Another Triptych: Enjoying the new camera

Roast beef carnage:
After Christmas dinner:
The cooking wife (I cranked it up to ISO 1250 and turned off the overhead light. 1/100 sec exposure):
The camera is the Panasonic Lumix FZ8. It does a lot. We had been wanting an SLR, but Lindz had her eye on this one. It was quite a bit cheaper, and we really like it.

Triptych: Christmas Day

Rib Roast
Salad
Cat

Scallops for Christmas Eve (updated)

Addendum: I didn't elaborate on the meal when I posted this picture. The repast consisted of these scallops (I put them on a mesh rack in a sheet pan and cooked them in a 400 degree oven until they felt done; they came out pretty well) with a wee drizzle of lemon butter, roasted asparagus with pecans and balsamic/maple glaze, parmiggiano risotto, a very tasty, snappy Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand and a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Brut Champagne that Bryan brought (That was superlative stuff: granny smith apple, croissants, a hint of caramel, and fine bubbles. It's what Champagne drinking should be). Dessert consisted of Christmas cookies and an apple tart.

Afternoon Snack

A pan-seared flatiron steak with salt & pepper, a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of black truffle oil.
We chased it with a bit of the Death by Christmas Brownies that arrived the previous day (shudders with pleasure).

Dedication

All right, y'all! This long-distance dedication is going out to Zeuthen! The Blauhaus wine cellar has German wine that isn't riesling! Come on, let's make some noise!

Raleigh Stollen 2007

This year's version is without icing or powdered sugar, and it does not contain candied fruits, only dried fruits: pineapple, apricots and blueberries. The spices are nutmeg and cinnamon, and the nuts are toasted pecans.

I baked a large loaf for a potluck at work and a smaller one for us at home. Historically, the dough is folded in such a way as to symbolize the infant Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes. I went one step further and made a loaf as big as a healthy newborn. Born late. To a mother who took too many prenatal vitamins. And human growth hormone.

Anyway, people liked it, and none of the monster loaf made it home with me at the end of the day.

A Hard Weekend's Work

Installing the three wall cabinets and the microwave on the stove side of the kitchen was this weekend's business. We succeeded, but we are tired. I drank a bit of tequila at the conclusion of it; I believe this was the hardest weekend yet. The satisfaction is profound: we have closed the cabinet chapter on this remodel project, and we ended up with a nice, neat row of cabinets and a functioning microwave oven. The ductwork was a bit of a pain in the ass (plenty of time up in the attic, of course). I had to wire an outlet for the microwave, too.

We haven't had a microwave for three years. I've only occasionally missed it, but I suppose it will be cool to have one. Lindz defrosted some frozen sausages for this evening's dinner, and to my astonisment, it thawed them. Every other microwave I've ever used in my life cooks the hell out of the edges and leaves the middle resolutely frozen. I suppose years of convenience privation will lower one's expectations. It's close to being the cheapest model in the Kenmore line, but it does more than we are likely to ask of it. We were silly enough to go to the mall on a December Saturday looking for an appliance, but that actually went pretty well (I unexpectedly was given a model that cost $50 more for the same price because they didn't have the one I wanted). We're rather pleased with ourselves to have gotten that 54-pound bastard into position ourselves. My main complaint is the feeble light it sheds on the cooktop. The old hood had a brighter light. It also had a weaker fan, a dated bisque color, and 25 years worth of greasy dust inside of it. When we get the counter, sink and faucet replaced, there will be nothing left of the original kitchen but the floor.

Stagnant Career, Augury, German Visitor, Knick-Knacks, Weird Confectionery

Another week finally gave up and yielded to the weekend. Work has been particularly boring lately, and I did not succeed in my latest attempt at career development. The bad news is that I didn't get the supervisor position I interviewed for. The good news is that I won't have to be a supervisor. I haven't yet decided what it all means, if anything. I still haven't spotted the sign that tells me how to obtain exciting, lucrative work (tea leaves, cloud formations and NPR programs have all failed to show me the way). Perhaps I should stare into those new glass sphere cabinet pulls we have in the kitchen.

Much more happily and importantly, Ellen came down for a visit before she returns to Germany. She and Bryan cooked us a very fine dinner Friday, and we all watched A Christmas Story. I'm amazed how the weekend flew by. I never got around to cooking for her (Lindz's dad was visiting, though, and he treated us to takeout Chinese), and I didn't follow through with my announced plans to bake stollen. Takeout Chinese and A Christmas Story are two very American things, so I hope it was culturally valuable for her. She made raisin bread for Lindz and me, though. It's delicious. We inhaled a good portion of the loaf this morning:
The time flew by too quickly. She and Bryan spent most of it hanging out together, as it should be.

On to a completely different and more trivial subject. I typically don't seek out things that don't perform a necessary function for the house (i.e., knick-knacks, bric-a-brac, tchotchke or whimsical accents for the home) but I couldn't resist this item. It's appropriate, given my decades-long love of pipe organs and organ music. Pictured below is note F from a rank of Stopped Diapason pipes. I got it from an antiques dealer in Pennsylvania, and I mounted it above the kitchen doorway. The shelf is a drawer front I reclaimed from the old cabinetry.
At least it used to do something, unlike the 148 tons of plastic flowers, ceramic rabbits, artificial fruit and baskets of dried weeds that adorn every available inch of space in my mother's house. It's the same house I grew up in; perhaps I still have lingering symptoms of a childhood surrounded by crap I wasn't allowed to touch, in rooms I wasn't supposed to go into. Half of the ground floor of the house was effectively off limits because footprints on the carpet were unacceptable. Mom has been the sole occupant of the house for some years, so her bric-a-brac addiction has progressed unchecked. I don't know when an intervention will be necessary, maybe when doorways are blocked by decorative concrete geese. Anyway, this is one of my few conspicuously useless knick-knacks.

And how about this? Yes, it's true. Chocolate and bacon, together at last.

It's good. Sweet and slightly salty with a bit of smoke. What's not to like, I ask you?

Another one

Another day of swearing, but this one went up satisfactorily. Today I spent some time up in the attic, also known as Itchy Hellish Realm. I needed to locate and reinforce a particular part of the soffit in order to support a cabinet full of dishes (the next stud over was 1 3/4" too far to the right to be of any help, of course). Boo hoo for me. I bring this crap on myself.

Anyway, we are very satisfied with the results.

And now it's time to fix the damaged dishwasher drain tube. After that, perhaps a cocktail or three....

Not the easiest cabinet ever

The picture doesn't exactly do justice to how much of a pain in the ass this cabinet was. We are very excited to have this one done.

First of all, it's heavy and unwieldy. A good deal of measuring and remeasuring was necessary, and we had to do some dancing, swearing, sawing, chiseling and Rube-Goldberg style rigging to get this sumbitch up. I had to construct some support devices; apparently the wife hasn't been weightlifting enough to hold 40 lbs of cabinet over her head, perfectly motionless, while I drill holes and drive screws. I also managed to nick the dishwasher drain tube with my rotary tool, so I've got a bit of plumbing to do. The dishwasher was the source of some frustration (that white expanse in the middle of the picture is a board that goes from the floor up to the soffit; moving the dishwasher to work on it caused some issues).

We'll install the cabinet to its immediate right tomorrow.

The project has had fewer surprises and frustrations (so far) than the bathroom remodel, and we're a good chunk of the way through.