Stop Motion Experiment!

I just made my first stop motion video! It's nothing fancy, obviously, but I'm so glad I tested the waters. One day, I'll use my roommate's good camera and have him help me set it up to be done correctly, but in the meantime, I don't think this is half bad! I made a few more that I've shot but not looked at or imported into Adobe Premiere, so hopefully I'll get to those soon.

Anyway, this was sort of trial and error. I set up my camera on a tripod and shot a picture with every step I did. Then I imported the pictures into Adobe Premiere (a la this youtube video explaining what to do). Select everything and make a new sequence, which drops it into the timeline. You can ripple delete any frames you don't want in the final video. Then I shortened the speed/duration down to 10 seconds, which still feels a little slow. I did a brief color correct (a la this youtube video) but still have much to learn on that front as the color is still off here, but I just wanted to get it done. Then I added in a title and exported it out to a quicktime before uploading to youtube. Et voila!

Belated Return of the Prodigal Blogger

Hi! I've been out of the loop for almost a year (egads!), but I've thought of you often. And I've been taking pictures ever since I started cooking again, so I'm sitting myself down to catch up tonight. I'm planning on buying a domain and making a new website for all this, but in the meantime, I ought to just keep on with it as is.

I did finally get an apartment and then eventually get my all my stuff to it. But I didn't really get to cooking again until I committed to a FreshDirect membership. New Yorkers, you have to do it. Unless you live in an amazing neighborhood with great groceries, in which case, I hate you and don't bother. But for the rest of us who live in aptly named "food deserts", FreshDirect is a godsend. As it is, I'm waiting on my most recent order to show up between 10-11:30 tonight, at which point a very nice delivery man is going to bring me a couple boxes of food directly into my kitchen. All for $10 delivery fee per month! You can't beat it. No, they're not endorsing me, I'm just that thrilled. If not for FD, I'd be grumpily lugging bags home from Trader Joe's once a month and otherwise continue my steady diet of raisin bran from the corner bodega. It wasn't good, folks.

So here's a live picture of the kitchen. I love the open shelving so I can see my beloved kitchen treasures: retro blue kitchenaid mixer, grandmas nesting mixing bowls, Bulgarian bowls, and basic ikea dishware. However, they're a pain to keep clean and now often feature cat hair, so envy me only insofar as you also wish you had to clean everything you use every time.

Otherwise, that's about the majority of the kitchen (and, to be honest), living room. I've got a cabinet of spices, basics, and baking goods, and a lower cabinet of pots and flour and sugar. Glamorous NYC life!

It's not much in terms of provided storage, but the extra shelves help a lot and with the kitchen also being the living room, I at least have space to move and use the table. And I'm more than happy to have this over a tv and other comforts. It's kitchen or bed for me the few hours I spend here. 

On to the cooking! 

JBG Organics volunteering

Just so you don't miss the takeaway: Please think about what you eat and how it got there. Try not to waste food. And use less plastic/throwaway packaging whenever you can. 

The other day I didn't have to head into my internship because my coworkers were out of town for a meeting. I decided to sign up to volunteer at Johnson's Backyard Garden farm because when you volunteer for 5 hours, you get a box of veggies. I also have become more curious about farming since my mom grew up on a farm, going back to Kansas for my grandpa's funeral reminded me that I wanted to get a better sense of what it entailed, and visiting California for work and seeing the farms and fresh food pushed me the extra mile. I understand farming conceptually, but I have very little experience with the actual labor and science of it.

I worked at the greenhouse, which meant that I started out by seeding Kohlrabi into 46 little planters with 128 little seeds. There was this little suction board with 128 little holes on it, and I shook the seeds out until there was one in each and then poured off the extras. Then I set it on top of the tray with some soil in it, turned off the suction, and then set everything back up again. Repeat 46 times. Once the seeds were all in, I got my hands real good and dirty filling up the rest of the planter boxes (excuse my incorrect terminology) until they were level with the top. I made a grid on the pavement of all the planters so that we could water them a few times. Because I was doing winter seeds, the greenhouse guy took them back to store in a cooler until it was time for them to actually start growing.

