The Plan for our kitchen--the colors

Jason and I needed to decide on a color scheme for our kitchen.  It had to match our black appliances, black countertop, and red stand mixer and blender.

I

Picture of a kitchen we saw while house hunting and loved.  This was our inspiration.

What this picture doesn't show is the super cute formica table they used to stage the house.  

So, using this as a jumping off point, we knew we wanted a "red kitchen."  However, since red can be such an overwhelming color, we didn't want our kitchen to look tacky.  (Or at least tacky in a way that was pleasing to us)

We also have hardwood floors, which I absolutely love and were a huge selling point of the house, so we are keeping those.

Our "before" kitchen

I googled "red kitchen" and started pouring through tons of search results.  It was tricky because just black and red was a little too 80s-sounding to me (I'm sure it could look great with the right combination) and it was a little too dark.  Since there is already some white in the kitchen, I narrowed my search to kitchens with black, white, and red as the main colors. 

The problem with those colors was I thought red walls would overwhelm the kitchen, I'm too old-and-not-goth for black walls, and white walls in a kitchen sound boring and would show all of the dirt.  So I was going to need one more color in my kitchen.  I wanted this color to seem neutral though and help the red to stand out, rather than compete with the red. 

After a lot of searching, I found the perfect kitchen on the Better Homes and Gardens Website:

First kitchen color scheme I wanted. 

http://www.bhg.com/kitchen/color-schemes/inspiration/red-kitchen-design-ideas/?rb=Y#page=2

I showed it to Jason and he said he liked it.  Then he scrolled through the other pictures on the same website and found one he ACTUALLY liked:

Kitchen color scheme Jason and I both liked.

http://www.bhg.com/kitchen/color-schemes/inspiration/red-kitchen-design-ideas/?rb=Y#page=4

He confessed that the one I liked he was just faking enthusiasm for, but THIS one was perfect.  I liked this one too.  I liked how the green didn't overwhelm the kitchen, and the red still really popped, but there wasn't so much red that it looked like a blood bath.  So we agreed on this color scheme, but these tiles were not the right fit for our backsplash. 

We went to Menards and looked at backsplash options for a really long time.  I found an awesome backsplash I loved.  We bought it and I came home and googled for "red kitchen with black and white backsplash."  I found this, which was pretty much the same colors and exactly the same backsplash we had planned:

A kitchen with a similar color scheme and the same tile backsplash we bought.

Extreme close-up of the tile.

http://www.hgtvremodels.com/kitchens/a-kitchen-crafted-for-the-eco-friendly/index.html

So this was our common vision of the colors we wanted to see in our kitchen.

Please excuse the brevity of this post, it was PERFECT and somehow the perfect draft got erased and I had to rewrite it...twice...

Mom, mom, mom!

When I am busy and can't hold the baby, but she wants to be held she crawls across the floor muttering, "Mom, mom, mom," but I know she is plotting to put me in the worst nursing home she can find.

Bullying, Mean Girls, and Parenting

http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2012/03/how_do_i_stop_myself_from_meddling_in_my_daughter_s_schoolyard_problems_.html

I read this article and I really liked it.  I love a lot of Slate's articles, but this one drew several, opposite, reactions from me and I like how it made me think and question how I feel about this topic.

I am a socially awkward person.  I am much better than I used to be, but in school I was painfully awkward.  I was bullied a lot in school, but I almost think I deserved to be.  Bullying is a horrible, painful experience.  But it is also society's way of telling you that your behavior is not appropriate for social settings.  I had many crushes in school, particularly middle school.  Because of my inexperience and lack of understanding of social rules I did not express my interest in those people appropriately.  In fact, if I were to have been in school today, in a more enlightened time, I may have faced disciplinary action for sexual harassment since I didn't understand that when someone says they are not interested, you need to leave them alone.  Base on what I read in Seventeen magazine and saw in romantic comedies, I believed if I just kept expressing my interest, eventually those people I was interested would magically become interested.  Unfortunately, I made my own middle school experience and the middle school experience of several boys I went to school with horrible.

I was bullied by boys who wanted me to leave them alone and didn't know how else to send that message.  I was ostracized by most everyone except for my most forgiving friends.  It was horrible and I wanted to kill myself often.  But because it was horrible, I was highly motivated not to repeat my mistakes as an adult, and I learned how to conduct myself (more) appropriately.

As a society, we've finally become aware of the epidemic bullying in schools has become.  However, we haven't figured out how to deal with it.

