Christmas Day

Days 98-99-100: Cooking!

Chicken: Broken down, deboned, stock prepared, meat stuffed, braised and leftovers consumed.

Duck: Stock’ed, rendered, and cooked.

Cookies by the dozen.

Bread (with the new super-fast rise yeast: more on that later).

And real dinners for my family.

The hand sink and pot filler will be connected today, and the steel shelf and backsplash and hood were installed and finished yesterday, and we still have a few tweaks in the cabinets ..but it’s such a beautiful thing.

Pictures to follow.

Days 96-97: Snakey-Boy and Garbage Disposal; Bubble Boy Bungalow

Snakey-boy is here! Our beautiful KWC pull-down faucet was installed by MFP (My Favorite Plumber). Snakey-boy was a cartoon character created by Secondo many years ago; he’s a pit viper with a chef’s hat and a heart of gold. He fed the homeless, made birthday cakes, and only bit those who deserved it. And only with warning. He always gave the thumbs-up at the end of one of his escapades. I wanted a pull-down faucet in my Atlanta kitchen, and when we went to look at them, the Bambinos immediately named it Snakey-Boy. We never did get one there, but we have one here. Lookity –

On the right is the garbage disposal. I’m SO thrilled to have it.

Because the steel shelf under the television was installed into the stone fireplace, we had a little more of that blown-apart effect in the house today. When the stoneworkers removed the television from the fireplace wall, Mr. Foodbabe could feel it all the way down in the city. Nooooooooooooooooooo ……………….. And because of the dust, the area was sealed in again, like so:

We call it our Bubble Boy Bungalow.

Propane Update: My tank-pad was inadequate, so no propane was delivered. We’re working on it; should be here on Friday morning. Then, I cook.
Dinner Party Update: Eight guests, and counting.
Firstie Update: Eight days till he comes home for five whole weeks.
Secondo Update: Electric guitar procured from friend. Hilarity ensued. Also eardrum damage.

I’m still smiling about the garbage disposal. I’d kept some leftover Chinese food for a few weeks, just for this occasion. I pushed it in, left it uncovered, pressed the button and watched it spin away to the land of pet alligators.

With this, I sign myself
Easily Amused,
Fabby

Weekend Between Days 95 and 96; Facebook Encounter

Very exciting to make a real dinner — cookies and pizza, two of the building blocks of the Food Pyramid. I’m sure I’ll completely ditch the Miele once the BlueStar is up and running, I’m having fun with it now.

On Friday, Mr. Foodbabe and I watched “Hot Fuzz” (I still wish someone would transpose Sgt. Angel’s horse ride through town with Pale Rider … Oh no! I just now got it — Sgt. Angel! And wasn’t Pale Rider (forgot his movie-name) supposed to be the savior as well?

BID (but I digress).

And I laughed the entire movie, just like I did the first three times I saw it.

On Saturday, Mr. Foodbabe and Secondo had a guys’ day. They drove into the wild, shot at things, ate burgers and drank beer, and then went to see Angelina Jolie in 3D. Secondo is still smiling. So is Mr. Foodbabe. While they were gone, I walked the dog and started to move into my new kitchen.

Fun fact: No matter how well you wrap stuff, it’s still filthy when it’s been sitting in a dusty room for four months. I washed and dried and put away, and rearranged things and spent a moment being intimidated by the Blum drawer inserts (and now I need more. They are SO cool, like Lincoln Logs for cooks!).
I had a weird Facebook encounter, too.  HeyAnnette and I were discussing how we set up online profiles in Facebook and MySpace so we could spy on our kids, and how unsatisfying it turned out to be. I then signed onto her Facebook page and sent her a gift, and wrote something. and suddenly, there’s a post from someone on my page. This person told me that I should join their friend group because if I’m into food (Fabulous FOOD babe, yanno — not much gets past this one!), they talk about eating and finding and how to make food and said, “check it out what have you got to loose”

I replied, “A command of the English language. Oops, too late.” (I should have said, “to late.” Damn! The best ideas are never timely.)

Anyway, now this person hates me and said “what are you a teacher you know what there saying those who cant do teach so obviously you are a teacher.”

I think she needs a teacher. Good Lord. And I’m still laughing.

***

The weekend’s financial windfall: $112.0. 66% ($74.00) came from my “if you leave junk in your pockets and I do the laundry, I’m going to confiscate it” fund. The remaining 34% ($38) from the “No Burpin’, No Cussin’, and No Sayin’ Ain’t” fund. My contribution to the former: 0%. However, current estimates have me at 80% of the cuss-fund, but I think it’s because no one else puts the $$ in there.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it