Vegan / Vegetarian

Over a year ago, my daughter decided to go vegetarian. For her, it was an animal rights thing. If it has 4 feet and a tail (or 2 feet and wings), it does not belong on your dinner plate. She's not fanatical about it. It's about ethics.

My take on health and eating is more about weight management and a healthy body. I don't buy all this 'gluten is bad for you', 'cow's milk is bad for you' stuff. Humans have survived for centuries by including both in their diets, and I'm not planning to quit now. I do, however, see wisdom in 'clean' eating - avoiding overly processed stuff in favour of 'whole' foods. Which brings me to Gwyneth's book.

It's a fun read. The recipes make sense. While the men in my house put their noses up over the Kale and Almond Smoothie (pg 207), it's taste was ok, even if the grainy texture took some getting used to. Many of the ingredients in the book are not things I already have in my cupboards. Yesterday, E & I journeyed to Whole Foods to hunt for obscure ingredients (like Miso paste which I still haven't found). Today, I discovered that we could have saved ourselves the trip because No Frills carries at least half of them at lower prices. Regardless, we will be celebrating Canada Day with Cauliflower and Chick Peas with Mustard and Parsley (pg 173). Tuesday will be Vegan Shepherd's Pie (pg 240). Not all the recipes in the book are vegan. They're just all about unprocessed tasty food, and my plan for July is to cook my way through as many of them as I can.

So where is my stream-of-consciousness going? Back to the idea of healthy eating. Going Vegan doesn't appear (to me anyway) to be at all related to weight loss. In fact, I think it could be quite the opposite. Tonight, we ate dinner at a super place in Toronto called the Hogtown Vegan. We'd seen it profiled on "You Gotta Eat Here" and I thought it would be a treat for our vegetarian. The flavours were good, the portions were good, the prices were good. I would go back. But if a vegan is trading high-in-iron-low-in-fat beef for wheat-meat seitan (a bread-like product which mimics the flavour and texture of beef), he's gaining calories, but not necessarily an equal complement of vitamins and minerals. I think I'll stick with beef.

So here's to my summer project: avoiding overly processed stuff (just say no to iced caps and choc chip frapps) and choosing instead fruit and veg and lean protein. I'll experiment with the no gluten thing and see if my body notices a positive difference. It already knows it doesn't like McDs or hotdogs or chips anymore. And if anyone knows where I can find miso paste, please point me in the right direction - I'd be grateful.

finishing touch

The chairs are the final touch. While I wouldn't recommend the store I bought them from, they are exactly what we wanted. The upholstery is coffee bags from various countries: Brazil, Peru, and Mexico. This is the new favourite homework spot, but it's equally good for enjoying coffee and the comics.

and... we're back!

 We're back. Kitchen has been reloaded, and we're adjusting to the new locations for everything. Dining room is done (great blue, isn't it?). As you can see, Salem is glad to have his bench back where it belongs. He's had to hunt all over the house for it since demo started on Valentine's Day.
It's been a huge undertaking, but well worth it. We waited years to do this, and now we have a kitchen that suits our lovely house.

Day 28

We're almost done. Tomorrow is supposed to be the last day. 7 weeks later...