I am a former middle school teacher from a school where bullying was terrible.  The school knew that the bullying was interfering with their standardized test scores learning and was eager to fix the problem quickly. The implemented an anti-bullying program called Oelweus.  The teachers got one or two 45 minute training sessions on the program, and were given a script of how to lead class discussions on bullying.  The program consisted on helping students to identify what bullying was and wasn't, and what to do if they were being bullied or they saw someone being bullied.

This was great in theory, but in practice it was a disaster for me to teach.  The solutions were always to get an adult to intervene.  Which is great, but it seemed as though an adult in that situation could only treat the symptom of the bullying, not the cause.  The main reason bullying happens is because students don't like a kid.  Mostly its because a kid is not following the other kid's social norms.  Bullying is a form of social sanctions that are meant to get the kid to conform to the social norms.

Now we like to think student's shouldn't have to follow social norms, but really, most of the time they should.  For example, if a kid is getting bullied because he picks his nose and eats the boogers, well, he needs to learn not to do that.  So you can punish kids all day long for bullying the kid, or you can teach the kids the social skills he needs not to pick his nose.

Schools used to spend more time helping to develop kids socially, but in this day of high stake standardized tests, anything that isn't measured on a standardized test is thrown out the window.  This is causing kids who struggle socially to struggle even more, which leads to increased bullying, which, ironically causes kids to be so emotionally distraught they are not able to learn, which lowers test scores.

If we as a society really want to decrease bullying, rather than punishing kids that bully, wen need to spend more time showing and helping students learn how to live within society's written and unwritten rules.  One of those rules is forgiveness and second chances.

One problem is: in school you don't get a redo.  Once you've established yourself as socially maladroit, you are labelled that way forever.  School was painful because of that label, but I've been lucky enough to move several times, getting a do-over each time.  If we took the time to talk to kids, and model forgiveness, empathy, and understanding for them, students could learn social skills in a safe environment and we might start making some progress with getting bullying under control   The bully will learn appropriate, non-bullying behaviors, and the victim will learn appropriate actions that will not make them ostracized.

WTF HAPPENED TO MY MOUSSE?!

As many of you know, my AWESOME husband got me a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer for my birthday.  Unfortunately, we tore our kitchen apart to paint and then the baby got the flu in the middle of that, so I have not had as many chances to break in that bad boy as I had hoped.

However, today everyone was healthy and the windows were open, so I grabbed my chance and decided to make the Double Chocolate Mousse recipe in the Kitchenaid recipe book that came with the mixer.

A word about my mixer:

It is so much more mixer than I am cook.  We got the professional 600, which as far as I know (which is not much), is the Ferrari of stand mixers.  I hear it can handle 14 cups of flour, or eight lbs of mashed potatoes.  Yes, eight POUNDS.  That is enough mash potatoes to satiate my DAD.  It comes with a "direct drive, all-steel gear transmission."  That is right.  My mixer has a transmission.  Are you impressed yet?

All of that being said, I will never use this thing to his full potential unless I gain super powers.  However, after our last handmixer started fire when I tried to use it to make bread, I wanted a mixer I could trust to get the job done.

My hope is that some day my great-grandson or daughter will have inherited this stand mixer and will proudly write in their blog how neat it is to have something that is a link to their past.  I hope it is amazing that the crazy woman sitting in the corner washing her hands and muttered about "kids these days" and "dragons" at all of their family functions growing up is the same lady who used the same hand mixer they inherited.

I hope they never know what a bad cook I was with it.

Admittdely, all I've made with it so far is butter, so I was ready for a challenge.  I read through the Kitchenaid recipe booklet that came with the stand mixer and read the mousse recipe.  I like mousse, so I thought, "Maybe." 

I did some extensive research on mousse.  I typed "mousse" into Google and a foodie site said mousse was "Surprisingly easy."  This was what I wanted.  Something that impressed my husband but was "Surprisingly easy."  So I went to Hy-Vee, got my ingredients, and decided to make mousse.

First, I asked Jason to watch the baby while I made the mousse.  He pointed out that it was late and he had to work in the morning.  I told him that I had read the directions and it would only take "About 15 minutes."  Jason said, "You've never made this before.  Its going to take longer than that.  I'm going to bed."  I hate when he is right.

So I got out my recipe, and followed along:

To Make  Mousse: Place bittersweet chocolate in one 3- to 4-cup microwave-safe bowl.

The ingredient list specifically said 6 oz. of bittersweet chocolate broken into 3/4in bits.  So, I got a knife and broke them into as small of pieces as I could:

Then I placed them in a microwave safe bowl:

Place white chocolate in a second microwave-safe bowl.

