JennotJenn

As far as things that most people find perfectly edible, I have but one extreme dislike: Cold lunchmeat sandwiches (except for corned beef, which is totally God's gift). I actually broke down in tears the last time I had to eat one (MIL had ordered subs). I don't care for chicken (any part of the bird) or ham either, but I can eat them without sobbing.

My grandmother hated Reagan so much that to this day, she will not allow jelly beans in her house (grandma is a small, dry roasted nut...why would any sane person deprive themselves of delicious candy because of partisan politics?).. My faves are pink grapefruit, sour orange and (omg sooooo good) sour raspberry. It tastes exactly like a raspberry (the schnazberries taste like schnazberries!). The buttered popcorn makes me want to vomit. No, really. Something in it gives me a sick headache. I've tried the JBz (the chocolate covered ones), and find them even less appealing than the every flavor beans. Saw a special on those not long ago, and yes, someone had to do PD&R in a major way. I think the earwax flavor is mostly old-fashioned bitters. God, I hope that I get a job like that with my food science degree!

It's an L configuration, with cabinets along the short back wall (about 7', once you factor in the door), and the long side wall (about 10' of space). There's a 5' (or so) peninsula int he middle of the room. One of the walls would be good for shallow shelving, and I'm giving that consideration, but for spices I think I may have found another solution: Rev-a-shelf I would put in in an upper cabinet above my baking area, and perhaps have a larger one (or a lazy susan) in the base cabinet for flour, sugar, etc. I think it would really help maximize the space. The hardware isn't cheap, but I'll pay out of my own pocket as opposed to from the general fund if I have to...those just look very useful.

Is this what you are referring to? Lee Valley Tools lifting shelving Yes! That links to the wrong item, but I found the lift anyway. That's exactly what I'm looking for! I'll show it to him and see if he can find it for a better price, but that's still fairly reasonable, and it would save valuable counter spacce.

It's only small because 6'x9' of it is taken up by the eat in, and there's no other dining area. So, when it comes down to it, I have a 10'x9' kitchen.

I'm going to have to make some phone calls. Depending on what site you go to, it lists different things. The only thing I could find that they agreed on was that it does have the simmer burner, but no high powered one. Some sites list it as non-convection, but their own site lists it as convection. I may pitch in the extra $500. I sorta want the high powered burner anyway.

The kitchen itself is quite small (16x9, including dine-in area), so you guys are dead on about needing to maximize counter space where possible. I use my stand mixer on a near-daily basis, but it does take up valuable counter space. What about those contraptions that raise and lower the mixer into a cabinet? Anyone know what I'm talking about, or where I can get a description of one to show my dad? If he can see it, he can make it. No joke. I'm already all about a lazy susan. He asked me if I wanted adjustable shelving. Based on comments so far, I think I'm going to tell him yes on upper cabinets, which will probably be food storage (no chance for a pantry, but maybe I can go w/some shallow open shelving along one of the walls for spices...the mother of all spice racks!), but no on bottom cabinets, which will hold sheet pans, etc. He knows I want pullouts in those cabinets anyway, and has suggested I spring a couple of extra bucks per cabinet for fully extendable hardware, something he insists will be worth the extra money.

Are there Bluestar ranges w/o a convection oven? According to their website, they all have a conection fan system. Is their website wrong (it would not surprise me if it was wrong)? I think the one I'm looking at, the cheapest one ($2500), is sans convection and sans window in door. The next step up in a 30" has both and is @$3000. I'm pretty sure all but the cheapest one are convection. Editing to say that I just checked Distinctive Appliances, which lists the model I'm looking at as non-convection.

Sorry guys. I ate both bags before I could figure out how to take a close-up picture. The peanuts looked about the same size, though...

