Fall Back, a welcome visit and Vanilla Extract

I love fall back Sunday.  I know it's more a trick of the mind, but I totally love the extra hour.  I slept deep and really well last night.  When I woke up, thinking it was late, it was only 7:12.  That was the first best part of the day!

My youngest, a sophomore in college, is home for a visit! Oh my, is it good to walk through the house and see his face looking back at me.

This day seems like it's been going on forever and it coincides with a visit from my sweet little boy. It doesn't get much better than that.

Two weeks ago I started a batch, my first batch, of Vanilla Extract. I found an entry on Pinterest and when I calculated the amount of money I spend per ounce from the store, it was a no-brainer. I priced the extract at all the stores around me and the least expensive, not imitation, was $2.25 an ounce. While I try to buy it on sale, sometimes a girl's just gotta make cookies even when supplies aren't on sale. So the last one I purchased was $3.39 an ounce. It was on this day I decided to make my own now, not later.

This is what I did... I took my 24 year old to the liquor store and said help me pick out a vodka that is drinkable, but not top shelf. We chose a bottle that was $12.99 for 750ml, which is 25-ish ounces. Then on a shopping trip with my best guys, we visited our favorite 'little bit of everything' store and found 4 - 8 oz. swing top bottles and 2 - 16 oz. ones for $1.99 each. I'd already ordered beans online and they'd arrived within 2 days!  Two weeks ago, I cut the beans in half, so they were short enough to fit into the 8 oz. bottle, then split them down the middle leaving the tip intact.  I put 6 halves into each bottle, then filled with vodka. For the 16 ounces, I put in 6 beans that I did not need to cut in half because the bottle was tall enough for the whole beans... I did split them though. I closed the lids and put them in the hutch in the front room to become the most magical of baking ingredients.

In case you are wondering about the math, here's how it breaks down: beans were 16.99 (shipping included) for 25, which is $0.68 per bean. Vodka is $0.52 per ounce.  Each bottle holds 8 ounces vodka and 3 beans $4.16 + $2.04 = $6.20.  That's $0.77 per ounce!   That's 1/4 the cost of the last bottle I purchased - woo.  If we include the cost of the bottles, it works out to be $1.02 per ounce and even that is less than 1/3 the cost of that last bottle I purchased.  Ohmygoodness!

The only hitch in this plan is the time... It takes 6-8 weeks to create extract.

It's a win I think.  And I'm sure you are wondering... what on earth am I going to do with 64 oz of vanilla extract... I plan to give it away for Christmas.  I'm hoping to find some smaller bottles sometime between now and then, because 4 ounces is probably good for most folks. The two 16 oz bottles can become 8-4oz bottles. So, fingers crossed.

Harvest Bisque

It's that time of year again and this is the first Harvest Soup.  See this post for my "technique", which I really made up after seeing a similar picture on a facebook post.  I thought to myself, "Hey! I can do that!" and I did.  I've made it half a dozen times and every time it's a little bit different because of the veggies added and because I don't use a recipe.  But it's never bad.  I've been using chicken stock for the liquid now and I no longer fill it full of liquid, like the original post.  I put as many veggies into the pot as I can, then add liquid about 2/3 of the way.  The veggies begin to soften and condense immediately so there is more than enough liquid.

I don't know if you've had the Tomato Bisque at Brio, but my youngest loves that soup.  We also had a stellar one on vacation last year.  This Harvest Bisque is as close as I've come to either.  It's actually easy to do and everyone in my house raved about it.  LOVE when that happens.

What's the difference between Tomato Soup and Tomato Bisque you are asking...  Well as near as I can tell it's cream.  The cream gives the soup an orangey color and (no pun intended) a creamy texture.  You can add as much or as little as you like, I think.  Everybody has definite opinions on cream.  Very volatile topic. But, it's undeniable the benefit of adding it to soup.  I just choose to add enough to get the benefits, but not so much as to end up with a white soup.  I ended up using just less than a cup in a pot with 12 servings in it.   Will the soup stink if you skip it? Not a chance.

