Well, the contractors finished their part of the bathroom renovations. The shower is in, with a new, clear-glass shower door, and pretty green and tan accent tiles. And we have a fan now, too. :-)
Once they cleared out, Toby set in with the leveling comp>>> [ WARNING ::: DATABASE ERROR ::: CONTENT OVERRIDE ::: SOURCE: EXTERNAL ] <<<
> source terminal location: UNKNOWN
> source terminal identity: UNAVAILABLE
> source login information: ENCRYPTED
> message begins
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>>> [ CONTENT OVERRIDE CEASES ::: DATABASE STATUS: RECOVERING ] <<< color called Oregano Spice. If I get a chance, I'll try to finish that before the weekend, so we can tile. I hope to get all this done by November, of course, so I can focus on NaNo WriMo. Wish me luck.
Well, I was a *tad* optimistic about getting the floors done last Tuesday. We did get them finished, however, though some little filler pieces went in after we got wood glue on Saturday. Over the week and weekend we finished the bedroom. This included cutting, painting and installing the quarter-round I bought on Thursday. Some tricky cuts for the last few boards lingered, but were finally done by Toby on Friday and Saturday. I can't even imagine trying to make those last four boards fit in place, yet somehow, like magic, they did.
With some help from my sister, the quarter-round was painted, and caulking done along the tops of the baseboards, where they met the wall, and along some of the door jambs and trim, to clean up small gaps. Touch-up painting along the ceiling, along the baseboards and door trim, and in spaces where we had put wood-putty over the nail holes in both.
I am pleased to say that we mostly finished the bedroom this weekend. Yesterday we dusted the bed-frame, and reassembled it in the bedroom, moving the mattress and the "box spring" (in quotes because, as owners of sleep number beds will know, it is neither a box, nor does it contain springs) back in, and taking the opportunity to wash the sheets and quilt.
Not all the furniture has made it's way through the dusting process, and back into the room, but enough to sleep there last night, which was nice.
Tonight or tomorrow we will make a run to Home Depot and buy some new shelves for the closet. The original idea was to reattach the plastic-coated wire shelves, once they were cleaned, and basically just restore our closet, but in a different color. But cleaning the wire shelves ended up being a trying task - and once I had cleaned the first, all the little rungs and what-not, I discovered that it was slightly whiter, but no less sticky. We realized the plastic on them was deteriorating, and that no matter how much we cleaned them, it would never be to our (my) satisfaction with regards to non-sticky. So we're re-doing the closet with laminate shelves, a la Closet Maid.
So tonight I will work on recovering the rest of the house from where things have spilled over from the bedroom - and perhaps look for things to purge, rather than blindly moving them back in to the room. Once we can move the hanging items back in, we'll be able to fully function out of the bedroom again. Until we start tearing up the bathroom, for the second round of renovations. Fun stuff, we get to learn about drywall and everything.
| Date: | 2009-08-17 16:51 |
| Subject: | Progress! |
| Security: | Public |
I am fortunate that my job consists of a variety of different task requiring different amounts of mental energy. I was exhausted today from the weekend, and was able to slip into some of the less mentally grueling work, and them morning slipped by as I puttered away. This is opposite of last week, where I was tackling some of the more brainy kind of stuff, I think in contrast to the physical labor I was doing at home with the (forced) bedroom renovations.
For some reason I found the work this weekend left me more mentally exhausted, maybe in an increase of physical exhaustion, my brain was slowing down. I took a break on Saturday and saw Julie & Julia with Allyson and Alison. I enjoyed the movie, but was moody about working after that. Called it an early evening on Saturday (stopping at a modest 10:30 pm).
Sunday I got up and started reading submitted stories for my writers group. In the end I decided to not go to the meet-up, but I did pop in (I was dropping off another member from the group) to let them know I will be at the workshop on Tuesday. I owe two of the members their critiques via e-mail, and hope to get those sent out tonight.
As for progress on the room...
We finished painting the bedroom and closet – both got a total of two full coats and touch-ups. Toby cut the baseboards, complete with coping the edges so they look nice in the corners, and Anne and I painted them.
We finished the door frames, primed and painted, and removed the doors. Toby cut the new door trim, and I painted it. Our neighbor, Duncan, came over bearing tools, and helped Toby install the door trim. I pulled up the carpet in the bedroom, and the carpet pad (and man, you could really see the water stains from the underside of the carpet. Definitely glad we were getting rid of it) and set to work on the strips of carpet tack around the edges of the room. Anne helped remove the stray nails, then she and Toby and I started installing the baseboards.
Not wanting to haul he heavy carpet through a winding house, Anne and I removed the screen from one of the windows in the bedroom, and chucked the carpet pad and carpet out onto the concrete. Today we get to move it, the baseboards, and the old toilet to the curb for pickup tomorrow.
Duncan came over again yesterday, and he and Alison helped us lay the under-floor padding, and then Duncan showed Toby how to measure boards at the end of the walls, and at door jambs and such. He had installed the floor for his house when he moved in, and is full of expertise and has all the tools we need, and is willing to lend them to us. We very much appreciate the help. Alison and I were locking boards in place while Duncan and Toby were making cuts, and we got to an impasse, we needed to move the boxes of floor boards from the closet, pull up the carpet, carpet pad and carpet tacks in there as well.
