The Joy of Cooking

It's amazing to me how many people have idyllic kitchens and can barely serve up a cold bowl of cereal without reading the instructions on the box. This is a sad byproduct of my generation's "equality" effort. "Equality" seems to mean that we order in each night and think cooking is something our mother and their mothers should be doing. Not us. Certainly not us. 

And yet, the status kitchen - outfitted with the best that money can buy - is expected these days. And when paired with owners that can't or won't cook I find it terribly amusing. The culinary equivalent of owning a Maserati without possessing a driver's license. Or worse...no intention of driving. Ever. 

I can't speak for others, but I want those gleaming stainless appliances and sparkling counters so that I can celebrate the joy of cooking. (And, hey, if I can fix my lipgloss in the reflection on the quartz counter, so be it!).  

Which ties in to the looming photo of Giada de Laurentiis above. Some pundits suggest that her popularity is largely due to the fact that she helps perpetuate the fantasy of the gorgeous wife who just happens to be a regular Julie Child in the kitchen. 

Giada has movie star good looks, killer cooking skills and (and this is the kicker here) she's having a great time cooking. She truly enjoys preparing meals for her family and friends, and I can only hope that some of that enthusiasm spills over onto other girls my age. It's a way of giving, connecting, bonding and living. Cooking - and certainly eating - is in fact one of life's most enjoyable daily activities. Doesn't it make sense to master the skill so you can add yet another skill to your mental résumé?

Giada, please....keep doing what you're doing. Keep smiling, keep teaching us the proper way to pronounce "mozzarella" and most of all, keep showing us how you're bringing sexy back to the kitchen. My "sisters" need a little reminder now and then that an apron can indeed look pretty good if you know what you're doing.

{Editorial note: much thanks to Paul for entrusting us with his blog for a few days. It takes courage to let someone hold the reigns on your "baby" while you're away. I am genuinely flattered to be one of the crew he invited to hold court while he's gone.}

Is it me? Or is this room as fab as everyone thinks it is?

Greetings readers! Paul has graciously handed you over to me for a short time and I thought I’d take advantage of having the ear of so many kitchen professionals and enthusiasts but presenting you with a small battle that is currently being waged under my roof.
We recently moved into this house

With which I am absolutely smitten. It’s in Lancaster Pennsylvania and was built in 1930 of local stone and German design, reflecting the regions settlers and their influences. Paul once described it has having “good bones” and it certainly does. Not only does it look like a small castle, it’s built like one. The stone isn’t some factory-contrived façade, but real stone complete with 18” thick windowsills.

I am fairly happy with the interior except the kitchen and dining room. My husband and I both agree that the kitchen is in sore need of a renovation, but things start to get a little dodgy regarding the dining room. Take a look:

Every single person, and I do mean everyone, who’s seen this room has commented positively on it and I am left standing there, jaw agape, wondering if I’m the one with the problem. I am a biologist by trade and simply do not possess the vocabulary to describe what’s wrong with this room. I just can’t articulate it. Visitors think it looks unique. I think it looks trendy. Like something that may have been all the rage six or seven years ago. Maybe the previous owners went to Lowe’s or the lady of the house found this paint pattern in Woman’s Day magazine and they decided to be clever and pick up one of those do-it-yourself kits. Throw some fir boughs around and coupled with the gold lighting and fixtures, it looks like the storefront of a hardware store mid-December. Eternal Christmas. Not my bag in the least

Or, is it just me? Is there something wrong with my tastes? This room looks like it’s trying to do formal and I think the only people that should do formal are the DeMedici’s and the Rockefellers. The kind of people that have rooms in their homes referred to as “salons” and hire full-time pool boys. For someone like me, it would only look like I’m trying too hard, so I want to keep the house looking accessible, unique and someplace where one doesn't have to be afraid to plunk a beer stien down on the table and fall into a chair.

So, dear reader, I ask you to give me some ammo so that the next time a visitor says “Ooooh! I like this room!”, I have something more substantial than “Oh really? I hate it” in my magazine with which to fire back. Alternatively, if you really like it and find that it’s a work of art, let me know and I’ll try and see your point.

Away away

I'm taking off tomorrow morning and entrusting the care and feeding of this blog to Melody McFarland from I Like Pigeons Because Nobody Else Does, Kelly James from DesignTies and Franki Durbin from Life in a Venti Cup. I have no idea what they are going to write about or even when they plan to post for that matter. Letting go like this is a lot more freeing than I thought it would be.

This is a short trip. I'll be back in circulation and posting away again starting on Thursday morning. So in the meantime, enjoy these guest posts. I'm looking forward to coming home and reading them, almost as much as I'm looking forward to loosening the reins for the next couple of days.

