Day 7 perspective

I realized I failed to share the portion of the work that had to be completed prior to the start of construction. Or as the Builders say a look at the other half of the war zone. Some are convinced this is actually the real war zone. Three photos, first the garage. Two car garage full of furniture. Two cars in the drive that are moved every morning to the street and back in the evening. Mine in third spot is in and on days the electricity is worked on. Photo two is looking from the doorway to the Kitchen and family room. No access to the war zone to the left except through a zipper. Curio Cabinet, Grandfather Clock and chairs returned from being loaned make this maze tight. Do you think the room on the right has any space? Guess again.

Photo three is the Family room. Piano in the forground, with the hutch in behind the blue chairs. China from the cabinets and Photos from the walls as well as the Lamps, and decor, is stuffed in JP's room upstairs, in the corners here, and in the Master bedroom. It is tighter than we had it in the remodel in Chino if you recall, or even tighter than when the eight of us went camping in uncle Ken's 8X10 Tent. We are anxious to get the living space back, and start unfolding this puzzle. It will have to go back before your first arrival. That is what we are praying for, so it is a comfortable Christmas for us all here together.

Wed thru Fri First week

Getting in and out of the bubble gets to be a routine. Not easy mind you, nor quick when the phone rings.
Looking at the bubble from the loft view. Hallway hanging light and our bedroom behind.

We got windows. Thought yesterday, but in construction, it is often the next day or later. Don't hold us to any predictions. Just roll with it.

The pink panther made a deposit. This is in the ceiling of the new front room. Front door left.

Scaffolding for the workers to work on windows and siding. The new casement window is open.

In the backyard on the side lookint up at the new windows raised.

Windows in and Insulation. Getting ready for drywall.

Looking to the left as one enters the loft. The window above the door has temporarily disappeared, some suspect due to the new drywall.

Looking to the right as we enter the loft.

In the loft or is it on the loft looking at the computer area inside the bubble.

This is the view from the Stair Landing to the front door. Some have asked what this looks like.

Day 2...we have a room

Let the day begin and the floor go down.

End of the day...Welcome to the new room.

Front of the house.

Standing in the new space looking into the hallway. Crazy right?

Here's the view from the front door.

Here's the view from the dining room to the front door.

Fun find.. for all those who love a good mystery. Was this cup from the addition or original build.

The undocumented story from yesterday was the fire.

The undocumented story from today is the mouse.

Here's what's cooking in California.

Here is the progression of the addition so far. Since the computer is under plastic and not easy to get to we will post some pictures for all to see the progress, for the first few days.

A couple of empty room pictures before the crew arrives

A look at materials and the protection that was applied to stairs and flooring.

Let the building begin..? Can you find Bob el Constructor?

At the end of the day, much was accomplished!

Stay tuned for the sub floor and drywall in the coming days.

We can't wait for Christmas to test the floor capacity :)

Dad and Andrea

Way Cool Halloween Food

I planned to share this with you before the end of October, but obviously didn't make it. This is one of my new favorite food blogs. They had so many fun Halloween ideas, and I'm sure the fun doesn't stop at Halloween. I love the shrunken heads. Hope you all had a great holiday. I'm posting pictures of costumes on our blog next.

Peter Piper Picked a Peck of (Pretty) Pickled Purple Peppers

I am hearing rumors that there might be an upswing in blog posting-- I am looking forward to it. This was tonight's dinner-

So a peck is a bit much so we just picked one purple pepper, and served it sliced thin with Red Wine Vinegar, purple onion, and tomato. We dressed it with fresh dill & olive oil. Other than the oil, vinegar, salt & pepper, it all came from the garden in the last 24 hours
.

On the way home from church we decided to have chicken & dumplings for dinner. When it was discovered that we did not have chicken-- we turned it into more of a gumbo- sausage & shrimp for the protein and lots of veggies (including zuchini (not the giant one), onion & carrot from the garden.



We thickened it with basil/parsley dumplings-- hmmm.... so tasty. And a great chance to use the soup tourine. Normally this would be a crazy dish in the summer-- but we had the coldest July in the recorded history of Ohio, so it doesn't feel too out of place.

