Where Have I Been?

The past year has been a whirlwind of change and activity. We finally moved into our new home which is really a 95 year old Craftsman house (with touches of Victoriana, it is kind of a mish mash of styles). Things never go as planned and this was no different. We were held up with our construction schedule, and then held up by disasters at every turn. There were health issues and financial issues. And through it all, the only thing I wanted was a working kitchen. It seemed like we would never get there. For the longest time I had no running water in the room, and had to resort to just using an electric skillet, microwave and coffee pot to cook our meals; going into the basement or bathroom for whatever running water that was needed. The long desired Viking range sat in the living room for over a month, boxed up, taunting me. To say I was frustrated was putting it mildly.

Finally, around September if I remember correctly, all of the appliances were connected completely. I had severe anxiety each step of the way, convinced that none of them would fit or work (in fact, getting some of them INTO this house was a major accomplishment; what with the narrow openings and and nothing being plumb).

And, the kitchen wasn't quite done to my specifications either. I won't even dwell on that. I'll just say it could have been put together more professionally and call it a day. Then there was the roof leak during the winter, causing water to ruin a portion of the ceiling. I still haven't had that dealt with (thankfully, no major damage was done; it didn't get into the electrical or ruin any cabinets). Oh and I don't have a backsplash yet. Haven't been able to afford one yet, but since I haven't even found tile I like it hasn't been an issue. Soon, I keep telling myself.

And I have no kitchen table. So the old one which doesn't match is a repository for "stuff" at the moment. But, what I do have is a great working room. The way I designed it, works great for me. It's efficient, and has a lot of storage. The appliances are good (other than the ice maker which has been problematic).

Best of all is my Viking range. Truly, I love this stove. I had read mixed reviews on their gas open burner ranges but so far, so good. It is a bit tough to keep clean and now that we have a cat (having adopted him from a friend who could no longer keep him) it is particularly difficult (cat hair winds up everywhere, including the top of the stove). The power is amazing, it astonishes me still and I've been cooking on it for 10 months now. It has made a difference in my cooking and has made me a better cook. I always enjoyed the process of cooking but I find I love it even more now. And the more I do it, the better I get at it. And the better I get at it, the move I want to be in the kitchen. It's a win-win situation for me and my boyfriend, and anyone else lucky enough to pass our way.

Anyway, between all that and settling into my job (which was new as of my last writing) life just was keeping me too busy to keep up with writing here. I had been taking a lot of photos of what I'd been cooking. Some good, some - not so much. Most done with the app on my cellphone. I'll start posting the better ones here to give an idea of what I've been up to.

Anyway, if you find your way back to me, and I hope you do I hope I can keep you entertained with my stories and photos like the one of the Strawberry Napoleon with Vanilla Cream that I threw together a few weeks ago which is shown here. I'll get around to kitchen pix too, don't worry! I still intend to keep this sort of loose and might go off-track now and then, but will try and keep it food based as best as I can.