Toby cut the baseboards for the closet, and discovered that he needs one more. Tonight I’ll paint the cut baseboards, and see what other stuff I can do while they dry. If all goes well, we should have the floor complete by Tuesday, with just the quarter-round to install, and some touch-up work on the baseboards and door trim to complete – to cover the spot where the nails are. Then we get to start the process of moving back into our bedroom, and that is the most exciting part of all :-)
Even before we knew if our insurance claim was going to cover the replacement of the carpet in the bedroom and closet, we knew that we weren't comfortable keeping the carpet - afraid for mold, and water retained in the carpet pad.
When we heard back from the claim adjuster that we could go ahead and begin the renovations (just taking pictures of the "before" before we began), we started making many trips to Home Depot.
We picked out a floor we wanted - Engineered Bamboo wood flooring. With that goes a noise-reducing, water resistant, pad that sits between the floor and the underlying cement. Luckily we know two people locally who have replaced their floors for wood and/or wood laminate, so we have access to their advice and equipment. We had also been planning to (eventually) change the color of our bedroom. Since we were going to have to repaint spots on the wall anyway, we decided to go ahead and do it now.
Monday I moved most of the furniture that was still in the room (the stuff on the wall on the far-side of the room from the bathroom door) out. I also took down all the wall decorations and removed everything from the closets, including the wire Closet Maid shelves. Old baseboards and door frames went out on Tuesday night, and I set to spackling the trouble spots on the walls, and putting up painter's tape.
Wednesday we moved the bed into the center of the room, draped a tarp over it, and I applied the put on the first coat of paint - we went from an off-white color called "Candlewax" to a rich red which has "cherry" somewhere in the name. The first coat was very variant in the shade. Splotchy, even. I painted all the walls in the bedroom, leaving only the window frames and the closet. And painting without regard for the carpet, which is being ripped up soon, was kind of liberating.
We've picked out a baseboard, but haven't bought it yet. The bamboo flooring is sitting in boxes at the foot of the bed (and under the tarp). Tonight (Thursday) while I was painting the closet, and applying the second coat to the bedroom walls, Toby went back to Home Depot. He picked up new door borders (primed pine), white paint for the baseboards (which we still have yet to buy), primer (for the inside of the door frames) and sandpaper. As I write this he is sanding the inside of the door frames, and applying primer.
Our goal is to be done with the bedroom by this weekend, and here is what is left on the table:
buy baseboards
second coat of paint in closet
finish priming inside of door frames
paint inside of door frames
remove rest of furniture from bedroom
remove carpet from bedroom
Use empty bedroom floor (with tarp) as area to paint door-borders and baseboards
Attach door borders
Attach baseboards
Lay down the under-floor mat
Install bamboo click-lock floor
I guess the final step is to begin moving things back into the bedroom, but we haven't really gotten that far in planning ahead. After the bedroom is done, however, we are going to start with the bathroom. Even though the plumber came back on Wednesday and installed a new toilet, it was the "basic white toilet" - not what we would have picked -I think we want something even more water efficient - plus this toilet doesn't sit well as the base is a different shape than the previous one, and it overlaps the flooring. But that's okay, because the plan is to strip the bathroom down to the studs in the wall, and rebuild it.
Ideas are still floating for that project - we've decided that it's going to stay a shower, and not install a bathtub, but only because the drain is in the center of the shower, and going to a bathtub would have us digging into the foundation of the house. We get to learn how to install drywall, pick how we want the shower, pick a toilet and vanity, new floor, mirror, light fixture - the works. But that is a little while off- we want to finish the bedroom first, so we can get back off the sofa bed (we didn't want to be in the room with paint fumes), and get some semblance of normal back to our lives.
The day after the flooding, Toby stayed home. Baxter National, a company selected by our Insurance Company, came with equipment.
They pulled up baseboards, drilled holes in the drywall under where the baseboards had been removed, and lifted up the carpet in two spots, one in the corner of the bedroom, the other in the corner of the closet. They set up 2 blowers in the garage, pointed at the damp drywall, one(two?) in the bathroom, one in the closet so it pointed under the carpet, another feeding under the carpet in the bedroom, a few more in the bedroom pointed at the walls, and a large dehumidifier which drained directly into our shower in the master bathroom.
Apparently they tripped the circuit breaker a few times, and ended up having to run the cord from one of the blowers into the living room. I discovered just how tenuous this was when I tried to iron, and ended up tripping the circuit for the living room. But our iron already causes the lights to dim in there even when there are no blowers running.
The guy also put down an anti-microbial, designed to keep mold from growing. After letting that sit for 2 hours behind closed doors, to keep the cats off, we were to open the door to the bedroom so the circulation would be better / aid the drying process.
Let me just say that 7/8 blowers and a dehumidifier of that size are not quiet. We stayed on the fold-out sofa again.
Fast-forward to Thursday - The guy from Baxter National came back, and left a few blowers and the dehumidifier. One blower in the garage at a still-damp spot, and one pointed at newly drilled holes in the bottom of the vanity in the bathroom. The plumber also came by on Thursday, and looked at the toilet, saw that it needed to be replaced, and left with a promise to come back and replace it. Our insurance claims adjuster also came by to assess the damage. He saw damage on the walls, the carpet, the dresser and a bookcase we'd had in the closet. All in all we were granted $3k for the repairs, plus whatever the charges from Baxter National end up being. We do have a $1k deductible to meet, but we were prepared for that.