Day 25

Thursday, the panels for the fridge, freezer, and dishwasher were installed. They really look
good. The door on the fridge has some crazy suction, which is a good thing, except that opening the door takes work. We haven't figured out how my mother is going to get the door open all by herself to get the milk for her tea if it takes all of us a couple of good tugs or yanks to get it open. E thinks we should get a bell, then if someone needs help opening the door, they can ring for assistance.
Saturday night was a great night for the kitchen - we had a party! I was making chicken cupcakes to take to Easter lunch at my parents and E came up to keep me company. Tunes were rockin', sugar was flying. There was much dancing around the island. I love the island / peninsula. It's an enormous work space. Counter tops are traditionally 36" high, but ours is 37" to the bottom and 381/2" to the top, so it's a little higher and I like that.
The mess continues. P is spending his weekend painting the diningroom. The green had to go - it clashed with the cupboards - and after moving the door, we had to repaint anyway. So the new colour is called 'Bonsoir' from Home Hardware. It's a deep, rich, blue, the colour the sky goes after the sun has set but before the sky goes black. There's an elegance to it. With the white trim, chandelier, and dark hardwood, it should be spectacular.
Moving back in to the kitchen is happening v-e-r-y  s-l-o-w-l-y. Last night, I relocated the liquor cabinet. Doesn't sound like much, but given that it had lived on a shelf in my office, having it in its own proper cupboard is a treat. The pots are starting to migrate into the pot drawer, as is all the Tupperware-type stuff.
The next hurdle is the new chairs. We've found the ones we want, but like the spoondeliers, it is going to take some effort to actually get them.

Day 22

Not much to report, other than that I'm starting to use parts of the kitchen, even if she isn't all done yet.
• After weeks of washing the dishes in the laundry tub, I've tried the new sink. Glad to be back to a double sink, but the sides seem smaller than I remember the old sink being. Maybe it's just the contrast from the laundry tub.
• I've used the new oven twice now. 3 racks instead of 2. Can't imagine what I'll need 3 racks for, but there you are.
• The cooktop. Bone of contention. I like electric coils - no hassle, no fuss. They don't care whether the pot you put on them is enamel-based, copper-based, or plain old aluminum. The new ceramic cooktop does, apparently. So much for my favourite element-to-oven enamel stewing pot. What about the glass pots I found lurking in the basement? I used to love those. Remember that brand - Visions by Corning? After having read the instructions (use this; don't use that), I think I now understand what happened to the cooktop in Sweden. When I thought the base of my (enamel-based) pot had melted into the cooktop, well, it had. That's why when I yanked it off, a chunk of the glass cooktop came too, just like rock candy. According to the instruction manual, "enamel-based pots can meld into the cooktop at very high heat, causing damage". Unfortunately, after having cooked out at the outdoor kitchen (aka bbq) on the gas element, I now prefer gas. Oops too late. Of course, my fear of extending the gas line through the house causing the entire house to blow up knocked out any possibility of a gas stove instead of an electric. It's probably more prudent to be able to sleep at night because there isn't an extension of the gas line through the house, and just be extra fussy about pots.
With all this wait-time, I should have planned out exactly what will go where when we reload the kitchen, but I haven't. There's no rule that says you can only arrange a kitchen once. I'd just rather not have to do it again because cupboards and drawers were not allocated wisely the first time.
Fingers crossed for tomorrow. Rumour has it the panels for appliances are in, and there seem to be only finishing touches left after that.

Day 19

Good day.
The fridge is now boxed in. Oven, microwave, dishwasher, and fridge are plugged in and ready for action. Problem with the not-so-retractable faucet has been fixed. Tile grouted. And... spoondeliers are up! I think they're perfect. And and and - Cambria sent us a present! They sent a cheeseboard made of the same Bellingham quartz as our counter. That was an unexpected treat!

Now we're in another holding pattern until the end of next week, waiting for the fridge and freezer panels, a couple of cupboard inserts, and the glass for the glass-front cabinets.

Day 18

Still lined up on the runway waiting to take off again, so to speak.
Contemplating several small decisions in the meantime, such as:
- what colour grout - I like the idea of a contrasting colour because it is more interesting, except that having lived with the shadows between the tiles for a week, I think the tile pattern (tile + contrasting grout) would fight with the pattern in the counter, so, white grout. Boring but it should allow the counter to sing
- do we remove the tap and take it back to the over-priced designer store we bought it from because it seems to be defective? It is supposed to retract the way a vacuum cord does, except that it isn't, so the sprayer dangles, which is ridiculous given how much we paid for it. Avoid that store - sales people all out for the commission not the customer service
- counter stools. We found some we like at a little design shop in Haliburton, but the seat height is odd. Our counters are counter-height not bar height, so chairs are too low and bar stools are too high. I feel like I'm channelling Goldilocks.
- handles on the fridge and freezer or just keep what they came with. In the appliance stores, I love the look of the full length handles on the built-in fridges and freezers. Ours come with full-length edges you can grip - not the same. Is it worth the extra bother and expense or am I willing to make do? 

