oneyearproject.com

Today was an up and down sort of day. We started off in Ikea with Baby A to pick up some inserts for the kitchen and the kick boards which we had had to special order when they were missing from our initial delivery. You know you have spent too long in Ikea when your almost 2 year old points to one of the set-ups and says “my bedroom”. Why yes, it almost is, now you come to mention it. After a wee ice cream, we came home, put A down to nap and started to make her new bed. The bed, from Ikea obviously, is the nauseatingly cute pink and red one, except that we found that we had one red box and one blue. As the contractor was making enough noise to wake the world, the plumber had been and gone, and the appliances were yet to arrive, L suggested I took the bed back to Ikea to get out the house. That man knows an overly hormonal pregnant lady on the edge of a breakdown when he sees one. Fair play. So I got back to find that the appliances had been delivered, hooray. But the plumber won’t be back till Tuesday to install them. The washer and dryer can be switched around, but not by the people who were here today. The cooker was put in place, but it didn’t come with a gas pipe so it isn’t hooked up. The fridge, dishwasher and microwave are sitting in the lounge looking pretty. The fridge is too big for the space, so there will be some jiggery pokery with the cupboards above so that it will all function. But we are getting there, slowly but surely. The end to all the kitchen madness is in sight.

A was so excited about her new bed when we made it this afternoon that she went into hyper overdrive. To think that we were so worried about how she’d adapt to all the changes- she has done fantastically well and is not a fraction as grumpy or cynical as L and I. She is asleep now the right way round with her head on the pillow looking so grown up it makes me weep. Where did my baby go? In five minutes she’ll be off to college… We decided to bath her upstairs tonight, given that we have no idea when our remodel may be remodelled. All was going well until she slipped and fell backward, L went to grab her and his elbow hit the on-button for the whirlpool tub. The jets came on and the three of us pretty much had synchronised heart attacks. Lovely jubbly. But all’s well that ends well, and the little one is clean and sleeping. We’ve never had a whirlpool tub- I’ve only been in one when I was in hospital in labour with A. It’s the one thing from the previous owners that we decided to keep. It looks delicious; L gave it a whirl, I’m yet to try it. It does however seem to make the whole house vibrate.

So this evening we continued our intrepid adventure in nest-making, with Roasted Garlic and Eggplant Marinara Nests. I had read in advance the ingredients but not the methodology, so we were a little taken aback to discover that the eggplant and garlic should be oven-roasted. Obviously there was some sort of clue in the “roasted” part of the title, but that was clearly overlooked. So we did what anyone with a brand new oven which is positioned but not operable would do; we took the vegetables outside and cooked them in the pan on our hotplate, with the mosquitoes for company. So our version is not exactly authentic, but it was the best we could do under the circumstances. We added the onions and red pepper flakes after the eggplant started to soften, followed by the crushed tomatoes, basil and parsley about ten minutes later. A handful of cheese and the cooked angel hair pasta completed the dish, which we mixed together and began to twirl. The pasta was a bit wetter this evening, so assembling it into nests was much harder than it was yesterday. We made a few little ones but couldn’t get the called for girth. Still, it tasted pretty good.

I have to confess that I deconstructed the nests before eating- they’re just annoying really. The food was more or less the same as yesterday, although it was a little more tasty today. It was certainly appreciated that we got two meat-free days in a row, and it’s always good to use more vegetables. The only problem is we have two thirds of an enormous eggplant to eat in the next few days. Any lunch suggestions? Ones that don’t require an oven, obviously. Tomorrow we are having Beef and Mushroom Nests, followed by the ubiquitous burger with “exotic chips”. Excellent, it’s been a few days since we had that level of exoticism in the house. On Monday we start a three-day run of cooking various fish in a sack. We haven’t yet figured out how we are going to manage to cook the cod, given that we still won’t have a functioning oven at that point. We can only hope that we will have the power on Tuesday to cook the “French” fish in a sack. Which I’m guessing- without reading in advance- consists of adding butter, garlic and parsley to the previous recipe. The following day the meal is “Spanish”, perhaps we’ll be breaking out the chorizo for that one.

