eG Foodblog: jgarner53 - New kitchen: new food

[SheenaGreena]

oh and kimchee cream cheese sounds like the BEST thing ever

[jgarner53]

your mochi might've been bad cause it was old. Mochi is only good when it's eaten the day it was made...after that it is pretty crappy. Since you are a baker, have you ever thought of making your own and pounding your own rice?

Huh. I didn't know that. I wouldn't say that it was crappy, just that I probably wouldn't know the difference between good mochi and bad mochi. And no, I'd never thought of making my own. That somehow seems beyond my skillset, though with as much stress as I've had the last few months, pounding rice might have been therapeutic!

OK, who said that I was making pizza? I see you, and you, and you over there. Good for you! Here it is!

I could have cheated and bought Trader Joe's $1 dough balls, but thought, "What the heck, I'll make my own." Really, pizza dough isn't hard, and if you're like me and have yeast on hand, even through cleaning out the fridge when you get a new one, and 3 months without a kitchen and who knows how long before that since you made bread, it's really not hard at all. Sure, the label says it's only good for six months. Bah. When this:

turns into this:

practically while you watch, you know your yeast is good. By the way, the asexual reproduction there did not happen by itself. It's pizza dough, not biology class! I divided the one big ball into three.

Yes, yes, I really did plan to start putting things away in my new kitchen this afternoon. Really, I did. But no sooner had I gotten out of the shower (I was barely dry and still, uh, in a natural state), there was a knock at the door, and it was the painter. I did get dressed before I let him in. By the time we'd finished our discussion, aiki_brewer was home, and I had to turn on the oven to heat it up for the pizzas.

So let's back up and see where we started this afternoon. First, what I bought at TJ's, which should give you a good idea of what's for dinner tomorrow.

First, wine! We opened up a bottle of our case of 2001 Syrah from Roshambo, a nicely fruity wine that goes down easy.

Once the dough had risen, I punched it down and divided it into three and let it rest for 10 minutes or so before trying to shape it. Otherwise it's just too elastic and springs right back at you. My thanks to aiki_brewer for the following photos. I've been trying to grow a third arm for this sort of thing, but nothing seems to be working yet.

I dusted my smoooooth countertop with some flour and pulled out a ball of dough and started to flatten it with my rolling pin. Many just use their fingers to shape pizza dough, but when I try that, I get really thin spots here, thick spots there, and a crust that falls apart, won't hold sauce, and no one wants to eat. (The oven, btw, was at 500F)

Rolled out a little more, I got to about this point before it was time to move the dough to the peel.

I loaded it onto the peel, dusted with cornmeal, and finished shaping it, working it back into a round.

A little sauce

A little cheese, and it's ready for the oven

Twelve minutes later, a chiffonade of basil, and voila!

Plated up with (duh) salad and my glass of Roshambo, we have a fine dinner, with a second pie in the oven. The second time, I baked the crust halfway before adding the mozz. The oven's rolling racks work great for this. I don't have to worry that the rack is going to get off balance, even with a pizza stone, tip out, and dump molten pizza onto the oven window.

I might skip dessert tonight. It's already 9, and bed's just around the corner. In fact, I'm already yawning.

Oh, for those of you guessing on the component for tomorrow night, you haven't been paying attention! I gave you the answer on day one when I gave you the ingredients in my teaser photo.

Oh, and about the beeswax, and whether you can taste it in the cannelé, I'm not in the habit of eating beeswax, so I'm not quite sure how it would taste. I'm sure it's about like the carnauba wax coating on some candies. Certainly it's not like the wax lips you might have had as a kid (me, I never got the appeal of them).

[jgarner53]

Oh, I thought you might want to see the bottom crust. Really, this could not be possible without a pizza stone. These things rock! Funny thing is that my pizza stone barely fit into the old oven. In fact, I had to measure the oven and check the size of the stones I was interested in before I bought one to make sure it would fit! I could probably fit two in the oven now.

Good night! See you tomorrow. Shall I ask aiki_brewer to keep you entertained in my absence?

[snowangel]

Yes, the brew meister could keep us company in your absense! I have many questions, which will wait until I finish doing our taxes tonight!

