FauxPas

It WAS quite the renovation, but it made sense to us! I haven't gone into all the details of things we did with the lot and re-landscaping and the new siding on the house and the skylight and suntunnels, but suffice it to say that when the finished job was evaluated/appraised/approved for occupancy, we were told we effectively had a brand new house overall. Even the foundation had been re-poured, a separate electric panel added and the old one revamped, the water line coming to the house was upgraded to a wider one. We had custom cabinetry done for the upstairs bath and some in the laundry room/pantry. And more. At the time, I wasn't sure we were doing the right thing, it did seem pricey. But we got the house for an excellent price initially and it's certainly now worth more than the purchase price + what we put into it, so it feels pretty good. And given the recent rise in lumber prices, we could not currently do all that framing, etc for the same kind of price! The company we chose for doing the actual house-raising is called Nickel Brothers and they are very well known in this region. They are best known for MOVING houses, not just raising them, but of course raising is the first part of moving. Because of the ridiculously high prices for real estate in greater Vancouver, several heritage homes have been lifted and moved to new locations so that developers can build higher density in the urban region. It's a bonus for folks who can buy cheaper land in other parts of the province and get those classic houses at a very reasonable price. If you are interested, check out the web site for Nickel Bros. They even barge homes across the waterways here - many from metro Vancouver to Vancouver Island or in parts of Washington state. There are several heritage homes near the water and just south of us that arrived that way. https://www.nickelbros.com/residential/

Really sweet! That pantry! Can I store a few extra things at your place? 😆

And then we got busy with other things and another house we owned in Arizona and this kitchen got left behind again. And then last year we decided even if we didn't do anything deluxe, it was time to update those cabinets. So, hello IKEA kitchens! We live on an island and there are extra shipping charges for anything from IKEA and we decided we didn't want to try and do the job ourselves so we hired a local company who would handle all the shipping, delivery and cabinet install. The end result is that we definitely paid more for our IKEA kitchen than folks who live in larger urban areas, but I was so happy to see those oak cabinets gone. Here's the start. Must go, more tomorrow!

But like most renos, once we were underway we realized we were going to end up overbudget and somehow the upstairs renos got scaled back. We completely redid the main bath and all the flooring but the kitchen cabinets would have to stay. Still, we managed to do a few things. We replaced windows and patio door, electrical fixtures, flooring, baseboards, and appliances. We moved a section of lower cabinets to the left of the stove so that there was room for a dishwasher. We removed the baseboard heaters and installed a heatpump. And thank you to the kitchen gods, we were able to replace that hideous countertop!!!! Cheapo laminate but I was as happy as if it was the finest marble, hahaha. But we still had the old and ugly cabinets.

We couldn't get started on renos right away, as we were busy with various things but at some point we talked to a contractor and decided to raise the whole house. This made sense because the house was below the roadway and we had a miserable driveway sloping downward and we could increase our ocean views. Since we didn't really need more space for the two of us, we decided to build a separate suite below for rental or for family. So, we did a bit of raising. The lot was really transformed and the house lifted. And then this stage.

I'm going to share some kitchen photos as well and a bit of a reno story. We bought this house 7 or 8 years ago largely because it was a great location. It was within walking distance of a terrific little downtown with all kinds of services and amenities and only a few blocks to the harbour. At that time, we got some ocean glimpses, but not a lot of view, but there was some potential. One of the worst things about this house was the kitchen. The house was built in 1990 but the kitchen looked even older. Here it is in all its homely glory when we first viewed it. Vertical blinds everywhere, in a dusty brownish-purple colour. Homely lighting fixtures. Vaguely industrial flooring that was discoloured by sunlight. Too-small deck. Those putty-brownish baseboard heaters. Tiny bare baseboards. Some of the windows had lost their seal and needed to be replaced, as did the patio door. That lonely little cabinet above the stove. That odd gap between the stove and the patio door. But, and I can hear some of you quietly shrieking it, "What the H is going on with that cabinet/countertop combo?" Just so you can get a better look, here is another jarring image of that red countertop and orange oak cabinet marriage. Look away if you must, ha! More to come.....

Do you mean the new one? The Steam Refresh at 482F?