Day 17

waiting on the panels for the fridge and freezer...
I'm growing a little too accustomed to having a fridge and stove in my front hall...

Day 16

All quiet on the kitchen front (normalement)
but the spoondeliers arrived today, and boy are they heavy suckers!

Day 15

Nothing new to report today. P & K were at another job. I'm feeling kind of Peter Mayle 'normalement' to tell the truth.
Delivery issues with the spoondeliers. They were set for delivery last week, but no one was home to receive them, so they went into a holding pen. Because of the value of the package, when I asked for a reroute of the delivery to my work address, the courier company had to get permission from the spoondelier people in Tennesee, which of course takes time. They should arrive tomorrow.
Now if only the suitcase would make it here by then too...

Back to reality

We made it home from Heathrow yesterday, via Ottawa, minus one bag. Which normally would only have been an inconvenience, except that it is P's bag that is still on holiday, and he leaves again this afternoon for Mexico, and needed the stuff in that bag. Maybe this is Providence continuing to push the message it's been sending us all week, that we need to slapna dig or laissez-aller or go with the flow. There was nothing we could do about the snow in France or the accidents on the main highways - we had to let it go and adjust. There is nothing we can do to get that bag returned faster - we just have to wait until the situation resolves itself.
E is due back from Africa today. Her group has a tight connection at JFK, and P is anticipating that they will miss it. Today will be another busy airport day - picking her up and dropping him off.
K+P were busy with the kitchen while we were away. I've lost track of what day we're at, so tomorrow I'll continue with the count, the count representing the number of days we're in the house with the construction. The countertops are nice and high and they sparkle under the lights. It's all coming together. 

Bath

Last night, we stayed in Bristol. It was another late arrival, after Chunneling back to England, getting caught in London rush-hour traffic, then doing the 3 1/2 hr drive northwest to Bristol. Googlemap directions are ok up to a point, but often their road names do not match the street signs. Enter "the girlfriend". She's the GPS app on P's iphone, and she's saved our tails more than once this trip. Unfortunately, she takes a lot of battery power to work, so when she ran down, we took to plugging her into P's laptop for an external power source.
This morning, of the options she gave us to get to Bath, we took the easiest road away from the Marriott College Green, a beautiful hotel in the heart of Bristol, which opened in the 1860s and has been open as a hotel ever since.
Our first stop today, was Thermae Bath Spa. When we came to Bath 8 years ago, I had really (!!) wanted to have the kids experience the hot springs. I followed closely the status reports on construction of the new baths facility. Alas, they were behind schedule, and while we didn't have a chance to soak in the waters then, we soaked in the history instead. Indeed of all our travels, the audiotour at the Roman Baths in Bath remains everyone's #1 best tour anywhere.
Today, we soaked in the waters. There are 2 facilities now: the new building, which houses a large open-air, rooftop bath, as well as many spa treatment rooms, and the Cross spa, across the street. This is the Cross spa. It is on the site of one of the original Roman baths, and it is open air too. So are the changing spaces - kinda chilly today, but at least it wasn't snowing! We were there for an hour, and it was divine. I'd almost go so far as to say it was worth the wait. We floated under some sun, but mostly we watched the rain clouds move in.
Then, we went to Sally Lunn's. She was a Hugenot who moved to Bath in the mid 1600s and made a version of a french brioche. The building where the restaurant is (and where she lived and worked) is the oldest in Bath, and dates from 1456 or so. Last trip, E had her Sally Lunn bun drowned in chocolate spread. This trip, we drowned our buns in clotted cream, strawberry preserves, and in my case, cinnamon sugar spread. For the record, one has half a bun, because each bun is about the size of a salad plate. Add a good cup of tea, and you're all set.
Shopping. Yay. Shoes, dresses, oh my! The boys were tolerant. We ended up with 2 dresses, one pair of shoes, one new ipod case, and a very nice cookie jar shaped like an english cottage.
For dinner, we found a pub so P could have his pint of 'real ale'. Then we hit the car, and the highway, in the rain, until we made it safely to here, the Heathrow Marriot. P has done a magnificent job of driving this week, through all kinds of crazy weather. It frustrates me to no end that our French blizzard didn't get any press coverage at home. The blizzard started Monday, and by Thursday, the major highway north out of Paris was still unusable because of stalled cars and trucks who had been stuck there for over 48 hours. The road to Cherbourg was still closed because over 300 cars were still covered in snow! It boggles the mind.
While this hasn't exactly been the holiday we imagined, we saw and experienced things we wouldn't have otherwise; we met kind people who took care of us; we stayed positive, and have some new crazy stories to add to the family collection (shovelling the driveway with breakfast trays anyone? I should have taken pictures).