Here is the beauty of this soup, you get to make it the way you want.  Put in the veggies you like, skip ones you don't.  I recommend adding carrots because their sweetness balances the acidity in the tomatoes.  I do wait to add salt or pepper until after it's simmered a couple of hours and been blended (with the stick blender).  There is salt in the stock and you just can't know if it will need any more until it's had a chance to condense.  The only seasoning I put it are a couple of bay leaves until after it's blended.  Then you can take it any way you want by the herbs you put in.  It is also great to package by one or two cup measures in zip bags and freeze.  You can add these to spaghetti, chili or a clearer soup, like minestrone.

By the way, every time I reach into the cupboard and pull out one of the new dishes I'm tickled.  They are cute and fun and happy and make the food look better!  Nerdy I know.  Definitely, one of my most favorite things to come from the whole kitchen remodel.

If, like me, you are harvesting by the tonnage these days, give the soup a try.

Kitchen Update!

OMGosh. It's really coming together now!  Here is the pic of the grout I promised.  It makes the tile look even better.  It's weird to say that, but it does.  Which is what grout is supposed to do I suppose, but it does.  It makes the tile look even better.

I also finished the new glitter switch plates.  With all the new electrics, came new plates, too.  I like them even better with the tile!

I will say our first tiling job is a success and won't be our last.  We've lived in this house for 15 years and some of the rooms really need a sprucing up.  Given how the kitchen refresh became a full on remodel, I hesitate to think about the next room.  But, no thinking of other rooms when there are still four items left in the Kitchen, which include new floor, light over stove, undercabinet lights, stainless steel behind stove.

We are grouting!

Well, as you can imagine in a hundred year old house, we ran into a couple of snags with the back splash project.  So...  We put tile on the two sections without issues (see picture here) and we've been in a period of discernment (that's my 25 cent word of the day) waiting for the solution to appear.  Which it did, in the form of a friend who recommended forgoing trying to tile the tricky area and put up a stainless steel panel instead.  OhMyGoodness, don't you love a friend who shares!

Well I mentioned it to my hubby and we were off to the races!  Lucky for us, two country blocks away, is a metal fabricating company.  The tricky area is behind the stove, which is under a window, which lines up with nothing.  It (the window) also has a protruding piece of wood - could be part of the sill, could be they used whatever they had and tough noogies that it sticks out about 3/8" from the drywall. Wow this is boring.  Anyway, there are some other totally uninteresting quirks about that stretch of wall that make tiling it tricky.

But now we havve a plan!  So today we grouted the tile we have.  AND IT LOOKS BEAUTEOUS!

Have I mentioned before we've never tiled anything before?  True story.  I thought the kitchen would be a good test site as it's a small area.  Then, if it goes well, we are moving on to the bathrooms.  Well it's gone well.  We've learned a lot (like buy more than 1 sponge) and it was fairly easy, and there were virtually no unhappy words.

I'm just about the give the grout a final clean and then I'll post a pic!  Woot!!!!

Fabulous Friday!

I am always off on Friday's, but what makes this day fabulous is yesterday's activities.  Because I was so busy yesterday, today has a much slower, do what you want pace to it.  Woo!

I have discovered some new favorite things and wanted to share:

Microfiber towels:  Not new to the market, but new to me.  Here are my thoughts.

1. They clean fingerprints off the fridge without any sort of cleaner.  Dry.  
2. Amazing duster.  Again Dry & no cleaner.
3. Soaks up an amazing amount of water.
4. Bright vibrant color that doesn't dim in the wash.
5. Super soft.
6. When dirty or dusty, goes right into washer.  Don't use fabric softener as it reduces the fibers ability to collect oil and dust and dirt.  (to the microfiber, the oil in fabric softener is the same as fingerprint oil - it's collected and trapped there til the next wash.) 
7. I have both dish towel and dish cloth size.  As I've mentioned before I like the dish cloth size for a lot of different things and I find them perfect for dusting.  But I like having both.