This evening we made Tomato-Basil Pasta Nests which was a very straightforward meal to deal with. We were pretty thankful for that, given the ever-increasing swarm of mosquitoes living on our deck, with their ferocious appetite for pasty flesh. While the pasta cooked- angel hair for a nice change- the onion and garlic were gently sautéed in olive oil so that they softened but did not brown. The crushed tomatoes were added to the pan and seasoned with salt and pepper. When the tomatoes were warm, fresh basil leaves were wilted in the mixture. The heat was turned off, the pesto added, followed by the drained pasta. A decent handful of Parmigiano cheese completed the mix. Using a fork, the pasta was twirled around into “nests”. I think a larger fork may have come in useful at this point, it’s hard to make 4″ nests with a dinner fork. Stil, we have a couple of days to perfect the technique.

This dinner was really easy to make, but it was a little odd in flavour. We doubled the called-for amount of basil, and this could have easily been tripled again. Maybe then the store-bought pesto could have been omitted. It felt a bit like this was neither a tomato sauce nor a pesto one, but a slightly offbeat hybrid. Still, it was certainly tasty enough. I can’t imagine that I’d ever adopt the nest method of presentation into everyday life. It makes eating the pasta much more difficult; as it is already wound into a structure, the temptation is to just stick your fork in the middle, pick the whole lot up and start to trough. My table manners are eroding swiftly enough, what with the eating of Baby A’s leftovers; this could mark the beginning of a very steep, slippery downward slope.

So tomorrow afternoon we are finally getting appliances delivered. I am hoping beyond hope that they will be delivered at 2pm rather than 5pm, so there is a chance that some of them at least might actually get installed before the long weekend. I’m thinking of you, beautiful refrigerator with your shiny stainless steel doors and your fancy ice-making and water-distributing capabilities. Mmmm. Baby A is currently obsessed with ice cubes, which she used to call bicycles, in a very cute fashion. Keeping up with her desire for ice is tough when you have one ice cube tray which makes the grand total of 6 cubes at a time. That is one way that I can measure our assimilation into American life- ice has become important to us, whereas before it was strictly a necessity in gin and tonics. Mind you, in fairness, gin was a much more vital part of life then than now, unfortunately. Gin, mmm. Anyway, the kitchen floor has been grouted and we’re hoping to move our food and plates and stuff upstairs this weekend. I can’t wait. We’ll have to go and look at the fancy interior drawer fittings and stuff from Ikea, it’s been at least 12 hours since we were last there. Oh yeah baby.

The tile shop people are coming out next week to assess the state of the bathroom tile. Everyone is in agreement that what we have is a bit of a disaster, so chances are it will all be replaced. Hopefully the tile shop will accept liability, otherwise we’ll have to take it up with the tile manufacturor. Our excitement at moving out of the basement bathroom is dampened by the thought that we’ll have to go back down there at some point. But I do intend to start taking baths while I can, in the interim. Conceivably it could be a long time before we get this sorted out. In other news, we bought A a big girl bed today, but we are yet to set it up. She is climbing out of her cot, almost, so it’s probably a good time. We are hoping beyond hope that she doesn’t realise that she can get out of bed by herself. Unlikely, admittedly. Tomorrow, more nests; Roasted Garlic and Eggplant Marinara Nests. I almost don’t dare say that there is the slimmest chance that we could cook them inside, on a real live stove. Maybe that’s just too much to hope for…

In 6 weeks, Baby #2 is set to make her appearance in this world. Most days I am not too phased by that, but today that thought, coupled with the state of renovations, made me just want to sit down and cry. I think I need to nest; I spent a ridiculous amount of time today doing the most futile activity in the history of futility- trying to vacuum in a construction site. Turns out, our just-tiled bathroom, where the last of the grouting took place this morning, is not tiled in white subway tile as planned. Instead, it is tiled in grey-white and cream-white subway tile, in stripes and patches. Only once the grout was in place, and natural light available, was the colour difference apparent, but it looks ridiculous. If we weren’t so exhausted we would have had a complete hissy-fit with the tilers. Actually we probably shouldn’t rule that out, it may still happen. The tiler is going to contact the company who makes the tiles and see what they say, but he’s made it clear that he doesn’t think that it’s his fault. It’s not our fault, so someone will have to foot the bill for the repairs/ redo. Under electric light it’s not too bad, but it’s one of those things that would slowly but surely drive you bonkers. It’s the first time that we have ever had someone else tile, and the first time that we have ever chosen tile that isn’t simply the cheapest thing in the shop. It makes you crazy, of that there’s no doubt.

