Leftovers

My friend Barb sent me home with a doggie bag of goodies from yesterday's Cinco De Mayo fest de mange. At about 6:30, I got everything out and started fixing the leftovers for dinner.

While I was filling all the bowls, I really had to laugh remembering a story a friend told me when I was in college. It's the famous "leftovers" story at her parents' home. Her father was an exec at Roman Meal bread in Tacoma. Her mother was used to entertaining corporate visitors in their wonderful custom Mid-century home overlooking the Narrows Bridge.

On one occasion, Ray called home late in the afternoon to say that a delegation of Japanese clients made an impromptu visit to the offices of Roman Meal and wanted to come to their home for dinner. "How soon" was the question. "In about an hour" was the shocking answer.

There wasn't time to go to the store.

When everyone arrived, the table was set with Jean's wonderful hand-throw pottery plates in the dining room with a view of the bridge. On the table were bowls and bowls of one wonderful thing after another. With yummy noises from every side of the table, the delegation tucked into their amazing dinner. Over coffee and desert, one of the Japanese visitors said, "That was so wonderful. What was it?" "Leftovers," deadpanned Jean.

The twist to the story is that every time the delegation came to Tacoma to meet with Ray at Roman Meal, they wanted to know if they could come over for "leftovers" again.

That about sums up Barb's refrigerator. One toothsome thing after another ready for a complete dinner or a midnight snack.

I didn't have to add much to finish off this meal. I whipped up some of my special fresh black bean salsa, bought some cilantro and sour cream, decanted all the wonderful things Barb had sent home with me into pretty bowls, got out my rectangular celadon plates, linen napkins and my Frank's Red Hot and voila ~ leftovers.

Delicious leftovers!

Refrigerators are really indicative of the people who live in the house. Barb's is full of everything required to make nearly every dish she might have in mind for the week. Mine is full of condiments: fresh bagels, cream cheese, capers, my smoked salmon, some Tillamook cheeses, Plochman's mustard, butter, whole milk. Not a single real meal in the whole ice box ~ except breakfast. I'm sure it says something about me; I'm just not sure what.

While I may not be able to whip up a meal at a moment's notice, I take comfort in this: Several years ago, I did a multi-year project for a Microsoft billionaire. He was famous for having a quart of freshly squeezed orange juice, 6 -8 different bottles of hand-crafted microbrews and half a dozen bottles of different mustards and nothing else in his refrigerator.

The refrigerator and leftovers. It's a mystery.

Day 26 Everyday Grateful ~  Ella Fitzgerald Singing

The Gershwin Songbook on the stereo,

the doors open to the back deck,

a sunny beautiful day.

Leftovers.

Thankful.

Such a Lovely Word ~ Spring! Oh, and . . . Cleaning

This was such a lovely weekend in Seattle. Warm. Sunny.

S*P*R*I*N*G

'Course the thing about spring is the increased light and ~ what the hell! Cobwebs everywhere. Dust. Uck. I guess that's why it's call Spring Cleaning.

On Saturday morning, I decided to tackle the cupboard about my stove. Now, the thing about my kitchen is it's small. I like it very much, but, I don't kid myself. It's minuscule.

When I "remodeled" my kitchen several years ago, I clad the rift cut oak with bead board, replaced the doors of the cupboard above my stove with an old window with true divided lights. Luckily, it was exactly the size of the original doors. Popped right in.

Then, I painted the whole shootin' match the perfect "white." I had this romantic idea of having an interesting display cabinet in my kitchen. After I'd loaded up the cupboard, I realized it was missing visual interest. The cupboard holds my every day dinner dishes. While I'm very fond of celadon, there wasn't enough going on. Dullsville. What it needed? Flavour, please!

Which brings me to the beautiful solution. One of the things one buys when traveling in Italy is a calendar from the little kiosk in Piazza del Duomo. Of course, what do you do with that calendar when the year is up? The images are way too pretty to end up in the recycle bin. Mine ended up in my plan file.

While rummaging around for inspiration, I found my old calendar with botanical images of fruits. Perfect. I lined the entire interior of the cabinet with brown shopping bags turned inside out. Pawing through all my craft supplies in my studio shop which I laughingly call "The Well of Despair," I assembled all my half empty jars of matte medium, my brayer, sharp scissors and got to work.


I deckled the edges of the calendar pages and cut individual fruits to overlay the pages. When I was finished, it did everything I wanted it to do. It was visually interesting, beautiful, and utterly romantic. Best of all, my celadon plates coupled with oxblood porcelain made a show-stopping picture.


I covered the spice shelf with entry tickets and pensione bills from the places we visited and stayed during our trip. Now, when I pull out the sage or the marjoram, I'm reminded of that wonderful life-changing trip my sons and I had.

  

 

Friendly, beautiful, romantic and exactly what I had in mind.

Isn't a refrigerator just a refrigerator?

Stars and Standouts ~ pretty much when you’ve seen one refrigerator, you’ve seen them all. Sure you need to decide on price and features and door panels vs. painted finishes but mostly a refrigerator is a refrigerator is a refrigerator except when it’s a . . .

Smeg ~ www.smeg.com Ultra cool, retro refrigerator. Perfect for your mid-century classic, your 1930’s bungalow, your 1914 Craftsman, your 1932 brick Tudor or your wonderful Victorian. Loads of darling colors. Don’t you need a celadon refrigerator? OK, OK, how about poppy red? I especially like the fact that all the model numbers start with FAB!

