I need me some "HELP"!

Ever since I read the book "The Help" and watched the movie, I've been craving some good 'ol southern fried chicken.... so I googled a bunch of authentic recipes, watched a few U-Tubes on the subject, and bought a bunch of chicken, Crisco and Buttermilk.

Long story short, I stood at the stove with my hot bubbling Crisco for at least 1 1/2 hours, making chicken that was boring, greasy and only slightly crunchy. And marginally cooked... I had to put some pieces in the oven to continue cooking. Very disappointing.

I watched the U-Tube... why wasn't my chicken as good as that Chef's? He said "Let's just say, if I was stranded on an island and could only eat one thing for the rest of my life... this chicken would be it." If that were me, I'd be a very depressed 400 pound woman stuffed into a bikini, wishing Colonel Sanders would come back from the dead. meet me on the island and give me his secret recipe.

So the moral of this story is... drive to the nearest bucket place, it will save you time and frustration, even if the drive is 40 min. one-way.

Unless your name is Minnie, from Mississippi, save your Crisco people.

But my sweet cornbread turned out awesome, so dinner wasn't a complete bust. As an aside, I also made 2 loaves of whole wheat bread, a huge round Raisin Bread and dough to make buns.... but since I was so busy making cornbread and frying the chicken, I didn't get around to making the buns. The dough is currently in the garage, after rising at least twice. I don't know if I can save it??

"Wing It" Chicken Noodle Soup

I'm only documenting this because my Chicken Soup actually worked pretty good tonight. So I want to remember what I did for the next time. Given the fact that I had no idea what I was going to make for dinner at 4:42 pm, I managed to pull together a culinary delight, and even the kids liked it! (Although Simon pointed out that it wasn't really soup, it was more like noodles with a bit of liquid.) Call it what you like, as long as you eat it! :-)


So, this is my "never been done before" recipe:

2 chicken breasts, cubed
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove

Cook that and then add (estimations):

1 tbsp. Epicure Curry Dip Mix
3 tsp. Epicure Chicken Bouillon
1 tsp. Coriander
Bit of Salt

Mix that up and then add:

3 celery sticks, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
Water - enough to cover liberally all ingredients.

Cook it until the veggies are tender

While simmering, throw in a whole bunch of instant noodles equal to about 3 pkgs. of the Ichiban size squares. Use whatever you have.

Cook for about 3 minutes, until noodles are soft. Then remove from heat and add a bit of 1/2 and 1/2 cream if desired - about 1/2 cup

I served it with homemade whole wheat biscuits.

Voila!

Cabinets are done, done, DONE!!

I am so excited... and exhausted. After 12 long days, my kitchen cabinets are painted and re-hung, and my kitchen is back to normal. For now, that is. I'm not done the kitchen makeover just yet... but I am taking a short break before I tackle the next thing. I'm tired.

Anyway, here's a reminder of my "before" kitchen:



And here's some "during" photos:



And here's my "After"!



I LOVE MY NEW KITCHEN! But I have to admit, during the whole process I really struggled with my decision as to whether to paint the cabinets white or antique them. My original vision was to have a white kitchen, but when I started painting the cabinets, they just looked "flat" and not quite right. So I chose to use a glaze on them and I'm so happy I did.... the look/colour just fits so much better in my home.

Today I just sat at my table and just stared at my cabinets, as the sun streamed into my window (which is rare these days). The lighter, brighter kitchen just makes me so much happier. It better, after all that work. And let me tell you, it was ALOT of work!! Oh my word, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. But I don't regret it for a minute, it was worth all the pain, exhuastion, whining... No, I didn't whine, not me! :-)

During the whole process, I also cleaned/organized/de-cluttered inside all my cabinets. You would've been amazed at all the stuff I got rid of!

Okay, as you'll see from some of my photos.... I'm in desperate need of some sort of backsplash to bring some colour into the space. I'm looking at wallpaper options but haven't figured out which direction I want to take: faux tile type of wallpaper or just something fun/geometric for a completely different look?

I thought about taking all the crap off the fridge, but who am I kidding?? My fridge is going to look like this for years to come, and who cares anyway? Oh, and on Monday I am painting the small wall by the fridge because there is very little contrast between the cabinet and wall colours... I am painting it a dark red which I think will look great.