My next task was to weed out in the greenhouse itself. This got... hot. It was about 100 degrees while I was working (8 am - 1 pm), which meant, I'm guessing, that the greenhouse was 110+. I certainly felt it. I got a bit woozy in there, especially being in jeans and such. The planters covered the floor of the greenhouse, so in order to get back and pull weeds, I had to drag out a row hop over alternating clear patches I created, and balance while I pulled weeds and then came back. I did not love it, but I think it was because I was getting tired and very hot. It was nice to get a big bucketful of weeds though, in terms of seeing your work make a difference. That was definitely one bonus of the work as a whole. I was a bit surprised at how many dead butterflies, moths, and crickets there were, but it made sense once I thought about how enticing it would be in there but then hard to get out and then very, very hot to survive in. I also pulled weeds outside around the greenhouse, and while it was a big relief to have some wind movement and less humidity, the direct sun wasn't too much of a break.

My last little task was to move out some peppers that had grown up enough that they were almost done with the greenhouse. I set them out on this pallet area so they could get some water while they adjusted to the sunshine and spent more time in the greenhouse (I think) before they got sent full-time to the fields. Good luck little guys!

Finally, at 1, after drinking two 32 oz gatorades and my water bottle, I picked up my veggies (transferring them to my reusable bags, of course) and headed home. Phew! My neck and back were very sore, and I was pretty excited for my shower. I think I will definitely volunteer again when my schedule allows (and perhaps when it is a little cooler) to get experience in the sorting/loading space as well as out in the fields for a harvest or something.

More than anything, it really made me appreciate even more how much, I mean an incredible amount, of work goes into every single thing I eat. I already work so hard not to waste and to buy exactly what I'll eat, whether at the grocery store or restaurants, but this was further incentive to do my best. And it also made me feel like food was so cheap even though sometimes I bemoan prices in my head while I shop. I know organics and local foods are sometimes a little more expensive, but you're paying to have people take care of your food, and people just need a little bit of money. And as the guy I worked with said, JBG was great because Johnson pays a little more than minimum wage. Where would we be without people farming our food, and yet they only get minimum wage most of the time? I'm not going to get into the politics of it all and subsidies and all that headache, but I do think there are serious, sad problems with our value system of work in this country (and probably around the world). Farming and education are two of the most important jobs that exist, the end, and while teachers make more, there is such a low level of respect and tribute paid, financially, to those absolutely integral jobs.

Please think about what you eat and how it got there. Try not to waste food. And use less plastic/throwaway packaging whenever you can. 

Also, tell me what kind of veggies I got! I'm not 100% sure about exactly what's what, so I welcome any insights. 

french fries

My dad bought a little fryer recently, and while I was home last weekend, we made some french fries to go with our burgers. We got three regular potatoes and peeled them, then we cut them into long strips and let them soak in water. We used peanut oil in the fryer, and once it was really hot and bubbling, we threw in batches of the potatoes (note: first dry the potatoes otherwise the water will make the oil spit out at you - yikes!). It said to let them cook about 13 minutes, but just keep an eye on it. Interestingly enough, the potatoes that we threw in plain were really dark, and the potatoes that we tossed in a flour and pepper mixture turned out lighter. I don't really know the science on that, but I liked the flour ones a little better. After they were done, we let them dry a bit on newspaper before transferring them to parchment paper on a baking sheet, seasoned them (some with just salt and some with creole) and letting them crisp up a bit in a 350 degree oven.

Note: these were just some phone pictures I took because I thought it would be nice to share this even though it wasn't really a recipe per se.

knife skills

My friend emailed me this knife skills video by Jamie Oliver, and it is super great. It is only 5 minutes long, but it gives some really good pointers. As Eryn knows from being my sous-chef, I am definitely not an impressive lady with a knife. I can get by, but I definitely need practice and have wanted to take a knife skills class for the past year so that I can feel confident in what I am doing in terms of that. But alas, I haven't gotten around to it yet (also, they are a little prohibitively expensive at about $50 a pop).

But this little video seems to go over the basics well and quickly, with an eye on safety, and I think it will definitely help me out.

cuisinart hand blender

So I got a fun new cuisinart tool at costco before moving to Austin, and I've been trying to use it. It's a hand blender that has immersion blender, whisk, and chopper attachments. It's really handy and it's great for a small kitchen. I sort of made a mess the first time I tried to use the whisk attachment, but I figured out how to make it work. The chopper is fairly small and doesn't do too well with being completely full, but compared to not having those tools at all, it is great. And I know I will use the immersion blender a lot once it finally cools down here, in a few months.