Vimy Ridge

We made it to Vimy.
The road out of Creully this morning was tenuous at best, but there were several of us, and we've learned that in crazy weather, there's safety in numbers. By the time we hit the N1, the roads were wet but no longer slippery, and we headed north toward Vimy, several hours drive away. The French are not good with snow. I've said that before. 2 days after the blizzard, the main highway north, the A1, is still clogged with heavy trucks. Knowing that, we took a small sideroad, the N25, out of Amiens toward Arras and Vimy. It was another version of the country roads where we encountered so many difficulties on the way south on Monday. The remnants of their road-covering snow drifts were all on the side of the road, fortunately, and we made our way to Vimy without undue distress.
It's an amazing sight. The original monument was constructed in 1936, and while there was fighting in the area during WWII, the monument was untouched. In recent history, the Canadian government freshened it up, but this is the original design. Down the road, behind the remains of the trenches and still unexploded land mines (!!!), is a wonderful Canadian museum, complete with a museum-quality trench. Canadian miners were brought over to create the tunnel system. Network "Grange" was cleaned up and made tourist-worthy, while the other 13 tunnels were left to decay. Before the battle at Vimy Ridge on April 9, 1917, the Canadian soldiers spent 6 months training about trench warfare. On Easter Monday, the soldiers stood (!) silently (!) for 36 hours, in the tunnels before being given the order to advance. They thought there were German trenches in the area, and had to be very quiet for fear the Germans would hear them in their tunnels.
Re-capturing Vimy Ridge was a definitive Canadian victory. Being there made me proud to be Canadian.

There's a car in there if you look closely...

There's a car in there if you look closely.
After breakfast today, we went out to survey the snow. Always the weather skeptic, I didn't really believe them when they said 2m high drifts and buried cars. Guess what. The drifts were actually as high as I am tall. Incroyable!
We've had a lovely, calm day wandering around Creully. We discovered that Montgomery set up the British headquarters for D-Day here, and that the BBC broadcast from the square tour in the chateau. We walked a lot, and gawped at snow drifts a lot.
The food here at Hostellerie Saint Martin is wonderful. Lunch today was homemade paté, followed by duck confit in honey sauce with gratin dauphinoise potatoes (and really good coffee). Again this afternoon, we took our aperatif at one of the local bars. I think I liked yesterday's better - it came with a resident cat who was sleeping on a chair at the table next to us.
There is now 1 road open which we think we can use to get to Caen, then carry on across France. We must make it to the Chunnel tomorrow in order to cross back over to England. The memorial at Vimy is our 'must see' for tomorrow before heading back up to Calais. At regular speeds and good road conditions, we are 3 1/2 hours away. Currently, if we can make it at all, we're hoping to do the trip in 5 hours, though we're ready for it to take 8. The A1 national highway is still jammed with trucks, as it has been for the past 2 days. Let's hope it has cleared by the time we need to drive a section of it.

