update on the kitchen, life, and such

suejnnhe · Post by **suejnnhe** » Tue Nov 02, 2004 4:44 pm

Your a bird person! I have a 6 year old CAG I hand-fed myself. He's adorable if I do say so myself. Due to the fact that I have 5 children, I don't currently have room for any more feathered friends.

Love your kitchen! Totally jealous!

Hoping for the best with the testing! I'll say a prayer for you!
Susan

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:20 am

I didn't look at the pictures because I have a crap kitchen and I'm already green with envy. However best wishes and prayers for you on the biopsy.

Tyghress · Post by **Tyghress** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 8:37 am

Thanks to all. . . answers:

To Scottielvr: I chose 5 different tumbled stones, and used the enhancer. This is what you get when you're unable to decide! I also miscalculated the number needed (oh yeah, don't need them through the window, do I?) and have enough left over to line a garden walk, I swear! Counter top is granite...flavor: Verde Maritaka.

Aderyn_du: Nick is the oldest of my four feathered kids. He's sixteen now, and a lot of fun. We really designed the kitchen with him in mind, as he and his cohorts fling food and I was tired of plastic on the walls for protection. We brought the floor tile up the wall behind his area, and enclosed Alice's section of counter top too. What a pleasure to just wipe the walls down!

Cowtime: I still get the giggles when I turn on ALL the lights high. But more to the point, my old kitchen had one light in the center of the room, one over the sink, one north facing window, and the back door. I can read, knit, even cook if I wanted to WITHOUT a light on in the new kitchen. My sister-in-law is a lighting designer, and she really came through for us!

Claudine: I'm not into cookies, but I did get the granite with the thought of candy making. Wipe down the counter with a non-residue cleaner, butter it, then pour the syrup out. The peninsula has enough space for a double batch, and it cools before it pours over the edge.

Suejnnhe: Yes, I am emphatically a bird person. Nick is my eldest, then Alice the black-headed caique, Ben the parrotlet, and the newest addition is Thelonious, a monk parakeet who has been nicknamed Theo, or Tbird.
I work for two board certified avian vets, and spend most of my waking hours with feathery things. Its very nice to be able to bring Alice to work and let her wear herself out there.

To all: thanks for the well-wishes. Showtime is 7:00 am tomorrow morning and biopsy will be back on Wednesday or Thursday. I'm guessing that the doc doesn't expect bad news or he'd get pathology to look at it during the surgery, right? I haven't been to a Sunday session in Glastonbury in a year or more, but I think we'll go today, have a few pints and try to think of other things.

:roll:

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 9:01 am

Good luck to you tomorrow Amy.

aderyn_du · Post by **aderyn_du** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 9:17 am

My thoughts will be with you in the morning, Tyghress....

~Ad

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 9:34 am

Good luck with the medical stuff Tyghress. Like many others, I've been there and got through.

TelegramSam · Post by **TelegramSam** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 9:50 am

Good luck with that biopsy.

susnfx · Post by **susnfx** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 12:21 pm

I love the kitchen, Tyghress. I keep hoping someone will come from one of those makeover shows and re-do my pitiful space (for free, of course). I hope the best for you with your health.

Susan

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 2:11 pm

Tyghress wrote:I'm not into cookies, but I did get the granite with the thought of candy making. Wipe down the counter with a non-residue cleaner, butter it, then pour the syrup out. The peninsula has enough space for a double batch, and it cools before it pours over the edge.

I went with granite partly with pie crust in mind--and still haven't gotten around to making even one pie.

You probably have plenty of candy recipes, but here's one that's perfect for your countertop, though it's written to use a pan:

Texas Toffee

•Ingredients

     4 cups sugar
     1/3 cup corn syrup
     1 cup water
     1 lb unsalted butter
     1 tsp salt
     1 tsp vanilla
     1 cup pecans -1/8" dice (walnuts or almonds will also work)
     4 giant Hershey chocolate bars, or the equivalent

• Procedures

   • Oil 14" X 15" square of parchment paper and place in a 1/2" deep pan.