A few phone calls: to the vet to make sure there wasn't anything we needed to worry about with the cats, to the insurance people, to find out if it was okay to start fixing things before we got our estimate (the numbers I mentioned above were received later); and then we decided to (finally) move back into the bedroom. I think we were finally back in there on Sunday night, almost a week after the flood. And yes, there is a big difference between a fold-out sofa bed and a sleep number bed.
At least it wasn't a fire.
We came home Monday, August 3rd, and discovered water on half the floor of our garage. Our first thought was the water heater, situated in the back corner of the garage, next to the washing machine. Toby ran to check if but found it wasn't the culprit. The water, we quickly deduced, was coming from inside the house. We passed through the kitchen (dry) into the bedroom (carpet squishy), and discovered the tank to our toilet had cracked. The pump was working away, trying to fill the tank until the float ball reached the predetermined level, which of course,since all the water was leaking out the back and bottom of the tank, it never did.
Toby turned the water off on the toilet, and Anne and I quickly set about moving things from the floor of my bedroom and closet out into the kitchen/ dining room/ living room area. Toby disappeared while we were doing this, and I found out later that he was looking up our Homeowners Warranty Information and Insurance information, and making calls to both companies to find out what was the next step.
Anne went to Home Depot for us and bought a shop vac/ Wet vac, and I set to drying things that were on the floor, and doing laundry (the hamper was between the bathroom door and the closet door, and has a grid-type bottom. Water started being absorbed by clothes on the bottom of the hamper, and the damp had crept about halfway up the hamper-full by the time we got home. Luggage and shoes went on the back patio to dry, some things got tossed, and I was sad to see 6 books - two manga of mine, 2 borrowed (signed) comic books, and 2 passports, were part of the waterlogged damage.
I ended up trashing two pairs of shoes, and some miscellaneous travel supplies (a travel kit from one of the trains or planes that Toby and I had been on). When the first load of laundry was done, Toby took it over to Alison's to use her dryer (the offer was much appreciated!), and I put in a second load of laundry. Anne arrived with the wet vac, and I put it together, and sent her out to the grocery store to get litter and un-sweet iced tea (for Toby), and a pizza from Little Ceasers. I was vacuuming when she came back with the food. She was unable to get litter because the roof of the supermarket had a leak, and that aisle had flooded.
We used the wet vac for several passes, but we discovered that it only was able to draw up the water that was on the surface, that is, in the carpet. It was the carpet pad, underneath, that was acting like a sponge. We made another pass, with Toby operating the wet vac, dragging it across the floor behind my foot, which I was using to press water out of the carpet pad. We finally gave up, and settled in to the fold-out sofa.
...strike that. Reverse it.
I am beginning to feel overwhelmed again by the things I think I should be doing. Or that I think I want to do. Or, I guess it most accurately boils down to things i COULD do. It is the prioritizing thing that is a hang up right now.
I have many books out from the library, a few I've borrowed from friends, and am in the middle of, and so I decided to read a manga series I own from the beginning, not just the unread issues (the last two in the series). Of course. Well, I just finished those, and am at a loss of which book to pick up (or back up) next.
I have many things I want to do with regard to technology, too. Mostly social networking. I'm trying to figure out what kind of web presence I have. To do some clean-up if I feel it necessary. What kind of person do I portray if someone were to google me? Then there is the website I promised to build for a multi-writers group deal (well, it is my project idea, so I really only promised myself, but I've told other writer's groups to expect it's arrival) - but for that project I have to learn Drupal. One of the books I have from the library is on Drupal. I get to pick it up today. Several of my blogs are in a stagnant state, and I want to remedy that. I'm on twitter and Facebook, but mostly am not participatory on the later, which also sort of makes me sad.
I have obligations as a member of my writing group. I still haven't caught up with reading chapters and stories from when I was on vacation, and then at ALA. Our meet-up is tomorrow, and I'm still very very behind. And in purging the Yahoo account from the people who didn't respond to the "please keep me as a member" e-mail - which I was supposed to do before I left on vacation. And I haven't even posted the two simple writing group etiquette things we came up with at the last meeting. 2 weeks ago. Nor typed the writing advice I received from various writers at ALA to share. Nor figured out how I'm going to handle the "talk to an expert" deal that I also initiated - and promised another local writer's group that I'd keep in the loop.
I still have pictures on my camera that need to be downloaded. I promised to send some of these to people who were in them. And the e-mail contacts I made at ALA, some I left dangling in the middle of a conversation (mostly the people I owe photos). And then there are the vacation photos, which are on my computer, but not organized or named or anything, so I can't share them. And we're going to visit Toby's family this upcoming weekend, and I wanted to load some of these pictures onto one of the digital picture frames, so we can share, since I know they're going to ask.
My house needs to be cleaned. Every time I make progress on my office, it feels like i have to tidy the rest of the house, so random crap gets brought into my office so I can go through it later, when there is more time. And then it just sits there. Laundry, as we all know, is never ending, and one thing that I almost manage to keep up with. Dishes are about the same, actually. So that is two feathers in my cap, at least.
I have things I want to sell, that I haven't taken the initiative as to how to post them online, magazines that I'm subscribed to piling up, unread, NaNo WrIMo to plan, and writing to do. I am making baby steps progress on Divine Madness, second draft, but i really need to sit down and do some word-math - figure out how long I think the book will be, so I know how much i need to write each week to have this draft finished before November.