Naufragé en France

They're calling it 'naufragé' in the snow. We are in Normandie, in the Calvados region, experiencing full tilt the worst snow event in recent French history. Yesterday I guess I should have seen it coming. It was snowing and the Chunnel was delayed. We arrived in France in light snow, hit the highway, and while some of the traffic was slow, there wasn't anything awful until Caen. We stopped there to visit the Musee de la Memoire, an excellent museum about the lead up to, events of, and life after WWII. I became saturated by it all pretty quickly. There's only so much death, killing, torture, and suffering that one person can read about before having enough. I got a lump in my throat at every Canadian flag. Patriotism hits me at the strangest times.
We got back in the car, anticipating a snowy but normal drive to our destination, Courselles-sur-mer, supposedly 1/2 an hour away. Snow. Lots of snow. We got stuck travelling a road across a field, just outside of Bény, as did 2 other cars, which would have been a problem if not for 2 tractors who came to our rescue and towed us across. By the time we got to Courselles, there were gale force winds off the sea and the drifts of snow were easily 3 feet in places. Dinner was pleasant, and we were really surprised that the restaurant was full on a Monday night. Others stranded by the snow? Locals not wanting to cook or without power? Who knows. The storm did not let up, and we went to bed to the sound of the wind howling outside.
Today, we were told that all roads out of Courselles were closed. We should have listened, but more on that later. We hadn't come all this way to hide in a hotel room! We walked to the Juno Beach Centre, and found it closed, but read the monuments outside and wandered the gardens in the wind and the snow, and honoured the memory of our Canadian soldiers anyway. The snow was brown because it had sand mixed up in it. I felt badly for the trees and flowers who had started to bloom.
In spite of the warnings, we decided to try and get out. First impasse - backing out of our parking space. Our Audi has lousy traction. Next impasse - the driveway to the hotel. No shovel, so we shovelled it with the trays from breakfast (note to La Cremaillere - Le Gytan - if you are missing 3 breakfast trays, we've adopted them). Didn't make it very far before getting really stuck. This time, we were rescued by a large tractor who offered to tow us 3k to the nearest hotel. We were pulled past several cars in ditches half covered by drifting snow. He was very kind, and dropped us here at the Hostellerie Saint-Martin in Creully. Not as far away as we were hoping (we were trying to get to Bayeux), but at least we're away from the coast (even though I may have heard on the news that Caen, where we are trying to get back to, may have been the worst hit in the region, which would explain the short power outages while we were in the museum yesterday). The hotel is lovely. We are warm and dry, not stuck in a ditch in the middle of nowhere.
That's what I'm afraid of - getting stuck in a ditch in the middle of nowhere. They are forcasting rain for tomorrow, which may help with some of the roads, but it's the drifts that are the problem. Some of the roads here in Creully are clear enough, until the drift at the corner where we'd need to turn. Our original itinerary has been simplified a lot. Today's plan was to do Juno Beach Centre, drive to Arromanches and do that, drive to Bayeux and see the tapestry, drive to Rouen to walk around and have dinner, before driving to stay the night near Dieppe. Tomorrow was supposed to be touring some things in Dieppe before driving on to Vimy. Now, we're hoping to make it out tomorrow and spend the day on the road. Only tomorrow knows whether we'll be able to make it to Vimy to sleep tomorrow night, or not.

Only a flash of the cat

We spent a lovely visit today with P's great aunt and uncle. Last I had seen them was 8 years ago, although P came and spent Easter weekend with them 3 years ago when he was posted to Sweden, but the rest of us hadn't yet moved over. Their house is the same. The cats are still afraid of visitors. The most we saw was a streak of black fluff tear down the stairs after he was startled out from his hiding place. David prepared a wonderful salmon lunch, and made one of his famous apricot sponges. Vera is the same I am happy to say. For 85 and slightly less than 85, they seem to have loads of energy. They sent us off with a care package of apricot sponge and banoffee pie. P drove us around a bit to revisit his "hometown" and show us his school and the house where his mom grew up before we left Long Eaton.