[alanamoana]

scary parallel...i went to tj's to buy the 99 cent ball-o-dough and they only had the whole wheat and herbed flavor. so i figure, i'll go home and make some dough...but i took a nap instead .

maybe tomorrow!

pizza looks great and i'm sure you're loving your brand new countertop and high heat oven.

gnocchi tomorrow?

[Smithy]

I loove the look of that soapstone counter, with the green tile trim stripes (and squares) above it on the wall! Gorgeous! I haven't really thought I'd like soapstone in my kitchen before now. Despite all the conversation on the soapstone thread, my mental image has been of the flat black lab benches that are near and dear to my heart, but that don't belong in my kitchen. You, my dear, may be changing my mind. I don't know whether to thank you or curse you.

You're making me re-think pizza-making, too.

I have trouble using rolling pins like yours. To me, the type with handles with the ball bearings make so much sense. What's the trick to rolling that pin under your hands, without benefit of a separate axle? What's the advantage of your type, other than size?

Edited April 13, 2007 by Smithy (log)

[MarketStEl]

I know that most Pyrex ovenware is not to be used over a source of direct heat (open flame or electric burner). Wouldn't the bottom of a pot sitting on a source of direct heat also pose the same problem?

Hasn't ever been a problem for me. I put a silicone hot pad in the bottom of the stock pot. I would think that maybe that provides enough of a heat sink that it doesn't affect it?

Probably. I'll probably rely on the Corning Ware instead.

What? You mean to tell me you haven't been reading the foodblogs yourself?

I used to read them religiously, but kind of stopped a while ago and haven't been reading them lately. I love the voyeuristic thrill of hearing about other's food, but I don't shop everyday at exotic outdoor farmer's markets, or cook gourmet extravaganzas or host fantastic dinner parties with 37 courses. 360 days a year I probably eat cold cereal for breakfast. Typically one of us cooks something that lasts 2 or 3 days and we eat leftovers. I'm cooking every night for this just so you all don't get bored! (What, leftover curry again?) I guess I'm just worried that I won't measure up to the high bar set by all the previous bloggers.

←

The Reading Terminal Market "exotic"?

Meatloaf and cheesesteaks "a gourmet extravaganza"?

A friend and his partner cooking for me to celebrate my birthday "a fantastic dinner party"? (Absolutely!)

Yes, you most definitely measure up. As for what I eat for breakfast, I refer you to my own foodblogs, linked from my .sig.

You know what they say - comedy is tragedy that happens to somebody else...

←

Here's a first-person version of the same observation for you to use six months after your kitchen remodel is finished. Be sure to hang on to this until 2009, then:

"Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility."

Great-looking pizza, BTW, and I don't feel so guilty about having to roll my own crust now.

[Ann_T]

Jennifer, I am so glad that I didn't miss your blog. I've really enjoyed reading about your kitchen reno too. Looking forward to more pictures.

It just seems like yesterday that you were going to Pastry school. How time flies.

Ann

Edited April 13, 2007 by Ann_T (log)

[jgarner53]

I have trouble using rolling pins like yours. To me, the type with handles with the ball bearings make so much sense. What's the trick to rolling that pin under your hands, without benefit of a separate axle? What's the advantage of your type, other than size?

I have a traditional rolling pin, too, but I actually find it too heavy sometimes. I like this pin because it's easy to maneuver. One with tapered ends is even easier. I like that you can place your hands anywhere on it. I don't really know if there's any trick to using it. I just roll it under my palms. Even if I need more leverage, it doesn't seem to be a problem. Because it's lighter, I find that I can control the pressure more easily, too, without having to lift the pin - just press harder if you need more. I hardly use my traditional pin anymore.

gnocchi tomorrow?

Nope!

I'm off to do some prep for dinner and trim the cabinet linings so I can start unpacking a few things! I'll be back later with photos from this morning and what I'm working on for dinner. I've used three of my 5 ingredients - just two left! What will I do with them?

[jgarner53]

Hmmm, it looks like most of you actually have lives on Fridays, or else you're all stuck in weekend traffic! I get out of work "early" for once, and there's no one here.

I'll hold off on my dinner prep pics. I'm still wondering if anybody can guess what I started yesterday.

