fresco

Isn't the whole point in having Sandra Lee do this on tv that the rest of us are spared? I mean, why have ritual sacrifice if others have to suffer? I just want to see what the stuff tastes like. Surely it couldn't be as vile as it all sounds. Please report back.

Isn't the whole point in having Sandra Lee do this on tv that the rest of us are spared? I mean, why have ritual sacrifice if others have to suffer?

I think it's an expat Canadian homesickness thing. For a comprehensive list of things that Canadians abroad crave, check out this site: http://www.canuckabroad.com/forums/ftopic11.html

Made by Nestle, sort of a coffee-flavored honeycomb biscuit affair coated with chocolate. If you really feel strongly about them, you might consider signing the Coffee Crisp petition: http://coffeecrisp.org/

Have you considered changing the name of this thread to "Spend Varmint's Renovation Money?"

That would be your Hesser-fit, would it?

Just kidding. We know maple syrup in these parts, eh.

We have a 17-litre tin from the family farm in Greece of our local butcher. You can get less expensive stuff by the litre at the grocery store, but you can't get anything near as good for the money.

Maple syrup--that's the stuff that tastes kind of like pancake syrup, but not as good, right?

I often just use google. It's amazing what it will turn up.

It's unlikely that I'll ever sample Two Buck Chuck, and I can appreciate that it is probably both variable in quality and never really very good. But I do wonder whether the wide availability of a low-priced table wine might actually be a good thing for the wine industry in that it could encourage more people to drink wine regularly.

Ah, Brooks, what a shame. You have my sympathies. My vote is for just plain water.

With one important difference: a wine glut results in a tangible (and drinkable) consumer benefit.

Ask yourself this: would it be more bearable if you knew with certainty that a year or so down the road you were going to tear everything out and have the kitchen you really want and deserve? It's hard to get an accurate idea of dimensions from the pictures, but the kitchen certainly seems spacious. It is, as you've pointed out, broken up in a way that doesn't seem to make any sense at all. This doesn't seem to be a case where half measures make any financial or design sense.

Agree completely about armagnac. It used to be a deal, relative to cognac, but I think people have caught on. It's still great.

Given that the proposed budget for a compromise is $20,000 vs $40,000 to gut and do everything properly, I agree.

But one of the undoubted attractions of eGullet is how fiercely and proudly people champion their turf, including New York. It makes for some fascinating reading.

If he has a one inch toe kick now, adding levelling compound and vinyl may not be a great idea.

I also understand the need to keep to a budget. But if you are going to be living in this house for a good long while, be sure that what you are doing now is not a compromise that you won't like in a year or two. And apologies for adding to your frustration.

$6,000 and I'm there. But that's just for the tile. I've probably renovated a couple of dozen kitchens or more over the years and hired all sorts of trades and unskilled types. But that quote floors me.

It sounds like they are high balling you on the price because it is such an unpleasant job. Still, $4,000 to remove the tile...

It is possible to remove the old tile and scrape (and bang) the floor mix off the plywood. But it is an awful, tedious job. You don't want to do it yourself or pay a skilled tradesperson to do it. If your contractor has or knows someone who is unskilled but hardworking and will do it for a couple of hundred bucks it may be worth it.

Not a good idea. You'd see every tile impression through the vinyl. What's under the ceramic and do you know whether it is put on with mastic or floor mix?

I'm only expressing my own views here, but one of the things that has impressed me from the beginning about eGullet is the incredible range of experience and the diversity of points of view, with a good post about burgers attended and responded to with every bit of reverence (and perhaps more) than is accorded a discussion of, say, El Bulli. It has an uncanny resemblance, in that respect, to a just about anything written by H. L. Mencken--who swoops, often in the same sentence, from the spelling of beat cops (he never met a one who didn't spell larceny "larsene") to a learned disquisition on the origins of the American language. The whole point I think, is not necessarily how fine and refined the food is, but how well and passionately someone posts about it.

I can't help but think that, like a lot of stuff, California is a trend setter here, and we're going to see wineries all over the place in trouble. There's a wine region about two hours east of Toronto which didn't exist five years ago and now is growing like it's on steroids--half a dozen wineries, a lot of acreage planted to vines and much more to come. Until the wine craze hit, it was a fairly depressed area, so it's bringing some much needed dollars to the area. But when all is said and done, I suspect the biggest winners will be the people who sold their land to the grape growers.