FabulousFoodBabe

Very exciting day, today! Cabinetmaker sent a few photos of the cabinets in progress. This one is going to house the refrigerator. The side of the cabinet you can see has been designed with a recessed panel. The panel will soon contain shallow shelves where I can keep the binders and clipboards I'll be using, and hooks for my index cards. That way, if I need to follow a recipe or make notes, it'll be easily accessible (that side faces the range), and not interfere with counter space. Also, the new floor tiles arrived today. I cannot wait to see those "supposed to be white" tiles go. I really hope they let me swing the hammer this time.

So true, terra! And it wasn't too many generations ago, that people canned and froze and mass produced on their own, both to not waste and to free up time later on. Of course, they did this with stuff they produced on their own .. If growing and cooking food wasn't complete drudgery to so many people, convenience foods would have never caught on. Any change is wrenching for most people. One step at a time.

Specify the stories, Fabby, so we can see. I'll give it a shot. (Ha, ha, I just hit the wrong letter and wrote "shit" instead of "shot". A fine morning it is. ) ← All I meant was, the pieces I'm seeing are coming out of agricultural regions. I can do more investigating myself, and have. I don't trust things when I can't find out who is backing the "studies."

Hmm ... while I love your passion and commitment, I wonder if the "should" and "no excuses" strategy is going to be effective both for its tone, and that it tends to ignore personal choice and situations. It's hasn't worked too well for many things way less important than feeding people. But, back to the topic: If this makes people make more thoughtful decisions about what they eat, and think about their food as something besides a pink package in a grocery store, terrific! BTW, I've noticed that the "'eat local' people are full of hooey!" stories are coming from agricultural areas that stand to lose if people do, in fact, eat locally. Please, if I'm wrong about this, tell me!

A 60" Bluestar.

And today, Nana #2 went in. All that's left to do is install the floor-to-ceiling windows on the walls where the Nanas will fold in. Township engineers were out yesterday looking at what we've done to be sure we're being good and, ahem, "true to plans filed with the town." Mr. Plumber was out today as well, and mystery boxes are arriving daily. Woo hoo!

when Mr. FB and I am served by a waiter who plonks down our dishes and says, "enjoy," we always say to one another, sotto voce, "choke on it!" Then we laugh crazily. I'm sure this is an irritating guest habit.

True -- I saw that a few times. I'm no cutie, though, but I even found in Culinary school -- when I'd enrolled after cooking professionally for 20 years -- that the boys who'd been on a line for 2 years always were taking my knife out of my hands and trying to show me how it was done. None of them ever showed me anything different or new, they just assumed I was clueless. They generally made a big show of steeling their knives and racing back and forth. Edited to add: Taking my knive out of my hands to show me how it was done happened once per cooking team. Quelle B.S.!

Most of my non-heavy-duty-cook friends are getting Monograms in their new kitchens. The ones I've seen and worked with are very nice, and they've been happy with them. Their decision-making was less "Viking/Wolf/Monogram" and more "Dacor/JennAir/Frigidaire/Monogram."

I believe refrigerator drawers are worth it, if you can install them just where you want them, and am getting ready to have a dishwasher drawer in the new kitchen. The kitchen in my last house had Subzero drawers to the lower right of the range (for storing mis), and near the second cooktop, which held drinks and snacks, for the most part. the new kitchen won't have any refrigerator drawers, for lots of reasons interesting to me but boring to the rest of the world, I know , but I did love them when I had them. My under-construction kitchen will have a full-sized dishwasher in the main cleanup area, and a drawer in the wet bar that will be used for overflow, but mainly for stemware, silver, etc. I'm getting a Fisher-Paykel, because I fell in love with one during the last reno and never forgot about it.

I have a Nanawall! Just one, but it's there and it's spectacular. It's on the smaller wall -- this is what is currently a sitting room. The whitish stuff is plastic sheeting. You can see our little Weber grill, which I refuse to pitch into the dumpster. I like it. It's served us well. Anyway, I'm very excited about this development!

You are sweet to say that -- but take a look at the wall. Ten feet beyond that is the street! So, instead of having people 'living' in our back yard, they stand at the top of the hill and look at us. Through the trees. Jealous! Jealous! You are pulling way ahead. Photos, please, on your thread? (Heh -- my bit o'beefcake is in a black tank top today. Do you have one of them? ) All faucets and non-integrated sinks are by KWC -- cleanup sink has a pulldown, hand sink and bar sink have smaller faucets (and the hand sink also has a foot pedal -- woo hoo!). I also got a potfiller from them. It was an easy decision, because they are Mr. FB's clients. And no, we didn't get a deal!

Oh! Has anyone had experience with Eucalyptus flooring? We are trying to decide now if we should go with Ipe, which is outrageously expensive and hard to maintain indoors, or something else. Eucalyptus has the same type of grain as Ipe and since I want the indoors and outdoors to look like one room, I am favoring that versus oak flooring.

Day 15 of the Renovation just ended, and when I was bringing a snack to the workers, I managed to get a snapshot of the back of the house, sans walls. They open them up during the day to get the frames and rails run for the Nanas, and nail everything shut at night. This is from the foyer -- both walls will be replaced. You can see out onto the back deck, which we had built into the rock outcroppings last fall. Don't tell Mr. FB, but I have a major crush on the dude in the blue tank top.

In my collection, I just noticed I have about 1500 cookbooks with "simply delicious" in the titles. I'm embarrassed for the publishers. For me, I'm embarrassed that I have a copy of Predestined To Be Good, the cookbook of the Ladies Auxiliary of the First Presbyterian Church of LaGrange, GA. I also have the favorite recipes for the U of Alabama Tigers Baseball Team (BIL was a member for a few years). the most might be Eat This: You'll Feel Better! I did, and I didn't. Fatso was better. But still ...