   • Combine water, corn syrup, and sugar.
   • Cook to 280° F (soft crack).
   • Wash down sides.
   • Add unsalted butter.
   • Stir constantly to 315° F (medium caramel).
   • Add salt.
   • Heat to 320° F.
   • Add pecans on heat, mix, remove from heat.
   • Add vanilla.
   • Pour into pan and let set for 5 minutes. (If pouring onto a countertop, it probably doesn't need to set that long before the next step.)
   • Oil table knife and score toffee in 1.5" X 2" pieces
   • When toffee is cool, melt chocolate over very low heat.
   • Spread large sheet of waxed paper on counter.
   • Snap toffee into rectangles, and coat with chocolate. (Use fork to dip, and place on waxed paper.)

I'm sure the chocolate dipping instructions are very primitive. The mother of a friend uses 3 giant Hershey bars, grated, and just spreads half of the grated chocolate over the hot toffee--which is enough to melt it, lets it cool a bit, flips the entire block of toffee, then melts the remaining chocolate and pours it on, following that with some crushed pecans (and just breaks the toffee up into irregular chunks after it cools), but I like mine completely coated and smooth, so I prefer to dip.

My friend's mother's recipe actually specifies the use of a Taylor candy thermometer. That's what I use, too, and it really makes things easier.

chas · Post by **chas** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:30 pm

Best of luck tomorrow, Amy. Tell me about the stove -- it looks as though there's room for an extra burner in the middle -- do yout have a griddle or something? An extra-wide or double oven? We're hoping to redo our kitchen in a couple of years; I don't care about anything besides the range/stove/oven. It has to have a candy burner and preferably a large or double oven.

Tyghress · Post by **Tyghress** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 5:50 pm

ooooh! toffee! I'll give that a shot as soon as I can. What's a Taylor thermometer?

Chas, it really isn't that involved of a stove. Four burners, one of them is a low 'simmer' sort. The grate on the top is designed so you don't have to lift, just slide. Its a GE Profile, Home Depot. You're probably going to want something more involved. What is a candy burner?

Um...procedure went okay, I don't get to look for 48 hours. I got home and drowsed, then Tyghre woke me to tell me that little Ben was on the bottom of the cage and trying to die. Off to the vet. Ben is in an incubator, and not looking good. He's lost about 15% off his itty bitty bodyweight. I'm not sure what to focus my worry on, me or him. HIm probably.

Doc said he removed and cut into the mass, but it didn't look like anything 'interesting'. Oh good. The last thing I want is something interesting. Biopsy report will take a few days. My thanks for your well wishes. I'm going back to sleep now.

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 6:26 pm

Best wishes, Tygh.

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 8:32 pm

Tyghress, I had to chuckle seeing your nic-nacs on the shelves and the painting and backsplash still unfinished. A little over eager to finish the project??
I do kitchens for a living (in addition to built-in custom furniture) some of my projects run close to 2 years from the bid-to-completion. Talk about heartache waiting for contractors to finish houses. Here's a sample of my work: http://www.angar.net/sal/
The house was down the street from late Wendy's restaurant owner Dave Thomas.

Hope everything went well with the medical procedure.

cowtime · Post by **cowtime** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 9:27 pm

Tony wrote:Tyghress, I had to chuckle seeing your nic-nacs on the shelves and the painting and backsplash still unfinished. A little over eager to finish the project??
I do kitchens for a living (in addition to built-in custom furniture) some of my projects run close to 2 years from the bid-to-completion. Talk about heartache waiting for contractors to finish houses. Here's a sample of my work: http://www.angar.net/sal/
The house was down the street from late Wendy's restaurant owner Dave Thomas.

Hope everything went well with the medical procedure.

Wow!!!!

I'm impressed. I'm again looking for someone around here willing to take on the restoration of my kitchen to the 1920s style. The cabinet maker I had lined up just had a quadruple bypass.........

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 10:41 pm

cowtime wrote:....The cabinet maker I had lined up just had a quadruple bypass.........

I suppose some of that was stress related...