Furniture is Expensive (or at least my taste is)

Rob and I have decided that we are pretty much over our IKEA phase of furniture buying.  Don't get me wrong, we are still going to be going to IKEA for all their cool accessories and decorating gizmos, but we are just not going to buy our bedroom set from them.  We are looking for more solid hardwood that has the potential to last more that 10 years. 

Of course, we say that, but on the hunt for this "real furniture" we have had a bit of sticker shock.  Apparently if you want lasting quality furniture, it costs a lot.  Sigh...    But it's pretty to look at!

Dining Room Tables

Bedroom Sets

Some day we might be able to get some of these pieces.  In the meantime, we will day dream and window shop.  :)

Old Recipes

As part of a wedding shower gift I was given a book from my dad of photocopied pages from my grandmother's cookbooks.  They are not the complete works, but highlights from both of recipes my dad remembers my grandmother making or any she contributed to these books.  I have decided to transpose these recipes from the photocopies I have to a word document which I can print or send to other family members who have expressed an interest in getting a copy of these recipes.

In transposing these recipes, I have realized a couple of things about recipes from the 50s.  For one thing, I had no idea what a yeast cake is.  From the Cooking For Engineers website I have learned that it is equivalent to three 1/4-ounce packets of yeast.  The actually yeast cake looks like this:

Another thing I have noticed with the dozen or so recipes I have done so far is that time and temperatures for baking seem generally irrelevant.  Instructions will read something like, "bake in a moderately warm oven until done" which is less than helpful.  I think these ladies just knew the lingo or they all got a decoder ring with this cookbook when it came out.    

As I was typing these up, they made me hungry and want to try them, so I took this one for a spin tonight.  This is how it was written in the original text:

Crumb Kuchen

1 cup sugar

2 ½ cups flour

½ cup butter

Work these together till crumbs form.  Save one cup of these and to the remainder, add 1 cup sweet milk, 1 egg beaten, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 2 teaspoons baking powder.  Put in shallow pan, sprinkle crumbs on top and cover with cinnamon.

Mrs. H. E. Hyattm, Farmdale

A few things that might make this recipe work a bit better include pan dimensions and baking times and temperature.  I baked this in a 9x13 pan and it turned out well.  I looked up a similar recipe on the internet and it offered up baking at 350 for 20-25 minutes.  I would say at least 25 minutes.  I used skim milk and I melted the butter to make things mix up easier.  Overall, this was super easy and turned out to be amazingly delicious.  Here's hoping I find another few gems in the recipes as I go through them.  :)

Our Song

It's been almost a year since Rob and I had the biggest celebration of our lives.  There was so much planning and figuring out details that I was sure I would never forget them.  Even the day of the wedding, I was chanting to myself, "don't forget" repeatedly.  Everyone told me it would become a blur and I thought, Ha, not me!  I will remember.  Sadly, I have realized despite my efforts that some have faded.

Our photographer did a phenomenal job recording it all on her camera, but there are still some details that just don't quite get captured.  I know we have a video recording of the day in all it's wonder that we will eventually get (and by no means is this a hurry up request).  But no matter what's been recorded there are still some details that flicker.

One of these should not, but for some reason has.  At Cassie and Shannon's wedding we quickly realized we can't remember our song.  We know generally what it sounds like, but get it confused if we hear another song by the same artist.  How embarrassing!  We can google it and watch it on YouTube practically any time and hear it on the radio occasionally.  At least we kind of know it.  So here I am putting it down for the archives.  Sigh... :P

Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat - Lucky

Project List

Rob and I are about to take the plunge into home ownership this month (Wohoo!) which means all kinds of awesome things.  One of which is we can paint and decorate and remodel our home any which way we want to.  After years of being suppressed by apartment living and bland walls, we are determined to put paint of them and change stuff around immediately.  

Since we have been through the home a few times and have taken a LOT of notes and pictures, we have been able to daydream about what spaces could look like.  And because we are engineers, we made a pretty comprehensive list noting each project we have come up with, what room it's associated with and a tentative figure for how much it will cost.  The good news is, we are new at this and very optimistic.  The bad news, we are new at this and very optimistic.  We at least recognize we will be bounded by money for our ability to gut the house and redo everything all at once.  So that's helping keep us grounded a little bit.