Other than that, the electrician returned and we got some lighting for our dining table/ workbench. The drawer handles are finally in place, and the kitchen floor has been laid. For the night we have to walk around the side of the house to get down into the basement, but tomorrow morning we’ll be able to access the kitchen again for a few hours, before the grouting takes place. One last final whinge; our washer and dryer were installed as we moved in, but they’re in the wrong place. The doors open back to back so it’s impossible to chuck the clothes out of the washer and into the dryer. Instead you have to take them out, put them in something, close the washer door, walk around, open the dryer door and put the clothes in. With the narrow space plus my belly, doing laundry is almost impossible. When the other appliances get delivered on Friday, the installers will look at the problem. If they say they can’t swap them around I may just cry.

Anyway, L and I braved the mosquito swarm this evening to make Grilled Scallops, Scampi Style, with Angel Hair Pasta. Another easy recipe, this time using scallops rather than shrimp or chicken. When the pasta is being tossed, prosciutto and scallions are added to the mix. This meal is a little odd. We concluded that the scallions and the prosciutto simply overwhelm the scallops, so that all their delicacy is lost in a mouthful of salty onionness. The scallops ended up being superfluous little tastes of sea water, in a mountain of pasta. For a dish with two reasonably special-occasion ingredients (in our house at least) the meal was a little disappointing, a little bland. There was nothing wrong with it as such, and we certainly both ate plenty before fleeing inside to escape the swarm of marauding insects, but there was nothing particularly noteworthy either.

Tomorrow we move away from angel hair and scampi style food, and move into three variations of angel hair in nests. First up, Tomato-Basil Pasta Nests. That shouldn’t be too tricky, hopefully, and our basil is certainly thriving after all the rain, so tomorrow will be a good time for a decent harvest. Let’s hope our spirits can be lifted as easily.

This evening, cooking outside was annoying. We were tired and grumpy so this was the perfect night to get pizza delivered, curl up on the sofa and watch a good film. Or even a dreadful film. Or even sports or a documentary on mould. Chinese takeout would have been good too. Heck, I’d take a microwave ready meal at this point. It started to rain just as we were about to get started, so we had to pull our sorry cooking table under the tiny portion of covered deck. The cooking equipment got wet again last night, and this afternoon; we really are just asking for trouble. It’s hard to believe we have a beautiful new open ready and waiting in a warehouse somewhere. With a shiny new fridge… Anyway, the kitchen floor has been partially tiled, so you can no longer go directly through the back door, across the kitchen and downstairs to the basement/ food storage area/ washing up station. Cooking and forgetting every other item just became a gigantic pain. I think we’re both getting despondent about the remodel. It seems our contractor came in today and put on about five handles in the kitchen, then left. As the kitchen floor is not to be walked on, presumably the electrician can’t come in and finish tomorrow as planned, and who knows when the plumber will return. We now have a sink and a garbage disposal but as there is no hole drilled in the sink for the tap, no tap was installed and so we are running-water free.

Upstairs, we do finally have a toilet and sink, which is major progress. If we can locate the spare toilet paper and clean towels, we may even start using it. Everything is kind of skanky though, so Baby A was bathed in the basement dungeon once more, until we can get it cleaned up and ready to go. The raw wiring hanging out the walls is less than child-friendly too, and the bath panel is not in place which means the cats can disappear into the space between the floor and the downstairs ceiling. But, we are getting there, slowly but surely. I do think though that our patience is starting to wear thin. We are starting to be snappy and frazzled, whereas up until this point we’ve pretty much managed to keep on top of things. Surely sooner or later we can get our house back and start relaxing and enjoying being here. Before the second baby arrives, hopefully. I know that in the grand scheme of things, this seems like self-indulgent whining, which to a certain extent it is. But moving and remodelling are a little tough, it would seem.

