MelissaH

I think that is delicious, though I will only dip the crust (not the toppings part). My wife will dip any part of the pizza in ranch dressing, regardless of the toppings. ← There's a local pizza chain in Colorado, Beau Jo's. Their specialty is Mountain Pies: thick crusted pizzas with good-sized rims. On every table is a squeeze bottle of honey, with the top trimmed to make the hole bigger. You eat the pizza, and then drizzle some honey onto the crust rim and eat that for dessert. I wish we were closer than 1700 miles. MelissaH

I have not one, but two Black and Decker square four-waffle makers, with the grids that flip over to be a flat griddle. My parents had the first one for a long time. When I moved into my first apartment junior year of college, my parents bought me one of my own. And last summer, my parents moved to Colorado where they already had a waffle iron and gave me theirs. It's great to have two, especially when faced with a crowd of a dozen hungry college students on a Saturday morning! MelissaH

Marlene, I think that's the one we had in our Ohio home. When we did a minor remodel, we built it in and used it happily for another couple of years. (Just remember that when you plumb in the drain line, you need to knock out the knockout piece in the garbage disposal! ) Then we moved...to a house that had no DW or room for a portable. We redid that kitchen start to finish last summer. MelissaH

That looks beautiful! (Forgive me for saying so, but I think it would also be neat if you added some gelatin, to make your own strawberry jello with real strawberry flavor, not that artificial stuff.) MelissaH

Any relationship between this new center in Ithaca and the New York Wine and Culinary Center in Canandaigua? MelissaH

I had a very different take on egg salad a few years back. Literally, it was salad with egg. One of my husband's colleagues is Lithuanian, married to a Russian. And apparently the Russians have a wide variety of salads, of which I've been lucky enough to taste many. They all seem to use a mayonnaise-based dressing. I'm not normally fond of anything with mayonnaise, but somehow it works in Elena's salads. Heck, I'm not usually a trout lover, but I really liked the salad she made that incorporated both trout and mayo. Anyway, she made a "mimoza" salad for us once. It was a chopped salad, with (IIRC) beets, carrots, greens, and probably other stuff too. But the part that made it "mimoza" was the hard-boiled egg topping. The whites and yolks were separated, and each were finely grated. The grated whites were spread over the entire salad, and then the grated yolks went on top of that. Apparently, the yellow and white looks like a field of flowers in bloom, and these flowers are called "mimoza" in Russian, hence the name of the salad. That was the best egg salad I've ever had. MelissaH

If many people don't eat sweets of any kind, I'd steer clear of anything that's sweet, even if it's made that way with artificial sweeteners, unless the people who are ordering the cake specifically tell you it would be OK. I'd look into some kind of savory cheesecake or torta, possibly even a round of Brie that could be decorated? I wonder if it would be possible to do a terrine, or a set of terrines, that might fit the bill. lenabo's idea of a vegetable cake is also quite intriguing. I think the trick will be to come up with something gorgeous-looking that fits the general shape of a wedding cake, that can be made just as frilly as a wedding cake typically is, and that can be cut by the happy couple just like an ordinary cake. In any case, DEFINITELY go for the beautiful cake stand and decorated table. MelissaH

