It's been a while

Oh, my! I'd started off 2012 with a new kitchen and plans to get back on board with this blog... and immediately failed.

Here was our kitchen:

Note the very little usable counter space (yep, it's that piece between the sink and the stove -- so your left elbow is effectively resting on the top burner as you prep) and the electric coil stovetop. And yes, the completely bare wall to the left was being used for extra pantry storage and cookbooks.

We'd planned to put in all new counters along that left wall as well as an island (peninsula) eat in option (since there's no room for a full table). After months of planning and meeting with cabinet folk, we had our design. And then we waited. And waited. We had our first piece done mid-May -- replacing the drawer bank and cabinets you see next to the fridge so that (when we had the funds) we could get a larger fridge. And we'd planned to buy a new oven as soon as we could as well.

And then we waited some more. In June we got the rest of the cabinets and the counters were measured. And we waited some more. End of the month, half of the counters were installed. Seemed they cut the sink into the wrong piece so our new countertops would have to wait just a bit longer. At that point we had the sink debacle. The old sink had warped along with the old countertops and could be installed wobbly or we could buy a new sink. Ick.

And there were cabinet reorders to address defects the install team noted. We waited quite some time on those as well. But I kept trucking along as best I could in the in progress kitchen.

By second week of July, we were done!

Or so we thought.

In September, our oven died. In calling the company I discovered it was 12 years old and I while they could send a tech out to identify the problem, the cost of that wouldn't apply to any work to fix said problem. Faced with fixing an oven we wanted to get rid of without even knowing what said repair would cost, we decided that although it wasn't the most convenient timing, we had been planning to buy a new oven. And so we did. Unfortunately the one we wanted was backordered for 6 weeks. Facing not having an oven or a stovetop for that long was really too much for me to handle. Instead, we were sold on a very similar model made by a brand the salesperson swore was tried and true.

A few days later it had arrived and was installed. Just three days after that we noticed it was making a horrendous noise while preheating. So we called the repair folks. Turned out the fan was wobbly. They ordered a new piece, it arrived a week later (this is early Sept now). But they couldn't install the piece until October 8. Oh well, at least we had one small oven and the stovetop to use. So it wasn't total torture.

Oct 8 arrives -- we've now had the oven in our house for just under a month and never been able to use it. The pieces is installed, takes just about 5 minutes to do. Fabulous! A working full-size oven, finally!

And now we have arrived at October 16, last night. I'd used the oven just once since last Monday and was planning to use it this evening to reheat a rotisserie chicken. Preheated the oven just fine, popped the chicken in, and went about my business.

After about 15 minutes I heard what sounded like something falling. We have pets so I didn't really think anything of it except a small niggle about the oven. I brushed that away thinking that surely our newly repaired oven should be working like a charm and there was no reason to believe the noise could possibly related to it.

I was wrong. As the yummy smell of cooked chicken spread throughout the house and my stomach growled with hunger, I approached the kitchen and was greeted by this site:

Yes, our one month old, only used twice bottom oven had apparently imploded. Nice. Now I'm facing not having an oven or stovetop for another indeterminate time. It's clear that this particular one is kaput and I wouldn't trust it even if they did replace the door. I'm trying to stay a bit more level headed than normal but trust me I'm quietly raging inside.

Just in case you needed a close up of the damage.

I heart Zingermans!

I have to thank my dad for introducing me to Zingermans. Were it not for him, I probably would never have heard about their uber fabulousness. They are actually a deli in Michigan, but they have a huge mail order operation for feeding the hungry foodie masses, like me.

Oils, vinegars, honeys, cheeses, and breads are just a few of the yummy items one can order. There are food clubs as well, where you can get a box set of different items each month.

So far, we've had:

Sea Salt & Chipotle Caramels (yum!)

Il Mongetto Diavola Sauce

Iberico Dry Cured Ham (which we ate with melon and honey)

Corbezzolo Honey (ate with the melon and ham)

French Lavender Honey (heaven)

Boat Street Pickled Figs (paired with the below bread and cheese)

(Better Than) San Francisco Style Sourdough

Bridgewater (cheese)

Wild Mugolio Pine Syrup (also awesome with the sourdough and Bridgewater)

Fig & Walnut Confit (with the sourdough and Bridgewater as well)

And we have a few items we have yet to crack open as well:

Il Mongetto Mushroom Sauce

Saba Balsamic Syrup

Vinaigre de Banyuls

Yeah, you can say it. My dad is awesome! Mike particularly enjoyed the Pine Syrup with homemade banana bread.

Happy New Year!

Being from the south, we stick to the New Year's tradition of pork, black-eyed peas, and cabbage for health, luck, and wealth in the New Year. Until I was out of college, it was up to my parents to put together said meal. My very first on my own was a bit of a scramble -- I can't remember the exact situation, but I wasn't able to go home (work) and so my boyfriend (now husband) and I scrambled to get some pork and cabbage egg rolls and a can of black-eyed peas to hit all the relevant food groups.

I'm too superstitious to let a New Year's dinner slide!

Since then, I've played with variations. I did pork cabbage rolls one year, a black-eyed pea dip another year, and this year I did a sort of black-eyed pea stew with ham and a side of creamed cabbage.

The stew was a variation of Hoppin' John recipes I came across. I soaked dried black-eyed peas overnight. The following morning, I sauteed a chopped onion with half a bell pepper, two sticks of celery and three cloves of garlic. Then I added diced ham leftover from Christmas dinner and added that to the pot along with the beans. Four cups of chicken broth, a bay leaf, a pinch of marjoram, and a pinch of thyme. Seasoned it all with salt, pepper, and Tony's and let it simmer away for the next two and half hours. I do have to say that this is one I would have cooked down much longer, but we were in a bit of a time crunch. If you were to let it cook down long enough for all the beans to be mushy and the liquid pretty much absorbed... yum!

The cabbage was super, super simple. I used Gojee to find this recipe: Five & Spice's Cabbage for Cabbage Haters. I highly recommend it as it was super tasty.

Neither dish was all that pretty, nor was it the healthiest New Year's dinner, but not the worst by far. Though my egg roll idea was inventive, I doubt I'll be returning to that unless I'm in dire straits.