HOT Gift From Cool Friends!!!

Our buds in Delaware, Markles and Joe, generously gave us the incredible NESCO 3-in-1 digital pressure cooker you see below.  THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Now I must explain why it took us 6 days to acknowledge the gift .  I'd ordered a shipment of audio speakers for the new level from Hometechnology.com or something, and they told me that the parts would ship directly from the manufacturer.  BIG A$$ boxes started arriving last Monday, and the cooker arrived on Wednesday along with a large box of speakers from HT.  The NESCO box was label Home Shopping Network (Joe's favorite place to shop), and I thought and said to M, "How odd that one of the audio parts would ship from HSN, wonder which one it was?".  We piled all the boxes behind our sofa and I promised M that I'd inventory everything the following week.  

Last night I started opening boxes, and what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a NESCO 3-in-1 digital pressure cooker, slow cooker, steamer...what doesn't this contraption do!???

I can't wait to fire this thing up and see what she can do!

Thanks again!

cc

Blessed New Plumbing and all things Holey

Right, so, I know your sick of cooking porn, but here's me making pancakes on Saturday morning....anyway...

Cool stuff on Friday...Dave was there all day, and the plumbers came by and plumbed our new powder room!! Weeks ahead of schedule. Remember, that's where the old cabinets were.

Dave built this support structure on Friday, they are going to remove the darker colored support beam in the middle, this structure will remain in place until they start framing in the new space.

Monday they started digging the footings for the new structure! Holey, McSchmoely, what a mess. Below is the old backdoor where the porch used to be.

Here's the side view. The hole is about 3 feet deep.

Steve told us today that there was a teensy hitch yesterday. Running underneath the deck and running to our nextdoor neighbors, the Infelds, was a gas line! I am trying not to think dark thoughts about what might-have-been, but if they'd ruptured it with their behemoth digging contraption, it wouldn't have been pretty. Steve said they'd contacted the gas company and they were to come out today or tomorrow to figureout what to do with it. Our gas line comes from the street to the front of the house, I can't imagine a scenario that would require access through your neighbors back yard.

So that's where we are today. Steve said that the gas line wouldn't slow them down. He said that they'd have to put a marker around it, and the gas company would have to re-route it. I hope it doesn't tear the yard up too much.

On a personal note, my Dad had knee replacement surgery this morning, and it was very successful. I spoke to him about an hour ago and he was groggy but suprisingly lucid. I am heading down to Alabama to give my mom some help on Saturday, and return on Wednesday.

S'all for now,

cc

How to make pizza on your grill

First make a crust. Preheat your grill to about 500 degrees F. I used a pizza stone on the grill because my grill had chicken schmutz from a bbq a few nights earlier. Roll the dough out thinly and cook on one side for about 3 -4 minutes, until it is lightly browned on one side.

Next, add your toppings to the un browned side. This is a pepperoni cheese pizza with home grown pickled jalapenos, here's me adding the tomato sauce. I use flavored tomato sauce rather than stuff that's labelled pizza sauce, because it's usually sweetened with corn syrup. Ugh.
I added the cheese and now the painstaking pepperoni process...

It's so laborious!

Two hours later I am still at it!

After I've added the jalapenos I slip the pizza back onto the stone and close the grill lid.

Nope, still not ready. Drat!! Oh well, let's have some more wine then!

After about 7 minutes it bubbly and crisp!

Et Viola! Pizza made on the grill! And Cheryl the answer is, a some cheap cabernet that Safeway had on sale...it was a very good week that week.

End of first week, file under "WHEW"

Wow, what a week it's been.  This post is rather pic heavy, so I apologize in advance if you are viewing it on a handheld device, blackberry or etch-a-sketch...

Below are 2 of the 3 guys that form the Commonwealth crew.  On the left that's Alan the production manager for the firm, he coordinates all thier projects and is the keeper of the project plan, he keeps things on schedule.  On the right is Dave, who's the master carpenter for the project.  M and I are really impressed at the professionalism and hard work these guys exhibit.  Both are very nice guys on top of that which makes working with them easy.   Not pictured is Steve, who is finishing up another project, he'll be with us next Monday.

