Lingering sickness + no energy = postlessness

The view from my sick bed where I crawled last Tuesday: redwood ceiling and oak beams. I never tire of admiring its beauty but a week of looking at little else is beginning to pall. I must be feeling better. Hopefully we'll be back to more fascinating posts soon.

Still sick but at least we haven't lost our appetites

We're still too sick to do anything productive like go out for cocktails but at least I can still cook.


What's in the huge size 28 Le Creuset casserole I inherited?


Buffalo chili, lots of buffalo chili. Enough to feed 2 people twice a day for five days.


Fresh out of the oven a loaf of No-time bread


Unfortunately it looks like this bread isn't going to last a day, let alone five. It is seriously good, requires only an hour once you've collected the ingredients from the pantry to slicing it and smearing it butter and it smells like heaven. At least I think it does. I lost my sense of smell sometime around January 3 with the first cold and it hasn't returned yet.
The basic recipe was so good last time that I got creative and made a *Tuscan inspired version


*No-Time Bread (standard recipe)
1 loaf

4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast (two packets)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 cups water
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

In the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer put the yeast, sugar, and water and let it sit.

Heat the oven to 450°F. Put a Dutch oven in to warm as the oven heats. Get out your flour, salt, vinegar, spray oil, and anything else you need.

Now that the yeast has had a few minutes to bubble up, add 3 cups of the flour as well as the salt and vinegar and beat for several minutes with the paddle. Add the last 1/2 cup of flour and switch to the dough hook and beat for seven minutes. Alternately, knead vigorously for five minutes, or until the dough becomes extremely elastic. This will still be a wet dough, but not goopy. The dough will clear the sides of the bowl but still stick to the bottom

Oil a microwave-safe bowl and transfer the bread dough to it, rolling it in the oil. Cover the bowl with a very wet towel. Cover the whole thing with a dry towel and put in the microwave for 25 seconds.

Tuscan Loaf
To the dry ingredients I added:
I tablespoon chopped rosemary
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
To the water and balsamic I added:
2 tablespoons olive oil

Recipe via thekitchn.com

Closet Envy

Writing the post or the definition of a bedroom got me searching for closet doors, wardrobes and other stylish places to hang one's clothes.


First there was this beauty, from Spaceslide via wikipedia.


This Shoji screen inspired wardobe from Yarra Valley.


Traditional painted wardrobes from Joshua Jones.


And finally this lightbox wardrobe from architect Pierce Tynan.
Unfortunately, the first three are all UK designs and Pierce Tynan is from Dublin, Ireland. Isn't that just the way things go?

What makes a bedroom?

Another bout of snivelling colds and hacking coughs has us torturing ourselves watching reality shows and HGTV. It's about all our feeble brains and even feebler bodies can cope with. We expect nothing from this TV except entertainment but occasionally we come away with a piece of knowledge that we would be unlikely to glean anywhere else.
Watching HGTV's "My House Worth What?" over the weekend we heard a realtor say that in America the legal definition of a bedroom is a room that contains a built-in closet! We were pretty much astounded by this because we'd always assumed that a bedroom is any room used for sleeping. It also means that of the many houses I have lived in, only four had bedrooms. The majority were either too old to have built-in closets or were in countries where this was not an issue. We just purchased wardrobes or armoires to hang our clothes in and put these in our "bedrooms". We knew no better.
So I checked the internets for an online definition. Three online dictionaries described it as a room containing a bed, while another gave this definition that is at once vague and overly precise. "Any habitable room that can be used for sleeping. This typically includes, but is not limited to, a room with a proper escape window and one in which there is a closet or a door OR a closet or a door could be reasonably installed. ...". I don't understand why it would be either a closet or a door or the possibility of either that defines a room but I know if I had to choose between the two I'd go for a door every time. Because otherwise it's a box that I can't get out of, no?
Of course I couldn't leave it there. I had to know - what makes a bedroom, and I found another definition in the San Matteo, California town code "an enclosed habitable space" that is designed primarily for sleeping and contains at least one window. State building codes require that a bedroom must be a minimum of 70 square feet.
It's all very confusing but I know one thing: Most of the built-in closets I've seen have the ugliest doors* and I'd rather have a sleek modern PAX wardrobe from IKEA or a beautiful old armoire any day.

* If all closet doors looked like this I'd take that back!

Amazon's Next Breakthrough Author*

*Susan Beale, this could be YOU!
A friend has made it to the semi-finals of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Chapeau! It's so exciting to know an almost published author.
There's an excerpt from her novel Tracings on the Amazon Digital Download page, so go over and check it out. You can even review it too. But do it before March 2nd, that's when this part of the competition will be over and the finalists will be chosen. Enjoy!

Food for a cold day

Is there anything better when the temperature is below freezing than homemade salsa soup*


A loaf of bread direct from the oven


And a hunk of Iberian cheese with red pepper?


