Porthos

If this thread has already been started then this needs to be merged. My Sweetie is giving my the portable Traiger Scout pellet smoker. It's just the 2 of us and it seems the perfect size. And since it's portable it will go to the lake with us. Here's hoping we actually catch some trout to smoke.

Welcome. I'm not particularly a fan of mandolines. My Sweetie gave me a nice SS mandoline and I used it maybe twice. My Sweetie, with my blessing, took possession of it to make very thinly sliced cucumbers. I did give her a kevlar glove to use with it. Good knives are always appreciated by me. If you're inclined to learn good knife sharpening skills, an Edge Pro knife sharpening system is a good lifelong investment. It's hard to give to many suggestions without knowing what direction your cooking interests lie. And again, welcome.

Farfalle is my favorite shape for chicken pasta salad. Okay for mac'n'cheese in a pinch. Don't use it much otherwise. Whether when camping or at home the sauce needs to be the same, heavy enough to completely cover the sauce but not enough to call it gloppy. I really enjoy your "Princessmobile Diaries" and even more so with no where to really go right now. I suspect I know where you're camping at right now. COVID-19 is serious stuff so the idea of trying for a visit this year is out of the question.

Welcome to eGullet.

Make the Bread, Buy the Butter got my 2 bucks. I didn't bother to use the look inside. I'm curious about the author's take on such things. There are many things that I could make that I don't think are worth the effort - for me. YMMV.

Not an appliance but I keep the 3 qt Revere pan from my mother's kitchen that I cooked with as a child. I keep it with the rest of my pots and pans but will never actually cook with it again. Stick blender, also. Why I keep something I've used twice in over 3 decades is a mystery to my but I can't seem to part with it. I stopped eating waffles* over a decade ago but I do use my waffle maker once a year to make anise waffle cookies. *When my Sweetie and I were engaged and I was living at my parents home, she spent the night on some weekend. She was in the kitchen with my mom the next morning before I got out of bed. My mom asked her if she should make waffles or pancakes. My Sweetie answered the she knew I really liked waffles. My mom's response was, "Pancakes are easier so I'll make pancakes." We've been married for over 40 years and we still joke about that.

I've seen artisanal used on breads that came from large-scale commercial bakeries. Drives me nuts.

If the installation crew was going to handle installing the sink base cabinet, then the measurements guy should be able to take measurements before it's installed. Now it's a moot point. I'm going to take care of it.

MY Sweetie just reminded me that the salesman said that the cabinet people would install the new sink base cabinet for us.

WARNING! Angry Rant. Background. My Sweetie and I both have health issues that require us to carefully schedule what we do to work with our personal timing requirements. So far, working with the big box store who offers the services we want has been anything but smooth. On the day of our in-home consultation for cabinetry and counters, the salesman didn't come on time, and after texts and then a phone call, we had to postpone. the original appointment was for 3 p.m. and he 4:45 he couldn't be there before 5:30, so we rescheduled. He was late but did come for the rescheduled appt. We made our decisions and I signed the contract,writing a $24k check for what we wanted. He knew we hadn't replaced the sink base cabinet yet. My Sweetie asked for cabinet color and countertop samples. He said he'd get them to us. He called me a few days later to schedule the measurements appointment. We agreed on (today) between 12 and 2, and he texted me that the appt was confirmed for that window. ETA My Sweetie had not received the samples so last week the salesman that if she could give them back to the measurements guy he would bring them buy by the end of the week. He dropped them off about 5 p.m. Friday. The world I live in samples stay with the person they are give to. I seriously doubt that See's Candies would want a sample back after I'd chewed it up. I had not installed the new base cabinet because I was waiting until after the measurements appointment. I went out this morning and ran some errands. when I got home at 10:00 there was a voicemail saying that the measurements guy would be here between 10: and 10:30. I scrambled to get ready, and did. When "sam" arrived I asked about the mix-up in the appointment time. The salesman doesn't schedule the apt, his department does. Didn't I get a confirmation phone call. No. He then proceeds to tell me that he can't take the measurements if the new cabinet, which was sitting in my living room, isn't actually installed. Now We're going to have to wait until at least Dec 7 for the measurements appointment because of plans we made months ago. Which, of course, means that the salesman is going to have to retrieve his samples. 😄 I will wait until this project is over to avoid any installation repercussions, then I'll be writing a serious letter of complaint and posting which big box store he represented. As s separate item, when we signed the contract I was surprised at how much the refacing was going to cost. After a week or so I realized that we have a lot of exposed cabinet sides as well as our 7' peninsula as well.

In our area of southern Calif the Subway staff are wearing masks, AND we (happily) witnessed an employee decline to serve a non-mask-wearing would-be customer. Most businesses with larger stores have an employee at the door to enforce the mask requirement, with disposable masks to give to those who don't have masks with them.

Those look like really good improvements.

My Sweetie and I agreed to not keep these in the house. We couldn't stop munching on them.

We need a "drool" icon.

We bought this house, new construction, in 1984 and this is the flooring we picked for our kitchen/family room and bathrooms.