Corelle Dishes:  Not new to market, but I've never owned a set.  I've been thinking about new dishes for a long time. I've owned and used: Pfatzgraff, heirloom china, hand made pottery and some vintage glass dishes.  Some were priceless and some were bargain priced finds.  Some were gifted to me.  What's different about these dishes is I picked them out myself.  They reflect who I am and where I want to dedicate my time.  They also remind me of the dishes I liked the best, which were the vintage glass set (a very incomplete set).  Why did I go with Corelle?

1. Durabilty
2. Availability
3. Selection
4. Mix and Match
5. Dishwasher safe
6. No pressure. God bless the people who can use heirloom china without worry or breakage and happily hand wash it all.  I cannot.  These are readily available, easily replaced, reasonably priced.  
7. They make everything in Corelle - serving dishes, dessert bowls, ramekins, etc.  
8. It looks great with the French White pieces I've owned and loved for years.  

I picked out 4 sets of black and white dishes.  I'm only picturing 3 here because the 4th one is larger (be sure to read the dimensions before purchasing - - which I did not.) and it's going back.  I really like to have 12 plates.  It's a lot, but we've had 12 in both the china and hand made pottery and I discovered how handy it is.  Having 12 means that we can have people over and not have to wash dishes if we've (gasp) used plates for lunch! ;-) (oh geez, I crack myself up).  The patterns don't match, but because they are black and white, they 'go'.  Corelle has everything you can imagine to go with your dinner set, so I cleaned out all the hodgepodge bowls and platters and now everything is white or black and white.

I love these dishes.  I shopped at multiple sites because some patterns are exclusive to different merchants.  

Some people say it's wrong to 'love' objects.  I disagree.  I think that objects can enhance our lives and feeling positive emotion about a better life is natural.  Maybe it's the word love that people object to.  Since I am not Gollum and haven't started calling anything My Precious, I think I'm all right.  But if you find loving dishes objectionable substitute like-like or appreciate.  

Since it's Fabulous Friday, think I'll go and dig in the dirt!  Enjoy! 

Let there be backsplash

Here is the first picture of the penny rounds we chose for our back splash.  We were tiling pretty late last night, so it isn't grouted and probably won't be today.  But I couldn't wait to share.  

What do you think?  

It's variegated and warm and looks lovely with the counter and looks lovely with the cabinets and is perfect and we love it.  Here's what's really interesting is that 1 &1/2 tiles fit in the space between the counter and cabinets perfectly. The only cutting we've done is tucking into corners and around the light switches.  Woot!

Here is why we chose this tile:  

One: the color.  It's warm and the variation in color just draws your eye along it.

Two: the shape.  The roundness is in contrast to the sharp lines in the counter and really the entire kitchen which is filled with straight lines, rectangles, etc.  

Three: We both liked it.  It took my hubby a while, but once he saw a demo of this at the tile place we were both on board. 

Tiny Kitchen Update

OMG! This just doesn't even show how great the new counter is, but I can't wait until morning to take better lit pic.  The granite is much lighter in person and once you see the "befores" you will understand what I mean.  I hesitate to put this out there because the electrics are under way and exposed.  Plus you can see where the backsplash on the old top ended because that's where the paint color changes :)  Oh well.  Try and ignore all that.  More soon.

Warmth, shelving, and puzzlement

Today is warm.  72 in fact.  It's lovely, sunny, windy and warm.  Perfect for tossing some seeds and perfect for poly-ing the new kitchen shelves.

So here's what we've done...  Wandering around our home improvement store, we discovered these planks made from pieces of aspen that had been joined together into larger planks, sort of butcher block style.  It's tough to tell from this picture, but trust me, they look great!  We cut them to the correct size and put polyurethane on them, leaving them the natural pale color, which fits our light kitchen neutral plan of attack.

The shelves will be setting on track shelving, which my handy hubby painted a beige color, which blends so nicely with the wall color. We went with three for the time being.  A 15 on top, a 12 in the middle, and a 9 down low.  The dogs eating destination is under these shelves and we didn't want her to feel crowded.  Now we are waiting on the poly to dry.

Bet you are wondering about the lighting, aren't ya?!  Well, it took four hours and a lot of discussion and visiting every place in a two hour radius, but...  We finally purchased a single light.  One light fixture.
I think that's all I'll say about that.  Call me Forrest Gump.

