eG Foodblog: therese - So, you want to remodel your kitchen?

[spaghetttti]

Loving this blog, therese! I'll play! ^ They look quite similar to this

[therese]

Loving this blog, therese!  I'll play!  ^ They look quite similar to this

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The link didn't pop up exactly at kolang kaling, but I'm guessing that's what you're referring to since they do look like the item in question (and extremely cool, too---that freaky fruit thread rocks).

You've got the scale pretty close, but my items are even smaller, closer in size to the lime seeds in that picture. And they're dry, quite dry and chewy.

They are of plant origin.

[Edited to add that I'm going to bed now. I'll entertain all guesses as to the identity of the mystery item in the AM. And I thought of a couple more cool things to show tomorrow. Where did I get all this weird food?]

Edited February 17, 2005 by therese (log)

[Pan]

I think Post #201 is a closeup of rock sugar, white and brown.

[therese]

I think Post #201 is a closeup of rock sugar, white and brown.

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Sugar? Well, yes, they do look like rock sugar. But they're not, they're way weirder than rock sugar. They're actually weirder in some ways than basil seeds, and that's saying something.

Plant origin, dry, chewy. Really really chewy. You could chew one of these until tomorrow and it still wouldn't be gone. I think so anyway---I've not actually done this experiment.

[g_camper]

I must commend this blog - Kitchen redo and dining out in Atlanta - great stuff!!

I am getting ready to do a remodel of my kitchen and would be willing to set up a blog if there is interest. We too are moving out for the time, but into our neighbor's house while they are in France. The work will be done in May/June.

Our's is a smaller scale, but with a difference. We will be combining our kitchen with our den which is very small.

We are currently at the stage where we have decided on:

1) Our contractor

2) Our design (more or less)

3) Our cabinet wood (natural maple)

4) Our range (Wolf 36" 6 burner)

5) Our Refrigerator (Sub-Zero 36") Cabinet Front

6) Our Dishwasher (Asko) Cabinet Front

Still undecided are:

1) SWAMBO (She Who Absolutely Must Be Obeyed) and I have not reached an agreement regarding Granite

2) Have to decide on the windows this week. Along with that is the hardware. Do we match the door hardware with the faucets and knobs? If so, we have to decide on that now too.

3) Traveling to Spain the end of March to determine backsplash tiles(not really, but it sounds good - we are going on vacation and will be looking, but will have a choice here - just in case).

4) Everything else

If interested, let me know, and I will try to document the process, what goes wrong, and what can help others.

[Pan]

I think Post #201 is a closeup of rock sugar, white and brown.

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Sugar? Well, yes, they do look like rock sugar. But they're not, they're way weirder than rock sugar. They're actually weirder in some ways than basil seeds, and that's saying something.

Plant origin, dry, chewy. Really really chewy. You could chew one of these until tomorrow and it still wouldn't be gone. I think so anyway---I've not actually done this experiment.

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Gum Arabic?

[Abra]

Mastic?

[snowangel]

The ledge above your stove is wonderful. Did you know when you planned the kitchen you would love it?

Wine with dinner. Do your kids get tastes? Diana (age 14) now gets a taste, and is learning some differences between wine.

Weekdays, what do your kids do for breakfast?

Did you and FoodTutor know each other before EG?

[Radio7]

Fantastic blog therese! I'm not a regular reader of these, but I'm quite engrossed here.

I'm going to take a wild stab at your mystery plant-product thingies above....

are they: bits of turkish delight jelly?

or maybe: tapioca pearls?

orrrrr: ginger bits?

......: I give up.

From what you've shown, I definately have to get to Louisiana someday. Looks lovely.

cheers!

er. Atlanta even. That's in Cambodia, right?

Edited February 17, 2005 by Radio7 (log)

[arbuclo]

therese, therese, therese...where were you when I was unpacking all my sea freight? It seems that you've really thought about what should go where. I sorta did that in unpacking but then just threw some stuff into cupboards because I don't know what to do with it.

And your kitchen is so gorgeous! Well done!

[therese]

Well, color me impressed: Pan, Abra, and Radio7 all got the answer, or something so close to the answer that there's no point quibbling about it.

Gum arabic and mastic (or mastiha) are both tree resins used in a wide variety of things. Gum arabic is generally described as being harvested from acacia trees. There are several varieties in different geographical distributions, and sometimes it's also called mastic.