So tonight we made Grilled Chicken, Scampi Style, with Angel Hair Pasta, which was tastier than the shrimp version of yesterday, although unfortunately our chicken ended up tough as nails. Again, it was supposed to be grilled but we lacked the means so it was pan fried. The addition of roasted red peppers, chives and oregano really boosted the flavour and added some interest. You could serve this without any meat and it would be a good lightweight supper. Tomorrow is version number three, Grilled Scallops, Scampi Style, with Angel Hair Pasta. Onward, we’re moving onward. Let’s hope that the mosquitoes decide that all this pasta makes us taste bad, I’m sick of being attacked while dining on our exclusive outdoor, glamorously sodden deck.

So it looks like tomorrow we may have a toilet upstairs, as in not in the basement, as in not a five minute round trip every couple of hours throughout the night. Rejoice. This rumour had better be true because tomorrow we are also getting the kitchen floor tiled, and that can not be walked on for a day or so afterwards. Given that the kitchen has the only interior access to the basement, if we don’t have a toilet upstairs, our exercise quota will up considerably. We may be faced with going downstairs, out the front door, around the side of the house and down the back door into the basement for each toilet run. We’ll have to do that anyway for food and laundry, but please not the toilet. Pretty please.

With the exception of the storming work done by the tilers, things seem to be moving slowly once more. Although, rumour has it that the plumber may be coming in on Friday to hook up the fridge and dishwasher. Too much excitement; I can’t let myself believe it until I see it. I have discovered that you can set your office up at home, but as long as there are workmen in the house, actually working will be quite a challenge. Between the two different radio stations blaring throughout the house, one playing seemingly non-stop Phil Collins, the other such gems as Heart, I was very pleased to discover the wonder that is this, a modern marvel of internet goodness. Maybe one day we will have robots in our house too, and food will just be a flavoured pill dispensed at will from a prettily coloured vending machine.

Unfortunately, despite yesterday’s future being right here, right now, we still had to actually cook Grilled Shrimp Scampi on Angel Hair Pasta. I was relieved to discover that inadvertently leaving our hot plate makeshift cooker outside in the mother of all thunderstorms last night may have made it rust very quickly, but thankfully did not break it. This project has taken much more time and energy than we anticipated, but being electrocuted for the cause would maybe going a little far. It would be sort of funny I suppose, in a tragically stupid, survival of the fittest, sort of way. Anyway, not this evening. Instead, we cooked the angel hair pasta and tossed the shrimp with parsley, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. They were supposed to be grilled but we cooked them on the pan. Then we put the rest of the garlic, the red pepper flakes, lemon juice and zest, white wine and some pasta water on the pan with some butter. We debated for a while as to whether to add the butter, but given that we cooked with about a gallon of oil the other night, it seemed superfluous to omit it for health reasons. Plus my weigh-in at the doctor’s went well today (I stooped to an all-time low of shoe-removal, to compensate for the weight of jeans versus summer trousers last appointment; yes I am ridiculous, thanks) so, really bring on the lard. Anyway, once the controversial butter was melted, the shrimp plus the drained pasta went back in the pan, and the whole lot was tossed together and served.

I am not a big angel hair fan, I like my attendant spirits to be balding, no really I think that angel hair pasta is too thin. It lacks the bite of decent pasta like spaghetti or linguine. Somehow even if you eat a lot of the stuff, it seems insubstantial. Also, the fact that it cooks in four minutes is just too quick if you’re actually cooking something to go with it- nine or ten minutes is the perfect time to make a sauce and not have to sit around waiting at either end. Other than that, the shrimp were nice, although they would have undoubtedly have been nicer if they had been fresh and grilled, rather than frozen and pan-fried. Groceries seem to be getting more and more expensive so we’re having to economise somewhat. The sauce was a little blah- it tok a lot of black pepper to give it a bit of substance. Maybe we were too stingy with the butter, but it just seemed a little utilitarian, a little dull. It was a reasonable quick summer supper, but not a particularly noteworthy one. Perhaps there was some user-error, but I’m sure we’ll have the chance to perfect the recipe over the next couple of days, starting with Grilled Shrimp Scampi on Angel Hair Pasta.