In the meantime, let's start this morning. Today I didn't have to be in until 5, so I got to have a more leisurely breakfast, meaning about 15 minutes as opposed to 5. I sectioned the rest of the grapefruit I started earlier in the week and started with that.

Then I started pouring my cereal...into my juice glass! Ooops! At least it's better than the times I've poured OJ onto my cereal instead of milk.

Today it was Kashi's Go Lean Crunch, a favorite in our house. It reminds me a lot of Super Sugar Smacks that I loved as a kid, except maybe slightly better for you?

I even got to read Wednesday's Food section! (See how behind I am?)

Work was much easier today - no product testing for one, and just a lighter list than usual. I was feeling a bit faint around 9 so peeled myself a navel orange. It was really sweet and juicy and quite refreshing.

About an hour and a half later I grabbed a sandwich - proscuitto and provolone on a roll. It's a good sized sandwich, and I took this bite as I was carrying it back upstairs. One of the great perks of working in the food industry is what all we get to eat. Where I work, we can pretty much get anything to eat, from sandwiches to mini quiches and slices of tarts. The only downside is that eventually it grows old. But there is enough variety that I'm not totally sick of any one thing yet.

Today was a very lemony day in my kitchen. Three lemon things going at one time: lemon macaron filling (on the stove in the back), lemon tart filling (in the pot on the stove) and the lemon turnover filling (in the lexan). We cook the lemon tart filling until it begins to thicken, then cool before baking it again in prebaked shells to set it. Really, it's very good, even better with meringue, but we just glaze them and garnish with candied lemon zest. Meringue would slide off the tart in the angled case.

From here on out it's dinner prep, but I'll give you a teaser photo or two. First, the crust:

And something on the stove:

While I had some time in the kitchen, I started putting my shelves into the cabinets - yay!, and fitting in the pieces of shelf liner I'd already cut. A few need to be trimmed a bit. I want to finish that much today (except for the cabinet where the shelves have gone AWOL), and then maybe put in the dishes and silverware.

Even more tempting, though I must resist, is that the new speakers arrived, and I really, really want to set up the new receiver and speakers! Must. Focus. On. Kitchen.

OK, off to start dinner prep. It won't take long, and most of it is hands-off cooking. I'm roasting my first chicken in this oven tonight! With tiny yukon gold potatoes (mmmm, schmaltzy!). So far I'm really pleased with the oven's baking performance. Yay!

[Nina C.]

From here on out it's dinner prep, but I'll give you a teaser photo or two. First, the crust:

And something on the stove:

While I had some time in the kitchen, I started putting my shelves into the cabinets - yay!, and fitting in the pieces of shelf liner I'd already cut. A few need to be trimmed a bit. I want to finish that much today (except for the cabinet where the shelves have gone AWOL), and then maybe put in the dishes and silverware.

Even more tempting, though I must resist, is that the new speakers arrived, and I really, really want to set up the new receiver and speakers! Must. Focus. On. Kitchen.

OK, off to start dinner prep. It won't take long, and most of it is hands-off cooking. I'm roasting my first chicken in this oven tonight! With tiny yukon gold potatoes (mmmm, schmaltzy!). So far I'm really pleased with the oven's baking performance. Yay!

←

Since the only two things left in the teaser photo are cherry juice and lemon, I'm guessing cherry pie?

Edited to add - oh especially since I see you saying that it's roast chicken and potatoes for dinner. Very sneaky for saying you were making dinner, when really it was dessert! That is, assuming I'm right.

Edited April 14, 2007 by Nina C. (log)

[Smithy]

Then I started pouring my cereal...into my juice glass! Ooops! At least it's better than the times I've poured OJ onto my cereal instead of milk. 

←

Well, ah, actually, some of us prefer OJ in the cereal to milk in the cereal. At least, I do, and I picked up the habit from an English friend, so there are at least two of us.

Today was a very lemony day in my kitchen. Three lemon things going at one time: lemon macaron filling (on the stove in the back), lemon tart filling (in the pot on the stove) and the lemon turnover filling (in the lexan). We cook the lemon tart filling until it begins to thicken, then cool before baking it again in prebaked shells to set it. Really, it's very good, even better with meringue, but we just glaze them and garnish with candied lemon zest. Meringue would slide off the tart in the angled case. 