When we were kids, we walked to the nearest "convenience" store -- ours was called Mike's Deli, on Bridgetown Road in Cincinnati -- to pick up cigarettes for my Mom. We'd get a loaf of bread for lunch, some penny candy for ourselves, and a pack of Marlboros. I think I was 7 or 8 (had to be, because we moved from that house when I was about 10). that's one of my most vivid childhood memories. That, and knowing my parents were going out and we were getting a sitter, and not our favorite, when Mom brought home a six-pack of Coke. The ecstasy and agony (sigh). When Sandy Shuster was our sitter, we'd have paid HER. BTW, I had tuna salad with sweet relish. Still do. Mr. FB gags at it, but he likes pimiento cheese, so we're even

Wattacetti, this one's for you -- Fabby's Flitch Beam

MizDucky -- this reminds me of a (then-70something year old) billionaire I used to cook for, in his executive dining room. He wanted me to let 'er rip for his guests --anything I wanted -- but I prepared a separate meal for him. Very simple food, sometimes just a certain type of canned tuna on a certain type of bread; other times, chicken roasted simply in garlic with roasted potatoes, braised greens and a piece of fruit. He said He'd had 70 years of fantastic, fancy food and now just wanted to remember what it tasted like in its natural state. I am really enjoying your thread!

Our house is a series of stacked boxes, sort of like the Brutalist contemporary designs of whenever. It's not a big house but it's got a lot of odd levels and angles, which makes for a really cool look but a VERY difficult routing of pipes, ventilation, etc. As you can't see here (not a typo!), we've had to disconnect the furnace to thie fourth level of rooms (where the youngsters sleep), and may have to remount the heat and a/c outside. No biggie; in two years we'll have a completely empty nest so having more control over that area will work for us. The plan is to get the Nanawalls in, and leave the flooring open for inspections next week. Then, as CE says, "we close up whatever we can, turn this into a box, and then the real fun starts." So here ya go:

No doubt this is the heart of the reason why everyone can, at some level, relate to Homer J. Simpson. For me, after a 14 hour shift, and having to get up and do it all over again, the only thing I wanted to do was clean up and get the heck outta there. A beer as you break down your station is a beautiful thing. Creativity is good when it's within the bounds of what restaurant is all about, and done with respect to the chef. Doing anything you want is not going to fly, in a restaurant or elsewhere.

Okay, I've got to figure out the plans and it's time to be outta here soon. So, briefly -- The wall to the left in the photo is GONE, baby. In its place, under the flitch beam will be a wet bar with a sink, a dishwasher drawer, and a wine refrigerator (to supplement the Eurocave downstairs). We'll also have a coffee center and a speed oven, a warming drawer and beverage refrigerator. This is designed to keep Mr. Foodbabe, First- and Second-born and all their buddies, the heck out of my way when I cook. The wall to the right will have a Bluestar Range, and a hand sink with a foot pedal. The back wall, where the refrigerator is now, will have a big double-cleanup sink with a pull-down faucet (which my younger son dubbed "SnakeyBoy" years ago). The current dishwasher will live in this area, too. Down the center where the island is now, will be a row a cabinets, with a pass-through counter space so Mr. FB and the young men can shove dirty dishes through, pull the door down, and pretend that's what I mean when I say, "clean up behind yourselves, dammit!" And on the end of that current island facing toward where you're looking, will be a big refrigerator. The breakfast table will be replaced by a 10 x 4 island'ish structure with lots of storage underneath. Once I figure out how to get my plans from Adobe to something I can post here,I will. There are many cool details and I'm grateful daily for my architect and contractor. In the meantime, fire away with questions -- and I'll find more photos to post. Thanks for your patience, everyone!

Image issues have been fixed. The problem was with the browser my sons installed for me. It took them about 2.5 seconds to figure it out and they sighed, rolled their eyes, and said, "Mom, why didn't you ask us first?" Anyway. Here's the kitchen before. What you can't see is the handy planning desk for micromanaging others' lives, and the 2' x 2' breakfast room with a white light fixture that bumped us in the head every time we sat down. What you can see is that good old '80s white tile and white laminate cabinetry. Next, I'm going to try and upload plans.

I'm still not able to see any sort of graphic on eGullet, from smilies to avatars to "edit" buttons, nor can I post photos or individual replies. All I can do is "fast reply" and pray that the techno-mavens help me out here. I'd love to post more photos and answer questions on this thread. I'd love to edit what I write! watta, you sent me straight to Google, worried that "squirrel monkey" was an architectural detail that I absolutely MUST have in my new space! :-D

Augh! I still am getting NO graphics on this thread or any other. Can't see 'em, can't upload 'em, can't do a "reply to." So ... BekkiM, when I did my Atlanta kitchen, a friend in Phoenix (who was building a home in the mountains in Flagstaff) challenged me to a 'race.' We both started demolition on the same week ... guess who won? Not me! Anyway, what-say we do the same? I never ever learn :-) Vaughn: Because of *my* cabinet delays (made two very bad decisions), our work had to be bumped way back by the contractor; he was ready on time but I was about, oh, 8 months late. he's worth the wait. And Bekki, the green really enhances your eyes! I've been green over others' renovations, and am sure I will be over yours, too.

I'm still having trouble with images -- uploading, and getting access to the "reply" and "PM" buttons on the forums. I'll figure it out soon enough, and thank all of you for your interest and patience! My CE (Contractor Extraordinaire) likens his approach to this renovation as "Braveheart" leading the charge. He refuses to paint his face (even for me), though. We've had an unpleasant surprise or two, in the form of inherited water damage and boneheaded builder decisions, but the latter is to be expected. Nanawalls next week, they say. Woo hoo!