the kitchen diaries: prologue

so as you may or may not know, bryan and i have pitched headlong into a kitchen remodel. i say we have pitched headlong, and while that is true (the cabinets are on their way), we haven't gotten very far. bryan is going to start emptying out the kitchen so that we can demo over the next couple of weeks, in hopes that we can paint and tile the floor prior to the cabinets arriving. we have yet to choose countertops (we want recycled glass but are having a very hard time getting that solution to work for us - apparently no one in milwaukee is really all that interested in being eco friendly). that's our last major decision before being able to purchase everything else we need. we are both excited (to finally have a kitchen that we want) and nervous (this is no small project, with a price tag to match).

seeing as how we'll be kitchenless for a solid 2 months or so, you'll see the food posts on this blog drop off in favor of a more renovation oriented diary. we will post updates on the remodel, with pictures. so if you're in need of a good laugh, come here to read about our latest adventure or disaster. i have no delusions that we'll be lacking in either category as we go through this process.

so where did i leave off?

last thursday we had oliver's 6 month wellness visit. i expected him to have tipped the scales on 20 lbs, but he weighed in at 19 lbs 4 oz - just a 4 oz gain in the previous 4 weeks. which is fine, considering he was 19 lbs to begin with. we had a barrage of questions for the doctor, which he fielded happily. he was also very responsive to bryan's alternate vaccine schedule, so that was pretty cool. oliver just got 1 shot that day. his new nurse is AWESOME and it was over before he started, so he only cried for about 3 seconds. though he did shoot the nurse a dirty look.

friday evening, i had a hair appointment after work. i was SO bored with my current style, and since my stylist is awesome, she came up with a new solution, which includes bangs. i haven't had bangs in forever!! it looks SO cute though! :) it's a very cute little bob and i am very happy with it. that night, bryan made red beans and rice for dinner, using some homemade polish sausage shannon's boyfriend, david, got from his uncle. helloooooo, deliciousness. bryan used brown rice, which isn't our norm, but it worked very well - it seemed more moist than white rice. he used the ham hock leftover from our smoked ham in the beans. the sausage was so very good as well. all in all, an awesome meal.

saturday, we went to milwaukee marble to see about getting a white marble remnant to top a lower piece of cabinetry, for pastry and pasta work. while they were able to accommodate our needs, and the price fell in our budget (though higher than i was hoping for), we think the sales person quoted us on a cut slab, not a remnant, as we were able to choose the exact size, edge, finish, etc. they also had some beautiful granite, which she said would be more expensive than the marble. i did the math when we got home, and the marble came to $118/sq ft... so no idea what the granite would be. bryan is going to get them to quote us on the job, and see if they have some ACTUAL marble remnants. we then headed downtown to future green to check out some icestone samples. unfortunately, they didn't have the color we were most interested in, but they did also have a similar local product, which was kind of neat. we're awaiting estimates on 2 samples, but we're not very hopeful. the seller is not a fabricator, so all they would do is order slabs from icestone and have them shipped to us. um, we could do that. we'd still have to find someone to cut and install it, and with seemingly no one ever having seen the stuff before, i wouldn't want to hire a GC to do it. le sigh. with the vetrazzo being out of our price range at $140-190/sq ft, it's not looking good on the green front. which is weird - you'd think people would be all excited to go eco. not in milwaukee, apparently!

that afternoon, bryan and i dropped the babe off with mom so he and i could head out to the fancy pants theater in waukesha to see iron man. on the way there, we were rear ended... at a stop light. luckily, we didn't have the baby with us, we didn't hit the people in front of us, and our car wasn't too messed up. we are fine as well. we were stopped, with about 3 cars in front of us, and the guy behind us was stopped, but the drunk in the isuzu behind him did not stop. we didn't find out until the police came that he was drunk. at 1:30pm. with 2 kids in the car. and an expired insurance card (which he swears is current). not his lucky day. the police got us all sorted out pretty quickly (minus the guy who caused the accident - he had to stay behind and fail a dui test), though, so we were still able to make our movie. ;) which was really good! i liked it a lot more than i thought i would. i thought robert downey jr was the perfect cast as iron man, and that the dialogue was very good. looking forward to the 2nd one, for sure.

sunday, we ran some errands to make sure we have enough food and diapers to last us at least a few days. we decided to buy oliver a brand new big boy car seat, since while he's got another 5+ lbs in terms of weight capacity before he reaches that limit, i think he's pretty well at the height limit. plus, carrying around a ~20 lb baby in one of those things requires biceps of steel. he seemed SO excited to be sitting in a big boy seat, which may have just been because he wasn't strapped and squished into the seat of terror (as i lovingly call his infant carrier). bryan had to pick up some sun shades though, since we no longer have the benefit of having the umbrella cover his carrier had, and he was unpleasantly blinded by the sun rising from the east (we drive west) on the way to day care.

last night, we had anaheim pepper burgers with avocado mash, corn & black bean salad, and coca-colas from mexico for dinner. we decided to pick up something ready to go while we were grocery shopping. bryan wanted me to try avocado, as i hadn't for awhile. it's not something i dislike, but it's something i never found very flavorful, just heavy and oily. we picked up some pre-made burger patties from their butcher, which he grilled on the cast iron griddle and topped with the avocado mash. ollie had some avocado with his dinner as well, and LOVED it. :) the avocado lent a very nice moistness to the burger, like mayo would, but richer. twas alright. bryan threw together a side salad of black beans, corn, tomatoes, green chilies, onions, and lime juice. i snagged a few coca-colas from the "ethic" aisle; the ones from mexico are made with real cane sugar still, as opposed to the corn syrup in the ones from the u.s. plus, if you can't get it from a fountain, glass bottled cokes are the next best thing. ;) we split a slice of key lime pie i snatched from the bakery for dessert.

the weather was pretty gorgeous all weekend. we watched mom and dad's dog belle yesterday, as they drove up to minneapolis to see shan run. moose loved having a buddy to hang outdoors with. yesterday was busy, and oliver refused to take his last real nap of the day, but i have to say, all in all it was a pretty awesome day.

i am sure i am forgetting something, but that is all i can remember right now.



WFD: pork chops. not feeling very inspired, so pretty boring ones.