←

I do love lemon. Lemon in creams, lemon in sauces, lemon juice, lemon garnish, lemon curd, lemon custard. What is lemon macaron? That's a new one for me.

Since the only two things left in the teaser photo are cherry juice and lemon, I'm guessing cherry pie?

←

Well, I'll be perverse and guess differently:

Borscht quiche!

[jgarner53]

Ding ding ding! Nina wins the big prize! Though the lemon actually went inside the chicken, not in the pie, but you did get the right answer!

What is lemon macaron?

Macarons are the lovely little Parisian cookie treat - kind of an upscale Oreo. Two delicate, chewy cookies made mostly of egg whites, sugar, and almond meal, sandwiched together with some kind of fabulous filling, like a lemon curd. We have a whole huge thread over in P&B.

OK, dinner! Here's where we started this afternoon:

I started by making the filling, a combination of sugar, cornstarch, and the juice from the jars of cherries. When it first goes on the stove, it's cloudy.

Through the magic of starch, once it boils it becomes darker and clear. At this point, I added some butter, almond extract, and the cherries. Cooking the filling first means that there's no question that it will be set. Since the cherries are canned, they really won't release any of their own juice once they bake, the way a fresh pie would.

I started to roll out the crust (sorry, no hands on shot - this was before aiki_brewer got home) You'll notice that I'm no Martha Stewart, and my crust does not stay perfectly round as I roll it. I even had to patch it a bit once I got it into the pie plate.

And then put the lined pie plate into the freezer for a few minutes while I rolled out and cut the top crust for a lattice.

I did a lazy lattice, just alternating strips back and forth so I didn't have to do a full weave. That's tricky, especially on a warm pie filling. I crimped the edges, brushed the top with an egg wash and dusted it with sugar, and it was ready for the oven.

An hour or so later, I had this!

Pie is really one of my favorite desserts. I don't make it often because with just the two of us, it can take a while to eat one. Cherry pie is a particular favorite. It's so pretty and red, and the cherries tart and sweet. And with the crust. Really, really hard to improve on.

And it's something we don't make at work. Sure, we make tarts, but we don't make pies.

At one point, I dropped a scrap of dough on the floor. I've commented elsewhere that the patterning in the floor and its coloring reminds me of pie dough when it's rolled out. I could NOT for the life of me find that scrap of dough on the floor. It was only about an hour later that I found it.

While the pie was in the oven, I started putting in the shelf liner and put the shelves in the cabinets. Just as the pie came out, GC arrived to start installing the magnetic stops that hold the doors closed. I retreated to the computer for a little while, but before long I had to be back in the kitchen to get dinner started, working around him and his 5-year old son, with his ladder and my stepstool in the way as well. Well, that made my kitchen feel small. Additionally, I still had the shelf liner on the counter. But I managed to prep my chicken: butter under and over the skin, salt and pepper massage, and lemons and rosemary inside. Some cut potatoes underneath the rack, and it was all good to go.

I started it off at 450F for about 20 minutes to crisp the skin and render the fat, and then lowered it to 350F (I thought - it was actually at 375) and turned on the convection fan (first time!) It was hard to be in the kitchen with all that was going on, so I read the paper and about half hour later thought I should check on the bird. Wow, done already?

GC was just finishing up at this point, and I'm sure his little boy was hungry. It was after 7. I tented the chicken and threw some asparagus into the oven, under the broiler, to complete dinner.

After we were done eating, I picked off most of the breast skin and ate it. Damn, that's good eating! I tried a little of the breast meat, and I think it was a bit overdone; it tasted kind of dry. But I hadn't brined the bird, which I normally do, and this was the first roast chicken. Not everything can come out perfectly. Besides, how can you babysit a chicken when your contractor's taking up most of the available floorspace?

Finally, it was time for dessert. We invited our neighbors across the street over for some, and for their first look at the finished kitchen. The one neighbor had seen it in progress, but hadn't seen the counters, and his partner hadn't seen it at all. They both liked it a lot, and really liked the window to the entry.

So, pie, which I ate while I was waiting for my photos to upload:

Two more days of work for me; I hope tomorrow will be as easy, so that I can get home and start putting things away to show you a finished kitchen (or at least getting there) by Sunday, when this wraps up. And boy, do we have a lot of leftovers to eat!

