a bit silly, but when I saw today how open it all is, I almost cried. It's better than I could have imagined. We have agreed to take on some additional expense, but only because it's necessary. We're having a second breaker box completely re-wired, but that's a safety issue. Plus, it probably wouldn't have passed inspection. The electrician arrived at 6 this morning and will be working over the weekend to get all of this done. He's quite impressive. I've increased the number of recessed lighting fixtures in the kitchen to 10 in the main part and 2 in the baking area, plus a smaller recessed fixture over the main sink. I just ordered some very cool glass trim for these fixtures: Italian cobalt blue glass! This trim matches the glass shades on the low-voltage lighting over the eating bar. Next week brings more adventures. We'll be installing the new window, laying the "mud" for the floor, doing the preliminary HVAC and plumbing work, and some more carpentry. The cabinets arrive 2 weeks from this coming Monday. If anything, we're ahead of schedule. We'll be moving back into the house on Sunday. It was a good decision to clear out during the demolition phase, but it's time for everyone to get back to their own beds. I'll see if I can't get some more pictures posted this weekend. Full steam ahead!!!

President's Day isn't celebrated much down here. You should be fine, but it wouldn't hurt to call anyway.

If you're staying in Thomasville, you'll be in the heart of "Western" or "Lexington" barbecue country. Lexington #1, also known as "Honey Monks" is a good choice, as many believe it to be the best representative of this style of NC barbecue. Go to this thread for a tour of some lesser known joints, which I think you should try. A simple google search will help you find them all, and they're quite close by to where you'll be staying. As you head towards Hickory, you leave barbecue country, so make sure you get your fill in the High Point region. Lexington itself has a dozen or so decent establishments. One final thought: most barbecue restaurants are closed on Sundays, and many are also closed on Monday. So call before you go! Have fun.

I've always been a fan of Tom Colicchio, who has made some of the best braised dishes I've ever tasted. I believe he leaves his short ribs uncovered while in the oven, a method I use, resulting in a much "deeper" flavor with the meat than if the ribs were covered. Does anyone have comments in this regard?