The Kitchen Remodel: Finished!

Hurray, our kitchen is back to normal and better than ever!  I finished the paint yesterday and Kaylee made a curtain for the window today.

Click here for Kitchen Remodel: Part 1   Click here for Kitchen Remodel: Part 2

Here it is:

Of course, now I'm self conscious about how the ceiling looks.  It's not nearly so noticeable in person (the flash highlights the patches).  We want to get new lighting, with better placement, which means that I'll have to re-do some of the ceiling anyway and will finish it then.

As an added bonus to the way we cut the cabinets, this upper cabinet now looks like it belongs there!  It was so strange before.

Here are the before and after photos:

The Kitchen Remodel, Part 2

I was hoping that by this date I would have been posting final photos of the progress, but here we are and it hasn't changed much.  The small amount it has changed is significant, though.

We have been waiting, spinning our wheels for almost 2 weeks, waiting for the techs to come move our gas line so we could continue tiling the backsplash.  I have fussed over the plaster and paint a lot, but we were at a standstill on everything else. 

In the mean time, we did finish a project that I've been meaning to do for some time: plumbing hot water into the laundry room.  Kaylee now has hot water for washing for the first time in 4 years!  So it wasn't a complete waste.

This machine had never known the joy of a hot bath, but that has all been made right, now. ;)

Anyhow, the gas guys came last night to drop off their tools, then spent all day today (8:30am-6:30 pm, minus a 2 hour lunch break) changing the gas line.  Now we no longer have an ugly yellow-orange pipe in our kitchen!

Unfortunately, my dad and mom leave on Friday, so we only have two days left to work together.  I was hoping we could finish it and have a week to sit around or find something fun to do.  Oh well, it's good to work, too.

Here's how it looks tonight:

It's almost there!

The silver handle above the stove is the required shut off

Kitchen Remodel, Part 1

The house we live in is the oldest one on the Etnos property and through the years it has been updated, remodeled, fixed, and modified by whomever happened to be living here at the time.  After leaving it pretty well alone for over a year, we've decided to dirty our hands on it as well.

It started with finishing the guest bedroom upstairs, a project I did in December and January during the summer break.  We have been tossing around ideas to remodel the kitchen for a year now and decided to take advantage of my dad being here.

The biggest problem with the kitchen was that the cabinets were not built for this space.  They came from somewhere else and were just made to work.  It wasn't terrible, but there were several things about it that were annoying and made it feel like it was half-done.

The fridge was in front of the window at the left

The biggest problem was the placement of the fridge:  in front of the window, blocking the door (visually), and about 12 feet from the oven.  Also, our fridge has the hinge on the right and cannot be swapped, so it opens into the doorway instead of into the kitchen.

In reality, it needed updating anyway:  the Formica was stained and had holes in it and the sink wasn't sealed well and was starting to rot the cabinet.

We contemplated pulling everything out and having new cabinets built, but decided that it would be best to make the most of what we had.  We threw some ideas around, had some fun with my design software, and decided to go with Kaylee's idea of splitting the corner cabinet and moving everything over.  This is what it should look like, more or less:

The corner cabinet gets split, everything moves left to the doorway, bringing the sink under the window.  The oven moves into the hole created, and the fridge moves over to where the oven was.  It's not perfect, but it puts everything within reach and makes the space look more "finished."

We started on February 26 by getting the counter tops off and having a look at the cabinets, then splitting the corner.

Because I have to juggle my class and academic responsibilities, my dad is actually doing most of the work.  He put backs on the cabinets, rebuilt the corner where we cut it, and made tops for them all.  We looked into installing granite, but it was going to be $1000 and a lot of hassle, so we went the cheaper, easier route of Formica.  We made the tops 4 inches wider than they were, so there's more counter space, leaving a gap in the back.

Corner cab with new side and back

Thankfully, he has lots of Formica experience!

So, here we are a month later, with only 2 weeks left to work!  At this point, we need to set the tile backsplash, paint, and get the gas line moved.  I have been dedicating myself to plastering the walls in between class work and we have taken some time off to do some gardening and make some changes to the girls' room.

Here's where we're at!

We made the island wider as well, for more work space and so the bar stools fit better

Eggnog for Missionaries (and everyone else)

Good training is essential to the missionary task.  Language and Cultural issues need to be addressed.  Teaching methods need to explained.  Expectations need to be tempered.  The organization that I work for places a heavy emphasis on training.  However, due to a gross oversight on their part, during the 2.5 years we spent in cross-cultural missionary training, nothing was said about eggnog.

During my last Christmas season in the States a year ago, the knowledge that I could no longer go to Town & Country and pick up Darigold's finest at $1.50/qt drove me to the interwebs, hunting a recipe.  After a month of arduous research, I was satisfied with the concoction I was producing.  This year, I have been asked to share, so here it is:

The two critical ingredients that missionaries may have a hard time finding are:
1. Nutmeg: don't bother trying without it. Find something else to drink.
2. Rum flavoring/extract: If you can't get the extract, but have access to rum, you can burn some of the alcohol off.  Put some rum in a saucepan, and light it on fire. Seriously. When the flame dies (on its own), you will not have removed all of the alcohol, but enough to take away the alcohol-flavor (if that bothers you) and any effect that it might have in this quantity. I discovered yesterday that you will need to use more than the recipe below suggests, to get the flavor right. I think the commercial rum extract must have a more potent flavor.

My suggestions for cooking and EGG SAFETY
1. According to the USDA, you have to heat the egg mixture up to 160F if you want to be completely safe. The problem is that if you cook it too fast, you'll poach the eggs in the milk and they'll get clumpy and nasty.  If you cook them too long, they'll get clumpy and nasty. A meat thermometer is your friend.
2.  I do not have a double boiler.  I did rig one up last year, to use on the electric range, but it was goofy.  We brought stainless steel pots with 1/2" thick bottoms to Bolivia.  I turn the flame on the gas stove all the way down, then use the valve on the regulator (at the gas bottle) to cut it down as far as it will go without going out.  I do not have burning or sticking problems.  If you have thin-bottom pots, but access to steel, you could put a piece of steel plate under the pot.

[UPDATE:  an idea for getting the temperature perfect: Eggnog Update!]

I tried several different recipes last year, and this was our favorite.  The only changes I've made is more rum flavor (as noted above), I always use cream instead of half-n-half, and I like to drink it hot.

(I found it here)

INGREDIENTS:
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups milk
1 cup half and half
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoon imitation rum flavoring
nutmeg -- as desired


PREPARATION:

Mix beaten eggs with sugar and salt in the top of a double boiler. Add milk and half-and-half. Cook over boiling water, stirring constantly, just until mixture coats spoon, about 10 to 15 minutes. Cool. Add vanilla and rum flavoring. Chill.

Immediately before serving, strain eggnog. Beat with a rotary beater until frothy. Pour into chilled cups. Sprinkle each serving with nutmeg, as desired.