At about $2000.00, it’s a lot of bang for your designing buck. If you need a big honker, this is not the refrigerator for you. But, if you need a show stopping design element for your kitchen remodel, it is way less than that $20,000 French enamel stove you’ve been lusting after. I mean really, when was the last time your friends said, “Wow, what a cool refrigerator?”

I'm staying with my rich cousin in the Hamptons. Tell me about his refrigerator.

The fully integrated refrigerator/freezer is the “rich cousin living in the Hamptons” of the built-in refrigerator. This is best suited for the custom, bespoke kitchen. It is completely flush and hidden behind full height cabinet doors.

It’s perfect for the right project and the client with the dough . . . lots of dough. And, staff would be nice.

Manufacturers include: Dacor, Electrolux, GE, Jenn-Air, KitchenAid, Liebherr, Northland, Thermador, Viking

Deciding on a built-in refrigerator / freezer?

The built-in refrigerator/freezer is the ultimate in luxury. It is also the most expensive of the refrigerator styles. You can expect to spend several hundred to several thousand dollars more than a comparable free-standing unit. As more and more of you are investing in the construction and aesthetic details of your kitchen, you are choosing built-in models for your refrigerator and freezer. For years, the design professionals’ choice was Subzero. With the boom in luxury construction of the past two decades, other manufacturers have entered the market.

Built-in refrigerator/freezer units blend with the custom cabinets. Because their depth was designed to be shallower than free standing refrigerators, the built-in units align with the cabinet faces and make a more seamless appearance. Because of the custom nature of this refrigerator, it has the widest range of interior options available.

Besides the extra costs involved in this purchase, keep in mind that should a replacement become necessary, cabinets may have to be retrofitted making the costs much higher than the replacement of a free-standing unit. Other than that, go enjoy your new sexy refrigerator!

The widths range for 36” to 72.9” + custom. The depths range from 22” to 25.9” + custom depths. The heights range from 69” to 84.9” + custom.

Tell me more about the freezer on the bottom refrigerator.

The bottom freezer style is the third type. It solved the “large tray” storage problem and puts fresh food at eye level. It is most like the built-in look of the more expensive brands like Subzero.

The freezer section is available in door or drawer configurations. You can expect better energy efficiency with a bottom freezer compared with a side-by-side refrigerator/freezer. Depending on the model and manufacturer, it is available with ice makers, ice/water/light in the door and various bins with adjustable temperature and humidity and lots of other bells and whistles.


The widths range for 19” to 48.9”. The depths range from 22” to 35.9”. The heights range from 63” to 84.9”.

Manufacturers include: Amana, Bosch, Dacor, Electrolux, Fisher Paykel, GE, Hotpoint, Jenn-Air, KitchenAid, LG, Liebherr, Maytag, Northland, Samsung, Thermador, Viking, Whirlpool

What do you need to know about a side-by-side refrigerator/ freezer?

The original style side-by-side refrigerator/ freezer available in both standard depth and counter depth was next. Depending on the model and manufacturer, this style is available with ice makers, ice/water/light in the door and various bins with adjustable temperature and humidity and lots of other bells and whistles. It is the preferred replacement model of choice as people transition from the top freezer model. Unfortunately, it continues to be a problem for storing large platters.

The widths range for 30” to 72.9”. The depths range from 22” to 35.9” + custom. The heights range from 63” to 84.9” + custom.

Manufacturers include: Amana, Bosch, Dacor, Electrolux, Fisher Paykel, GE, Hotpoint, Jenn-Air, KitchenAid, LG, Liebherr, Maytag, Northland, Samsung, Thermador, Viking, Whirlpool

The Classic Top Freezer Refrigerator

Generally, there are four major configurations preferred by American consumers. The original classic top freezer refrigerator was first produced by GE after the war continues to be the staple of the mass market American kitchen. It is an excellent value. It provides the largest amount of storage in the least amount of space at the lowest price. It is now available with many features found in more expensive configurations, such as: automatic ice makers, ice and water in the door and bins with adjustable temperature and humidity, gallon door storage, dual interior lighting systems, up front or illuminated temperature controls, ADA compliant.

It is the least expensive of all the refrigerator styles.

Depending on the model and manufacturer, upscale versions of this style have adjustable glass shelves, humidity controlled crispers, freezer baskets, deli and snack drawers, “supercool superfreeze”, wine rack, hidden hinges, full extension drawers, interior or exterior filtered ice and water, icemaker, adjustable door bins, electronic controls, custom overlay panels, self-closing freezer door, ADA compliant, gallon door storage, door alarm.

The widths range for 19” to 41.9” + custom. The depths range from 18” to 31.9” + custom. The heights range from 18” to 84.9” + custom.

Manufacturers include: Amana, Avanti, Danby, Estate, Frigidaire, GE, Gladiator, Hotpoint, KitchenAid, Marvel, Maytag, Northland (pricy), Smeg (who? See future post!), Whirlpool, Woods.

Uh oh! Is it time for a new refrigerator?

From the beginning, humans have tried to find ways to keep food, which was difficult to come by, fresh for longer periods. From using ice cold streams to cool dark caves to hiring runners to relay snow down the mountains to cool the drinks of rich nobles, to packing ice blocks in straw over the winter, people have tried just about everything to preserve their food.

From the powerless ice box through Thomas Edison’s lab, innovation led to the electric refrigerator then the frost-free freezer to new more energy efficient foams and better coolants to the newest possibility ~ magnetic refrigerators. Each generation has looked for new ways to advance the preservation of food ~ as well as a place to hang their children’s drawings.

Over the next few posts, let's look at the options.