New Project

Those of you who know us, and who else would be reading this boring blog, know that we take a sort of perverse pride in our making silk purses from sow's ears. Like the kitchen sink we found in the woods 10 years prior to going and asking if we could have it for our kitchen. Like the vintage stove we found on Craig's List and got for a fraction of market value. The island DH made by recycling our old cabinets from 1933. And on, and on.

Well today we have a new treasure. It was a grate used to filter out the chunks of coal where only dust is supposed to go, at DH's place of employment. I guess they got new ones and were going to throw it out. DH asked for it and paid $4.78 for it. It's solid cast steel, 38 inches across. Here is a before picture.
















We did not want the support structure to be below the rack, so DH built it above. Also, due to the placement of the studs, he had to put the biggest bolts in the horizontal beam behind the top edge of the wall.
















Here is an "after" picture. I am pondering placement for the hanging pots & pans. Want some for convenience, but not too cluttered. It's a fine line.











ps. Among our found treasures I failed to mention the cutting board table you see here on the right. The cutting board was a workbench top, black from use, discarded at his work. He sanded it and built a table underneath it. Recently he added a little extension on the back edge to hold my spices.

Sweet Dad

A friend sent me a link to this video. Very sweet -- please notice the change in his face in the last 5 seconds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uISuvTiTYJA

Sites of note

"While I was web-surfing at 4:30 this morning," she casually started, "I ran into something pretty cool: a goldfish bowl with an office in it." Don't believe her? Here is the pic:

It's only $25 at www.fredflare.com. How did I find it? Well, I was on a writers' site looking at different magazines participating in a writers' conference, when I saw the editor of O magazine was going to be there. O is "o"wned by the Hearst Corporation, who doesn't usually use free lancers, although there are a few of their smaller magazines who do. I had had the notion that O did not. So I clicked over to O magazine's website to look for writers' guidelines. Did not see them, but did see the cutest little stapler for only $6 that does not use staples. One of Oprah's Favorites. So of course I clicked on the hyperlink, which took me to fredflare.com, where I found this little gem. Cute, huh.

On a similar safari, I ran into the website for a gal who is co-writing Chicken Soup for the Twenty-Something Soul. They are looking for writers for short stories of the Chicken Soup genre. Upon entering her website, the traveler is met with her self-description: Life Coach. Author. Speaker. Then the traveler notices her picture on the right: She is twentysomething! How the, ahem, heck, can she be a life coach? She has barely tasted life! She's a baby! Here is the link: http://www.christinehassler.com/books.php

What would I want a life coach to look like, if I were pitiful enough to hire one? Maybe like Jane on the Beverly Hillbillies? Sort of taciturn and dry? Naw, wrong image. Too skinny, not enough fun in her demeanor. How about, um... Cameron Diaz? mmm, no, too perfect. Hey! Got it! Ina Garten! "Who the heck is Ina Garten?" you ask. She's The Barefoot Contessa on the Food Channel. She's breezy, fun, slightly overweight, attractive without being uber, good humor, confident but not too, and just generally fun. She's always fixing some sort of food for all her friends. Yep, if I were in a situation to hire a life coach, that's what she'd need to be like, certainly NOT some young blonde thing. But hey, to each his own.

Confessions of a Food Page Writer

OK, sigh, so I write the food page for our local paper, and ~true confession~ I am not that good a cook. I've done 2 food pages so far, and one of them was an interview, which I must say I am better at than actually cooking.





So I am conducting research -- lots of it! -- to try to do the best job I can, especially considering, I am not that good a cook.





Add to that, I am a vegetarian, have been for about 14 years, with the occasional fish and a few chicken meals 2 years ago, and I am a bit limited on what I can actually make for the photos. Well, I can make things, but as far as being able to taste them and see if they are tasty, that's another story. And, I would like to put in recipes that I know myself are pretty good, and easy to prepare, as everyone but me seems to be in such a doggone rush these days.





Today, I was studying online and found a website different from those I usually check. My usual ones are the common ones like allrecipes.com and foodnetwork.com, you know. Today I found http://www.fabulousfoods.com/, which had holiday recipes in it.





I have already written and had photo shoot for September so now I am in the process of trying to develop October. So of course, I clicked on the Holidays link, then Halloween. No kidding, I found this cake:
It's kitty litter cake, a regular cake iced with icing, then sprinkled with cookie crumbs with a little green food coloring mixed in. The, er, solid items, are mini Tootsie Rolls. Note the one artfully draped over the edge of the pan. The recipe did specify to use a NEW litter pan and NEW scooper.

I will not be including this on the food page.