Somehow, in that last paragraph i thought, "wasn't there more I had on my plate" and was surprised when nothing else "pressing" came to mind. Maybe it isn't all THAT bad, though until I can prioritize it all, I know I'm just going to feel lost.
Oh, yeah, house stuff. Finishing fixing the back patio fan, and stenciling leaves onto the wall in my office. And perhaps getting a futon for the office (/guest room), but that means cleaning up first.
*sigh*
| Date: | 2009-07-27 11:18 |
| Subject: | Ring a ding |
| Security: | Public |
It's been a while since I've updated this journal, but here I am.
When we were in Ireland on our anniversary trip, we visited the town of Kilkenny, and after seeing the castle there, we went across the street to the local gallery, and artisan guild. One of the shops was a local jeweler, and one of the things they sold was the Claddah Ring (yes, I know, I'm citing wikipedia, but I'm feeling lazy). Up until this point, it's what I've always referred to as an "Irish Wedding Band". Toby and I asked to look at them, Toby asking if I was interested in replacing my wedding band/ engagement ring combo with a single ring. I asked if I did, would Toby want to replace his wedding band as well, so we still had a matching set. He was surprised at the question (I guess he had been thinking that he would get me a Claddah ring while we were in Ireland, anyway, but hadn't thought of the possibility of one for himself.)
We decided to go ahead and treat ourselves to new wedding bands, a suitable thing for a 10 year anniversary, I think. The jeweler who was helping us wanted to see if he had the right size rings - rather than having him measure our fingers, we just handed over our current wedding bands. He had one the right size for Toby, but apparently I have very thin fingers. He measured my ring, then measured it again, and said "wow, that's small." He pulled the smallest Claddagh ring he had, and said he would have to resize it.
When we went back an hour later to pick up the rings, the woman who helped us (the jeweler had gone to lunch), also commented on how small the ring was.
It is weird how quickly I've come accustomed to wearing this ring. Some of my previous ring wearing habits have waned (notable taking off my pair of rings, and setting them so they overlapped, or so the diamond was flat on the table in the center of my wedding band; also spinning my engagement ring around my finger - the Claddagh doesn't really spin). I still feel for the ring on the inside of my hand with my thumb, an almost absent minded gesture I learned I had when I forgot my wedding band one day. The ring doesn't quite sit centered, if I just leave it, the hands, heart and crown drift around, towards my pinky, so I've picked up a new habit of righting the ring so it sits centered.
One silly little thing I worried about with switching out the rings was losing the personality of the two I'd been wearing. There are small imperfections in each of the rings (a small dark spot on one of the prongs holding the stone in my engagement ring - which I oriented my ring by placing that side to face my heart), and a line one the inside of the wedding band from where Toby's father resized it for me (I wore the ring so the line was between my pinky and ring finger.) Luckily my new ring isn't perfect, either. It, too, has a line on the inside from being resized, and a small indentation on the left hand, perhaps from the device that held the ring while it was being resized. While I can't really orient the direction of my ring based on these, I feel relieved that it is not perfect- that the ring has it's own personality, and that I can use these features to always identify it as my own.
I meant to talk about other things here, as well, a general update on me, but I think I'm going to leave it at that, as I had more to say about a little ring than I thought.
Well, we leave on Wednesday. Today I'm doing the laundry, and setting aside what to pack. We did our run to the CVS and the Credit Union, called our cards to let them know we're traveling, and picked up those 99 cent travel toiletries (I have such fun looking at those.)
I'm trying to be good, and I'm only taking one notebook, one camera (the smaller one), and 2 paperback books. I am, however, loading up my iPod with audio books. Correction, Podiobooks. Free audio books that are released via podcast. This was a great find for me, and I am excited to re-listen to parts 1-4 of Mur Lafferty's Heaven series. I'm disappointed that I'll be missing the release of some of the 5th and last part, WAR, as it is starting to be relased on Monday.
Anyway, as Mur is graciously releasing these books for free via podcast, and since I love them enough to want to listen to them again just so I can come into the 5th book with a fresh listen (even though I just found out about them 2 months ago - I listened to all 4 straight, and they are much fun) - but they are free, I want to recommend them to anyone who is looking for something new to listen to. The easiest ways to get each book are from podiobooks.com, titles linked below: And the 5th book, WAR will launch on podiobooks.com and at Heavennovel.com.
Ah well, back to doing pre-trip things. Gotta stock up on Cat litter for the house-sitter (well, for her to have for the cats), and instructions on how to change the water in The Bard's tank. Doesn't really seem like we're leaving this week. Here's hoping I'm ready in time.
When someone asked me on Sunday how my week was, I said it was normal - nothing really good or really bad happened. I quickly amended my statement, however, as I remembered the small kitchen fire I set on Tuesday.
Everyone is okay, and the only lasting effects are the loss of the souvenir potpourri pot-holder which had been on the back burner (which I accidentally turned on instead of the front burner, where the kettle lives), a residue of said potholder on that back burner (It is a glass top, I'm going to have to go at it again with a razor blade) and a lingering smell of incense. I guess if you are going to have a lasting smoke smell, we could do worse than having burned a potpourri based item.