Meatball meeting in now in session

Well, I am not sure what happened, but we have lost some steam - June was supposed to be David, and July is Quinn. Lets recommit and get our cooking juices flowing. Brian has been dedicated and stalwart, I think we can all learn from him. Hopefully Quinn, you are feeling well enough to choose something, if not perhaps Jonathan will be able to help:)

Cuban Stuffed Pork Chops

No one is reading this it seems, so I will post just pictures now, and get to text when I can. These are Cuban Stufffed Porkchops from Bobby Flay. I got the recipe from a co-worker. We served them with new potatoes (from the garden) and a roasted pepper salad.

Where did everyone go?

Ok, so really Andrea, Lauren and Ryan are the ones I am missing- but I thought Caren would at least post on her own ingredient. And what is this month's ingredient? Is this project dead on the vine?

We cooked with the Chick Peas again. We were having tostadas, but forgot the refried beans, so I thought, why not 'refry' the garbanzos? I sauteed some onion, threw in our frozen beans and warmed them in the oil. Added a bit more oil in place of bacon grease and was liberal with the seasoning. Still fairly mild, but worked as a tostada base. You could totally tell the chick peas were there. It is basically hummus, but much drier- and warm.

Happy Birthday to me !

I love food and more important I love cooking food. Mom asked what I wanted for my birthday dinner. Since I don't have one favorite dinner, I said it would be fun to try something new. Mom did her research and selected Goat Cheese & Herb Crusted Lamb Chops with Curry Parsnips and Artichokes. EVERYTHING was delicious.


We are a little late in cooking with Parsnips but really enjoyed them. Caren, I look forward to trying something new with Chick Peas.

Who doesn't love a good garbanzo?

Awesome choice Caren. Sara tried a Chick pea and Pasta recipe from Everyday Food (thanks Andrea) that was pretty tasty. I've always wanted to make some Hummus, so Sara froze the leftover garbanzos.

I've included a picture of what is left. I used way too much olive oil and did not have a good food processor (blender didn't quite do the job). I tried to flavor with sun dried tomato, but mostly just got Olive Oil flavor.

I will definitely try again; and still have some peas from the freezer (also in the picture).

Chick Peas

Chick peas. Sorry I am so late with my posting. I hope that you still have time to make a tasty something.

Parsnips without pictures

We make a salad about once a year that we have taken to calling Russian Potato Salad. It could also be called a beet salad, but really it is full of boiled root vegetables-- carrots, beets, potatoes. This year, inspired by the blog, I added a parsnip and a turnip. The turnip added a flavor that I'd been missing. My experience with the parsnip was similar to Laurens- it was pretty mushy when hot and cooked, but then had good texture in the salad after refrigeration.

Bonus points to us because we got John Ritzman to eat parsnips and turnips on his birthday and go back for seconds before learning that they were in the salad.

We will roast our second parsnip today-- as a straight roast without boiling (good tip though, Glory!)

Gallop Results

Apparently the DC air has gotten to me and I am making all of my decisions based on the latest polling data...
so, if you are interested in inviting a friend to read the blog, just send me their email address and I will forward on an invite

friendly reminder: Caren you are up:)

Parsnips huh??

We were a little slow on the parsnips this month, not for a lack of enthusiasm but rather a lack of time. We have had them in the fridge for about 2 weeks or so - and they held up very well, so that is good to know. Anyhow, as I searched for a recipe I found mostly recipes for roasted parsnips. Ryan and I are big fans of roasted root veggies with oregano, basil, rosemary, salt, and pepper - a regular in our home. I typically soft boil the potatoes, yams, parsnips, carrots - or whatever I am using, before I roasted them just to make it a bit faster. While they are boiling, I heat the oven to 450 degrees with a glass dish in the oven with enough oil in the bottom to cover. Heating the oil in the dish sears the veggies when you dump them into the pan after boiling them. This gives the veggies that crunchy/sweet outsides and edges that are so tasty on roasted vegetables. The parsnips boiled a bit faster than the red potatoes and were a bit mushy. I was concerned they would be too soft, but after they were coated in the hot oil, and got that crunch, they were great!
Adding the parsnips to the mix was wonderful. They definitely had the carrot thing going on - but I thought there was an underlying tone of something a bit 'herby' - perhaps fennel, I don't know.
I can't speak for Ryan, but I really enjoyed the parsnips and will keep them in the fridge as a regular in the roasted root veggie side dish.
Thanks for the challenge dad!