Mastiha, the specific product that I've got, is billed as being from a certain tree (Pistacia lentiscus var. Chia) that grows only on a certain Greek Island, Chios. You can buy it as well as all sorts of products made from it (candy and toiletries, mostly) at a posh chain of shops (well, the one in Thessaloniki is posh, anyway) in Greece called Mastiha Shop. Physical properties very similar to Gum Arabic so far as I can tell. Beads of resin are sold according to grade, and seem to get more expensive as they get older (longer time spent aging on the tree from what I can tell---the woman in the shop was very nice but didn't have too much English, and there's not much non-Greek info on the web).

Both Turkish Delight and Turkish ice cream get their stickiness from this sort of material.

Mastiha does have a taste, vaguely citrus and camphor to my mind. I've got some toothpaste that contains it (though that might be gone), and I also tried various candies that had been made with it, including some hard candy lozenges, halvah (great combo, and these piece were also coated with chocolate), and Turkish Delight.

I collect (hmm, well, I wouldn't say collect, because I don't make any effort to catalogue or preserve the items---let's just say I acquire them) food and travel related ephemera. Here are some of them:

The hexagonal yellow box contained Turkish Delight (long since consumed by my children). The other items in this picture are there because I thought they were pretty or funny or they've got sentimental value.

[therese]

I must commend this blog - Kitchen redo and dining out in Atlanta - great stuff!!

I am getting ready to do a remodel of my kitchen and would be willing to set up a blog if there is interest.  We too are moving out for the time, but into our neighbor's house while they are in France.  The work will be done in May/June.

Our's is a smaller scale, but with a difference.  We will be combining our kitchen with our den which is very small.

We are currently at the stage where we have decided on:

1) Our contractor

2) Our design (more or less)

3) Our cabinet wood (natural maple)

4) Our range (Wolf 36" 6 burner)

5) Our Refrigerator (Sub-Zero 36") Cabinet Front

6) Our Dishwasher (Asko) Cabinet Front

Still undecided are:

1) SWAMBO (She Who Absolutely Must Be Obeyed) and I have not reached an agreement regarding Granite

2) Have to decide on the windows this week.  Along with that is the hardware.  Do we match the door hardware with the faucets and knobs?  If so, we have to decide on that now too.

3) Traveling to Spain the end of March to determine backsplash tiles(not really, but it sounds good - we are going on vacation and will be looking, but will have a choice here - just in case).

4) Everything else

If interested, let me know, and I will try to document the process, what goes wrong, and what can help others.

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Sounds like plans are coming along nicely.

As for your undecided issues:

1. Who wants what when it comes to granite (or other counter surface)? And why?

2. We had to decide on the window and door hardware early in the process, and this was before I'd made the wise decision to get a decorator involved in the process. So my husband wanted polished brass (even though I already knew that I'd want brushed nickel sorts of stuff for the cabinet hardward and fixtures because it would go well with the stainless appliances) and because I wanted to keep him in engaged in the process (in lots of different ways) I said okay. In retrospect I'm not sure that I'd have chosen window hardware that exactly matched the rest of the stuff (too "matchy matchy"), but I'd probably have chosen antiqued brass (or just natural brass, except that doesn't seem to be an option anymore).

3. Well, of course you're traveling to Spain to pick out backsplash tiles. And if you happen to eat your weight in ham while you're there, well, it's hard work picking out tile. If you buy them there be sure to get spares.

I actually shopped for kitchen ideas in Italy, having grown to like a lot of the space-saving ideas that I saw there back when I was working (or supposed to be working) au pair in college. I even considered getting Italian cabinetry (and had a friend there who could have bird-dogged things some on site), but then I came to my senses.

4. Have fun.

[therese]

From what you've shown, I definately have to get to Louisiana someday. Looks lovely.

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Well, okay. Be sure to wave at Atlanta as you fly over us on your way to Louisiana (where they've got lots of great food as well).

This was great for a giggle this AM, Radio7, so many thanks. You're not alone in your unfamiliarity with the southeastern U.S. Most of my travel involves lecturing, and I've prepared a slide that shows the U.S. with an inset of Georgia, and a star indicating the position of Atlanta (the state capital). This comes in handy in New Zealand, sure, but it also came in handy recently in California, where I was introduced (at some length) as being from Alabama (the information on my first slide, already being projected during the intro, notwithstanding).

[therese]

The ledge above your stove is wonderful.  Did you know when you planned the kitchen you would love it?

Wine with dinner.  Do your kids get tastes?  Diana (age 14) now gets a taste, and is learning some differences between wine.

Weekdays, what do your kids do for breakfast?

Did you and FoodTutor know each other before EG?

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Answers in order...

I did know that I'd use the ledge in the way that I've used it, so yes, I suppose I did know I would love it. The ledge is the same granite as the regular counter below it, so I don't have to worry about messing up a painted finish. My contractor was very good about incorporating this sort of thing into the trim so that it looks seamless.

