Kitchen Reno: Day One
She Said
Our contractor, Eric, arrives ahead of schedule – about 7:50 a.m.. Lucky!
Lickety split, Eric’s got the cabinets coming down and thinks he’ll be done by noon – just one guy!
Alas, there’s a snag: the pantry cabinets that are coming out are one piece, 8-foot-tall units and too big to wrangle alone. Not that I wouldn’t be willing to help, but heck, have you seen me? I’ve got the pipes of a 90 year-old grandmother! No problem: he calls in another associate of his to give him a hand. In the end, it’s Doug, the guy who originally came out to do the cabinet measure, so we have a chat and catch up.
In the meantime, however, Eric has uncovered snag number two: the plumbing for the dishwasher, at the end of a peninsula, has not been run from the sink. Instead, it was run from somewhere in the basement, back when the basement was unfinished. Well, now there’s a very nice-looking family room down there with flat ceilings and pot lights. This work, presumably, was done by the previous owners themselves, given the number of “features” that, we’ve since learned, do not meet code. I’m informed that this plumbing really should have had an access panel in the ceiling of the basement. Woe is Eric, there is none. So, Eric is going to have to dig up some floor tiles to be able to recess and cap off the plumbing.
Food porn: a day at the Byward Market
Many, many moons ago, my grade 8 school trip took us from Toronto to Ottawa to learn a bit of Canadian history. For some reason, I’ve never been back until a few weeks ago when the FAB east and west kitchens reunited for a weekend of All BBQ, All the time.
One thing I do remember about that trip so long ago was the teachers making a big deal about Ottawa’s Sparks Street, the only street in Canada to be closed and turned into a pedestrian mall. I suppose that was a big deal back then, but today. Well, who cares?
Just a few blocks away is one of the highlights of downtown Ottawa, the Byward Market. I had expected an enclosed place along the lines of Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market, but what I found was a thriving neighborhood of foodie fun. Outdoor produce stalls, crafts people, flowers, henna tattoos and way way more combine to make the market an exciting place to spend an afternoon. Surrounding the market are literally dozens of hip restaurants, bars and coffee shops, many of which have patios and open air store fronts. This place is a people watchers dream and the perfect playground for a photography hack like me!
Check out the slideshow after the break
Killer Burgers
Planning on burgs for Labour Day? These ones are a little extra effort, but totally worth it!! They were inspired by a lamb sausage recipe from The Chef’s Table: Restaurant-Inspired Recipes for the Home Chef, by Lucy Waverman, James Chatto and Tony Aspler (ISBN 0-679-31039-8). These patties are so tasty I’ve literally been dreaming about them! Make the most of what’s left of summer and throw some on the grill this long weekend! Makes 6, 5 1/2-oz patties.
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) grapeseed or canola oil
- 1 ½ cups (375 ml) finely chopped white onion (about 2 medium onions)
- 3 tbsp (45 ml) finely chopped garlic
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) fennel seeds
- 1 tsp (5 ml) hot red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp (5 ml) garam masala
- 1 tsp (5 ml) Chinese five spice powder
- 2 lb (908 g) ground chicken
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- ½ tsp (2.5 ml) salt
- ¼ tsp (1 ml) cracked black peppercorns
- ½ (125 ml) cup chopped fresh cilantro
FAB West Moves East… Again! He Said…
I’ll echo Oneof7: I’m super-excited to be back in Ontario. So much closer to friends and family, and the FAB mothership.
When I first saw the kitchen in our new house, I was really happy. Finally, a bigger space for the chef to operate. Oh yeah, and more storage space for the chef’s ever-growing gadget collection. I swear that kitchen gadgets are sentient, organic beings that multiply in closed drawers. Well, that’s the way it seems to me, but what do I know? I’m just the deer-in-the-headlights sous chef (but I can whip up a mean, mean martini).
As Oneof7 wrote earlier, when we had a closer look at the space, it became apparent that the kitchen was lacking in key areas. The glaring deficiency was of course, the lack of drawers. There were two deep corner cabinets for pots and stuff, but they didn’t work for us. So, after a weekend of debate, we decided that we’d start peeling the onion…you know where that leads, right? Pull the cabinets out. Rip up the floor. And new appliances. New backsplash. New counter. New pro-grade hood fan. I grew nervous and opened a lovely pint of Stella Artois. “What the hell have I done?”, I mused…Stella #2 was opened in short order. Oh no, replacing the floors was my idea…Stella #3.
My directive to the chef was this: “We’ve got one chance here to design this the way we want. Let’s do this right.” Chef has lamented that since cooking school, she hasn’t cooked with gas – well, unless I’m in the room, but really that’s quite different and undesirable. But, I digress…we took the approach of designing the whole kitchen around the gas range. We quickly decided that we’d go 36” versus the standard 30” – it gives us a full six-burner stove top and a larger oven. For the serious chef, this is what you want.
So…after several design meetings, we made our choices. I thought it really interesting that they asked the same questions about four times. I think that served two purposes: it ensures the designer gets it right; more importantly, it confirms that you as the buyer are certain of your decisions. It’s a sound approach, and we appreciated it.
The ball is rolling. We’re nervous and excited about this all at once. One thing is for sure: we can’t wait ‘til it’s finished and to be able to share with our friends. That, dear reader, is the true motivation!
Anyone seen my pint? Anyone?
<Mooby>
FAB West Moves East… Again!
She Said
What can we say? Living in the Canadian Rockies was breathtakingly beautiful. We will never, ever regret having lived there. But, sometimes, stuff happens. And suddenly you’re whisked back to eastern Canada and loving that, too!
We’re now relatively settled in a lovely house in a great neighbourhood (save the gossipy neighbours) with a super yard for our three crazy four-legged “kids”.
But then, you know, you start looking around at the kitchen.
And there’s not all that much wrong with it, I guess…. When I had my rose-coloured glasses on, I thought, “Hey, not bad!”. But when we came back for our second viewing, I put on my dirt-coloured glasses. And there really aren’t all that many drawers. And if you can possibly imagine the contents of my kitchen drawers, well, I can’t live without drawers. There’s one bank of 9″ drawers and one bank of 11-1/2″ drawers. There’s also a desk where there could be more pantry. And the configuration is a U-shape which cuts off access to upper corner cabinets. And there are only 1 1/2 sinks. And the stove was electric…. You might see where this is going….
Welcome to Foodies Across Borders
Foodies Across Borders is a place where friends who live a long way apart share our thoughts and ideas on cooking, entertaining and eating out. We review restaurants and babble on about current trends in cooking. Here in the FAB test kitchens, we review recipes and the odd product here & there.
Foodies Across Borders is a Blair Valley Media blog.