Today I ordered new plates.  hee hee.  I didn't tell anyone, didn't ask their opinion, didn't waffle, didn't evaluate, just went with my instinct.  They should be here this week.  eeep.  I'm excited.  When they get here, I'll post a pic with my rationale for what I bought and why.  Until then, mum's the word.

So, here's something I'm currently pondering.  Let's say you notice someone who is not having a great day and you're concerned enough to want to help.  Then you try and that someone promptly bites your freaking head off.  So, now that they've told you they clearly do want your attention, you turn said attention to something else.  You know it's not about you and since you've had some rather crabby moments in your life, you just go on about your business.  Some time later, head-biting someone decides they do want to talk, but rather than say that, or address what happened earlier, or God forbid - apologize...  They say nonsense things and jokes.  And because nonsense and jokes aren't conversation and the elephant in the room is hard to ignore, but you do it,  the head biter says "Are you upset about something?"  Can anyone explain this to me?  Anyone? Anyone!

Never mind, I know what it is.  I'm well versed actually, but there are times when I find it exhausting when other people absolutely refuse to do any sort of soul searching, or inner exploration whatsoever.  For crying out loud, we all have life lessons to learn.  Put on your big girl panties and prepare to be schooled.  It's never as bad as you think and there is such tremendous relief in the newfound knowledge. Besides, you don't pay attention this time, that lesson is just going to keep showing up again and again and again.

"Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future."-- Deepak Chopra

Kitchen Update

We've seen the layout on the granite and it is beautiful.  We've ordered the backsplash tiles.  We have the new cork flooring.  We have a new faucet....  Now we are waiting.

In the meantime, we are going to look at lighting this morning.  We need some additional lighting in the kitchen over the peninsula and over the stove.  I might even take a look at under counter lighting.  The granite  is sparkly and the tile has some glimmer, so a little under cabinet lighting will provide the light when the sun does not.  Hmmm...

Also, we are going to resolve the shelving situation today.  What was going to be a refresh has turned into an update and it's taking quite a bit longer than I anticipated.  Which is fine, except that the overflow is sitting on the kitchen table and the floor in the front room and I'm starting to feel a little crazy.

It's not like I'm a total neat freak or anything.  If you come over to eat off the floor plan on finding a stray dog hair, some dirt and probably a pebble from the driveway.  No, I'm not a neat freak, but it makes me just a little jangly with all this random stuff everywhere.

And my favorite husband is jumping from one project to another and I've had to put my foot down.  We are doing the kitchen.  Period.  Until it is finished.  Just the Kitchen.  Jangly and foot down.  YIKES!

But it's not all bad...  Whenever I feel stressed out, I clean.  So, just maybe you will be able to come over and eat off the floors without any extras!

Wish me luck out there in the wide, wide world of lighting.  It has been the setting of many a frustrating conversation with my husband ;)

Kitchen Update and Thoughtful musings

 Remember the basket to hold paper plates...  Well this is how it turned out.  After getting half way with the blue, I frogged the blue back out and went with black.  Turns out I couldn't commit to the blue.  I like it a lot, but what if I want to change the accent colors to purple and green or pink and light pink or...  Well you get the idea.  I just didn't want to be in the business of making paper plate baskets.

So, this is the finished project.  What do you think?  I love the natural and black together.  I decided on a double strand reverse single crochet edging because I like the chunky, unkempt look of it.

In other news...  They came to measure for the countertop today!  Woo.  It's all very exciting.  We picked out a new faucet, too.  More on that later.

So listen, I've been doing some research into "I am" statements and spending some quality time in prayerful consideration.  Here are my thoughts:  "I am" is an incredibly powerful way to begin a sentence.  "I" means you and no one else.  "Am" means is, without question or qualification.  Therefore we should consider carefully what we put after it.  For instance, I am tired.  I am sick.  NO!  This are not things you want to be putting into the cosmos or into your internal dialogue.  I am Strong.  I am healthy.  I am love.  YES!  That's what I'm talking about.  Find a way to frame your challenges in a positive way.  Feeling stumped? You can always say I am figuring it out, which if you aren't telling it like it is, you might just give yourself time to figure it out.

