Before, Middle, and After: Bathroom Floor

Check out this bathroom. Not only is this some awful looking tile, and thick, but it's also adhered to the floor in the worst way possible---jammed right in the original cement subfloor. Brilliant.

Before we moved in, we worked on the house for a solid week, driving out from the apartment to the house, bright eyed in the mornings and whooped by nightfall---and in typical Mass traffic to boot. So, during this work week, Chris spent two long days tackling this floor tile (and wall tile, which you can see here as brown adhesive remnants). His hands and gloves (and hearing) were pretty much destroyed, along with three masonry chisels and a grinding stone. Gone.

Here's the bathroom floor further along the process, with the tile removed. All that hard work! You can see the pattern leftover from the tiles.

And here's our beautiful new floor. Huzzah!

(And remember it's a work in progress; please ignore the hole!)

Cauliflower Two Ways

Cauliflower happens to be one of those vegetables where, when we eat it, we say "Why don't we eat this more often?! It's so good!" We love it. It tastes great raw on salads and crudite plates, and makes a great take-along snack because (unlike a banana!) it won't get smooshed in your work bag. Just chop it up, throw it in a baggie, and grab it the next morning. Yum. (Dip it in some light ranch dressing. Double yum.) Lately it's been touted as a great ingredient to chop finely and "hide" in mashed potatoes and lasagnas. Cauliflower provides a good dose of fiber, Vitamin C, and antioxidants.

In breaking down a huge head of cauliflower the other day, it ended up being more than 10 cups of florets, perfect for two recipes. Let me know how these dishes turn out, if you try them. Enjoy!

Fireplace Mantel Design: Tale of a Lonely Clock

When we moved into Poodle Cottage, it was just about one week before Christmas, and since we were so excited to have the new house plus the holidays to celebrate, I immediately draped the fireplace mantel with dark green garlands, green and white candles, and a string of white lights, not to mention our stockings. It was lovely! Fabulous. . . . But, alas, the beauty did not last.

Spice Rack: Chinese Five-Spice

The term Chinese five-spice powder is similar to how we use the word curry: it's more about the idea of a spice blend, than the actual singular flavor it produces. This definition lists the five spices in a typical blend as slightly different than mine.

The jar from my spice rack is comprised of anise, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, and ginger. It's probably the case that mine is a more "mainstream" version, to be sold to the masses, as opposed to a more genuine blend, such as would be sold in an ethnic market, which would likely contain a more peppery aspect.

"This imperial blend of five spices brings rich, warm, spicy-sweet flavors to inspire a host of exotic dishes," says the label. "Add to stir-fry dishes, marinades, and meat sauces."

It provided a wonderful flavor base in the Five-Spice Slow-Cooker Beef from yesterday. Not overpowering at all, and that was 1 Tbs. for 2 lbs. of meat, plus veg and broth. I'll keep my eyes open for other opportunities to use it. Maybe in a marinade for grilled chicken?

Takeout Fakeout: Five-Spice Beef

Like many people, I love setting aside Sunday to be a day of good food done right. Yesterday we made a slow-cooker meal of beef with onions and red bell peppers, flavored with cream sherry and Chinese five-spice powder. I followed Rachael Ray's recipe (here) quite closely. We made the meal as a "do it early in the day, then forget about it" kind of meal, but were also given the added bonus of it being a "takeout fakeout."

Here's Chris's "takeout" lunch container for today, sans garnish. It is slow-cooked beef with red peppers, red jalapeno pepper, and onions, on a bed of wide egg noodles.

And now with a garnish of crisp green scallions and crunchy sliced almonds.

It isn't obvious in the pics, but it turned out to be a saucy dish. The original recipe called for serving it atop rice, which would have nicely dealt with the saucy factor, more than egg noodles. However, I wasn't sure as to when we'd be actually eating the meal, so egg noodles were a quicker item to make right before plating. It also gives a nod to my mom's Hungarian goulash, which I always think about this time of year!

What slow-cooker winter dishes do you love? Tell me in the comments!

Drafts Begone!

"Never trust a computer you can't throw out a window."---Steve Wozniak
     So true. All those sci-fi movies that show the AI taking over society were right. If you're feeling panicked about the computers and server farms and clouds in the world managing without us, and you're feeling the urge to chuck some of them out a window, it's already too late, they're too embedded. You should have thought about that ten years ago.

So, why all the windows imagery today? We are the proud owners of three brand-new windows. All this computer and AI talk is a tangent, of course. I originally thought about how the "eyes are the windows to the soul" and then wondered if there were any good quotes out there about windows themselves, as opposed to things being like windows. I didn't find too many about windows themselves, but this one's funny, so I used it.

Here's the photo sequence for the two kitchen windows. The new ones are after the jump. I think they look pretty sharp!

Old windows:

Home Sweet Home

Hello, humans, let me finally introduce myself: I'm Sheba, and I live at Poodle Cottage, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. You know, that's funny, about Massachusetts, that it's not really a state, and that people say the U.S.A. has 50 states, but it really doesn't, because Mass technically doesn't refer to itself as a state. Nor does Virginia. Nor 2 others. Can you name them? Or, rather, can you name them without using the InterWebs? Bet you can't! I could, no problem, but I'm awesome, so you shouldn't be surprised by that. Top of the class, that's me.

OK, back on point. I live in Mass with my two human companions, Chris and Sheila, and apparently we've just moved into a new place, which they call Poodle Cottage---an appropriately named domicile since it's after moi, of course. Yes, I just said "moi" because I'm French, and Chris likes to make jokes about my French heritage, though it's kind of silly, really, if you ask me, since Sheila's heritage is kind of French, too. He's silly sometimes.

What is home? What does home mean?

"Home is where the treats are!"

"Home is where you hang your leash."

"A man's home is his Bouncy Castle."

I agree with all of those sentiments, truly. To me, home isn't a brick-and-mortar location, nor does it have a fixed geographic designation. Home is anywhere and everywhere, and nowhere, all at once. When we're riding in the car, and I'm with my people, that's being "at home" with them. When we're on the road traveling to see friends or family, we're at home once we get there. And we're home again when we're, well, home again. As long as we're all together, I am home. I love it here with my people!