And wow did I need to get myself off the cuisinart site before I went crazy making a wishlist.

new knives

Dana got me some new knives for my birthday! They are really snazzy and colorful in addition to being good knives. I'm pretty excited to get to use them.

They are komachi knives. I have the green paring knife, red tomato knife, blue utility knife, and magenta chef's knife. Below are two pictures I took, but it's worth googling to look at the images and reviews.

cookbooks

Well I officially own three four cookbooks, all my own! Yes, I still use the internet most of the time, but I will dabble in these and it's fun to have them on my counter. In my free time, reading through them and planning recipes with them is something I'm aiming for. In the order that I procured them:

Muffins. This is a little French cookbook that I picked up for 4 euros in Paris at a little market under a bridge (names are escaping me right now). So in addition to having lots of yummy looking muffin recipes, it is also an opportunity for me to practice my translation skills. Luckily, I can understand most of it without a dictionary, which is a great feeling. Also, I can read outloud in my terrible French accent in my kitchen and pretend that I am an eloquent and sensual French mademoiselle and I won't have anyone around to contradict my fantasy.

BLBC Cookbook. I mentioned this a while ago when I first finished it. It's a cookbook compiled by the members of my book club in Bulgaria that I put into book format via blurb. Then I ordered 12 for my family (at the neat cost of $6 each! still available and no profits). So a couple of my contributions are in there along with many others. I haven't truly read through it and tried anything yet, but I have eaten many of the recipes in the past year and they were tasty.

Barefoot Contessa at Home. Okay, I'll be honest. I never watch the show and she looked annoying (why I didn't want the show). But my mom gave this to me for my birthday. Then I saw the name. Ina Garten. I recognized it from SK and decided to give it a second try to impress me. I haven't made anything from it (give me a break, my birthday hasn't actually happened yet), but I read through a few sections and it looks good. Not healthy or like it will help me with my diet, but delicious. I'll be posting things from it soon enough.

The Essential Pasta Cookbook. Ebe gave this to me this past weekend for my birthday. It does include some recipes of how to make pasta by hand, but mostly it is for pasta dishes. It is really extensive and we both like how many pictures it has of all the food. Plus, I love carbs and Italian food.

my new kitchen

As mentioned in the previous entries, I am in my new apartment in Austin and thus have a new kitchen. Unlike the past two years, where my kitchen was outfitted more or less by the school and what previous residents had left behind, this time I had to get everything myself. My family really came through by having a lot of extra things they could share. There are a few things I still need to get to really be able to make everything I want to (a big soup pot, a hand mixer, a heave duty pot for the oven), but overall it is really well stocked.

I took some pictures and thought I would also make a list of what I have just to give an idea of the kind of tools I am working with. Mostly it is just another step I wanted to take to show that I just work with what I have and things turn out pretty well even though I don't have a impressive, top of the line kitchen. I also have quite the teensy pantry but I still feel like I have more food than I can eat in a week (well, than I should eat in a week).

3 mixing bowls (white with green)
4 mixing bowls (orange/yellow with flowers)
2 skillets
1 cast iron skillet
2 silver saucepans
2 porcelain (?) saucepans
6 pyrex glass dishes (circular)
1 pyrex square dish
1 loaf pan

target utensil set (30 pieces with all sorts of spoons, spatulas, graters, clips, measuring tools, etc)

cuisinart hand blender (with a whisk attachment, immersion blender, and chopping attachment)
stand mixer
electric tea kettle
crock pot

measuring cups
measuring spoons
storage containers

ikea dishset

6 big plates

6 small plates

6 wide bowls

6 silverware

6 tumblers

6 wine glasses

4 anthropologie bowls

4 small anthropologie bowls

4 bulgarian bowls

1 big bulgarian bowl

4 blue tumblers

Pantry:

Flour

Sugar

Powdered sugar

Brown sugar

Baking soda

Baking powder

Cocoa

Vanilla extract

Olive oil

Canola oil

Balsamic vinegar

White vinegar

Salt

Pepper

Cream of tartar

Basil

Curry

Cinnamon

Garlic

Rosemary

Honey

Syrup

Mustard

Ketchup

Jelly

Cheddar cheese

Parmesan cheese

Milk

Salted butter

Unsalted butter

Eggs

Tortillas

Bread

Peanut butter

Goldfish

Pasta

Canned tomatoes

Granola

Fresh vegetables and fruit

pumpkin/squash soup

Another throwback! In fall of 2009, when I was beginning my cooking exploits, I was talking to my friend Andy online and he told me about a soup that he makes. I don't think we had squash available the next time I went to the market, so I just followed the recipe using pumpkin instead. At least as far as I remember. Anyway, the recipe looks good and what I ended up with tasted good. Plus it was my first foray into cooking homemade soup, which I ended up doing pretty frequently in the cold months. Inevitably, it pretty much cooks itself, tastes good, and makes a lot of food.