The drive down to Maidstone was a traffic disaster. There is a big bridge one has to cross. Apparently, it had been closed for 7 1/2 hours earlier today. We got stuck in a combination of the backlog and other smaller accidents, but eventually made it to our hotel. Tomorrow we will take the Chunnel across to Normandy, then drive down the coast toward Juno Beach and Courseulles-sur-mer.

Snow at the Priory

It continues to amaze me the distances one can travel on this planet.
At 4am yesterday, I was at just waking up at home, and 12 hours later, I was at Heathrow airport in London. 4 hours after that, we were having very late evening snack in a building that dates from 1256 when it was built by monks as the Breadsall Priory.
It's snowing today. Very Dickensian. We drove through some of it last night during the 2+ hr trek up here to Derbyshire from London. We experimented with a daytime flight this time. Usually, one flies overnight to get to England. The advantage is that you don't lose a day travelling, but the major disadvantage is that, when you land, it's 2am your time, so you're tackling rush-hour traffic in London with severe jetlag. The nice thing about the drive last night was that we started out at 11pm local time. There was still some traffic, but nothing like rush-hour.
This morning, we will explore our beautiful country house hotel briefly before spending the day visiting with P's Aunt & Uncle and their cats.
p.s. you're thinking "where's the snow in the picture". It came and went a bit but it did collect on the ground eventually.

Day 14

This is the point in the design show where the homeowners get kicked out so the design team can finish up and surprise them. Work is now on hold until next week. The boys are waiting on other people at this point. Their work is as done as it will get for now.

It's been like a treasure hunt every day - trying to figure out what's different. It took me until this morning to see the baseboard, and again until just now to see that the new archway to the dining room is finished.

The appliances are due to arrive next Tuesday (I think) when we are at Juno Beach, and the countertop is scheduled for next Friday when we are in Bath. Hard to believe it's almost done.

Day 13

At our house, dinner at any time other than normal time has a special name. "Dinner in England" means eating somewhere between 9 & 10 pm. This comes from the first trip to England we did when the kids were small. We rarely managed to get to our next stop and find somewhere to eat much before 9 o'clock. "Dinner in Moscow" means snacks about midnight because we've been running around all day and haven't yet had a chance to eat anything. That one's from our week house-hunting in Moscow in May 2 years ago. Tonight, Sprout and I dined "fashionably". This is my mother's term, and it refers to the time when the fashionable people eat. We think that is 7pm, but it fluctuates. Tonight, we were fashionable about 7.

I stayed to work late and catch up on some marking, assuming that by the time I rolled in about 6, Ken and Paul would have wrapped up for the day. It seems that finishing up loose ends was the theme for them today too because they were still hard at it. Oh darn - no cooking for me. I'd have had to interrupt them on my trips to the outside kitchen. Thank you ESM for prompt pick-up options.
The crown moulding makes such a difference. And the cabinets have 3 shelves, not 2. The inside-cabinet lighting is lovely, even if it doesn't photograph particularly well. While I'm getting used to the new traffic flow, I'm wondering how many times I'm going to bang my hips into the eating bar once it is installed, simply because I won't be used to it being there.
It's going to be lovely. It's going to be a kitchen that suits the house.

Day 12

Amazing how excited I get over the little things.
Dimmer switches!!!
We had dimmer switches in our kitchen in Sweden. I very rarely used them with the pot lights, but it was a nice option. I wanted them here more to create mood lighting with the pendants over the eating bar than anything else, but I am a girl who likes options. There is so much lighting planned for this space, it's ridiculous! Pot lights. Pendant lights. Under cabinet lights. Inside cabinet lights. I think the only thing that won't have lights will be the dishwasher, and in that I'm a little disappointed because I saw one once on Property Brothers that had neon blue lights inside. Neat feature. Not sure how practical it would be, but it played nicely on television.
"They" come to measure up for the counter tomorrow. Why is it, 3 weeks in with most of the major construction stuff done, that that - measuring up for countertops - is the part that is making all this seem like it's really happening?