If you think it might be too low, see if you can find one (in any size) and play with it. Definitely bring along any large- or odd-sized dishes/pots/pans that you think you might want to use inside, to make sure they'll fit well, especially if you can find the size you'll want. How low would the second oven of a double wall oven be? Our sink is an Elkay, stainless, drop-in, giant-size single bowl. I think this is it. It's worked really well, especially for washing the things that don't go in the dishwasher or that would take up an inordinate amount of space. I can lay a half-sheet pan flat in the bottom, or my largest roasting pan. I can also get long stuff to fit, like rhubarb or celery. Or racks of ribs. Or a whole walleye, to keep the scaling somewhat neater. After nearly a year of use, it's got a few scratches, but as far as we're concerned, that just means we actually use our showpiece kitchen. We're also enjoying our faucet, a Grohe Alira. The integral sprayer is particularly nice to have in conjunction with the single giant bowl, as we can reach anywhere in the sink without having to contort the sprayer hose. We still love it. It gives us the very high heat my husband likes to use for stir-frying. Our house-sitter was envious, since we can boil a pot of water for spaghetti in only a few minutes. But we also get a wonderfully low simmer. I've virtually quit using the microwave to melt chocolate in quantities larger than an ounce, since I can put the chocolate in a metal bowl, put that on the burner on simmer, and pay it about the same attention the microwave would require, what with the stop to stir every 30 seconds. And of course we can get everything in-between also. I've had to learn to turn the burners on something lower than I'd become accustomed to using. We've both gotten very good at keeping a potholder or dry bar towel on our persons when we're cooking, because we now have hot pot handles (a new phenomenon for us) to worry about. You're a chemist, so you've surely heard the saying, "Hot glass looks like cold glass"? The same is true of pot handles, and we both learned quickly after the first time. Our house-sitter also learned the hard way, despite reading about it in the notes we'd left him AND cooking under our supervision a couple of times. (He's a former student of my husband's, who likes food but is still very much in the bottom of the learning curve, where everything is new. He's a lot of fun to teach!) I love having continuous grates, because it means you can slide stuff around the top with abandon. The only minor issue we've had is that a couple of our smaller (1 qt) saucepans can tip if you aren't careful about where you put them on the burner grate, or if you don't have something good and heavy in them. Will you be using natural gas or propane? My parents have the four-burner version, which they run on propane since there are no gas lines in the county. We aren't sure whether the propane or the high elevation (8600 ft above sea level) is to blame more, but their high isn't quite as high as ours. If you're planning for a potent cooktop, try to also plan for a potent hood that vents outside. When you have a terrific stove, it's really easy to do a lot of fun stuff that can smell up a house. A good backsplash is a must also, because high heat cooking means splatters. As far as the oven: it's terrific fun. The thermostat's been spot-on since Day One. I can bake flat cakes, for once. I have some plain tiles, which I put on the back of a cheapo half-sheet pan and use as a pizza stone; I can turn the convection on, crank the oven up as high as it will go, and do pizzas with crust that are the equal of our local pizza shops. (Gotta work more on the sauce, though. And maybe get one of the screens they use, too, since I'm not so good at keeping my pie round.) And speaking of convection, I can bake a whole batch of chocolate chip cookie dough at once, which is great for instant gratification. Even with fairly limited aisle space, we've never had a problem with space. And it's well-enough insulated that the kitchen doesn't heat up noticeably, as long as you're not doing something like pizza where the door is opened to put one in, and then opened again five minutes later to take it out, and then opened again in a couple of minutes to load the next one in. But it is a big hot space, and between the pizzas and the no-knead bread, we keep a pair of leather elbow-length welding gloves in the drawer with the potholders. We've run the self-clean cycle once so far. It stunk up the house a bit, although we don't know if that was just because it was the first time and there was odiferous gunk to burn off. We chose a chilly day, and next time we'll make sure it's warm enough to have the windows open. You also need to make sure you're home, because the self-clean cycle works like this: you start it, and after a little while the internal vent fan comes on because it gets hot enough inside the oven for the thermo-switch to activate. You know the self-clean cycle is done when the vent fan turns itself OFF, and at that point you need to manually turn the oven off. (You'd think that with what the beast costs, it would at least shut down automatically. Geez! ) It was fairly easy to sponge away the ash left over from the self-clean cycle. As others have noted, the racks don't slide as well after a self-clean. And as I noted earlier, mineral oil will smoke with a plasticky odor if you use that to re-lube the racks. But once the volatiles in the oil burned off, the racks slide well and we don't get any more smoke. I'm wondering if maybe silicone oil, like what we used in oil baths in lab, would be a better option...or if it's just best to make a plan to smoke the kitchen on purpose, immediately after each self-clean cycle. My other advice for those considering kitchen renovations, particularly those involving plumbing: try out your plans for washing dishes before you get stuck with them. In my case, that meant doing dishes in a miniature, shallow bar sink down in the family room. (Before this project started, we removed the other leg of the bar to open up the family room. The bar migrated outside, where it still acts as counterspace by the grill, and also helps to protect the antique propane cookstove that we also used during the reno. The barsink was so small that I wound up washing the pasta pot in the bathtub instead, and it was so low that I wished I could have gotten a chair underneath to save my back. As things went, one of our kitchen cabinets arrived damaged. They didn't want it back, and instead just sent us a new one. The damage was on a back corner that would have showed prominently in the kitchen, but as it turned out, would be hidden in the family room. We even had a leftover piece of countertop big enough to go on top. And then we found a cheap sink at the local Bargain Outlet. We already had a faucet, the one we took out of the kitchen (which we'd put in shortly after moving here). So after the kitchen was finished, we removed what was left of the bar downstairs. My husband rejiggered the plumbing to accommodate the new arrangement, and we put in the new cabinet and sink. A trip to IKEA furnished us with doors for the cabinet (full-height, so we can get at the sink if need be). And we have a wine fridge down there that's about the same height as the cabinet. The space between the fridge and the cabinet just serves as more wine storage space, as we have a set of shelves to fit there and it stays a relatively cool and constant temperature. I wish we'd had the bigger sink before we started, as it would have made my life much easier. Oh well. But, we will NOT be doing this again. My husband's been recommended for continuing appointment by the university president (that means tenure, for you non-academic folks out there) so we won't be moving again except if we choose to do so ourselves. We're happy, and relieved, and as a result we're enjoying this summer even more. MelissaH