As you can see, I'm still trying to figure things out. This probably was one of the first times I used the oven other than to heat bread or cook asparagus (which I only knew how to do because my college boyfriend used to cook us dinner frequently once he graduated and lived on his own; I just sat around, teased him, and looked pretty). Eryn and I liked this soup; it was a bit sweet, but it still worked as a dinner.

In Morocco, our kitchen was pretty limited: cups, plates, bowls, silverware, three pots, one skillet, knives that I routinely bent/broke until Courtney sent me a nice set of three stainless steel ones (thank you!), and that's pretty much it. Did I mention measuring cups or spoons (or blenders or any other fancy gadgets)? Nooo. Because I didn't have them. So I used actual cups and spoons and eyed it. Recipes like Andy's were nice because I could just sort of estimate and it was fine. And since I had no choice but to measure imperfectly and just try it out, it gave me confidence when using formal recipes (like SK) to just do my best with what I had. If I was missing a spice or a particular type of cream, I just used what was similar (like in this recipe, I just mashed it up as much as I could). I estimated what a teaspoon might be or a 1/4 cup. The food generally turned out fine. Probably not perfect, but fine. It kept me trying things and experimenting, and now I'm rarely discouraged by a recipe because it looks difficult or complicated. I know to just do the best I can with what I have.

Andy’s Butternut Squash and Apple Soup
butternut squash (or pumpkin)
4 apples, quartered and cored (next time, I would maybe leave the skin on because it is so flavorful, especially if you do have a blender or don't mind chunks)
3 cups of chicken/vegetable stock (or water)
spices, cloves, olive oil
lemon/lime juice


Quarter a butternut squash and rub the exposed flesh with olive oil. Roast on a baking sheet in the oven until soft at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes. Quarter and core the apples and bake until the flesh is soft.

Let it cool, and scoop it out of the rind with a spoon into a big pot. Add ~3 cups of chicken or vegetable stock (to keep it vegetarian) or water, some spices, maybe a little cloves, salt, and a glug of olive oil. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Puree with a blender. You can stir in some acid when you serve it - either lemon or lime.

BLBC Cookbook

I just got a mountain of grading. Did I start tonight? Heavens no because I make silly decisions sometimes. I did, however, finish taking the word document of the BLBC cookbook and transforming it into a 120 page book for sale on Blurb. I think it took me about 6 hours to do, which really isn't so bad. I hope that the ladies of the BLBC like it and are all right with the executive decisions I made; at least I like it and will be excited to have one at home! For anyone else who is interested, here is the information:

BLBC Cookbook
$6 plus shipping for softcover
http://www.blurb.com/books/2242451

From the info page I wrote up for the book:

BLBC Cookbook

The ladies of the BLBC, or Bulgarian Ladies Book Club, for the 2010 - 2011 school year were all International women of the American College of Sofia. In addition to reading seven books, having deliciously hosted meetings, going away for a spa weekend, and rafting, we also compiled some of our (and our friends and family's)  favorite recipes into a cookbook. We hope you enjoy it!

The BLBC 2010 - 2011 Book List:

October:  

The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

November:  

Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey by Isabel Fonesca

December:  

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

February: 

Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence

March: 

Cold Snap: Bulgaria Stories by Cynthia Morrison Phoel

April: 

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

May:    

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

The ladies of the BLBC:

Abby Noel, Amanda Crocker, Carolyn Emigh, Hanna Soltow, Jaime Johnson, Jenn Lawrie, Jess White, Kate McKenna, Katherine Conaway, Kristina Pappas, Lindsay Bouton, Magda Bucior, Pei Pei Liu,  Shannon Savage, and Teresa Monicken

A special thank you to Kate McKenna for organizing the BLBC! 

gadgetry

No, not a kitchen gadget, one for the blog! I recently discovered how to create quick little response boxes at the end of every post. So now you should see three options at the end of all posts here on kitchen to kitchen, and you can share what you think about each post once you've scrolled down to the end.