Oh yes, it's that glass of Cabernet that adds the appropriate warmth to the lunch.

*Salsa Soup
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 1 chopped onion
* 2 chopped carrots
* 2 chopped sticks celery
* 1 tablespoon minced garlic
* 1 teaspoon salt and fresh pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
* 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
* carton vegetable or chicken stock
* 1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes
* 1 15-oz. can cannellini beans
* 2 tablespoons salsa

Sweat onions, garlic, carrots and celery in olive oil for 5 mins. Add beans, tomatoes, stock, red pepper flakes and oregano. Season. Cook 45 mins - 1 hour. Stir in salsa. Serve.

O eBay, how I do love you

I have a confession. I hate antiques. Or rather I hate "antiquing". All the rummaging through musty, dusty old furniture in the hope of uncovering a treasure gives me the heeby-jeebies. That's why I love eBay. I can spend hours looking for the right piece of furniture that I want need to decorate my house. Because it's all pre-sorted. Just for me.
Which leads me to a little problem. It's so easy to persuade myself that I need a particular item, and just as easy to bid on it, that before I know it I have severely depleted the master bath budget that I promised I would stick to so we can shower in there this year.


Despite the projected weaker eBay profits for 2008 I don't see any downturn in spending in this house.

Anonymous

Just a word about why I was forced to moderate comments on my blog. It really pains me to have to do this but the same comment appearing time and time again advertising a notorious furniture company (in terms of bad taste and bad labour relations, that is) spells Shoulder of Pork and Ham to me.
I also don't moderate comments from Mr, Mrs, Ms or Miss Anonymous. If you want to call my taste into question, go ahead but be big enough to sign your name to it. Before you leave that anonymous comment consider that if we all liked the sane things the world would be a pretty boring place and there would be no incentive to learn anything new. EVER.
So Dear Anonymous, I moderate comments, it's my blog and that's the way I call it. Freedom of speech, which is what you think the blogosphere is all about, means my freedom not to give you a platform for your ranting. If you want to do that, start your own blog.


To all those who own their comments: I welcome your input, thank you for stopping by and have a great day.

Baby Gates

Note to self:
NOT ALL WOOD NEEDS TO BE POLISHED. Specifically, NEVER POLISH WOOD STAIRS WITH PLEDGE.
Sadie fell down the stairs last week. Not the back stairs that I slid down but the front ones that end in the slippery parquet. She tumbled down the stairs, slid the length of the foyer and was stopped by the den carpet inches from the glass table.


I needed to keep Sadie on one level for a few days and as she is my shadow we had to dig out the baby gates we bought when we first laid the bamboo floors. They may be ugly and awkward for us to negotiate but they do the job of keeping the dogs on the ground floor.


Surprisingly enough it is Polly who has suffered more with the re-introduction of boundaries. It really hampers her herding instinct when she can't reach those who need herding (usually kittens) and she's taken to spending even more time in the yard, occasionally tapping on the door so someone can answer her call and reassure her that we haven't left her.


Luckily there were no permanent injuries from my over-zealous cleaning jag but just to remind me that it's all my fault, the dogs reproach me by looking at me like this.

Tulips

Nothing says winter can't last forever like tulips. Red tulips in a pink room.

Mibo shade on mid-century lamp

Cute? Not cute?

Lights, swearing, action.

The answer to the question in yesterday's post is "by leaving 5cm exposed".


It took three attempts to fix the new pendant light to the ceiling in Verity's room because we had forgotten how much of the ceiling screw to leave hanging down. Too much and there would be an ugly chrome screw visible between the fitting and the ceiling,


too little and the plate wouldn't screw on.


Five cms is perfect. We need to be this precise, almost 2" doesn't cut it.


I took the Mibo shade off and just plonked it on the lamp to get the effect but I really like it. When I've taken the Gorilla Glue (thank you Jennifer for the suggestion) to the break in the ceramic, I'll put the shade on and voila - two new lights.

Rule #1

Rule #1 when keeping a houseblog should be BLOG EVERYTHING, every little detail, no matter how insignificant, irrelevant or just plain boring it may seem at the time. By doing that you will be able to avoid the "Well how did you fix it last time?" conversation that is an integral part of home repair and renovation. Because you could just LOOK IT UP ON YOUR BLOG.

House Porn*

*Alert: the links in this post may provoke feelings of desire and discontent, you have been warned.


I'm jealous, envious, totally green and WOWED by this Nolita reconstruction, It as as stylehive suggests quite possibly the coolest house you will ever see. Make sure you take in the slideshow - the master bedroom, the kid's room, the roof-top see-saw - how did they ever envisage these things?
The owners, both designers, have a website where you can read all about them and their SIX children, learn about their signature "Vintage Nouveauxx" style and see other spaces they have designed for clients. All while listening to their impeccable taste in music. Try not to lick the screen.
Oh yes, I feel very inadequate right now.