“There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be...” ― John Lennon

March Madness & a New Countertop

It's March Madness and my favorite husband is a junkie!  For years, as a family, we've had a bracket challenge.  Some years we pick round by round and some we go all the way through the bracket.  It always brings around some funny moments and this year is no exception.

Just so you know, I pick my teams based on how I feel about the names.  I don't know their records, I don't know their injury list, I just look at the two names and go with my gut.  I get teased about this a lot.  A Lot.  But, I do it anyway, because it's what works for me.

sorry about the blur.

To get my guys going, I added the phrase at the top.   Whew, am I a funny girl or what!  Though my picks have not all worked out, I'll always be able to say I picked Harvard and Wichita State.

Close up of a section of countertop.

On to the really big news of the weekend.  We picked a countertop! Yes, we did.  It's granite and I'm so happy with it.  It's among the only ones we looked at that both my husband and I could agree on.  It's amazing and wonderful and in about 3 weeks it's going to be here every day so I can look at it.

When my kids were little and they would get agitated by unexpected things, I started a habit with them where we would chant: Be Happy, Be Flexible, Be Free.  Sometimes we danced, sometimes we stamped our feet, sometimes we laughed at ourselves.  It was a way to get them out of whatever moment they were in, but it's also a good way to approach life.

Okay! Food in the Fridge

Here's a funny thing...  I couldn't remember if I've mentioned today's subject before or not and so I've just spent a few minutes re-reading previous posts.  I say "Okay" a lot.  I start sentences with it and everything.  I'm certain English majors around the world are cringing, but I think it's funny.  I had an Uncle who said Okay all the darn time.  Genetics are funny.  I am thankful to be at a stage in my life where I can laugh at my own ridiculousness.

On to the purpose of this post.  I have a busy family and these days it's rare for all of us to be home at dinner time.  My kids are virtually grown, but rarely cook for themselves and rather than leaving them to a lifetime of pb&j's or cheese sandwiches, I've come up with a few things to keep nearly ready food in the fridge for quick meals and I thought I'd share.  

It's the chicken, jar of diced veggies
and naked pasta, hee hee.

Chicken - We eat a lot of chicken.  A tip from Pioneer Woman is to cut the chicken breast like you do a cake layer.  Or, like butterflying a breast, but keep going to get two pieces that still have the chicken breast shape.  Why you might ask, well the breast pieces are too large for just one person.  And cutting them this way, they still look great, but are more reasonably portion sized.  After cutting, I saute with a small amount of butter and olive oil until cooked through.  You can also bake them in the oven, but I prefer the saute.  Once cooked, I cool, then wrap individually.  (Okay, this is chicken people and you don't want to risk salmonella or anything else, so cook the chicken thoroughly and cool safely to ensure good food for you and your family.)  I do this twice a month, so I make enough to last two weeks.  I take half of the individually wrapped breasts and put them in a large zipper bag and stow it in the fridge.  The other half, I put in a freezer bag and freeze, taking it out when the first batch is gone.  This chicken can become a sandwich just as it is, or it can be chopped and added to a salad, turned into chicken salad, made into a quesadilla, added to soup, rice, baked potato, eggs, etc. It's great I tell ya, it's great!

Another artistic view of same

Pasta Salad - My youngest thinks pasta salad is the bomb.  But if you've ever had pasta salad in the fridge for more than a day you know that all the dressing absorbs into the pasta and the veggies begin to soften right away.  Here's what I do, I make the pasta, cool it and store it in a large container in the fridge, naked.  I then prepare the veggies, mix them together and store them in the fridge in their own container.  When you want pasta salad, a spoon full of pasta and spoon full of veggies, add your own dressing and stir.  The veggies by themselves, especially in mason jars, will be fresh and crisp for days.  Naked pasta-the same.  Once the pasta is cool, rinse it with cool water and let drain - no sticking!   Here's my favorite part about this, I like odd stuff in my salads, like pickles.  Because I'm making a me salad, I can put whatever I want it in, including some very delicious dill pickle bites every time I want!!!