I love it there, also! It's our go-to farm for eggs and we shop their farmstand for various produce throughout the season. They grow beautiful flowers, also. And they have goats, I didn't get a photo of them unfortunately. They make goat's milk soap at the farm. I was going to try and do a little blog on local farms this past summer but with the Covid issues and all, it didn't happen. I'll still try to share some of the details on some of the other farms at some point. We have some fun ones.

This is actually one of our local farms, rather than a farmers market, but not sure where else to post. I love this farm, it's so much fun and they have lovely chickens who produce delicious eggs and lots of great produce as well as a lavender farm. They do a lavender festival in the summer and a harvest or Halloween festival in the fall. The rest of the growing season, they have an honour system farmstand with all their produce and lavender products, etc but for this, they decorate and open up the barn. This year it's open to a limited number of people at a time. For some reason the chickens were shy when we were there this time; that's not their usual style!

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but don't they advertise it as being ok in an enclosed space? Can you let us know why you feel otherwise? And I'm leaning towards trusting your opinion!

I love salmon also! And I tend to cook it the same way as this, except I marinate the fish for a short while in the sauce and may or may not baste as it cooks. My sauce is similar (I call it a teriyaki) but I don't bother with oil if I'm doing a Chinook or Sockeye salmon, as they are fairly fatty. I guess at the timing and I play around with Steam Bake and Steam Broil. I guesstimate the time based on the size and thickness of the fillet and I never write it down, which is stupid of me because I never remember what happened the time before, it seems. Sigh. 😃

Wondering how hot the Precision oven gets on the exterior (especially the top) and does the steam all vent at the lower front? Any concerns about placing it under some cabinets?

I must try this! 😃

Has anyone mentioned (originally Aussie) Tim Tams? I love the original milk chocolate ones, the caramel ones are vile, though. 😄

Can you share the link, please? I can get quite a lot locally but can probably find something else I need! 😃

Your gift baskets sound amazing! I'd stick to the purchased cheese logs, you're already making so many items.

Flavour, colour and fibre! 🤣

Along with my usual tiny batches of apricot and raspberry jams, I made some plum jam this year. Others here have probably made something similar to this, but it's the first time I've made a Mulled Wine Plum Jam and I just love it. I made a REALLY small batch from maybe about 300 to 350 grams of prune plums and the finished jam only filled a 240 ml container at the end. I had to eat a couple of plums for quality control (ha) and didn't reweigh after, so can't provide a real recipe, but there are lots online. I don't know why I've never tried this one before. I winged it a bit based on a couple of recipes - recipes suggested red wine, but I finished off the remains of a bottle of dry rosé, ha. I didn't have nutmeg and used a splash of Grand Marnier in place of orange juice or orange zest. Basic recipe is to cook equal amounts wine and sugar (I used about 1/3 to 1/2 cup or so?) until slightly thickened, remove pits and cut plums into pieces and add to sugar mix along with cinnamon stick or two, 4 or 5 cloves and splash of Grand Marnier. Cook in a shallow and wide pan until desired thickness - I can tell by stirring and how much of a trail the spoon makes, but you can always use the refrigerated plate test. Obviously I'm not doing any water bath stuff when I only make 1 or 2 of these, so it just goes into a canning-type jar and into the fridge once it cools. I didn't bother removing the plum skins because I like them! And I apologize for the hungry bite I took before taking the photo, but I really love this stuff. Maybe it's all the booze in it, ha!) Why did it take me so long to try making this? 😄

Such a great word to describe the process! I know exactly what you mean, and it applies in a wider context as well. 😃

I think I've had this one before and I also really enjoyed it! Back in Canada for the foreseeable future so can't access a Trader Joe's now, unfortunately.

My group tamale effort was recounted here. Despite telling myself that I would make them on my own the following year for Xmas, I didn't follow through with it. Not that year, not the following year! And probably not this year either, I suspect. Sigh.

They really do! I've thought about how much fun it would be to visit @blue_dolphinand raid her freezer! 😆

Anova is $799 Cdn.

There are tray tables made for steering wheels, not sure if this would be useful for you or not. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=steering+wheel+tray+table&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

Hahahaha 🤣