[Abra]

I only use a tapered French pin, and like you, find it the easiest to use. It's like an extension of my hands, as opposed to a mechanical assistant. And I am SO glad to see that patch on your crust - makes me feel a whole lot better about myself!

Oh, you put up those photos while I was posting. If I could only eat one kind of pie for the rest of my life, it would have to be cherry. I haven't had any in as long as I can remember. Yours looks delectable.

Edited April 14, 2007 by Abra (log)

[Domestic Goddess]

And I am SO glad to see that patch on your crust - makes me feel a whole lot better about myself!

←

Me, too! My pie crust always have a patch or two on them... Thank God, the filling covers it all up. Now, those cherry pie pics are making hungry homesick for his Mom's. If I can only find cherries in Korea this time of the season.

[snowangel]

Jennifer, a mess o questions:

Do you garden? If so what edibles do you grow? What's available locally that's really fresh at this time of year?

Pie (cherry) and anything lemon is good. Outside of the occasional pie (which makes for a very healtful breakfast, if you consider the fruit), do you bake much at home?

Oh, and thanks for remembering the Cheese Board for me. When Diana was but a babe (she's now 16), she a I visited my sister regularly in Berkeley, to the tune of three or four times a year. Every morning, I'd strap Diana in the front pack, and my niece in the back pack, and we'd head to the Cheese Board for raisin brioche. Interesting thing is that they weigh them for the price -- it's not a per item item, but weighed! Oh, and every time we come home from Berkeley, the meal on the plane is cheese from the Cheese Board, bread from Acme, and some sort of fruit from either Berkeley Bowl (which I do remember from their bowling alley days) or Monterey Market. And, people drool over our "airplane food."

[jgarner53]

Do you garden? If so what edibles do you grow? What's available locally that's really fresh at this time of year?

Do weeds count as gardening? Aiki_brewer just harvested a mess o' organic dandelions for a batch of beer! Really, I have about the blackest thumb out there. We actually have a good sized yard for SF, but there isn't much in there except what the previous owners planted. Our corner of the city gets that famous fog most of the summer, so growing anything is a challenge. I had some luck with fog-hardy cherry tomatoes once, but that's about the extent of my gardening. My roses are an embarrassment to the neighborhood, and our front yard is not the worst on the block, only by virtue of a few houses that are far, far worse than ours. One day we want to relandscape the front to be more water-conscious (much of it is lawn now) and easier to grow (b'bye roses, hello lavender!) We don't even own any patio furniture because the back yard can be so unpleasant (55F, windy and misty) in the summer!

Locally we're starting to get really good strawberries from Watsonville (about an hour and a half or so south), asparagus, and artichokes are starting to come in, too. All some of my favorites! Since I grew up in SoCal, I am very spoiled when it comes to produce and used to getting many things year 'round. Even not so long ago as the 70's, there were a lot of farm stands for great produce down there - strawberries and corn in particular.

There are a bunch of great farmer's markets here in the Bay Area -- the famous chi chi one at the Ferry Building downtown, and other, smaller, not-so-famous, not-so-chi chi ones elsewhere. Unfortunately, with my schedule now, I really can't make it to any. I used to love going to one of the non-chi-chi ones on Saturday mornings and filling up my sack with all kinds of goodies for the week! Usually my eyes were bigger than what we could reasonably eat in a week.

Rhubarb should start coming in soon, too. We'll be ordering it soon at work for a strawberry rhubarb tart, but it's still pretty pricey. I know I'll do a rhubarb pie as soon as I can get my hands on some. (I leave out the strawberries).

Oh, and every time we come home from Berkeley, the meal on the plane is cheese from the Cheese Board, bread from Acme, and some sort of fruit from either Berkeley Bowl (which I do remember from their bowling alley days) or Monterey Market. And, people drool over our "airplane food."

When aiki_brewer and I went to Anchorage a couple of Christmases ago to spend it with his brother and family, who were living there at the time, I'd had lunch with a friend just a day or two before we left, and I got some great cheese at the Cheese Board, and had some great sausage. Some of the best plane food ever!