Toby and I stayed home to air out the house / ensure there weren't any stray embers that were going to burn the place down once we left. Still shaken, I called my parents, and learned that my sister-in-law and two nephews were in a car accident on Monday. They are all okay, but the car is totaled. Marina wants to get another Forester to replace it, given how safe the occupants were even given the crash. I promised my mom that I'd keep an eye on my younger sister, figuring if anything was going to happen to round out the traditional "three", pattern was for her on Wednesday. Luckily she's avoided any danger.
Thursday we were able to meet again and bake - vegan scones and vegan Devonshire cream. I'll post a separate entry about that experience. (In fact, I'm even considering a separate blog just for thoughts on our vegan cafe ventures / experiments in recipes.
Friday was the library staff picnic - catered for the first time (in the past library personnel have manned the grills, cooking up burgers, hot dogs and veggie burgers). The only reason we can guess that the event had to be catered is that in case someone gets ill, the library / UF can't be held liable. I found out, when I received confirmation of my submission form, that the same is going to apply for the Edible Book Contest that Lila, Alison and I are entering. For the first time, we "get" to take our entries home, rather than allowing the general public (whom are being asked to vote for the different categories) to then consume the entries. I am saddened by this turn of events - it means that the efforts to make a vegan entry, so anyone could partake (minus certain food allergies), is thwarted.
Saturday I rallied the troupes (sister and Alison) and we headed to Mastercuts at the mall, where I informed them that I wanted to donate my pony-tail and get a chin-length 'do. I was distressed at how much hair I still had on my head once the stylist clipped off my ponytail. I truly hope that the ponytail was at least 10 inches (the minimum to donate to Locks of Love). I was disheartened, and didn't measure it before sending, as my hair hung still below my shoulder length once she made the cut. I asked for a cut which was higher in the back, and angled to come down to chin-length in the front. First attempt, reached by the magic of clippers, different clippers and a razor, was totally not what I asked for. It barely had any angle, and wasn't as short in the back. It had this fringe thing going that I didn't understand or want. But I was still frazzled from the thought that the ponytail was butchered and not long enough, so I waved over my support group, and between the 3 of us explained again what I wanted. Second time was much closer, though she did trim the front a bit more than I expected, and thus, still not as sharp of an angle. She didn't pull out the scissors until she was trimming away the stray long hairs after the main cut was done. She had me stand for this, during which time the stylist next to her observed how tall I was (perhaps she would have been better to use the chair to raise me up?)
When all is said and done, I donated the hair without measuring it, and still desperately hoping it is long enough. I did not take the offer to insure the package which contained it for up to $100. It hasn't taken me as long as I thought it would to be used to short hair again, and it has been interesting to see which people comment, and what they say.
Sunday I helped my Asian neighbors catch a pet rabbit that had gotten loose from it's cage. Toby went out to help first, scooping up a rake to help herd it, along with the neighbor's efforts with a net. In the end, I think they wore it out, running back and forth across two yards (thankfully not darting under the fence at the just-sold house across the cul-de-sac from us), and it stopped under a bush, where I was able to inch closer and scoop it up. I finally met one of the neighbors, introductions and all, her name is Li (and I'm assuming at the spelling here) the rabbit is her granddaughter's, and was frightened by the dog which they are watching while the family is on spring break.
And finally, on the writing front, I have downloaded the 30 day trial of Scrivener, and think I'll end up buying the software, because it is SO what I needed to help me organize my notes and story. Plus, I got the cross-grade to MacSpeech Dictate, and oh-my-god it works so much better than the last 3 speech recognition software programs I've had. I have a little trouble with it selecting the word I want for correction (sometimes it goes back one character too far, but I just adjust it with my mouse), but other than that and still needing to learn how to train words (like Theon and Grennel - names that I've made up for my story), it works amazingly well. I am very pleased with it. :-) All I need now is an ergonomic split keyboard that doesn't have a built in wrist-rest so that I can use it with my roller mouse set up. Less urgent now that I have the speech rec. software that works, though.
I guess that about sums up the past week. I'll try to post a picture or two of my haircut once I figure out how to upload the pics from my new camera to the computer.
Lila was in charge of finding the cookie recipe that we would try, and thus we had our Thursday cooking meeting (one week late due to personal conflicts) at Lila's house. She found 3 recipes online, I printed copies, and brought those and my cooling racks over to her place. The idea of using the leftover frosting from the cupcakes went out the window as we figured the lifespan of the frosting had expired. I did bring the leftover vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips from when we made brownies.
We spread out the 3 recipes on the table, considered the ingredients we had compared to the ingredients in the different versions, and picked which recipe we'd try first. While we pulled out the right ingredients from the multitude of things Lila had spread out, we decided that the next time we tried cookies, she would get the recipe her mother uses.
Alison put together the dry ingredients while Lila mixed together the wet, and I stood away from the crowded counter space calling out to them what to add next to each respective bowl.
At first glance we picked the most difficult recipe - there wasn't even white space on the single sheet / single spaced page for me to jot my notes (though the back of the sheet sufficed for this). The truth was this was the quickest recipe we've done yet.
Alison created a well in the dry ingredients, but not big enough, we quickly saw, for the wet ingredients that Lila had mixed. Nothing to sweat over, though, as the next step was to mix it all up. We blended the dough by spoon, then separated it into approximately half, once we had a good mix. Half the batter got the left-over vegan semi-sweet chocolate chip cookies - that dough made a dozen on one cookie sheet; the other half got craisins (dried cranberries) and almond slivers. That made a batch of 11, fulfilling the recipe's promise of "Almost 2 dozen cookies."
