Bathroom Remodeling - Week 3

Finally it looks like we are making some progress: this weekend we hung the drywall on the guest room wall, studded in a small closet, installed the door and added moldings...and got the first coat of drywall mudd on the seams.

During the week, Jeff and Lars pulled out all the old plumbing and wires, and removed the smaller wall near the dryer. Two interesting facts came to light:  someone had "patched" the copper plumbing with a piece of iron pipe - no wonder the downstairs bathroom water always had that annoying iron taste in it.  Every DYI 101 show explains that those two metals should NOT be mixed.  They also found a wire above the ceiling which was wrapped around a rafter near the outside wall.  Jeff used his electric tester, and it turned out that this wire is connected to the "mystery switch" by the kitchen door.  We think that at one time, there was an additional outside light by the far corner of the house, controlled by that switch.  We are considering bringing that light back, or else installing a lamppost by the herb garden.  Possibilities...

They also chiseled out all the broken tiles on the bathroom floor (using an air hammer, which supposedly worked amazing), and cut out the wood floor, which had been part of the closet.  Now the floor is bare, except where we are keeping existing tiles, and the foundation 2x4 has been installed where the new wall will be placed.   Coming up for this week:  installing the new water lines, which have to run through this new wall into the crawl space and connect to the sink and new bathtub.  Hopefully running the electric lines as well, so the wall can be built.

Roasted Winter Vegetables

Here is an easy, delicious medley of winter vegetables...if you like rutabagas, parsnips, carrots and garlic:

Ingredients:

• 5 parsnips
• 6 carrots
• 1 medium sized rutabaga
• 6 (or more) cloves of garlic with their skin on
• 1/4 cup light olive oil
• 1 sprig dried rosemary (about 2 inches - more or less to taste)
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup (or honey would also work)
• salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Wash and peel the parsnips, carrots and rutabaga and cut into chunks, approximately 1 inch.  Place them in a large (10 x 15 inch) oven proof glass dish and cover with the olive oil, mixing the vegies and oil thoroughly.  Season with salt and pepper and place in oven for 30 minutes.

Strip the needles off the rosemary sprig and chop them finely,  mix these with the garlic cloves (in their skins).  Add this mixture to the roasted vegetables after the 30 minutes are up and return to the oven for another 25-30 minutes (depending on how big your vegetable chunks are).

Remove from oven and immediately pour the maple syrup over the vegetables and mix them up.   For those who like garlic, squeeze out the soft insides and discard the paper skins. 

(This evening we had these vegies with maples glazed grilled ham slices and potatoes - the squeezed garlic mashed into potatoes with some butter was delicious as well)

Bathroom Remodeling - Week 2

 

We got the old bathtub out today - along with all the tiles that surrounded it.  Jens came over to help us with the heavy lifting and precision sawing to remove the 2x4's.   The water to the bathroom is now obviously disconnected, and half the walls and the doorway are gone.  The copper pipes that led to the bathtub are pulled out as well.

We still have to remove a small wall by the sink, as we are going to put a larger sink into that spot.  But our next steps involve wiring and plumbing, which currently run through that small wall.  This will be more time consuming - but not nearly as dusty and dirty!

Making Pasta

We had no idea how much better home made pasta really is - though others had told us to try it for a while. Ever since Sammy got a pasta attachment, we've been "borrowing" it, and experimenting with various noodles.  So far we made several batches of spaghetti and linguine, but also made some lasagna noodles and raviolis.   We used some of our frozen pesto and added it to one of the noodle batches, which turned out great.

Seems that the trick to making perfect noodles is a rather dry dough.  Our ratios vary from 3 cups of flour to 4 eggs, to 3.5 cups of flour to 5 eggs.  Then we add a bit of salt, and either a small amount of water of olive oil - depending on the consistency of the dough.  Have not messed up a batch yet, so there seems to be some flexibility :).

Definintely can't beat a meal of homemade spaghetti, with homemade pasta sauce and homemade wine! And if we made too much pasta, we can store it for a bit and use it later.

Home Improvement Project: Bathroom - Week 1

We finally bought a whirlpool tub - we've been searching for one ever since we moved, as that is one thing we gave up and have been missing.  So the tub sits in front of the barn, under the overhang, waiting for us to expand the size of the downstairs bathroom to accommodate it.

This weekend we finally got started by tearing out the closest in the downstairs guest room and pulling off the drywall.  That allowed us to figure out which walls are weight bearing, and which way the ceiling joists run, which is step number 1 for tearing out walls :)

The plan is to increase the bathroom size about 2 feet in length, and 4 feet in width.  This should allow us to put in the significantly larger tub, as well as a double sink (which we have had in storage for years).  One step at a time.  School is off tomorrow, so Lars will be home to help Jeff with more demolition.

Adding More Fruit

We just ordered more grapes!! 

• 200 Chambourcin  (this will double our Chambourcin patch)
• 150 Concord

This is a 50% increase for us and we are so excited.  They will be shipped in early March.  About the same time, we should also receive our "Christmas Presents", the 8 Bartlett pear trees, 2 Bosc pear trees, 10 Wyldewood elderberry bushes and 10 Samdal elderberry bushes.

Bundt Coffee Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup butter at room temperature, cut into smaller pieces
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 cup sour cream   (sometimes I use 1/2 cup yogurt and 1 cup sour cream)
• Filling (see below)
• Glaze (see below)

Thoroughly grease bundt cake pan and preheat oven to 350 degree F.  Beat sugar and butter, then add eggs and vanilla and beat for 2 minutes.  Blend flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.  Alternately add sour cream and flour mixture to batter, on slow speed until well blended.  Prepare filling.

Spread about 1/3 of the batter in cake pan, cover with 1/3 of filling, repeat two times.  Bake in 350 degree oven for 1 hour (use wooden skewer to make sure it is done - meaning it comes out clean when inserted near center of cake).   Cool slightly on rack, for about 10  minutes and then invert pan, drizzle with glaze and enjoy!

Filling:  mix 1/2 cup brown sugar with 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon.

Glaze:  melt 2 tablespoons butter, add 1 teaspoon vanilla and about 2 tablespoons milk, blend in enough powdered sugar to make a soft icing.  Spread on warm cake.