This evening we made Sautéed Salmon with Spicy Fresh Mango-Pineapple Chutney accompanied by the delicate roar of planes overhead. It seems that flight paths into our airport have recently changed, meaning that we get to wave to the pilots on a regular basis. A very regular basis, like every couple of minutes. The internet tells me that this is a temporary measure; I certainly hope so as the new toddler phobia of plane noise is becoming interesting to deal with when the source of discomfort is almost constant. Anyway, the food tonight was good, a welcome return to form, and it was great to cook it outside. The upside to having no indoor kitchen is that the house doesn’t smell of fish. Score.

The salmon is sautéed in a little oil after being seasoned with salt, pepper and ground coriander. Unfortunately the table we have set up outside is on a bit of an incline, so we have a problem with oil pooling on one side of the pan. Obviously after almost two weeks of this set-up, we still haven’t rectified the slope because that would take all of thirty seconds and a piece of cardboard- of which we have mountains. So unfortunately the salmon lost it’s skin as it stuck to the pan, but hey, you don’t eat it anyway, so no harm was done there. The chutney was made by sautéeing red onion and jalapeño pepper with salt and pepper, adding tinned pineapple, honey and some water and simmering for a while. Just before serving, the fresh mango, parsley, cilantro and lime juice were stirred into the mix. The recipes states that the fish and chutney should be served with asparagus, or green beans or snap peas- as we failed to buy any of those good things we interpreted the instruction as something green, and made peas. Oh frozen peas, it’s been too long…

This meal is good, a welcome return to form. The salmon was delicate and tasty and the chutney was sweet and spicy in equal amounts. It was very well balanced, neither of the elements were overpowering. Plus, the chutney fruit preparation worked two-fold, now A’s lunch fruit is all packed up and ready to go. Which is helpful because tomorrow I am back to doing the morning routine solo- L is back at work at the crack of dawn after the summer- life in academia certainly has some benefits; it may be appallingly paid, but the holidays are unbeatable.

Tomorrow we begin an epic, epic adventure into angel hair pasta. Six, count them, six, days in a row of the stuff, starting with Grilled Shrimp Scampi on Angel Hair Pasta, followed by chicken then scallops in the same stylee. Then three days of pasta nests. We are pasta fans, but this is pushing it a bit. Still, on the bright side, by the end of this run, we may have upstairs plumbing, and who knows, maybe an appliance or two. I am seriously excited about the fridge with water and ice-maker built in. Serious beverage luxury, we will indeed be living the dream. Also, when our pasta sojourn ends, it will be September, which means the end of summer for another year. Another one survived without air conditioning. Can someone please tell me when life started hurtling by so ridiculously fast, and how the * we have a baby due in six weeks?

This afternoon we had L’s new colleague T over for lunch, and we asked if he wanted to stay for dinner. We were clear to say that the menu was beyond our control, and that he’d probably get better food if he came back tomorrow. Nevertheless, he stayed for Crispy Fried Sesame Shrimp, Zucchini, and Mushroom Caps with a Ginger-Soy Dipping Sauce, and in fact was the frying master, while L and I basically sat around for a bit. We’re so polite- come for dinner, the food sounds bad, you can cook it, then we can blame you if it tastes bad. Not really, well maybe.

Anyway, T dredged slices of zucchini, mushroom caps and shrimp in boxed pancake mix, then coated them in pancake mix batter with added sesame seeds. He then deep fried a mountain of food. You were supposed to be able to shake off the excess batter, but it clung to the items for dear life. The batter ended up being pretty thick, in fact everything was ginormous, like super-sized deep fried unidentified objects. The fried stuff was served with a dipping sauce of tamari, water, lime juice, grated ginger, crushed garlic, sugar (in our case honey) and hot sauce. L and I made the sauce so we weren’t entirely opting out this evening.