Because of the ingredients we added, and because of the individual touch (making each cookie by hand), we came up with a batch of cookies that were of inconsistent size. We decided that in the future we'd pre-make the dough, roll it into a standard size, and freeze it (for just a couple of hours, to let it set) so we could then slice cookies from the roll and have consistent cookies (the guess was for about 1 cm thick).
Following the recipe we put both pans in to bake, then half-way through the baking process we switched which pan was on the top, which was on the bottom, and rotated them 180 degrees. We ended up leaving the cranberry almond cookies in for a bit longer, and the chocolate chip cookies were in for an additional 2 minutes.
This recipe didn't call for egg or egg replacer (as the other recipes did), but seemed to just substitute oil in (we followed the recipe exactly). In the future we may try replacing some of the oil with applesauce, reducing the oil, or just finding another recipe. The first taste of these was oily. The cookies were good, otherwise, though in the future, if we keep Cranberry Almond on the menu, we'll try adding almond or lemon extract. (We'll try both, but not at the same time).
We took the cookies to gaming, and once again we discovered that the day after our baking, the treat tastes better. These particular cookies were soft to the point of crumbly, and though the day after was tastier, it was still a bit to oily for our preferences. I think something other than straight oil would help with both problems. We will definitely look into other cookie recipes, and keep in mind the trick of working from rolled dough to have more consistent size cookies, all the easier to sell, and to adjust the baking time.
Happy Birthday to Max!
Last week's vegan baking experiment was Vegan Cupcakes - Red Velvet Cupcakes with a Cream Cheese frosting, to be exact.
I never knew that Red Velvet cake (and therefore cupcakes) were secretly chocolate, but the recipe called for cocoa powder, and I brought that, as well as some of the other cross-over ingredients from the brownies (such as the organic unsweetened applesauce, and the soy milk I had on hand and open from a previous baking exercise), a large mixing bowl and my muffin pan over to Alison's place. She had bought the rest of the ingredients, and I think Lila, Alison and I determined we'll try to do cross-over recipes as close together as possible, to help maximize use of common ingredients in a timely manner. Also, we've decided we'll all have on hand flour and sugar at all times - because really, when baking, those are pretty much a must.
When I got to Alison's place she had all the ingredients she had out, and the margarine and tofu better than cream cheese out on the counter to get to room temperature. She set out the soy milk and apple cider vinegar right away to give the milk a chance to curdle. Lila arrived, and she and I sifted the dry ingredients together - Alison had them measured out. We didn't have a sifter, but I did have a mesh strainer with a long handle - Lila poured the ingredients into the strainer, and I shook it to mix the ingredients. In lieu of a second sifting, Lila set to stirring the dry ingredients. This stirred up a lot less dust, and made everyone's noses much happier.
The recipe called for 2 oz. of red food coloring, which Alison bought - McCormick food coloring. At lunch that day my sister said "Gee, I hope that's vegan - you know that for some food coloring to get the red they use ground up beetles." This sent me on a quick Internet search to determine which reds were used in the food coloring (FD&C Red 40 and 3), and if those had beetles in them (Nope, that's Red 4). *Phew* Anyway, that was a lot of red food coloring we added to the batter. We wondered if halving the food coloring would end up with pink velvet cupcakes - an idea for October, or February.
Like with the brownies, we substituted applesauce in for some of the oil (though this time we used vegetable oil instead of canola oil). The fun part was trying to do the math. With the converted recipe we had, the note said to substitute some of the oil for applesauce, but we did not have the amount. Fortunately I had the brownie recipe with me - where 1 cup of oil was changed out for 1/2 cup of applesauce and 1/4 cup of oil. Unfortunately, the cupcake recipe called for 2/3 a cup of oil, which then involved some tricky math - and Alison pulling out her cell phone as a calculator, to end up with 1/3 a cup of apple sauce and 1/6 a cup of oil (which we had to eyeball in the 1/3 cup measure.)
The batter was very liquidy, and so we used the 1/4 cup measure to scoop batter into the cups which was perfect to fill the cupcake cups 3/4 full. We only had a few mishaps, where this blood red batter dripped on the counter or floor, but those were quickly cleaned up. We finished filling the first pan, and put it in the oven, then set to filling the second pan worth of cupcakes. We were a little more generous with these as we finished filling them, but still had some batter left in the bowl, and hey, waste not, right?
The bake time was 20 minutes, so when we finished filling the second pan, we decided to wait for the timer to get down to 10 minutes we'd add the second pan to the oven. When the first batch was done, and pulled out to cool on Alison's broiling pan (I forgot to bring my cooling racks), we started making the frosting. As we were mixing in the 4 cups of confectioners’ sugar (and wiping our brow that my box and Alison's box - both previously open and partially full actually had enough), we discussed in the future playing with reducing the amount of sugar in recipes, to see how it affects the taste. We also discussed trying to substitute some whole wheat flour for some of the while flour (though my co-worker warns to not do more than half and half, since the whole wheat flour would make things heavier).
With the icing made, and the second batch of cupcakes out of the oven, we set to icing the first batch while the second cooled. We could have probably stood to let them cool a bit more before starting icing, but we were eager to try our creations. One thing we noticed as a difference between the second batch and the first was that we had to put the second batch in for an additional two minutes (they were still goopy) and then the tops didn't just rise, but also spread out a bit (usually on one side) over the cups. I think that was due to the extra batter we put in those cups, but I can't rule out the fact that we were using two different cupcake pans (Lila's and mine), so there is that variable in play, also.