The options are:
i'll make it
looks yummy
no thank you
So, if you feel in accordance with one of those reactions, just click the box and it will record your response. Also, if you think we're missing some obvious option, let us know and I'll go in and add it.

Any other feedback, requests, advice, comments, etc? Either post a comment or email/facebook Katie or me (if you know us), and we will do what we can to keep you happy.

Also, blogger tells me that our little blog has had over 1000 hits since we started it back in October, so thank you for coming by and having a look! It has definitely added to my culinary experience and exploration to play with taking pictures and get to post about how things worked out. It has also encouraged me to keep trying out new recipes so that I can keep sharing.

Note: I just wanted to make a little note of something in case people have noticed that I post quite a bit more often than Katie does. While teaching is absolutely a full-time job, it does give me most of my nights and weekends relatively free. Katie, on the other hand, is working a full-time job and taking night graduate school classes at the Harvard Extension School (I think I have the name right), along with some other things that take up her time. I've heard that she is cooking and has things to post, but I suspect that her life is just a bit busier than mine. In the meantime, I have free time and am enjoying cooking as a significant part of my personal winding-down time and hobbies, so that's why I am the one dominating the wires for now. 

and kat, don't you cook somewhere, too?

I have become obsessive and a little insecure about making sure my English spelling, punctuation, and grammar are always correct. I am sure that they are not, but since I am now a teacher and taking colored pens with flourish to everything my kids write, I feel obliged to hold up my end of the deal and be damn good at English. At any rate, I am particularly aware of commas and am trying to use them appropriately and when grammatically correct, but I suspect that I often over- or under-do it (not that that's a word). Also, my brain is a little fried as I have graded 54 papers, 36 tests, 36 test corrections in the past 5 days and still have 18 papers to go to finish out this batch of assignments and get new ones in on Friday. I now understand why teachers desks are always full - I have three full trays of papers, stacks for each section and assignment, plus a range of textbooks that I use for lesson planning and fiction books that I have for my students to check out from me for outside reading. But this isn't my personal blog, so let's get back to the kitchen.

In the previous entry, Katie posted pictures of her kitchen so I thought I would do the same. I also think I might follow this up with another entry reflecting back on SK recipes that I have made and linking up. My sister commented on a post asking for more of my actual recipes, so I edited some posts and added a couple at the bottom of them (Courtney's scone recipe and Pia's tomato sauce), and will be sure to include recipes or links to future posts.

Here are some images of the Pink House family kitchen. I love the house that the school provided for the 4 of us on campus, even though my room has the quasi-faulty heater. It is a very homey space and I am instantly at ease and comfortable as soon as I cross our threshold. I really love our kitchen and while I miss my granite countertops from Morocco, both for utility and aesthetics, I like this kitchen much more for its wealth of appliances and the space and presence of our dining table in the kitchen. Without further ado:

Our kitchen... 

pretty straightforward - electric oven/stove, sink, microwave (to my left on my roommate's shelves), the dryer is the appliance opposite

the housekeeper came today and I cleaned up especially well after dinner for the picture, but it generally looks fairly nice but maybe with a little more evidence of our cooking exploits (each of us has a dinner that we cook one night a week plus Abby and I often bake)

Pantry that I share with Kristina - 

top two shelves are mine and in the fridge, I have the second shelf and left bottom drawer

My pantry shelves house things like:

• flour
• oats
• dark brown sugar (light brown isn't available here)
• dried papaya (for snacking)
• rice cakes
• honey
• homemade jam from Koprivshtitsa
• chai tea
• sugar
• yeast
• rice
• pasta
• granola

My fridge has:

• butter, several unsalted for cooking and 1 salted for my toast (oh, what an indulgence!)
• jelly/jam
• greek yogurt
• eggs
• mustard
• pesto
• cyrene cheese (Bulgarian cheese similar to feta)
• fresh basil, sage
• parmesean
• bread

I don't really keep that much in the house - I shop once a week and buy only what I need to make my weekly dinner, anything I plan on baking, and my daily breakfast and lunch. I keep flour, sugar, oats, and honey stocked so I can bake, but most things I buy on an as needed basis.