I remember Berkeley Bowl from then, too! I moved to the Bay Area in 1989, just out of college, and lived in the East Bay at the time and would shop there every week. They weren't even open on Sundays then! When we moved back to SF in '96 (I moved back to SoCal in '92), the Bowl was still in its old location. I loved the funkiness of that old bowling alley, even if the new store is so much more functional. It just seemed so....Berkeley (not that it isn't now, but in a more upscale hippy way).

Yours looks delectable.

Oh, it is, Abra, it is! It was all I could do not to have a piece for breakfast.

do you bake much at home?

Well, not recently . I go in spurts. Last year for Valentine's Day, I did a whole mess of stuff for people: cakes, decorated sugar cookies, tins of cookies. I usually try to make all our own cookies (aiki_brewer likes to take them in his lunch to work). With this convection oven and its capacity, I'll be able to crank out cookies like nobody's business! The past few years I've done a lot of candies and stuff for Christmas gifts as well. But there are definitely times when the last thing I want to do when I get home is bake more!

After a rainy morning, the sun and wind have come out, and it's a beautiful, cool day outside. I managed to get out of work by 2, and am enjoying this while I type:

The bakery reeked of smoke today, and I came home smelling like I'd been to a campfire, but without the fun of the roasted weenies and s'mores! The deck oven, where all the bread is baked(thousands of loaves a day), gets coated with flour from the loaves and the conveyor loader, and over time it builds up and eventually begins to burn. The oven is vented, but occasionally it can get really bad, and by the time I left, the bakery was visibly smoky and stinky. The first thing I did when I got home was to jump in the shower and wash off the stink!

I had one of the last bagels this morning, topped with plain cream cheese and a dusting of cinnamon sugar, something I think I learned from someone in college.

Saturday morning is our busiest day for production, and it's always a push to get everything done by 8, when the drivers have to have it all packed up to head out to our stores. Sunday mornings are busy, too, but usually just a bit less.

When I said that we don't do any meringue for our lemon tarts, I kind of lied. We do some lemon tartelettes for one of our restaurants, and they get meringue. It's the same lemon cream in our full-sized tarts, baked in the small shells. I just love meringue, and how lovely and billowy it is.

Once it's on the tarts, we spike it and torch it. If you do it right, you don't even scorch the parchment under the 'lettes!

We got an order for one of our desserts with a custom banner on it. We usually do generic "Happy Birthday" and "Joyeux Anniversaire" banners, piped in chocolate on rolled out marzipan, but if a customer asks, we will do custom banners to order. Somehow, since my former boss, the old pastry chef, left, this has fallen to me. Needless to say, I got better at piping really quickly! I probably do a couple of custom banners a week, and the generic ones as needed. Here's one of each:

I always find lower case "e's" the hardest even though I now pipe them backwards from how I'd write it (start at the bottom). It's hard to keep that hole open.

For lunch I wanted some of the soup I saw floating around yesterday, since it was raining and gloomy, but I couldn't find it (not surprising). I decided on a croque monsieur, which I eat maybe twice a year, and once I'd finished, I remembered why: they're so rich! We use our pain de mie, plain sandwich bread, topped with béchamel, ham, cheese, the top slice of bread, more béchamel, and more cheese, then baked in the oven. Tasty, though.

And now I'm back into the kitchen to really get at this unpacking! Without anything to cook for dinner tonight, I can focus on that. I don't know what's for dinner tonight. Maybe pho from the little hole-in-the-wall a few blocks away.

[Abra]

That spiked meringue is really cute. What do you use to pull it out like that, and is the meringue extra-stiff to begin with?

[jgarner53]

That spiked meringue is really cute. What do you use to pull it out like that, and is the meringue extra-stiff to begin with?

We use our fingers! Really, you just have to touch it, and it pulls out into spikes. It's quite fun! We put a blob on with an ice cream scoop, then go to town. The meringue's pretty stiff, two parts sugar to one egg white, heated over a water bath until the sugar's dissolved. It takes about 5 minutes or so on the mixer on high.