Day 11

Subtle changes. Flip back to yesterday to see what I mean. The counter with the green facing will end up under the eating bar. The tall green business is one side of the box for the built-in fridge. The box for the freezer is just at the bottom left of this picture. Countertop edging has been chosen, and we've picked a faucet too, although there is some debate about where to purchase it. Do we go with the crazy-expensive store in Toronto where we originally found it, or do we try to get something similar from Home Depot? The cost difference is a few cents. Probably better to go with the crazy-expensive store, yes? Tick those things off the list, but the agony over drawer pulls continues. I love the look of the extra long pulls on built-in fridges and freezers. But. Do the handles on fridges and freezers have to match the pulls on cabinets if the appliances are built in? Is it overly matchy-poo? It's not like anyone is going to mistake a fridge for a cupboard for long. The grate at the top of it is probably going to give it away. Thots?

Day 10

Progress. It's a very different footprint than the old kitchen, but having lived 'around' the space rather than 'in' it for so long, I don't think the adjustment will be difficult. The floor is lovely - well done on that quick choice.
We're up against a decision deadline. The lights, faucet,  and pulls all have to be purchased and delivered, or at the very least, ordered, before we go away next Saturday. While we are in France, Ken and Paul will finish the magic. Appliances are scheduled to be delivered, as is the quartz countertop. Choosing all the little details is proving much harder than deciding upon cabinet styles or layout or appliances. Too much selection? I've said for years that I have commitment issues. It only took 15 years to recover the couch. Unfortunately this time, I have less than 15 days to pick things we will have to live with for many years to come.

Last night, after ploughing through pictures of kitchen lighting until our eyes blurred, we decided on the spoondelier to go over the peninsula / eating bar. Schoolhouse pendants, which I love, seem to need bigger spaces, according to the design magazines at least. Spoondeliers, I hope, will be unique, add just enough detail, and not be too big for the space. They have to come all the way up from Nashville, Tennessee, and their website says it should take 2 - 3 weeks. I wonder how much assembly will be required...

Day 9

Installation of the cabinets started today. We like the green, but it's the little decisions we're having trouble with. Lights. Tap. Pulls. For small details, they have a big impact. It looks like the spoondelier wins over more traditional schoolhouse pendants. I like the look of schoolhouse pendants, but the pictures in magazines are always of much bigger kitchens than ours.






                               Salem checking things out...

Day 8

Invasion of the boxes!
The cabinets arrived today. I haven't seen this many boxes since moving from Sweden. They're everywhere. The new opening from the dining room is going to take some getting used to. While I still haven't decided about the pendant lights to go over the peninsula (leaning toward schoolhouse pendants, but the spoondelier is still a contender), it's looking like we'll have more pot lights than we'll know what to do with.
Peter's homework tonight is to paint the ceiling and assorted pieces of wall where there won't be cabinets. Better him than me - I despise painting. I much prefer wallpaper. Some of my beloved toile wallpaper has survived - in the alcove between the laundry room and the kitchen. P repainted the wainscotting in there because the wood was clashing with the new floor. It looks so much fresher white.
The weather people think we're in for a big storm overnight and into tomorrow. Fingers crossed for a snow day. If we get one, we'll have to work really hard to stay out of Paul and Ken's way as they start to assemble the cabinetry. I'm anticipating big changes tomorrow.

Day 7

Floor.
Well, half a floor.
Nice, non?