There hasn't been much to report. I've made enough progress on the wall repair for us to have the counters and refacing guy in. We've picked out our new granite countertops (Oyster White), the new cabinet color is a very pale gray-blue (Rain Cloud), and a backsplash for the stove wall (Urban Loft). Measuring for the cabinets will be on the 17th. We already had the flooring picked out, Pergo's Bayshore Grey Hickory. Paint color for the walls is still TBD. The ceiling painting and installing the new ceiling light were done several weeks ago. At some point we'll be without a sink for about 2 weeks. Since we're both long-time campers plus our long association with my/our ren faire kitchens, washing dishes in Rubbermaid tubs is old hat. We'll also be using more paper plates and such. Although we have good-quality plastic cutlery around, I really, really prefer regular flatware so I'll be washing lots of cups, mugs and flatware. I'm already the scullery maid so I choose this willingly. Based upon the timing for the all of these items I'm figuring we won't have a kitchen to cook in for Christmas. Better to plan on it now rather than be disappointed later. On a side note, most of the heavy-duty work on the front bathroom is just about finished so I can lay down the new flooring (small bathroom, interlocking flooring), install the new vanity (easy plumbing), have the new toilet installed if I decide the weight is more than I should handle, then install all of the towel/toilet paper/etc. holders on the walls. I did let my wife know that after the front bathroom is done I won;t do any more painting. I HATE painting. I'll prep and and such, but that's it. This is what the sink area looks like right now. The dishwasher is connected as well as us using a utility sink for our kitchen sink. It's not elegant but it provides a temporary solution.

I bought Pepin's More Fast Food My Way.

Jacques Pepin's Memoir got my attention.

Here in California alfalfa sprouts disappeared completely a few years ago, too many recall-type problems. I was buying them for fundraising sandwich making. I eat them if they're on something someone else prepared but I never buy them for myself so I don't know if they ever came back onto the market.

We had to replace our microwave. Had a Panasonic, bought another, very similar Panasonic. Going without a microwave for 10 days was torcher. Not exactly fun, but grateful. I'm loving the Keurig.

Thank you, @Toliver. Good read.

I've stated elsewhere that we bought this house, 36 years ago, for the kitchen. It has plenty of storage. We still like this kitchen. The house is 1250 sq ft, the kitchen is about 150 sq ft of that and well laid out. We're empty nesters now but way back when my Sweetie, my daughter and I could cook in it together and not get in each other's way. Sort of related ... when we first started looking for a house I called a local realtor, told them that we were starting to look for a house and that the kitchen was the most important room to us. The reply was, "you have to take what you can get." Not the right answer. "Good bye."

The kitchen will be repairs and new surfaces. The ceiling has been painted and will get a new light fixture Tuesday. We're all about unfussy. We'll be replacing the barely-functioning range hood with another builder grade hood. The new kitchen flooring will extend through the family room. We haven't decided whether the kitchen wall color will extend into the family room or be a slightly different shade. I had wanted a single-bowl kitchen sink for years. My Sweetie was willing but really wanted a traditional 2-bowl sink. I asked my FB friends if buying a house with a single-bowl sink would be a plus or a minus. The vast majority said they would want a 2-bowl sink. So the new sink (S/S) will be have 2 bowls. We're waiting on delivery of a second flooring sample. We both really like both choices so seeing the samples on the floor should really help. We can't paint the walls until the repairs have been made. I'll start the demolition to support that tomorrow. We'll pick out wall colors and cabinet faces when that repair is done. In the mean time I do what I can in the kitchen and press on with the front bathroom. I, along with my BIL, met with realtors and went through the fix up vs sell as-is 3 1/2 years ago when we were figuring our the best option for my late FIL's house. For that house, sell-as is made the most sense. Using the insight I gained from that coupled with my Sweetie's desire not to sell as-is made the decision easy. The rooms that will have the most changes will be the bathrooms. Everything goes except the tubs. The balance of the interior will be all new surfaces. When we re-carpeted 13 years ago we picked out a stinker. We're replacing the carpeting with low-end stuff so that it's new and will show well.

My first Keurig coffee maker. I'm the only coffee drinker. Not set up yet, been painting in the kitchen. Hopefully tomorrow. Birthday gift from my wife. I've been lazy a lot lately and running out for my morning cup. Well, not really lazy, the renovation work as well as keeping up with life's needs is using up my available energy.

For economic reasons we've had to defer a lot of maintenance items in our home. We can now start. We are planning on selling and relocating on another state, hopefully next year. Item one on our list is the kitchen. This is not a remodel, just all new surfaces. We've elected to reface our cabinets. My (still hoping) Blue Star range will be after we move. I had a misguided and idealistic expectation that we would go to Home Depot, pick out everything we wanted in one trip and proceed. This is not to be. You can stop laughing any time. We don't need any new appliances so that part is simple. I didn't take any before pictures but it's a typical California tract home built in the 80s. Because this is going to take WAY longer than I expected we're working on the front bathroom in tandem. We have a relative that was an employment victim of COVID 19 so we're paying for some much-needed labor to help us along. Oh, and I really HATE painting. In the kitchen we've stripped off the 25+ y/o wallpaper and are prepping the walls for a primer coat. Tomorrow we'll start on cleaning and sanding the ceiling. The biggie in the kitchen is repairing the wall behind the sink. There's a bit of black mold to deal with but I've purchased the right PPE and can handle that. Wish us luck.