Mmmm.... my counters are very PINK... I have ideas for that too. Once I get some sleep and my arm muscles have recovered enough to hold a paintbrush again.

White or Glazed/Antique??

I've dismanted 1/3 of my kitchen and have done 2 coats of the base coat. I'm now at the point where I have to decide whether to keep the cabinets Quilter's White, or add some glazing to give them an antique finish.... if I keep them white, I will have to finish them with one more coat, as two coats doesn't cover that well. (And not to mention I will have to buy another $100 kit because I'll run out of stuff.)

What do you think of the glazed cabinets? Suggestions? I really wanted a clean, crisp white kitchen but maybe the cabinets will be too "flat" and lack dimension... but I haven't decided if I like the glazed look! Help please!!

Kitchen Progress

I've been slowly working on my kitchen transformation. Here's some new stuff:

A new vase thingy for my utensils... way, way better than our old "wine chiller" terra cotta thing we used to have! Not to mention, it was way too small and drove me crazy... it's amazing what you can live with for 14 years!


I love my new light fixtures, and they were a really great deal! And I was thrilled to stumble across the artwork... I really had this "blissful" idea of doing some crafty artwork with the kids for the kitchen... but when I saw this I was excited... cha ching! Add to basket!! :-) It wasn't a super, thrift-store kind of deal, more like a Winners/Home Sense kind of price. Anyway, I'm just glad to have something on the wall and be done with it! And the colours are perfect.

Okay, so next step is to paint the cabinets. I'm hoping to get started on Monday. I'm nervous/excited! It's gonna be a TON of work, and I won't be getting any help from Rodger, so I better know what I'm getting myself into! Eeek. Wish me luck!!

Oh, and what do you think about a wallpaper backsplash? I found this at Home Depot and the wallpaper is shiny and has a slight bumpy texture to it.... the colour scheme on the right would work well.

http://www.wallpaperstore.com/scripts/Detail.idc?ProductID=530810&LogID=16986618&Page=1

First Coat....

Okay, so here's my kitchen now... Lisa gave me a bucket of leftover "khaki" paint last night so today I did my first coat. What do you think? Too brown? Keep in mind that I will be painting my cabinets white-ish eventually.

Beige/khaki/brown wasn't my first choice in colour but I was having such a hard time finding a colour that worked with my existing "stuff"... I initially wanted something clean, fresh and brighter than my old colour. But maybe this is colour isn't so bad?

I don't know if I have enough to do a second coat, so either way I think I will be buying some paint. Either in this colour or something lighter/different.... let me know what you think!

Kitchen colours - Help!!

It's time to give my dated 1980's kitchen a facelift. 8 years ago my sister and her family came for a visit while Rodger was out of town for business. We decided to do our own episode of "While you Were Out" (remember that TV show?) and painted the kitchen, complete with faux tile backsplash. I've loved my cozy kitchen for a long time but lately I am so sick of the busy backsplash and textured walls. This is what it looked like a couple of weeks ago.



Now, I have a "new to me" white smooth-top stove, and I flipped the almond-flavoured panels of my dishwasher for a quick facelift. I bought white appliance paint and plan to paint our fridge in the Spring, and also bought new light fixtures that need to be hung up, and installed new hardware. And... drum roll please... I am painting my cabinets antique white in the Spring as well!! Woot woot!

But in the meantime, I primed over the backsplash and bought 2 colour samples from Benjamin Moore... here's a few photos of my testers:





HELP!! Seriously, I'm getting so overwhelmed with colour choices. And whatever colour I choose, it has to match my tile, burgundy banquette and purplish/brown speckled counters. I want my kitchen to be cheerful and brighter than it currently is... I'm leaning towards a lighter version of the mauve colour, just to be completely different. What do you think?? I don't love the green because it's too similar to my hallway.

For my Benjamin Moore fans, the colours are: Porcelain 2113-60 and Sesame CC-638 (which looks remarkably like Camoflage 2143-40 (hallway).

Let's see if anyone actually reads my posts... Ev?? Help??