We iced the cupcakes, then dug in. All three of us had problems with a large part of the cupcake sticking to the paper. We pondered foil lined cups, but since all the cupcakes we ate a day later, at gaming, came out of the paper perfectly, it could have been that they were still too warm for good removal from the paper wrappers. Alison and Lila, who have a taste for this sort of thing, discussed using orange extract (or lemon) in the cupcakes, and then adding the same zest to the top of the icing. Likewise, perhaps adding nuts of some kind to the batter, then on top of the icing.
The cupcakes seemed to go over well with our test subjects, ahem, with our friends. We did have more icing than was warranted by the number of cupcakes (we'll have to look at scaling the frosting batch to match the cupcake batch), so when we try various vegan cookies (this week's baking experiment), some of them will be iced, and some will have the remainder of the semi-sweet chocolate chips left over from making brownies.
On Thursday last week Lila, Alison and I met at my place, and settled in with a modified recipe for vegan brownies, and to discuss our cafe idea.
We decided to make two batches, one with the vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips, one without. We used two aluminum foil 9x13 pans I happened to find in my cupboard, in order to ensure that any difference in the brownies was only the ingredients, not due to differences in pans. (I did have two "real" 9x13 pans, but only one in condition to do baking - the other is old and greasy and I only use to bake frozen fish fillets).
I had all the ingredients out on the counter, lined up in the order the recipe called for, and pulled out two mixing bowls. We took turns going down the line, measuring and scooping the ingredients into the two bowls. We took turns mixing, and as we added the wet ingredients, I let Lila and Alison take over while I put away the ingredients, a "clean as you go" effort.
The recipe, for those who are interested, was a variation that used a mix of canola oil and unsweetened applesauce in place of egg. We also added a hint of almond extract along with the vanilla extract. We realized the disposable baking pans didn't have a lot of structure to them as we went to put the brownies in the oven, and had to be very careful at not spilling them and not burning ourselves as we positioned them on the oven rack.
The modified recipe said 23-25 minutes for ooey-gooey delicious brownies. The base recipe said 25-30 minutes. We started at 20 minutes, then added 3 minutes, and another 2 minutes, and took the brownies out to cool. The edges were solidifying nicely, but when I tried cutting them, there was a large, seemingly unbaked spot in the middle of each pan, though it was a larger area on the brownies with the chocolate chips. We put the brownies back in the oven to bake another stretch of time (I can't recall if it was 3 or 5 minutes, in the end).
The edges dried out, but once again, the middle was still more pudding-like than brownie like (a lot more than "ooey-gooey" - more like "this needs a spoon"). We discussed possible solutions (playing with the recipe to get a more solid consistency, just selling the the middle as brownie pudding (there is no egg, so no worries of undercookedness), using square pans, etc). We also discussed how to improve the taste of the recipe, by adding other flavors, etc.
By the end of the night, I was brownied out (tasting both pudding-like and more solid brownies from each of the 2 pans after each of the rounds of baking = a lot of brownie). The next day we took our creation, including the brownie-pudding, to our gaming session. It was received well, and we discovered that the almond extract really was more noticeable after the confections had sat for a day.
I'm excited by our first experiment, and on re-visiting brownies - to see how we can improve the recipe, though not for a while. This week we are either working on cupcakes or cookies (determined by a thumb war between Lila and Alison - just kidding - they each are getting ingredients for one of them, and I guess we should figure out which we are trying this week, and which next week). Anyway, it gives us some time away from the brownies (though, I still have some of the brownie-pudding in a container at home, even after giving away over a pan of brownies to my gaming group).
It is quiet at work today. Presidents’ Day has the public schools closed, so one of my co-workers with children stayed home. Another called in sick, and a third has a young child she is letting sleep since he wasn’t feeling well, so she’ll be in late, or not at all. And this is all in my immediate office area, so that leaves me and one co-worker and a quiet Monday. I made Chicken Marsala for Toby last night, and ended up preparing roasted asparagus (thanks to everyone who chimed in with cooking tips for the asparagus). It was okay, but I think (from what I’ve read) that it would have been better if I’d had thicker stalks. Cheesecake for dessert was also a hit. I was a bit embarrassed by the state of my office when my parents came. I’ve got a lot of papers spread out all over the floor (I’m sorting it into piles, and waiting for a filing cabinet so I can put it away). I was pleased, though, that my dad seemed excited about the café idea, though he did caution that restaurants / food service are the hardest small business to run since there is such a margin for dishonesty among employees – and lack of quality control, if one of the owners isn’t there. I’ve hit a lull with my writing. I think I’m at the “fill the well” stage. Nothing I’m working on seems to be working right, or even really holding my interest. Although my last writing burst did result in a happy rejection letter. I submitted a story to “The First Line,” and though I got what feels like the standard form rejection e-mail, there was also a personal note at the bottom: “The writing was excellent, Christy. I enjoyed it. It just came down to the fact that we had too many similar stories. Please try us again.” Don’t worry. I will :-D Now I just need to figure out what to do with that story. I’ll probably end up posting it (friends locked) over on my writing journal, for those who are interested in seeing it / to allow me to delight in the whole thing just a little more.