Bag of pretzels, with salt. Jar of Nutella. Can of Vanilla Coke Zero. Bottle of Advil. For breakfast. MelissaH

I saw that this year's IACP baking book winner is Bread Matters: the sorry state of modern bread and a definitive guide to baking your own, by Andrew Whitley. I haven't yet seen a copy, and I have enough baking books at this point that I hesitate to purchase anything without having a good look through it first. Have you seen this book? Do you use it? How does it compare to other bread-baking books? Thanks, MelissaH

We'll get whatever brand is on sale, as long as it's a pick-a-size version. Most recently, that means our grocery store's brand. I've never noticed much of a difference, other than using less if it's pick-a-size compared to one-size-fits-none. I'm very excited to have a paper towel holder in my kitchen, for the first time in nearly nine years of marriage! MelissaH

I love your glass tile accent. MelissaH

Did I say that mineral oil was wonderful? I discovered the downside on Saturday as I baked a cake. Obviously, the smoke point of the mineral oil I used is below 350 °F. I let the oven preheat as I mixed the batter. Just as I was alternately adding the dry ingredients and the milk, I became aware of an odor like that of burning plastic. I opened the oven, and white smoke billowed out. At that point my cake could not be delayed, so I just left the oven door open, turned on the convection fan to help blow out the smoke, and opened the screen door to help air circulate throughout the house. (Good thing it wasn't below freezing, or precipitating at that moment!) I went ahead and finished the batter, scraped it into the pan but forgot to marble the walnut and mocha layers , and slid it into the oven. I checked the cake a couple of times, briefly opening the oven door to let the smoke out. By the time the cake was baked, the smoke was completely gone. The cake was for the annual departmental picnic. Nobody complained about either (1) the lack of marbling or (2) any plasticky taste. I didn't detect any plastic in the cake myself, so it must have been fine. I haven't used the oven since, but the racks slide marvelously well! Now, if I could only come up with something else to use as lube, preferably with a smoke point well above normal oven temperatures! MelissaH

Ours are just like the oven racks I've seen on every other oven: the inside of the oven has ridges molded in, and the racks ride directly on the ridges. And yes, a smidge of mineral oil on the edges of the racks works wonders for slideability! He must have learned from his brother, the one who knows how to pop open the cabinets in the house we used to live in. When we first got the boys, we kept the treats in a low cabinet. One day we came home to find that Leo had not only opened the cabinet where the treats were kept, but that he had somehow taken the top off the treat canister and eaten the whole thing! (And how did we know this was Leo's doing? That's easy: Lyon had gotten himself shut in the bathroom all day.) There's smart, and then there's kitty smart. MelissaH

Could you give us sketches of what you think you're aiming for? MelissaH

We'll check it out the next time we're down that way. Well, we're pretty much due north of Ithaca. So for us, the best way to get there is actually to zip down Rte 34 through Weedsport, Auburn, and Lansing, which usually takes a hair over two hours. Unless we're coming from Geneva, in which case it's 414 to 96.

I'm holding my breath... MelissaH

Here's another shout-out for the mocha-walnut marble cake. I was able to find ground walnuts at one of the grocery stores with a large Passover food section last month, and stuck a couple of packages in the freezer. They worked perfectly for this recipe. Since I still have half the open package left, I plan to make another cake for the chemistry department picnic this weekend. The ginkgo leaf pattern is beautiful, and oh so easy! MelissaH

We've now been through an entire winter with the kitchen. (Even though it's not yet the Fourth of July, I hereby declare winter over in Oswego! ) Nine month assessment: The kitchen has been fabulous. Everyone we've had over envies our stove. We did the first self-cleaning of the oven on a cold and rainy day, and realized once we were in too far to stop the cycle that we really should have waited for a nice day when we could have the windows open. After the self-clean cycle, I noticed that the racks didn't slide as well as they used to. Other people have also noted this happening. I e-mailed the Monogram customer service, and this is what they said: I haven't tried this yet, but I'd be inclined to use mineral oil rather than cooking oil, since we keep it around for the butcher block countertops (read on...) and because I won't have to worry about a rancid oven that way. Earlier this month, we were finally in a Container Store, and purchased an Elfa unit to hang on the pantry closet door and give us more storage there. We're still trying to figure out how to organize things best. We've rearranged a few more things. We vacillate whether the napkins should be in the second or third drawer down. We finally put the "good" china into one of our corner cabinets. I've moved things around my baking section. My ruler mysteriously vanished, and I should probably just get a new metal one that's easier to find than the clear plastic one I used to use. We still haven't settled on a final resting place for the kitchen towels. We've also had to relocate the cat treats from the pull-out below the microwave, where the cat food lives, into a completely closable drawer. Lyon finally figured out that the Pounce treat bags are much easier to tear into than the old canisters used to be. I think we need to find some kind of sealable container, so they can stay with the rest of the food. And about the countertops: I think I know why people typically use butcher block for an island, not their main countertops against walls. Over the winter, despite oiling, it shrinks. And as it shrinks, the caulk and grout etc. between the butcher block and the wall cracks and falls out. This is obviously less than ideal. If we could find some cheap inch-thick stone to use for a backsplash, this would also solve the problem for us, because the thickness of the stone would then hide the gap. But other than that, I love how the butcher block performs. I actually made a successful batch of biscuits last night! Still no kitchen party. I guess that means we're not really done quite yet. MelissaH