I'm off to a place where kitchen design doesn't matter and that's kind of cool. Ciao!

That bathroom cost how much?!

One of my brothers and I had a brief e-mail exchange last week concerning a bath renovation project that fell into his lap last week. The brother in question is the king of the do-it-yourselfers. He knows what he's doing and over the years, he's done a great job on his and his family's home.

The bath project in question started out as an expedition into a wall to fix a slow leak. The home in question is 100-year-old-or-so former school that he's converted into a home for his large family. As is usually the case in an older building, fixing a simple leak is never simple and such a job rarely consists of a quick fix.

In the course of cutting into a wall to find the bad water line, he ended up with a full-blown construction site on his hands. It happens. What really got him though was how much money he ended up spending on what was supposed to have been a minor repair in a secondary bath.

I sympathized, but it's not as if there's anything I could do about the cost part. Bathroom renovations are expensive and quick fixes either don't exist or they are not something that will really improve what's already there. I get called on a lot of bath jobs, but I don't end up working on most of the rooms people call me about. I live in a part of the world with somewhat older housing stock. Older housing stock means small bathrooms. Unless a bath is being expanded or it's part of a larger renovation project, I can't make enough money on the job for it to be worth my time. That may sound haughty or cold, but so what. Even a small bath remodel requires a lot of my time, generally the same amount of time it takes to work on a larger job. I make more money on larger jobs, so it makes no sense for me to take on a time-intensive small bath.

I'm not alone in this either. Anybody who's ever tried to find a contractor or designer willing to work on a downstairs powder room knows what I mean.

Anyhow, the great Kelly Morisseau from KitchenSync had a link on Twitter yesterday and it led to a blog called Confessions of a Tile Setter. Confessions is written by a man who goes by the name of Suntango, and Suntango's Texas-based blog is filled with all kinds of insight regarding the renovation business form the perspective of a skilled tradesman. In Suntango's blog entry from last Friday, I found this:

According to an annual construction cost survey by RemodelingOnline, a mid-range remodel of a 5x7-foot bathroom averages $11,585-$14,889; for an upscale expansion of a 5x7 bathroom to 9x9-feet within the existing house footprint, costs run $35,111-$43,050. These are averages; actual costs may be higher or lower.According to an annual construction cost survey by RemodelingOnline, a mid-range remodel of a 5x7-foot bathroom averages $11,585-$14,889; for an upscale expansion of a 5x7 bathroom to 9x9-feet within the existing house footprint, costs run $35,111-$43,050. These are averages; actual costs may be higher or lower.

According to a construction survey by RemodelingOnline, a mid-range remodel of a 5x7-foot bathroom averages $11,585-$14,889.

Here in Texas that is a bit high. However, you could easily shell out $30,000 in a small bathroom with upscale materials like a heated floor, heated toilet, heated towel bars, gem quality Natural Stone Tile, upscale fixtures, TV Monitor in mirror, etc.

For an expansion of a small 5x7 bathroom to 9x9-feet or larger within the existing home, cost can easily get into the high teens to close to $30,000. Again this can escalate with added features and trades.

You can pretty much hang your hat on these figures gang. In my experience, they are dead on. If you're thinking about a bath renovation sometime soon, keep these numbers handy as you work out a budget for it.

Man! Now here's a contest!

As a sure sign that times is hard, Sub-Zero is sponsoring a Dream Kitchen sweepstakes with a grand prize worth $50,000. Never in a million years would I have guessed that Sub-Zero would some day have a sales promotion of any kind, let alone a give away. But this is no ordinary sweepstakes. As with everything else they touch, they are doing this in a big way. The lucky winner of this random drawing will receive:

A Sub-Zero BI-30UG Glass Door Refrigerator/ Freezer, a Wolf 30" Gas Range and a 30" Wolf Ventilation Hood.

And if that weren't enough, the winner will get a Sub-Zero 424 Wine Chiller.

Then, they're throwing in $5,000 worth of Kohler fixtures.

And $5,000 in Ann Sacks Tile.

Three walnut swivel counter stools from Maguire.

A Shansi dining table from Baker.

Two Guild arm chairs from Baker.

Four Guild side chairs from Baker

And if all of that weren't an embarrassment of riches already, the winner will receive a years' delivery of Fiji water and 48 bottles of wine from Uncorked.com.

As I said originally, Sub-Zero does everything in a big way.

This contest is only open to folks who live in the contiguous United States and the District of Columbia. Sorry Canadian, European, Hawaiian, South American, Asian, Australian and New Zealand readers. Did I miss anyone?

So Lower 48ers, you have until August 15th to sign up for this things so get on it. All you need to do is register. There's no test or tasks involved, just register.