[jgarner53]

There are those who say you go into cook with the kitchen you have, not the kitchen you want. Most of the time in life, when you move into a new place, you have to fit your stuff into the kitchen you inherit, for better or for worse. Oops, this doesn't fit on that shelf or in that cabinet; I guess it has to go there. Things wind up in oddball places that eventually make perfect sense to you. Why, of course the silverware's on top of the fridge! Where else would it go? However, when you remodel, if you're anal like me, you figure out how much space you're starting with, how much stuff you have, and how much space you're going to have, not to mention map out where everything's going to go. There's time to put everything in the best spot because you are making that spot happen. Ultimately, when it comes time to move your now dusty things into your new kitchen, it's pretty easy because you have a handy map.

I did this before I had the layout completely finalized. The full-sized pullout pantry was too expensive and not very period, so I went with a shorter cabinet with rollout shelves and drawers below instead. But the basic premise is the same.

My new Bosch dishwasher has a great feature that allows you to wash just the top rack. Dusty glassware? No problem! Run a quick load of dishes! Dusty mixing bowls? Same thing! I have a feeling that this will get used a lot in the coming few days.

Not surprisingly, the unpacking is going pretty quickly. GC still has to make adjustments to the doors on the lazy susan cabinets. Dan the Cabinet Man installed the doors with the hinges going the wrong way, and reversing them seems to be problematic. So I can't put anything (tupperware, small appliances) away in those cabinets for a couple of days, plus I need to figure out how to make a template so I can cut shelf lining, especially in the appliance portion of the cabinet.

I also have to get some drawer dividers for the big drawer in the baking wall and figure out how to configure them. But oh, how nice to have the silverware handy, and the dishes put away!

How did I figure out where things would go? In part, I kind of designed first, planned later. But I also had an idea in my head. I knew I wanted glass cabinets for the dishes, and I wanted them visible. That meant moving them from the wall next to the fridge to their new location. Two more steps from the dishwasher when unloading (I tested it out) but no great hardship. I've tried to put things where they're used - coffee near the coffee pot, flour near the baking center and mixer, and so forth, as much as I can. Little used items get put up high. To me, it seems like common sense, but then again, there are people with silverware on top of the fridge! And I'm sure some things will move around until they find their proper home (I'm kind of thinking the beer glasses and wine glasses might switch places, for example).

Now, the key question is, will I remember that my cereal's now in the pantry when I get up tomorrow morning for work?

Aiki_brewer is busy with the new receiver, and I was busy in the kitchen, so we did opt for takeout tonight (the counters are all aclutter). We got soup from the little pho shop a couple blocks away and started with fried imperial rolls.

We both ordered the same thing because that's what sounded best: curry chicken with vermicelli. I'd kept out two of these bowls through the remodel since we have pho every few weeks, but I was happy to take them out of their new home!

This curry is mildly spicy, with big hunks of chicken and potatoes. Nice and filling. I love regular pho, too, but this sounded particularly good tonight.

Even little Pic is moving into the new kitchen!

It feels so great to start moving things in, putting them away. The dining room is still utter chaos and has gotten worse throughout the week as I've disassembled the neat pile of boxes I had looking for an ingredient or a pan, and then had to put a clean pan back in the stack, without a home yet in the kitchen (drawers not cleaned out, liner not in, shelves not installed, whatever). I'm back to drinking my water out of a glass instead of a nalgene bottle.

And the key step: I pulled out my tea kettle, wiped it off, filled it up, and placed it on the stove for the morning. No more microwaved tea for me!

Just one more day, though I do plan to cook, believe it or not! I have one last thing I want to make for you, so don't stop reading yet! And tomorrow morning -- croissants!

[bavila]

I'm loving your kitchen so far. And your map made me laugh -- reminding me of my totally anal mother who, when helping me move out of my college apartment made a map of the Uhaul truck for what furniture should go where. In your case, the map totally makes sense -- how else would you design a kitchen, at least a kitchen that's actually functional.

Can't wait to see the rest. Is the receiver going in the kitchen or speakers at least?

[jgarner53]

Is the receiver going in the kitchen or speakers at least?

Yeah, there's a speaker in the ceiling in the kitchen, so I'll be able to have tunes in there without having to crank the stereo in the living room. I have an iPod speaker, which is pretty good for the short term, but I really wanted something off the counter. We got a Squeezebox, too, which wirelessly connects to the computer and our iTunes library and playlists.