In any event, our list is over 100 items long which might make you want to pass out, but it's by project in each room.  So changing out the 3 wooden toilet seats is 3 projects on this list.  Still, there's a LOT of things that are on here.  Some of which are future projects and some are like, this needs to be done yesterday.  For example the short shag carpet in the basement.  Umm no, not staying, no way to how.  And this bathroom:

is definitely not going to make it.  Thank god the wall papering was confined to one tini tiny room.  This might be what I work on once the champagne opens. Although, we can't forget the lovely chair lifts.

Those will be removed the day we get the keys as well.  So there's a small list of musts, but hopefully manageable.  Those in the area, you might get calls from us asking if you have a particular tool on hand.  Standby!  These might count towards our "before photos" because you better believe there will be "after photos".  I can't wait to share how well (or not) some of these projects turn out.  We are in for some serious learning.

Another more immediate projects is painting.  We know we aren't going to be able to paint the whole house in a day, but we want to paint as much as we can.  At first this task sounds simple, but then you start thinking about how each room will flow into each other and how the colors will blend.  Perhaps we are over thinking the process, but I also don't want a house that looks like an uncoordinated mess.  We finally came to an agreement on what colors the main floor will have and we are pretty pumped about that.  Now we would like to figure out a color for the basement and our master bedroom.  I do know that paint is not forever and we don't have to get it right on the first try, but it certainly would be nice.  Hopefully paint samples and careful selecting will help us get there.

This blog is going to be hopping with all the project news in the coming months.  Consider this the trailer for the summer smash hit - "Renovation Smiths" coming April 2011!

Summer BBQ Food

Ok I know it's not quite summer out and it barely feels like the spring we were having a couple of weeks ago, but you are going to want to take a note to try these recipes out.  We stumbled across these in our Cooking Light book of recipes from 2003.  A couple of years ago we decided to try it for the first time and it now comes into regular rotation during the warmer months of the year.  What says summer better that burgers and pasta salad?  Here's a new twist on the classics!

*You will need to own a food processor to make the burgers and mayo.

Chicken-Chorizo Burgers with Avocado Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise:

1/3 cup fat-free mayonnaise

¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves

2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice

¼ teaspoon salt

½ ripe avocado seeded

Burgers:

½ lb. Spanish chorizo sausage

¼ teaspoon salt

5 – 6” corn tortillas, torn into bite size pieces

1 ½ pounds boneless chicken breast, coarsely chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, chopped

Cooking Spray

8 (2 ounce) onion rolls

8 (1/4” thick) tomato slices

1. Prepare grill or preheat broiler
2. Mayo: combine first 5 ingredients in a food processor, pulse until combined.  Cover and chill.
3. Burgers: remove casings from sausage.  Place sausage, salt, tortillas, chicken, and jalapeno in food processor.  Process 30 seconds or until mixture is coarsely ground.  Divide mixture into 8 equal portions. 
4. Place patties on grill rack or broiler pan coated with cooking spray.  Cook 7 minutes on each side or until done.
5. Cut rolls in half, spread with 1 ½ tablespoons of mayo over top half of each roll.  Place tomato slices on bottom halves of rolls.  Top each with 1 patty on top half of roll.  Yield: 8 servings.

Orzo Pasta Salad

 3 cups hot cooked orzo (about 1 ½ cups uncooked)

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

¾ cup (3 ounces) feta cheese

¼ cup chopped parsley

3 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

1 garlic clove, minced

1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, toss well to coat.  Cover bowl and chill 1 hour.  Yield 8 servings.

The Path To Home Ownership

So Rob and I have taken the plunge and decided to be part of the statistic on home sales for the month of April.  We are, as most first time home buyers are, extremely excited.  I have put off mentioning a lot of the guts of the operation, but am happy to discuss them with anyone who is considering buying a house.  We are having a great time and are enjoying the process even if it's a little nerve racking at times. 

First thing is first.  Our realtor Stan is amazing.  He is easy to get along with, VERY good at his job, and explains everything very well.  I have never once felt like he was pushing homes on us and have felt that he has always looked out for our best interest.  If you can, get a recommendation for a realtor and don't just pick one out of the book.

Our process of viewing homes was short, but it really didn't need to be very long.  It still took us over a month to put an offer in on a house and what's come on the market since then hasn't been much to look at.  So, why bother waiting if we found what we loved?  It was a bit scary to think we had found something so quickly, but it did feel right and continues to feel right.  I have had that "did we make the right choice?" question float around in the back of my head at times.  Then I go look at what has come on the market since we put our offer in (plenty has) and nothing beats it.  Sure there might be "nicer" homes, but they also cost more too.  So, the long and short of it is, no buyer remorse going on here.