We each had a few pieces, and it wasn’t terribly bad, it was just so very battery. And the fact that the pancake mix is a little sweet to begin with did not help matters. This wasn’t exactly tempura with a light crispy batter, more like junk food of the worst kind. Actually the things inside were quite nicely cooked, but you had to get through/ peel off a lot of coating to get there. Really, the interior items could have been microwaved. The dipping sauce at least was a little zingy- we omitted the extra oil which was supposed to be included- but really it just ended up being a salty aside to the fatty meal. Not the greatest dinner in the history of dinners by any means. A clue to that is always how swiftly people stop eating, and how much food ends up being thrown away. This is also one of those meals were a few hours later you are incredulous that you actually ate any part of such a thing, leaving you filled with a little self-loathing.

However, moving on, tomorrow we will be making Sautéed Salmon with Spicy Fresh Mango-Pineapple Chutney, which is made with fresh mango yet tinned pineapple.

Some good things happened today, we met a big deadline work-wise, I got new sleek hair to replace the greying frizzy enormity which seemed to have taken residence on my head (8 months between haircuts, people, is apparently not a good way to go), there is some definite progress on the kitchen, the baby room is now the finest purple, and rumour has it we’ll be getting an upstairs toilet next Tuesday. On the down side, we had to pay for some of the work being done (ouch) and there is a design fault in our kitchen. We have a set of big drawers at a 90? angle to a corner cupboard, where the breakfast bar bit comes out. There is no designated clearance for the drawers, so once the handles are on the cupboard, the drawers will only be able to open partially. Our contractor is going to cut the backing piece apart and insert a spacer so that both units are functional, but it means more time and another trip to Ikea for a replacement back panel. Most of the issues like this in the design-stage are forbidden by the computer software at Ikea, and it tells you that something will not work. This issue is evidently fine. I wonder if they’ll pay for the new panel, as it is their fault? I somehow doubt it.

This evening, we set about making Cornmeal-Crusted Catfish and Green Rice Pilaf with a minimum of enthusiasm. The fish was to be seasoned, dredged in cornmeal, fried then finished in the oven. We did all the cooking on the pan, as it was either that or the microwave. Meanwhile, we made some rice cooked in chicken stock and white wine with shallot, butter and thyme. When it was cooked we added the green part; a purée of basil, parsley, spinach, olive oil and lemon juice. Our mini food processor didn’t do a great job of making a purée of the blanched greens, it was more of a chopped sort of deal. Not to worry, the fish was served on top of the rice, with lemon slices on the side.

This meal was surprisingly good; a light summer supper which we never would have chosen to make. The catfish was beautifully cooked and I am always a little taken aback by how pleasant fish can be when I always think of it as something that I don’t particularly like. Tomorrow we will be having Crispy Fried Sesame Shrimp, Zucchini, and Mushroom Caps with a Ginger-Soy Dipping Sauce. As someone who is not supposed to be gaining weight as quickly as I have been doing between doctor’s appointments, I’m sure that the deep-fried, pancake-batter-encrusted dinner will not be exactly what the doctor ordered. Still, somewhere in the move we lost the bathroom scales so who knows what the damage will be? I guess on Monday everything will be revealed. I can’t wait. No really.

Surprisingly enough, today included an emergency trip to Ikea for more countertop. That’s the third time in as many days that I have been hovering in the kitchen department. The staff used to say “make sure to bring in before and after photos once the kitchen’s finished”, now they say “what is it now?”. Och well, the end is maybe in sight. Today we got some countertop installed and some interior fittings in the cabinets- we have one small and one enormous pull-out cupboard which makes me very happy. I am easily pleased, evidently. Tomorrow we are apparently getting some tiles down on the the bathroom floor, which may mean that a toilet can be installed, one of these days. Woohoo.

Anyway, this evening we made Marinated Grilled Chicken Breasts with Zippy Chunky Salad and Garlic Dill Fries as quickly as we possibly could, given that we were both very tired and grumpy. The chicken was marinated for 5 minutes in olive oil, lemon juice, dried oregano, salt, pepper and garlic. We then cooked it on the pan, rather than grilling it. The salad began with a small crisis when we discovered that the Romaine lettuce in the bottom of the fridge was looking distinctly wet and slimy and highly inedible. We substituted baby spinach rather than racing out to the store, again. The other vegetables added to the bowl were cucumber, red onion, radishes, red pepper and green pepper. The salad dressing was made with plain yogurt, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, lemon zest and parsley. The fries were microwaved in their mysterious little fake-foil-lined box, and they were better than anticipated. They were already ridiculously salty, so we skipped the extra salt, but we tossed them in the melted butter, dill and garlic as directed.