This is my new entertainment center.  M and I got a whizzer-keen 46" Samsung LCD HDTV (m.o.u.s.e.) in December, but packed it up for the duration of this project.  I'll cover the other stuff when it the drywall starts.
My new pantry and dish cabinet.  I probably won't need all the items on the lower two shelves, but I was like Zsa Zsa Gabor deciding which hats to pack in the steamer trunk for a 3 month cruise...I couldn't decide, so I kept everything...you never know when tamarind paste or garam masala will come in handy. (le sigh)
The couch had to be moved 4 feet away from the wall, so they'd have access to the electrical box that's open on the wall back there.
New Dining space...it works but it's cramped.
This pic was from day 2, It was still wet outside, and Alan was by himself while Dave and Steve finshed other projects.  Alan made a site survey to let Chris and Dave know what to demo and how, and he put down that cardboard floor protector on our hardwood floor.  He warned us via email that it wouldn't look like much was done.
Day 3 the demo commenced in ernest.  This pic was taken from the old living room looking towards the old dining room.  You can see where the divider was removed from between the two rooms.  We were suprised that the ceiling support beam was wooden, in the attic and the crawlspace it's a steel I-Beam.
From the living room looking at the old kitchen.  Those grey conduits are for our HVAC.
Looking into the old Kitchen, from the old dining room.  That pink on the wall is an ancient wall paper.  It's pretty heinous.  
Outside day 3, they finished the demo of the deck and screened porch.  This was taken from the dining room window.
Another Kitchen shot, day3.
Kitchen shot day3.
Exterior, Day 3, all thats left of the porch is the concrete and brick base.   That's going either today (day 5) or early next week.
Exterior Day 3, the roof is still attached to the house, but it was actually removed on Day 4.
Day 4 interior.  Dave finished removing the drywall.
Day 4, another interior shot.
Alan said that they will begin digging and pour the foundation for the addition next week.  It was so wet for the first part of the week, but it was dry Thursday, and all day today and it's supposed to be gorgeous and very warm this weekend.  So, there should be no obstacles to that.

The Camp Kitchen is working out well.  M and I had a reaally long day on Thursday.  We left work around 4pm and headed for a meeting at Commonwealth with Shrutee, the building engineer.  With her we selected, composite decking material, and the color siding we are going to use on the addition.  We're using stuff called Hardie-Plank.  It's concrete based, and it's considered a green, it can be painted but we are going with a pre-colored composite.  It's guaranteed for 25 years, and supposedly never needs painting.  With a paint job running about $5K, that's a bargain.  We also selected where our outlets and switches would go, we will no doubt regret one or two of those decisions later, but now it seems like we thought of everything.

After that we made a trip out to Chantilly to our BJ's Wholesale Club, and bought provisions.  We finally got home a bit after 7pm.  I cooked out a steak on the grill, baked some potatoes in the Microwave, and heated up some sauteed squash I made last weekend.  Dinner was on the table in 15 minutes.  

Tonight I am going to try Pizza on the grill, I read an article about it and saw a demo on YouTube and I believe I can do it.  The doughs made and rising in the fridge.  It will either be a success or a horrible, tragic disaster and could end in tears and calls to 911.  Pray hard.

l8r,

CC

Day 1

First I want to show you the cleard space, because you and I will never see it again, and it was such a pain in the rubber parts to clear and store everything...

This is the empty dining room, we never replaced that ugly foyer-style light which was originally in the kitchen (?!?),  I moved it when we moved in and replaced it with a cheap overhead light and moved it in the dining room...we were going to replace it with something we liked better, but we never got around to it.  Oh well, it's gone now.  

By the way our friend in DE, Markles, reminded me to tell you that we are donating the window you see below, the back door and the kitchen window to Habitat for Humanity, so it's those at least are not ending up in a landfill.  Also our Kitchen cabinets are being reinstalled in the laundry room of the Jeskes'.  They are the parents of little Kera, that named us as god-parents.
Dining Room, the cobwebs were behind a storage rack I used for Kitchen overflow.

Nuttin' in this closet, heh.

Living room
Kitchen, the hole was where the Microwave was, it's in the garage now in our Camp Kitchen.
Kitchen, my crappy cooktop that I was able to do quite a lot on, if I do say so.   That's part the other window being donated, on the right.
Kitchen, may I just say how impractical I think clear glass cabinetry is...as my friend Markles has said in the past, "I don't want to look at my mis-matched tupperware and jelly jars every day!!!".  Well it's gone now, and on its way to the Jeskes laundry room.  Buh-bye.
Laundry room, M sez, "This sink must GOOOO!"  It was replaced with a more practical tub sink, on DAY 1.  I'll post a pic later.

The basic crew is Alan the Commonwealth production manager, Steve the project manager, and Dave the carpenter.  They arrived at about 6:50 am Monday morning.  As people in the DC area know, it rained all day on Monday, such as maybe, but these guys were able to get quite a lot done.  Below is/ was the room of the screened porch.

Old Kitchen, This was were those offensive glass cabinets were...did someone paint the kitchen pink at some point?? ewww  That's the wall oven on the floor, they are using it as a flat surface to set plans and things on for now.
From the kitchen looking into the old dining room.
From the den looking into the old kitchen.  I haven't posted a picture of our new living quarters, but we just got it together last night, so I'll do that tomorrow.
Whats left of the deck, the rest will go today.
Well, that's it for day 1.  

I cooked my first meal in the Camp Kitchen, I grilled a bunch of chicken breasts that I will use for lunch meats and a Seinfeldian "Big salad" this week.  I also grilled some asparagus and made a Zatarain's yellow rice mix.  M and I celebrated the start of the project with a bottle of Spanish Cava.  It was a nice evening.  

S'all for now,

l8r,

CC

Moving Weekend

Hey, You the Wrap City Crew....

can you tell which twin has the Toni?