Man, I hope this hasn't been covered before. If so, chastize me and merge the subject, s'il vous plait. My father, a serious amateur cabinetmaker, is helping me and my husband build new cabinets for our small kitchen. He is concerned with providing for my baking needs in both cabinetry and tools, even offering to pay the difference between a BlueStar range with a non-convection oven and one with a convection oven. It's unlike him to offer up such a large sum of money. I think it's because he understands the correlation between my baking and his woodworking. He understands my desire to aquire the best tools I can afford, and to have the most effective use of space, even in a small area, something important to cooks/bakers and craftsmen alike. He also understands that I'm on a budget cabinetwise, since the bulk of our budget is going towards equipment. Luckily, his work is impressive, he'll do it in exchange for a few meals and a chance to spend time with me, and he knows people from whom he can get quality materials inexpensively. I totally have the best dad. He's so getting a Father's Day present this year (we're not big on exchanging real gifts...). So, long story short, my job is to come up with the design. I know I want a shorter countertop so I can work my doughs more easily (I'm short, so this is especially important). However, I have no idea what else I want or need. Well, it's more like I have ideas, but don't know how to implement them. First and foremost, I do not have a pantry, and there is no room to build one without knocking out part of a load bearing plaster wall. No thanks. My biggest want is that I would like an area for flour storage. I have about a dozen types of flour, but about 3/4 of them go in cold storage, so I really only need cabinet space for all-purpose and bread flour. Does anyone have plastic lined pull out (or tip forward, if that makes sense) bins for their flour? If so, what do you think of them? A good idea or a PITA? Right now I keep my flour in a big Tupperware container, which works ok, but it takes up a bunch of room, and worse, buries the rest of the items in my cabinets. Also, I need spice/leavening/thickener storage. I have too damn many spices and probably need to pare down some, but even then, I need major storage. Do you prefer a deep drawer? Built in spice racks? Something else that's so fantastic that I haven't thought of it yet? I need a way of storing baking sheets, sheet pans and cake pans. Has anyone found any system that really works? Other than that, I'm clueless. What do you have in your work area that makes baking a joy? What do you wish you had? What do you wish you hadn't spent the time/money/energy on?

My grandma just sent me a bunch of rhubarb (with a promise to send a clump of it to plant once we close on our house). I like it with strawberries and without. However, with strawberries, I like them uncooked. There's a recipe in the Pie and Pastry Bible that's essentially a plain rhubarb pie with a fresh (macerated in sugar but uncooked) strawberry pie on top. Really yummy, with the bright sweetness of the fresh strawberries complementing the bright tartness of the rhubarb. Magical. I'm probably going to turn this batch into a plain rhubarb and pastry cream napoleon.

OK, if I can figure out how to take a close-up with my digicam, I'll take a picture of the cross-section. It's a PITA to get one, as most of the shell wants to come off in the process, but I think I've got a pretty good system going with a serrated knife (biting does not work). I'll also take a picture of the naked peanut from each. In the experiment, samples taken are the average size for each type of peanut M&M. My husband thinks I'm crazy, but is happy to reap the benefits of having candy in the house (we normally keep it far, far away because I have no self control). And I like the regular ones better. Not that I don't like the Shrek M&Ms, but I do like more peanut than chocolate. I do wish they would make the green the standard, though. I love that color!

Morningstar Farms faux hot wings. Barf.

Raises hand and volunteers for experiment. I'll give it a go. I like the peanuttiness of the regular ones, so I may not like the Shrek ones, but I'm willing to buy a pack of each and try them. I have a digicam, so I'll try to post photos as well, as long as you don't mind pics of slobbery candy cross sections.

I'm making one tonight with the lemon soda. Sounds great! Fizzyness (fizziness?) is essential for my summertime drinks. Fruitiness good too, but I don't like anything overpowering or too heavy on the sugar. No matter how hot it gets, Husband will still stick to single malt up lest he be thought of as unmanly.

Yes. My husband and I were out to eat for our 2nd wedding anniversary at a pricey little cafe on the Outer Banks. I'd been feeling funny all day, but all of a sudden, in the middle of the second course, I started vomiting. Hard. Luckily I made it to the restroom, but there was still a bit of a scene. Luckily, we were the only people in the place at the time, as it was pretty late at night. Anyway, the staff came and checked on me, made sure I wasn't dying, all that. My husband decided maybe it was time to leave, and asked to settle up. They comped us everything. 4 expensive glasses of wine and 2 courses. This was even though I assured them that it wasn't their fault, that I had been feeling a little funny all day. I didn't tell them the real reason: I had missed a couple of pills and was going through withdrawal from a prescription medication, but I really didn't feel the need to share that, even though it would have assured them that it really, honest to God wasn't their fault. I had managed to get the meds back into my system earlier that day (left them at home and had to have my doc call in an RX to the local pharmacy), and thought I would be fine. Heck, until recently, the drug company refused to even admit that there were withdrawal symptoms at all, so I figured the funny feelings earlier in the day were all in my head. Anyway, it was bad news bears. And the restaurant was so nice about it, called to check on me later, made us new reservations for later in the week and everything. I'm sure part of it was that they were afraid they had caused my illness, but part of it was just being nice.