The paperwork and transactions have been tiring.  We are buying from an elderly couple in Florida who have been hot and cold on responses.  They took a long time with our offer (which was very fair), but hopped on the water issues in the basement with no hesitation.  Overall it's not been too bad.  Of course it was hairy there a few times, but it seems to have worked itself out.

Our home inspection didn't reveal anything too spooky.  A few issues, but at the age of our place (37 years) how could there not be?  They are all manageable as far as we are concerned.  There are a few HOA violations, but nothing awful and the homeowners agreed to fix them.  We also got appraised for the purchase price of the home.  This is good news as it means we can get financed!  Yipee!!  The interesting thing we saw in the report is that the twin of this house (same exact floor plan) one neighborhood over was asking $35K more than this place and it was shown in the report as a comparable.  However it was an extreme outlier for (much higher) than what we and other people were paying for their houses in the area.  I have noticed it's now listed $10K less, but I have a feeling they are upside down on their loan and trying to get some money back which has long since gone.  I am not sure how they would react knowing we saw their house and this empty one and ended up buying this one over theirs.  Not that I plan to tell them, but it's like an episode of "Get it Sold" and "House Hunters". 

Now we are waiting on the bank to prove we are are who we said we are and that we really made as much as we told them we did and that we are not going to commit loan fraud.  I don't even know where one would begin for that mess.  There's too much triple checking these days.  As the saying goes, "The stupid few ruin it for the good many."  Not that I had grand plans on becoming a crook, but I just had to sign about 30 extra sheets of paper to make sure I really meant it.

Now we a closing date set and the end of apartment living in sight, dreams are starting to become reality.  We have created a spreadsheet full of home projects that we would like to tackle.  Everything from replacing wooden toilet seats to painting to changing out metal closet doors.  Some of it's a pipe dream, but most is in reality easy DIY projects.  I can't wait to get my hands dirty.  :)

Grandma's Chicken & Rice

I don't have a whole lot of memories of my grandmother since she passed away when I was around 9 years old.  I remember playing Old Maid with her, the sewing nook where I sewed my first ever pocket on white with blue polka dot fabric, and the couch that was in the living room.  I also remember her trying to get me to eat squash one Thanksgiving.  That didn't go over so well.  :P  A lot of silly memories, but fond ones. 

A couple of years ago, my sister gave me a recipe from my grandmother which she calls Grandma's Chicken & Rice.  I scanned the ingredients list and said, hey, I like all of this stuff, so it was rapidly tested out.  It's quite a great recipe that allows you minimal up front effort with great results.  About half way through baking this the first time I said, "This smells like Grandma's house!"  I closed my eyes and it was like I was a little kid again.

From what my sister tells me, Grandma was one cool lady which I am sad I never got to really know.  We will have our chance to catch up in another life I am sure.  Unfortunately, I only have a few small trinkets of hers to remember her by, but I treasure them.  This recipe is one of the few I have, but it's so tasty, I wanted to share it with you.  And hey, maybe your house will smell like Grandma's too.  :)

Grandma's Chicken & Rice

4 chicken thighs (boneless, skinless) I usually just do the whole package from Wegmans cause they are smaller - can use breast meat, but it dries out some
2 carrots peeled and sliced about 1/2 inch cube
1 stalk celery sliced about 1/2 inch cube
1 glove garlic minced or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 small onion diced
1 small can button mushrooms - drained
1 14oz can of chicken broth (low sodium & fat free)
2 tsp chicken base (Better Than Bouillon - less sodium)
1 cup dry white rice OR long cooking rice (perfect use for rice that take 45 min - an hour to cook)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
sprinkling of paprika

If you can't find boneless skinless chicken thighs, just remove skin and leave the bone in, it will add flavor.  Or leave the skin on and pan fry chicken for 10-12 minutes, skin side down first, then follow directions below.  And of course if you if you leave skin on and bone in, it adds even more flavor - not as healthy for you, but anything that tastes really good never is.  :)

Spray a 2.5 quart casserole dish (9x13 pan) with pam.  In bottom add carrots, celery, onions, and button mushrooms.  Sprinkle with half the salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, and garlic or garlic powder.

Pour dry rice over vegetables, pour in can of broth.  Place chicken on top of rice & Sprinkle on other half of seasonings on the chicken & sprinkle with paprika for a little zippy color.

Cover and bake 425* for approximately 1 to 1 1/4 hours, once liquid is evaporated it's done.