The kids do get to taste pretty much any alcoholic beverage they care to. Boy doesn't like the taste of alcohol, nor does he like fruit, nor does he like carbonation (he won't even drink fizzy mineral water). So he's rarely interested. Girl has always liked the taste of alcohol and doesn't mind carbonation, so she tries pretty much everything. Not as frequently at home (when we're not necessarily drinking anything particularly exceptional) but almost always in restaurants. She tried both the chardonnay and the cremant at Woodfire, for instance. If she really likes something we give her a small pour, but she's a scrawny little thing without much volume of distribution, so it's not much.

Weekday breakfasts for the kids are whatever they'd like to prepare. Cereal (generally unsweetened, though at the moment Girl's liking Cheerios with Red Berries), croissants (DFM makes smallish whole wheat ones that they like), cinnamon toast, eggs (Boy likes scrambled or omelets with cheese, Girl likes sunny side up so that she can dip her toast into the runny yolk).

Finally, yes, TheFoodTutor and I knew each other before eGullet. But we did meet in cyberspace, on another food-related site.

[therese]

therese, therese, therese...where were you when I was unpacking all my sea freight?  It seems that you've really thought about what should go where.  I sorta did that in unpacking but then just threw some stuff into cupboards because I don't know what to do with it.

And your kitchen is so gorgeous!  Well done!

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Thanks. From the looks of your blog you're having a great time even without an obsessively planned kitchen. We met a woman at Gordon Ramsay's at Claridge's while having a lunch a couple of years ago who was apparently opening the Dubai branch. Tall and blond with short hair as I recall (though the meeting was at the end of a very long and alcoholic lunch, so perhaps the person we met was a short dark man with a handlebar mustache).

[therese]

Oh, and everybody should feel free to ask questions about the food ephemera items.

[therese]

[deleted due to inadvertent double post]

Edited February 17, 2005 by therese (log)

[therese]

Lunch today takes place in a conference room with about 30 other people. Fortunately I merit a seat "at the big table". Food's provided, but it varies a lot, so I'm packing my own:

Tomatoes and green beans with a grain mustard vinaigrette, almond crackers, granny smith apple, and chai and ginger-flavored milk chocolate bar (because I think I'm going to need chocolate today). Hmm, maybe I should put in a piece of cheese...oh, hold it, my son finished off all those groovy little string cheese packets. Damn. Now I have to go get some chevre and put it in a container.

For this sort of conference I often pack something that I can easily eat with chopsticks, as it's tidier than knife and fork when I won't be eating off of a plate. Dispo wooden chopsticks on hand, though I should just go ahead and get a small set to keep in my lunch box.

[therese]

More dinner:

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Oh, yeah, did people know what this was?

It's really delicious if you've not tried it yet. I've got two tubs of it in my fridge, one plain and one red (this version). So far as I can tell they taste the same, and I pick one color or the other based on the other items in the meal.

[Radio7]

Oh lordy!

Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta...I am a dweeb. I blame my ignorance on laziness more than anything - I felt a twinge of uncertainty as I typed my post, but didn't bother checking if I was right. I'm Canadian, and honestly have about as vague an idea of U.S.A. geography as most americans do of canada. lol.

Mea culpa!

Moving right along here, I'm guessing the orangey-brown things in your last pic are wheatberries? Mebbe?

[therese]

Moving right along here, I'm guessing the orangey-brown things in your last pic are wheatberries? Mebbe?

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Not wheatberries, and not mung beans (an earlier suggestion by reesek). This picture is of the uncooked item---once cooked they look distinctly, um, curly.

And yes, despite having lots of Canadian friends and even visiting a number of Canadian cities I still find myself trying to figure out in which order to place Alberta, Sasketchewan, and Manitoba. Though on second thought I have just as much trouble identifying the big square states out west in my own country, so maybe I'm just geography impaired.

[SobaAddict70]

I was going to say lentils de puy but now I'm not so sure...

Soba

[therese]

I was going to say lentils de puy but now I'm not so sure... 

Soba

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Much smaller than lentils, 1-2 mm in diameter.

[Abra]

If it looks curly it must be quinoa, although I've never seen any in red. I love white quinoa - now I'll look for red too.

[SaltySnack]

I was going to guess quinoa as well, but I've been beaten to the punch.

I have recently discovered the ginger chews and love them. They come in several different varieties. I like to take them with me when traveling as I tend to get motion sickness all the time.

So I'll ask, what do you do with the gum, was it gum? the chewy stuff in the picture? And where do you buy it? Does it come bulk? in a package?

How did you get interested in all this unusual food? Does someone introduce you to it or do you see it in the store and decide to try it?

Thanks for a great blog.