And now the bad news: I left my camera at work. I didn't even remember it until I was sitting on the couch after work, reading the paper. The only photo I'd taken, though, was of my croissant and almond croissant, and I was planning on photos of dinner, which will be my favorite stovetop macaroni & cheese, my ultimate favorite comfort food. For half a pound of macaroni, it uses an ungodly amount of cheese, something like 12 ounces. Keep your oven-baked mac, I'm making mine on the stove! I got Marlene Spieler's Mac & Cheese cookbook for Christmas and haven't even cracked it, except to drool over recipes on Christmas day. I won't crack it out today (don't even know where it is), but I can't wait!

I could go back out and pick it up, but just like when you leave something at the office on Friday, you really, really don't want to go back later on Friday to pick it up - you want your weekend, right? I'll get it tomorrow when I'm out running the inevitable weekend errands, though I know it will be too late for this foodblog.

I've been a lazy slug the past couple of hours, eating leftover pizza and reading the paper, and now it's time to get back to work in the kitchen and keep unpacking.

[Domestic Goddess]

Can you share your stovetop mac&cheese recipe? My boys absolutely adore this dish and I profess to have only fix it from a box. I would love to learn how to fix it from scratch.

[Smithy]

Your kitchen is beautiful! That is, what I've seen of it so far. I love that particular color of green, and the counters and floors and wall paint and tiles look lovely together. I'm looking forward to the finished-product revelation shots.

It's fortunate that you really could plan out the layout of everything. You're right: most of us adapt to the kitchen. I once moved into an apartment that met my basic prerequisites of affordability, short commute, cats allowed. and a walk-in closet big enough to stow all my clothes and camping gear and bicycles and other toys. After I moved in, when I was unpacking, I realized that there wasn't a drawer to be found in the place: not in the bathroom, not in the kitchen. No drawers. My flatware lived in baskets on the counter that year. (It's funny now...)

I'm not sure whether your blog will still be open by the time I'm near a computer again, so I'll say it now: thanks for blogging for us! This has been an enjoyable week - for us readers, at least - and it's been wonderful to share your triumphs as well as get some spring shots!

[jgarner53]

Can you share your stovetop mac&cheese recipe?

Sure! It's actually Alton Brown's Mac-n-Cheese recipe. I find that in the time it takes the water to boil for the pasta, I can grate the cheese and get the rest of the ingredients ready. It may not be as cheap as the blue box, but it's a lot better! It's a bit soupy when it's first finished, but if you let it sit a couple of minutes (tonight I used that time to wash the dishes), it's perfect! Good luck with it - I know that my nieces and nephews probably all went through phases where if it wasn't specifically blue box, it was icky.

Your kitchen is beautiful! That is, what I've seen of it so far. I love that particular color of green, and the counters and floors and wall paint and tiles look lovely together. I'm looking forward to the finished-product revelation shots.

Thank you very much, Smithy. I wish I could post finished shots tonight! It is starting to look and feel more lived in. My crock of utensils is by the stove now, the toaster oven moved in today, and most of the non-food stuff is put away. I am seriously beginning to wonder, though, if I have enough food storage. It's still too early to tell because I want to have all the pieces (missing shelves) before I finish putting away the food. I never planned for a huge pantry, but things seem to be taking up more space than I'd anticipated. I guess nothing goes perfectly.

The green, btw, is BM's Potpourri Green. The cabinets are BM's Mayonnaise (perfect in a kitchen, no? ) It works well in my kitchen because it doesn't get any direct sunlight (north facing windows), and with the months of fog, it will still feel light and bright in there. Yet another thing I tested out for months.

I apologize again for the lack of photos today! I couldn't even take pictures of the leftover mac & cheese tomorrow. Aiki_brewer and I ate it all. It's so great to pull a pot out of its drawer and not hunt for it, or have to return it to the dining room when I'm done. We finished the pie tonight, too. For all my talk at the beginning of the week of craving lighter foods, I haven't done much to actually eat that way this week! Next week, next week (and it's aiki_brewer's bday on Wed, which means dinner party Saturday and bday cake!).

It's been a lot of fun to write this, and a great challenge, as well. Between my work schedule, contractor issues, working to move into the kitchen, and just general time, I'm wondering where the week went! Thank you all for reading.