So, Saturday, M and I got up early-ish at around 6am.  The weather was absolutely perfect on Saturday as everyone else on in mid-Atlantic region can attest.  Ate b-fast, continued to pack until 8:30am, when we left to pick up our reserved 16ft van from local Public Storage outfit.  We got there and there were several folks in front of us, and a very scattered woman behind the counter that was getting more flustered by the minute.  At one point after we'd been standing in line for about 10 or more minutes, she asked M "How did you reserve your truck?". M said on the internet, she asked "Did you call me about it?".  M consulted the printout and said that the instructions were to call if there was a cancellation or a change, to which she replied, "No, you should always call me first, or  you may not have a truck".  Both our hearts fell at that point, but we kept it together, and eventually had a truck.  Whew.  I don't like to think what would have happened if we were unable to get one.  I think the Storage lady was overwhelmed at the crowd in front of her, but it made for a tense morning.  

I drove the van, if the army was good for something it was good for teaching me (against my will) how to drive big-a$$ vehicles (winks at Monique).   I parked it in our drive and M and I started packing smaller items in the van.  At about 10:30am, our friends, Bugs and Raj arrived and started helping.  The monster music storage unit was the first thing we attacked, in the picture above, that's me and Raj wrapping the a unit in this industrial strength saran wrap that movers use.  It really comes in handy for moving things with drawers, cushions or loose items.  These things weighed a friggin' ton, but the four of us were able to manuver them out the front door, and up the ramp into the truck...it was most unsightly, and there were lots of curses and scary noises.   M and I were afraid that we were in the process of losing 2 really great friends!  That was the worst part tho, and everything else went well.

I drove with Bugsy over to the storage place, M and Raj followed.  The Public Storage facility at 7 Corners was experiencing a LOT of activity.  Saturday must be MOVE DAY!  There were 5 groups including us, all vying for moving carts.  There was a group of hispanic men who were loading an impressive array of top-shelf audio/concert equipment into what must have been a HUGE space given the size of their equipment, I asked one of the about their stuff and he said it was for a band.  It took us about 1 hour to load everything in the unit.  

Me and Bugs took the truck back, we didnt' need to refill it because we'd only driven it 7 miles.  We took Bugs and Raj to Dogshead Fish at 7 Corners, and we had beers and food.  We had a great time.  

Bugs and Raj were absolutely invaluable, and we don't know what we would have done if we hadn't had their help.  Thanks Guys.

M and I went home and rested.  We really didn't do much for the rest of the night.  We were kinda wiped.  

SUNDAY

I was really becoming overwhelmed at the things that still needed to be done.  Usually, if we had that much to prepare for, we would have bagged going to church...the Creator would definitely understand.  Last Sunday was a big one tho, so we couldn't.  It was a Music Sunday, where people share music, poetry and what have you with  the congregation.  M had a hand in putting it together along with SuzanneM.  Also, friends of ours The Jeskes' were christening their baby daughter, Kera, and had named M and I as godparents.  So we HAD to be there for that.  The service was really great, but I couldn't enjoy it as much  as I wanted because my mind kept drifting to what was left to do.

We had to move the rest of the kitchen out, and there was a fair amount left of odds-n-ends.  We also wanted to save a boatload of brick pavers that were next to the deck.  I also had to set up our kitchen in the garage.   Wait till you see it.

Ok. So we finally got home, fed and out the door to do these things at about 12:30pm.  

Here's me pulling up the last paver:

Here I am at the end of our chore.  We carted the bricks in the wheelbarrow to the back of our property and will use them in other projects after all this is over.

M had to leave for a class he's taking at 3:40pm or so, so I set about putting our camp kitchen.  Here's the results:

The Refridgerator is now on the right side next to the Microwave, they moved it over there on Monday morning.   And below, in the camp kitchen we found a Campy Cook!  Ba dum dump.

Next up,

The last look at the old space.

l8r,

cc

Interiors, Before construction

Here's some shots of the interiors, before we started moving things out:

Here's the entry way and our Living Room.  The door is nice, it's bevelled leaded glass.  

Here's the focal point of our living room, a massive IKEA music storage unit, purchased in 1999 or so.  Its pretty much stuffed with my massive vinyl and cd collection (they are in all the drawers).  As I said, I said I have a music problem! This thing is an absolute shrieking horror to move.  We have the bruises scrapes to show for it.

This is the living room, the door on the right is a coat closet:

This is a view from the front door, the extreme right is our kitchenette, far left is our dinette room.  All our furniture is comfortable, but out of scale with the rooms.  It didn't look a huge in the store as it does in our house!
Here's a our view out the front window.  It very bright in the winter time, but shadier in the summer when our tree canopy returns.

I'll post after photos tonight.

This weekend was a blur.  I must say this, and I'll say it again in a later post, but our friends Bugsy and Raj, were Angels from Heaven on Saturday, and without them we could not have done what we did.   

More l8r,

CC