And the pricing on Kenmore Pro is about comparable with GE Monogram. (I'm basing this on what I saw for a 30 inch dual fuel KP range on the Sears Web site, and what my mom paid for her 30 inch dual fuel Monogram range.) MelissaH

If we hadn't replaced our water heater just a few years ago, I'd definitely be looking at tankless. Probably when this one goes (the last one was at least 15 years old) we'll do that. But I think the next big thing to replace will be the furnace to one that's more efficient. I'm not even sure the energy-star ratings existed when my furnace was installed! Great tips, too, on the valves. I know that I want to make sure my electrical panel is clearly labeled. Whoever did it originally looked like they were writing with a spider, and it's all but illegible. Pass me the p-touch labelmaker, baby! I'm not anal-retentive for nothin'! ← Are you sure you're not channeling me? Our "boys" are both orange tabbies, a hair under ten pounds so they're slightly more piccolo than your Piccolo, but they can get the same evil-eye glints and they're also both sun-soakers. And we're definitely planning to replace our hot water heater with an on-demand system when the need arises...although it looks like we're headed for a boiler replacement first, since the one we currently have is original to the house and therefore about 40 years old. Here's hoping that, for both of us, major utility replacement proceeds with less agonizing than kitchen remodeling! Hope you're staying warm and dry. We're not too bad temp-wise (not quite 20 degrees F at this moment) but I'm getting ready to go out, run the snowblower again, and dig out and haul in some more woodstove fodder. As of this morning, my town had 62 inches of snow this storm, and we're expecting more to come. MelissaH

And I'm about 50 miles north of Owen in a college town of about 8,000. Delivery options here are pizza, Chinese, Thai, subs, and the local burrito/taco joint that leaves us pining for Chipotle. We live close enough to town that it's usually just easier for us to go out and get whatever it is that we're going to be getting, rather than waiting for them to deliver it to us. Or once we're going out, we might as well just go to the supermarket and get whatever it is that we need. (But ask me again when they close the major bridge across the river for replacement sometime next year.) Our nearest Wegman's is a 40+ minute drive away, which significantly cuts down on the meals-to-go option in the supermarkets. The more local stores don't have even close to the same variety as Wegman's. Did you say something about winters, Owen? It's ugly enough here that the university's actually cancelled classes today and tonight! Therefore, I get the unexpected pleasure of a morning with eG rather than a study session with the German textbook! MelissaH

What does Barbados taste like? (Seriously, whoever came up with these names obviously had kitchen floors in mind.) And I love the sunny yellow Butter, especially since you have the same north-facing kitchen issues that we did. I like the LED lights. Have you tried turning one on, and leaving it on for a couple of hours? I'm curious whether they heat up much. We thought about going with ceiling speakers for both the kitchen and dining room, but because we were able to keep our drywall intact, it would have been a PITA to deal with. Translation: my husband would have had to spend even more time up in the attic. So with ceiling speakers ixnayed, we knew that we had to go with something self-contained. Ergo, the iPod with the hard drive big enough to hold the entire CD collection (and then some), and the iHome system for playback. (Hands down, the Bose sounded better, but we like our NPR station too much to forgo a radio in the kitchen.) And after reading your tales of needing to kill the heat, I'm glad that (1) we did our reno in the summer, and (2) that you aren't trying to do this now where I live! We're having temperatures in the single digit F range, winds steady in the 25 mph range with gusts into the upper 50's, and lake effect snow galore. It's bad enough that the university cancelled classes today. Leo and Lyon send a shout-out to Piccolo, and wish they could share a spot in front of the woodstove with him. MelissaH

Judith, I think (someone will surely tell me if I'm not correct) that Quinn's the first service dog we've seen in a foodblog. On this side of the Atlantic, many food-related places, such as grocery stores and restaurants, ban animals except for service dogs. When you're feeling better, could you tell us about any educating you've needed to do in your area so that Quinn's allowed to shop with you? Do you have trouble with people wanting to bother and distract him when you're trying to get your soup-making materials and he's working? Or do you live in a small enough town that after the first introduction, everyone just says, "Hi, Judith! Hello Quinn!" and that's the end of it? MelissaH

I'm enjoying this reno story very much. MelissaH