Kitchen Remodel, Week Twenty-One: A New Home for the Cookbook Library

Definitely one of my favorite things about our new kitchen is the bookcase under one bank of windows. I can finally keep all my cookbooks in the kitchen with me. They didn't all fit in these shelves, but 80 percent of them did. The rest are in one of the cupboards under the island, which is good enough. At least they are all in the same room.

Ella Fitzgerald, one of our two Jazz Cats, loves the new book case.  In the summer, she can smell the outside through the open windows and keep an eye on the crows.  In the winter, the steam radiator (hidden behind the black screen on the left) will warm up the soapstone counter she's sitting on. I suspect she will spend a lot of time there.

At a neighborhood potluck last night, I got a tip about a plum tree at a vacant house a couple of blocks away. So I went this morning with my next-door neighbor, the wildly creative interior designer Marketa Rogers, to do some urban gleaning.

I'm not quite sure what to do with these.  They are the little round kind, not much bigger than a Bing cherry.  They are deliciously sweet and tart and very juicy.  They would make a great pie, but I'm trying to shed a few pounds and pie won't help.  I think I'll either make a few jars of jam, or pit and freeze them to make a pie later when I have more calorie capacity for eating pie.

Any other plum ideas? For now or to use with frozen plums later.

WEEKEND COOKING

Hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Book Beginning: Perfect Happiness by Penelope Lively

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.


EARLY BIRDS: I am experimenting with getting this post up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. We'll try it this way for a couple of months to see if people like the option of early posting. If you have feelings one way or the other, please comment.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I am trying to follow all Book Beginning participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

MR. LINKY: Please leave a link to your post below. If you don't have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.



MY BOOK BEGINNING

The fifth Brandenburg. Somewhere, some place, every moment, an orchestra is playing the fifth Brandenburg concerto.

-- Perfect Happiness by Penelope Lively. That is a lovely thought, probably true, and it made me want to listen to the fifth Brandenburg concerto, which you can hear right here.

Teaser Tuesday: Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walters

"It's just that for three years Michael has rejected every idea I bring in as being too dark, too expensive, too period . . . not commercial enough. Then you come in yesterday with – no offense – the darkest, least commercial, most expensive period film I've ever heard about, and he loves it."

-- Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter (ellipses in original). This is the heroine's reaction to the hero's pitch for a movie about the Donner party.

I'm almost finished with this, just in time for Book Club on Wednesday. I loved it. Great story!

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event. 

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday this holiday weekend! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event (details here).

Tasha at Book Obsessed is hosting in July. Please stop by Tasha's busy blog, where she focuses on romance novels, with some mystery and suspense thrown in.

I got three short books last week that I plan to rip through to help me with my work on a Board of Directors for a local non-profit.

Unlike with a lot of nonprofit boards, we are not required to actively fundraise, which is very nice. But it is a subject I would like to learn more about, even if just to deepen my appreciation for the efforts of the professional fundraisers.




Fund Raising Realities Every Board Member Must Face by David Lansdowne




Asking: A 59-Minute Guide to Everything Board Members, Volunteers, and Staff Must Know to Secure the Gift by Jerold Panas



Mega Gifts: Who Gives Them, Who Gets Them by Jerold Panas

Kitchen Remodel: Week Twenty, Cooking With Gas!

We are pretty much moved into the new kitchen.  There are some details and punch list items to go, and the outside is not finished yet.  But the cupboards are full, the pantry is stocked, and we are up and running.

The only trouble is that I don't feel moved in -- I am afraid to use anything in the new kitchen.  I don't want to hurt it or make it messy.  We have to force ourselves to put dirty dishes on the counter or cook on the stove.  It will get broken in eventually, but I am still white-gloving for a while.

Our first meal in the new kitchen was a favorite that we've missed -- Jalapeno Chicken.  I'll give the recipe below, but it is stupid easy.  It doesn't really count as a recipe since it is only one step more complicated than "apply heat to food."

JALAPENO CHICKEN

Pre-heat oven to 375. Pour a little olive oil in a roasting pan. Put chicken parts in a single layer.  Drumsticks work very well, but any parts will do.  Drain a can of whole jalapenos ("escabeche" style -- with the carrots) and evenly distribute the peppers and carrots in between the chicken pieces.  (Save the juice to marinate something else later.)  The ratio should be roughly one pepper for each piece of chicken. Cook until the chicken is really brown, one to two hours.  Turn the chicken once if you remember.

This is a yummy and super easy way to make chicken.  The chicken gets some spiciness from the jalapenos, but not a lot. The peppers themselves get all roasted and gooey and are delicious served on the side as a condiment to the chicken.  The leftover peppers are good on many things -- scrambled eggs, grilled cheese sandwiches, hamburgers, etc.

Part of this kitchen remodel involved creating access from the kitchen door to the "terrace" on top of our garage.  That stage of the project also wrapped up this week and we were able to, at long last, put our patio table up there and use that outdoor space.  My parents and stepdaughter were the first to enjoy dinner with us out there.

WEEKEND COOKING

Hosted by Beth Fish Reads