This meal was pretty satisfactory although nothing crazily exciting. The chicken was better than expected- in as much as it didn’t taste like an old boot. The marinade didn’t have long to penetrate the chicken, but the lemon juice did make some impact. The salad received mixed opinions- L thought it was pretty good, I picked out the peppers and cucumber but left most of the rest. Not being a fan of radishes, raw onion or yogurt based dressings, this was never going to be a huge hit. L thought that it was reasonable though; he liked the radishes as they added a little kick and crunch. The fries were actually fine when they came out of the oven microwave, but the garlic and dill butter just made them really soggy, which was a shame. The adding of butter to fries seems excessive, as we have concluded every time we have been instructed to do this.

Tomorrow we will be making Cornmeal-Crusted Catfish and Green Rice Pilaf, which sounds like nothing I would ever choose to make in a million years. Maybe it will be a surprise hit. Unfortunately it seems to call for both an oven and a food processor which seems like a challenge. Maybe sometime next week we might actually have an oven. Certainly by the following week. Or at least by Christmas. On a more positive note, having finally installed a mirror in the bathroom, tomorrow I will be getting a haircut, for the sake of the rest of the population. I certainly have big hair, it would seem. It would also seem that L and I are aging rapidly this month- we look rough.

This evening we made Big Beef and Garlic Italian Stir-Fry which, in all honesty, seemed to be a horrible waste of good ingredients. Imagine making a stir fry of garlic, onion, red pepper flakes, red peppers, broccolini, parsley and flank steak. As everything is hot you decide not to add soy sauce or hoisin sauce or something along those lines, but instead add balsamic vinegar. I know, you think to yourself, I’ll eat this with parmesan cheese on top, and maybe some bread on the side. And you do, except it is not the Italian delight that you hoped for, but rather a culinary disaster. As I was trying to eat some of the steak, L helpfully said “it’s like eating dead people”, which didn’t help by any means. Then he said that it was enough to make you turn vegetarian, and I could certainly agree with that thought.

This meal just seemed wrong. Perhaps with some fresh tomatoes chopped in there it would have been a little less stir-fry and more hot-pot-like, and then maybe the cheese would have made more sense. As it was it just seemed to be a highly unsuccessful made-up recipe. Perhaps something that seemed good in theory, but was hopelessly wrong in practice. Parmesan on top of fried beef= all wrong. There were a couple of things that may have contributed, that we can put down to user-error. We bought broccolini (miniature broccoli) rather than broccoli rabe, which is a leafy vegetable in the same family. Our choice was all we could find in the shop, so that was what we bought. Also, our little electric stove top didn’t exactly caramelise the beef, as a hotter gas ring could have; our beef bubbled a bit which probably made it taste exactly like an old boot. Not the best. But even under ideal circumstances, it is hard to imagine that this meal would be a great success. Still, at least there was bread.

Today was another day with another trip to Ikea. One of the reasonably important corner cabinets had not been delivered, although we do seem to have an assortment of random cabinets left over which we’ll be able to return, presumably. All of the base cabinets are in place, with the promise of countertops tomorrow. And then we can move some stuff into the cabinets, I really, truly can hardly wait. On the plus side going up and down stairs has been good exercise, but wowser it’ll be nice to cook in one room.

These photographs show how the kitchen looked before we started this whole venture. We have an awkward space so we are stuck with a few things, like the tight space around the sink leading to the basement steps. But we have had the stairway to the right of the cooker blocked in so that we will actually be able to have some countertop and make a wee island.

This is how the kitchen looked 6 days ago, these photographs show how it looks tonight. Tomorrow we will be making Marinated Grilled Chicken Breasts with Zippy Chunky Salad and Garlic Dill Fries, which will prompt our first ever tasting of microwave fries. Mm-mmm. The kitchen may be getting there, but tomorrow we will still be microwaving in the garage, cooking outside and cleaning up in the basement. We are indeed living the dream.