I bought a hunk of Point Reyes blue yesterday. I'm just beginning my foray into the world of blue cheese, and I haven't tried very many since I realized that I liked it. My high school biology teacher was right...she said most people develop a taste for blue cheese in their mid 20s. I hated it prior to a year or so ago, when I discovered that I liked it crumbled on salads. Anyway, really enjoyed the Point Reyes. Salty, but not overly so, with a nice tangy bite and a taste reminiscent of Camembert rind. Tasty.

Coconut lime.

There's a googleplex right across the street from our closest Target, which is a mile from our apartment. I know what I'll be sneaking into the Sunday matinee of Shrek 2 (we like animation a bit too much for a couple of grownups with no kids, and I like peanut M&Ms more than anyone should...perfect afternoon). On a side note, you know what I really miss? The tan colored plain M&Ms. I know all the colors taste the same, but that one was my favorite. I was sad when they got rid of it.

Whew. That's what I was thinking. We had the home inspection last night and it went pretty well. The inspector said was a really nice, tight little house (especially being 50 yrs old), and that the attic was better than most he'd seen in any home. The kitchen is vented through the roof already, so I won't have to saw anything myself, yay! However, the current stove is less than 27" wide. This should be ok, since there's about 5-6 inches on one side, along with some narrow cabinets that we can saw out and front with plywood since we're painting them anyway. And the existing cabinets are really cheap, so it won't be painful to cut them up. We'll have to do new countertops, though, but I'm going with laminate because it's just not worth doing anything else in this kitchen. Time to get my Blue Star to NC will be around 4-6 weeks, so I'm going to order about mid-July. Woo!

I'd be interested in your sources of information about the Blue Stars and what you ultimately conclude. Also, be careful of your use of terminology. I don't think Blue Star makes a "slide in" range; their's are free standing. Are you sure? The one I'm looking at comes with "island trim." I was assuming this meant that it was trimmed for use in an island, and therefore not freestading. I'll call and ask.

Either that Roaring 40's had gone off or it was mislabelled. It's nowhere near orange. I love Roaring 40's...tastes like black walnuts.

Well, I just found out that my FIL was once a GC, and even built one of their homes. This is very good news. They just built a beach house (hired this one out)and need my husband's expertise in putting together their sweet new foosball table as well as a little landscaping help (oh how I love laying down pine straw), so I think we'll trade work for work. We don't have a basement...it's a crawl space (blargh). If he can't run a gas line (there is already existing gas to the house, just not in the kitchen), my MIL works for a GC, and can probably get us a good bid. I'm pretty sure I'm going with the Blue Star 30" range. Features look cool and it's a good price ($2500 delivered for the basic 30", $3000 for the convection). Husband agreed that with the amount of cooking I do (and the fact that this saves us money because we almost never eat out), and the fact that I enjoy it so much, he's cool with going with my plan, especially since I told him I was willing to wait a year or so on countertops (which are bad but not ungodly) and other appliances. Also, he thinks that range is really cool in terms of form (likes the utilitarian look) and function (all you have to say is 18,000 btus for his eyes to get all dreamy). I do need to find a little more information on how the oven performs, though I am very pleased with the size of said oven. It's pretty huge for a 30" range (a bit over 26" wide and plenty deep). So here's the final plan (for now anyway): Rip down wallpaper and paint walls (DIY) Rip up vinyl, put down hardwood (DIY...FIL and my dad are willing to help) Paint cabinets (DIY) Possibly replace cabinet hardware, add in lazy susan in corner if needed (DIY...doh! almost wrote DUI there) Add beadboard around breakfast nook (DIY) Build in bookcases/open shelves (dad is an amazing carpenter, very talented at cabinetry, though rather slow) Buy new range, sell/dispose of current range Add island vent hood and chimney (I have no idea if this is going to be installed by us or if we'll have to hire help...my dad installed his attic fan, maybe he can help) Run gas line and install range (FIL or GC) I'm hoping to start as soon as they give us the keys. We close a month before our apartment lease is up, which at first was a not-so-great thought (paying for 2 places at once), but then we realized that it gives us a fair amount of time to get the kitchen (and all those other, less important rooms ) in working order. Thanks for all of the input and feedback so far.

She's actually a dual-agent (does every state have dual agency or should I explain it?), but yes, we went with the first guy she suggested. I'm glad to know that we can ask questions. Edited to say that I didn't mean any snideness in my offer to expain dual agency. I honestly don't know if every state has that or not, or if anyone knows what it means. Not trying to be rude!

Oh, and rubber flooring actually gives me the same concern that cork does: I have a cat who really enjoys clawing cork and rubber in other, non-flooring forms. I'm afraid she'd tear up the floor! Every pair of rubber flip flops I own has been destroyed by her. I'm afraid anything with any give is going to be demolished.