Just wanted to share, okay! OKAY!

BTW~ we went to look at more countertop options and I've come home confused.  I thought I was headed in one direction and ended up attracted to a completely different one.  Oh, geez.  So, I'm going to sleep on it, go to one last place tomorrow and then make a freaking decision.

Okay, here's another funny thing about me, I take really interesting pictures.  Just look at these two.  Clearly not a food blogger.  As my boss says, "We are all gifted differently."  hee hee, yes I am :)

Most importantly...      Have a great weekend people. 

OmyGoodness... And a basket, too.

I don't feel well and I've reached the whiny stage. And the stage where I don't think I can be around myself a minute longer. AARRRRGH. (And the pirate noises stage, too, apparently.)

I'm currently crocheting a basket to hold the paper plates out of natural kitchen cotton, ♥LionBrandYarns. I'm definitely going to add blue (don't you love that vintage packaging?) in a stripe and I'm thinking of adding the orange in a small stripe, too. What do you think?  I'm pondering the orange because I don't really want to commit.  I like it, but we went neutral on purpose.  But, then again it's just a basket.

It's going to be one of THOSE days, is it?!

I'm working the basket in single chains and since this is the first crocheted piece I've been able to progress with since I broke my arm (and a small bone in my thumb, which is the troublesome part), I'm really thrilled.  Yes, it's been a long time since I broke my arm, but the tension it takes to hold the crochet hook was just so painful that I couldn't do it.

Anyway, point is, I've missed croceheting and I'm thrilled to be making something.  And out of cotton, which is a stiff yarn to work.  Woo!

I hope you find something that thrills you today!

The Granite Yard

Today, sore throat, husky voice, but no fever, we wandered around a granite yard.  It was my first foray into such a place.  I've always had laminate tops up til now.  But we are considering all our choices.  We've eliminated concrete, bamboo, butcher block, tile, marble and man-made stone products.

There were more than 100 different types of granite at this place and at least one in every color, seemingly.  It was really fun, interesting, and filled with possibilities... Are we Black Galaxy, which looks like the stars racing towards a space ship in the movies?  Are we White Ice, which is white and gray and filled with sparkles?  Are we UbaTuba? Star Beach?  Well you get the idea.

We had a great time and walked miles and miles looking, re-looking, whittling down, taking pictures.  I recommend it, if you, like me, get a little giddy when it comes to remodeling.  I'm a junkie, so feel free to ignore my ravings.

We did not make any decisions today, or I guess we did in that we both like the granite and it is in the final pool for counter top.  I have my favorite, of course.  But you'll just have to wait to see which way we go.   

Song writers are some of our best poets and today I'm going to leave you with a snippet of one of my favorites, Bruce Springsteen:

Rain and storm and dark skies, Well now they don’t mean a thing 

If you got a girl that loves you, And who wants to wear your ring 

So c’mon mister trouble, We’ll make it through you somehow 

We’ll fill this house with all the love, All that heaven will allow 

Sore Throat - Kitchen Accents

Okay, I'm not feeling my best. Boo.  I am rarely sick and yet, this is the second time in two months I've been under the weather.  Boo.

Well enough whining about that.

Check out these beauties...  They are the inspiration for the color scheme of the newly refreshed kitchen. Which by the way still needs the cork floor, have I mentioned that before?  We kept the kitchen neutral so we can play with color in the accessories and these are speaking to us.

See the brown crock?  My fantastic sons brought that home the other day for no reason other than they knew I would like it.  Adorable.  ♥ love them ♥

I'm going to add some splashes of orange into the mix, because I like the zing.

I love the contrast of the three vessels, they are so different from each other, but are all containers.  It's like a family, we are all different, yet share common bonds.

So what's left to do in the kitchen...  Well for this go around, there are towels to purchased, shelves to be hung and cork floor to be laid.  Oh, and a light over the stove.

For the next go around, we are going to replace the countertop and put in a backsplash.

Now for something to fix this sore throat...