Another view of the kitchen, from my pantry (my GRE study book on the table, *sigh*)

Like I mentioned above, we have an electronic stove and oven (I think I am a bigger fan of gas, but I am adjusting), microwave (though I rarely use it and don't plan on starting, I found it easy to live without), and a lot of appliances after years of single girls moving in and out of the house - immersion blender, a variety of knives (though I generally stick with the ones Courtney sent me in Morocco), a rolling pin (I bought it because I cook enough with dough that using wine bottles was driving me crazy), slotted spoons and whisks and spatulas, four cutting boards, an electric tea kettle (I never would have suspected that I would use it so often), and many other little doodads that I find thrilling after the dearth of appliances in Morocco but no one else would be as excited to see. 

so katie, what does your kitchen look like?

This is my kitchen.

Notice the old lady linoleum and the lack of counterspace (and the chili cooking away on the stove during the Michigan v. Michigan State game). We have no dishwasher, but fortunately our oven is relatively new and works pretty well. The birch-colored ikea table is home to our microwave and toaster for now, and has yet to be adorned with bar stools (so there is no seating in the kitchen). We are on the first floor, and lighting isn't super great, so we'll see how pictures go moving forward.

This is the corner of the kitchen where Eric has promised me more counterspace will go.

I’ll believe it when I see it.

This is the pantry. And the view to our paved "backyard".

The pantry contains mostly baking stuff and dry goods, such as:

• Brown, white, and confectioners sugar
• White and whole wheat flour (King Arthur brand always)
• Spices: salt, pepper, cumin, oregano, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, chili powder, allspice, poultry seasoning, thyme, curry, etc etc (way too many for me to list from memory)
• Semi-sweet chocolate chips (Ghiardelli)
• Nutella
• Maple syrup from Holiday Farm (Dalton, MA)
• Hot chocolate
• Rice vinegar
• Soy sauce
• Vegetable oil (olive oil is above the stove)
• Cans of tuna
• Whole canned tomatoes
• Fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 3 jars of Molte Bene tomato and basil pasta sauce (from Whole Foods, best pasta sauce I have ever had)
• Granola
• Couscous
• Rice
• Oatmeal
• Pasta (shells, fettuchine, spaghetti, angel hair)
• Annies Mac and Cheese
• Rice Chex, Honey Bunches of Oats, Special K
• Wheat crackers
• Candy apple kit
• Reusable shopping bags

This is the refrigerator.

It’s pretty empty now, but contains:

• ½ bushel of apples from apple picking in Boxford, MA last weekend at Smolak Farms
• Apple Cider
• Milk
• Lemonade
• Beer (Ipswitch Harvest, Wolaver’s Pumpkin, Ithaca Brewing Company, Harvest Moon, and assorted leftovers)
• Eggs
• Salad dressing (Hidden Valley ranch and basalmic vinagrette)
• Jam (four fruit, apricot, and strawberry)
• Coarse grain and regular Dijon mustard
• Organic Chicken Stock
• Butter (salted and unsalted)
• Shortening
• Cheese (port salut, jarlsburg, gruyere, tallegio, parmesan)
• Heavy cream
• Yogurt
• Heritage tomatoes, picked at Smolak Farms
• Frozen leftovers: Ina Garten’s Mac and Cheese, Chili
• Frozen Ground beef
• Frozen peas and frozen corn
• Frozen lemonade
• Ben and Jerry’s Mint Chocolate Cookie Ice Cream
• Soco Lavender and Honey Ice Cream
• Pumpkin Frozen Custard

The fridge is a little empty—usually it has far more vegetables and usually some more fruit or leftovers—grocery store trip is in the works. My tea collection and cinnamon streusel muffins that Eric's girlfriend made last Sunday are on top.

This is where we eat! The “Kandinsky Dining Room.” (There’s another Kandinsky on the opposite wall.

…and this is where all our non-beer wine and liquor lives.

As for tools, I have all the knives, cutting boards, pots and pans I could need. However, I do not nearly have as much as I want. If I had my druthers, I’d have a:

• Candy thermometer
• Full Cutco knife set
• Food processor
• 3 more baking sheets
• Tons of cookie cutters
• Food mill
• Cheese cloth
• Bundt pan

And most importantly, more counterspace.

Next up, homemade applesauce!