Kitchen Quest

(aka roadtrip that will save a marriage)

I am dragging my husband against his will to the big box store with flat-pack boxes that will assemble eventually to resemble (hopefully) a make-shift kitchen layout that we will customize and improve and make our own. We've done the numbers and we just can't afford the custom-made cabinets that he wants to build. We are going south of the border and making a two day trip of it. 

Hopefully he doesn't kick me out of the car on the way back for such carpentry blasphemy.

This weekend the back room got sanded and painted:

sexy protective gear

We sourced the shingles pictured below: left second grade (with knots) from a local manufacturer  and the equally priced, clear (no knots) bundle on the right that is usually much more expensive (both $15/bundle). As you can see, the clearer shingles are greyed from exposure to the elements. We thought perhaps we could get a better product (no knots) for the same price but alas, upon drying, the shingles were prone to cupping. And anyway, I like the look of the knots and the wider shingles of the more rustic version on the left.

Left (second clear) versus Right (old & wet, but clear)

Reclaiming a bit of unused space, my better half spent a day building up shelving between the studs in the stairway to our basement to hold my growing preserves collection. This is just what I've made this year - we still have bottles from 2011 hidden away in an upstairs closet.

tomatoes, pickles, apples, beets, dried kale

We also spent a bit of time cleaning out the garden of the last remains of veggies and seed pods. I left the kale to overwinter, to see how it goes. We were also gifted with more squash to increase our collection, and I'll be storing them in an upstairs closet to see how that goes.

our own squash in the top right (smallish ones)

Also a few links for future use (on snowy cold days):
How to make stevia extract for sweetening baked goods, hot drinks and more.
How to make no-knead bread.
How to make apple butter.

Updates on kitchen (and marriage) coming soon.