Been a while since I updated, I know. First, I wish everyone who reads this journal a happy Valentine's day.
I went grocery shopping this morning, mostly for ingredients for dinner for Toby. I don't know if I'll be making it tonight or tomorrow, as I found out yesterday that my parents are coming through town, and want to take us out to eat. My fault for not clarifying with them WHEN they wanted to eat - lunch or dinner, though since they are going to Micanopy for antique shopping, I suspect it is more a dinner time venture.
The thing is, then, the possible conflict of when I'm meeting with Alison and Lila to start our planning, and first baking day. We are thinking of opening a vegan cafe / bakery. The first recipe on our list to try out is vegan brownies. Also, I expect we'll talk more about what kind of planning we need to do - business classes, etc.
Anyway, I'm sort of excited to be cooking dinner for Toby, he doesn't know what we're having. I'm going to make Chicken Marsala, angel hair pasta, asparagus (still debating on roasting or what), I got a cheesecake to finish. I'm most nervous about the asparagus, since I've only really cooked it once and that was so long ago, I don't remember how I cooked it (may even back in high school?). Heck, it might have been canned, and then just heated. I really can't say. So I've been looking for recipes for cooking asparagus. My cookbooks have been disappointing, since most of the recipes for it are using asparagus as part of a much larger dish / conglomeration.
*sigh* Anyway, wish me luck.
| Date: | 2009-01-20 08:59 |
| Subject: | Weekend |
| Security: | Public |
I had a nice, relaxing, friend and family filled weekend.
And And sugar cookies.
It felt weird having 9 people stream out of my house to go to McAllister's on Sunday night. It was kind of like a clown car - when are they going to stop coming through the door?
My parents stopped by on Monday, on their way back to Tallahassee from Tampa. I feel bad because they ended up paying for lunch for my friends, and I didn't mean for them to.
I'm not ready to leave for Denver yet. I have to do laundry to have enough long-sleeve shirts, and I need to make sure I know which meetings and discussions I am attending. I've never been to a Midwinter before, so I'm kinda at a loss. I think, honestly, next year if I volunteer for a committee work with ALA, it'll be one where I can complete my duties online. I enjoy going to the conferences, but sort of feel out of place, being just support staff and not a full librarian. Like I can still learn stuff, but I'm not really in a position to apply it through my job, and I've not got practical experience I can share with others, so why bother going to conferences until I get (if I get) a librarian position?
Yesterday, instead of working on my writing goals, I spent the evening watching a Korean movie, and two episodes of a Japanese Drama. It was nice to veg, and I don't feel too bad about it - watching them put me in a much better mood than was in my forecast.
Denver is going to be cold. Ugh.
Oh, and our new travel itinerary to Europe this summer looks like it may include Portugal, Spain and maybe a day-trip to Morocco, as well as France and Ireland. Yay!
Things I need or want:
carrying case for my camera (Sony Cybershot T-70) with clip for wearing (not belt loop)
Subscription to The Writer *may be getting for birthday from parents*
Subscription to Writer's Digest
CD 1st season Writing Excuses podcast
new backpack - ergonomic / padded straps
small dry erase board for door
office organizing supplies
two-drawer file cabinet
day-bed for guest room
airline tickets to Chicago for ALA and a place to stay
To save money:
limit tea to two times a week (deja brew)
Limit purchase of books (buy only manga for at least a few months) - check out books from library / read other books I already own
Pack lunch some days
| Date: | 2009-01-08 11:26 |
| Subject: | |
| Security: | Public |
Toby is recovering well after his surgery yesterday. The doctor said the procedure went well, and that what they thought were two new occurrences of the cyst was really only one and an infection, which they were able to clean out. I didn't ask, but I'm pretty sure they still had to remove that other tooth.
I am in charge of keeping straight all his medications, mouth rinses, and preparing of soft foods. I'm trying to not hover too much, but every time he looks like he's going to get off the couch to get something, I hop up and ask what he needs, so I can get it for him.
Sarah has curled up to sleep with him some when he's asleep, and kneeding and purring on him when he's awake. I think she'll probably do so more next week as he finishes recovering, but I am back at work.
I got up early on Jan. 1st, and went with Ron, Lila and Rick to the Paynes Prairie observation deck on 441 to watch the new year sunrise. It was chilly, but a beautiful show. By the time the sun had risen, painting the sky pink and gold, and waking birds to wheel across the prairie, there were about 15 people loitering along the walk and deck, to watch the start of the new year morning.
Afterwords we went for bagels (um, just the 4 of us, not all 15).
The rest of the day was spent hanging out with people, and I finished a book "New Moon" by Stephanie Meyer. I sort of want to keep track of what I'm reading, so I'll try to add books as I finish them, to my posts.
I don't have a resolution this year, but my goal is to do something writerly every day - and 4 of 7 days in the week this should constituent actual writing. The other 3 it can be reading writing books, researching markets, etc, etc. Although yesterday I did learn that actual writing cannot be done on the laptop - the keyboard makes my fingers hurt.
Depending on how it goes, I may be writing more by hand, and using my speech recognition software to input things into the computer. Joy.
Day two of the New Year and I overslept, then had a massage appointment. I'm glad the university gave us the day off, I may try to get some cleaning done, then we are gaming later. Haven't gamed since September, so I'm looking forward to it :-)
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