The right light

Ever since I put the Mibo pendant light in Verity's room I've felt it was too small for the space. You can't really tell from the photo but her room is 15' x 11' while the lampshade is only 12" diameter.


I actually used the same dimensions as the original chandelier but that was a fancy piece so it seemed bigger.


The interim light, that came out of Steven's office was also small, but longer so again we had the illusion it was bigger.


I was really happy with the pendant lights we had in the other bedrooms so I searched for something 20" wide with a diffuser underneath (so the light won't shine in her eyes) and eventually found the Double-Dip Pendant Light, at CB2. I've been really happy with the quality of their shades, and the price is unbeatable.


I'm hoping that the Mibo shade will sit on the new (old) teak lamp I bought on ebay last week.
The shade arrived this morning and I think it's going to work but I won't know until Saturday when Steven will be doing his lampshade adjustment dance again, but this time in reverse.

Touch Ups

Or things I've been meaning to get around to for the past few weeks months...
1)Remove paint from cabinets in the kitchen. Pretty good going here. It took me less than two months to fix this. The embarrassing thing is that they are laminate cabinets so the paint washed off with a sponge.
2)Paint one three inch corner the girl's bath where the vanity top was installed and the glue got on the wall. Time it took to do this minor repair: 8 months
3)Paint 1.5" circle on den wall where the original owners realtor stuck an air-freshner to disguise smell of kitten "accident" on carpet. I pulled it off the wall and a chunk of paint came with it. Time to effect this repair: I'm not sure when I did this but I'm pretty sure it was around the time the shades went up, so maybe two years ago?
I managed to do all of these in less time than it took to blog about them. I am truly ashamed.

Mr Forbes and I agree

On shower heads, that is. On pretty much everything else we are polar opposites. But on shower heads we have common ground. The Grohe Freehander shower was one of the products we chose for the boys' bath renovation last year. It also made the Forbes Luxe-for-Less home improvement list.
I have loved this product since I first stepped into the shower after the renovation. We kept the same plumbing in this bath, changing only the valve, trim and shower head, which kept costs down and the Freehander was, much to the plumber's surprise, really easy to install. The actual price on the street (or the internets) is much cheaper than the one quoted on forbes.com.
Because you can adjust the arm it really works for my 6' 2" husband (no more twisting and bending to get the shampoo out), and I can pull the arm down to get an arc of water over my head. It looks good, it's powerful and if you set it to "massage" it kneads all the knots out of your achey shoulders. What more can a gal ask of a shower head?


The only change I'd make if I had to do the remodel again would be to spring for the Thermostatic Temperature Control Valve, just to ensure the water is at a constant temperature no matter who might decide to clean their teeth while I'm taking an invigorating but warm shower. That would really be luxe!

Looking East

Thunderstorms and downpours meant we were inside for much of yesterday, but when the rain finally cleared out around 4PM there was a phenomenal sunset, so I took the dogs to the beach. The setting sun reflected pink and grey on the calm waters, and the lights were just coming on over at Eaton's Neck and Asharoken. So pretty.


Not quite as cute as Polly, though.


Or Sadie, for that matter.

Mid-century teak and ceramic lamp

Super quick shipping from the seller, my ebay lamps arrived today. I was so excited.


I love the teak top that reminds me of deer antlers without being an overdone design trend. The ceramic base drapes gracefully down to the base. And those little brass ball feet? Too cute. I think it looks fabulous. I just need to go get a hanger and shade.


Unfortunately, despite being wrapped in bubble plastic and being nestled in a ton of polystyrene chips, its partner didn't make the journey unscathed. Poor cracked baby. Apart from filing a claim with FedEx I'm not sure there's anything I can do to fix this. Ceramic isn't self-repairing, is it?

Another Modernist Masterpiece

I started reading The 70s House last night and was excited to discover that it featured another Huntington Bay Modernist house, the work of architect Richard Henderson of Gwathmey-Henderson. Built in 1969 the Loring Mandel House is a long, low-slung concrete structure tucked into the hillside on Bay Ave. This house, which was later owned by the author Alyson Richman, changed hands again last year.


View Larger Map

A simple design, the house was exceptionally well-cared for by its owners. When the house was on the market the realtor put photos on the website and it was remarkable to see how it remained virtually unchanged for almost 40 years. Photographer Sue Barr has captured the essence of the house but I can't find any shots on the internets so you'll just have to buy or borrow a copy of the book or take my word for it. It's a treat for lovers of modern architecture.
Unfortunately, though, there is one paragraph in the article that I can't get out of my head. The author, David Heathcote must be an Brit because he describes Huntington Bay as a "Home Counties type suburb", which makes me want to vomit, put the house on the market and move to the city.