Day 6 - lighting options

Over the peninsula (it isn't an island because it will be attached to the wall), we need 2 hanging pendants. We've cruised websites and wandered around lighting stores. I'm not really falling in love with anything. Some of them are too big; some have exposed lightbulb filaments which bother my eyes. What to do...
A couple of years ago, when we were in Niagara-on-the-Lake in December, there was a magnificent chandelier in the front window of a shop. It was made of old silver cutlery and teacups. They wanted a fortune for it, and we weren't in the fortune business, so the light stayed in the shop, but I never forgot it.
Today I found a similar one at Anthropologie at Yorkdale. If you've been in, it's near the back, very tarnished, but very distinctive. Unfortunately, I think it's too big for our space. Top to bottom, not including the hanging chain, I think it's about 3 feet long. We only have 8 ft ceilings. How high above a counter is a hanging light supposed to be?
After getting home, I hit the internet and discovered that there's a company out of Tennesee called Cake Vintage that makes teacup chandeliers and spoondeliers. I love the teacups, but I think they'd be too big. The spoondelier, on the other hand, has possibilities...

Day 6

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have subfloor!
The very boring backsplash tiles have arrived.
The flooring is waiting in the dining room.
Things are looking good!
Funny how small the room feels without anything in it.

Day 5

From the sounds of things, today was a day for adjustments. The outlets for both the fridge and freezer had to be moved, as did the outside vent for the stove. And my lovely toile wallpaper is gone.
The writing is (literally) on the wall - freezer here, dishwasher here, and the old bulkhead spaces have been filled in with fresh drywall. Salem has been keeping pretty well out of the way. He waits until work is done for the day before he comes to check it out.

WHOA! wait a minute - how did I miss this? If you've been in my kitchen, try to orient yourself to see what's gone. Look at the words. The other archway to the dining room is gone. Wow. That was the right thing to do. See on the right there? the white thing? yup. That's my old fridge. In the middle of the front hall. It's the latest in design. Grab and go etc.

Day 4

You don't see the difference do you?
New window!!!
One you can actually see through! and open!

Day 3

The new doorway through to the dining room has been framed. The current doorway is where the curtain is. Salem's "gopher" holes have been filled in. It wasn't a good day to install the new window, but she's a beauty (last one in the house to be replaced). The old fluorescent light is gone (hooray!) and the new pot light holes have either been drawn in or are already cut out. The most exciting part is that there are now labels on the walls for where all the new appliances will go (yay freezer!)
Stay tuned...

Day 2

Yesterday ended with the first of what I'm sure will be many problems: the flooring we had chosen, the flooring I had dreamed about, the flooring I had designed the ENTIRE space around, is no longer available. How do they not know these things? I had been into the store several times over the past few months to gaze at the sample. I had borrowed it multiple times. I don't think it's entirely the store's fault. The manufacturer should be more honest with its clients and let them know when there are product shortages. Short of the long, we spent more than 2 crazy hours running around town and we found something else. It's significantly cheaper and may end up being significantly easier to live with in the long run, but it lacks the magic of the original.
Salem discovered a whole new world once K&P left yesterday and he could come out of hiding. There are holes in the floor now, cat-sized holes, perfect for exploring. At one point last night, we lost him, and when we called for him, his little head popped out of the hole like a gopher.
It's amazing how the feel of a space can change. The room felt shorter as soon as the curtains came down. Now it feels taller without the bulkheads. It also feels smaller the emptier it gets, but it won't be staying empty for long...

Heart's Desire - Day 1

In this column, I have written about our travels more than anything else. Today begins a journey of another sort; today begins our long-awaited kitchen renovation. When the Property Brothers tell their clients "I can have the whole thing done in 5 weeks", I never think that sounds so bad. A little over a month seems pretty quick to completely overhaul a significant part of a house. But living through the 5 weeks for the bathroom reno last year nearly killed me. I'm hoping this is better because we should be able to live around the mess, rather than having the mess right in the middle of our living. Only time will tell.
Happy Valentine's Day.
And so it begins...