I didn't see the same kind of size of white chocolate as the bittersweet chocolate (Which was REALLY hard to find) at the store, so I bought this:

But the ingredient list said it was supposed to be 6 oz. of white chocolate broken into 3/4 in. pieces.  The package says this is 12 oz, so I needed exactly half of this package.  I don't have a scale, so I came up with an ingenious plan.  I poured the entire bag into this cup:

Which came out to exactly two cups of white chocolate.  Then I put 1 cup back in the bag and tada! half of the bag, or 6 oz. of white chocolate:

I poured the white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl:

 Cover each withwaxed paper.
I forgot to do this.

Place one bowl at a time into microwave oven and heat on HIGH for 1 1⁄2minutes. Stop and stir. If chocolate is notmelted, repeat process for 30 seconds at a time,or until melted. Stop and stir.
I did this. 

As you can see, a little bit of the bittersweet chocolate burnt, so I took it out of the bowl and threw the burnt part away:

While the chocolates were melting one at a time, I did this stage:

Heat cream:

...in a heavy saucepan:

...over medium heat until very hot, but do not boil. Remove from heat.:

/
There were some bubbles, but it didn't exactly boil.

Pour one cup of cream:

...into each of the chocolate bowls:

Stir each until completely mixed:

And:

Cover bowls and refrigerate about 2 hours:

Two hours?!?

Pour white chocolate mixture into mixer bowl.
This is when I started realizing something was wrong.  I took the bowl and easily poured the liquid-y mixture into the stand mixer:

Attach bowl and wire whip to mixer. Gradually turn to Speed 6 and beat 4 to 4 1⁄2minutes, or until soft peaks form.




Spoon about 1⁄3 cup mixture into each of 6 stemmed dessert dishes.Set aside.
Forgot to take picture.

Pour bittersweet chocolate mixture into mixerbowl.
This is where huge warning bells were going off in my head.  While the white chocolate poured into the mixer, this one looked like fudge:

And I had to scraped the bittersweet mixture into the mixer.  Still, I thought maybe it would be okay since the recipe said to:

Gradually turn to Speed 6, and beat about3 minutes, or until soft peaks form.
I thought maybe since the recipe said to beat it for less time it was normal for the two mixtures to be different.  So, since I don't really know what a soft peak might look like, I whipped it for 3 minutes:



Spoon about 1⁄3cup mixture over white chocolate layer.

Extreme close-up:

THIS is when I was sure something had gone wrong.  A double mousse could not possibly be expected to look so different. 

So I googled images of mousse.  It was not very helpful because some images looked like the white mousse:

And some images looked like the bittersweet mousse:

Cover dishes with plastic wrap or foil. Refrigerate 8 hours, or overnight.

Overnight?!?  I lost the picture of these covered and in the fridge, so you will just have to trust me.

The next morning, I made the raspberry sauce:

To Make Raspberry Sauce:Place raspberries in blender container. Cover andblend until smooth.

Now, when you thaw frozen raspberries they make a sticky mess, which no one told me about.  So the trip from the fridge to the blender ended with one of the dogs covered in raspberry juice, and both dogs helping me clean up:

Then I threw them in our Kitchenaid blender and blended into oblivion:

If you ever make this, be sure to listen to the "cover" directions:

 Pour mixture into a wire mesh strainer over a small saucepan; press withback of spoon to squeeze out liquid. Discardseeds and pulp in strainer.

Disaster here.  I don't have a "wire mesh strainer" so I used our white plastic strainer.  Well, at first I tried to use the small holes in the center of the strainer:

But none of the juic was coming through.  So then I tried to use the bigger holes on the outside:

But that didn't seem to be doing anything to keep the seeds and skins out.  And it was going through slowly for not even straining.  So, I gave up and threw it all in the saucepan:

...with the tablespoon of corn starch, 1/3 cup of water, and 1/3 cup of sugar the recipe called for.

Place remaining ingredients in saucepan. Cookover medium heat, stirring constantly, untilthickened and bubbly.

This part reminded me of the cranberry sauce recipe our Aunt Karla gave us for Thanksgiving.

Remove from heat and cool. Store sauce in covered container in refrigerator. Stir before using.  Spoon Raspberry Sauce over chocolate in dessert dishes before serving.

Despite something obviously going wrong, we still ate it.  I thought it was okay, Jason thought it was "Good. Really, really good."

So I don't know what I did wrong.  If you know anything about cooking, what do you think?  What happened?

Fun things to know about this recipe: Yield: 6 servings (2⁄3cup mousse and 1⁄4cupraspberry sauce per serving).Per serving: About 664 cal, 6 g protein, 53 gcarb, 48 g fat, 115 mg chol, 57 mg sodium.

Tiny

There is this brand that makes baby stuff.  They have Tiny Tummies, which are gas drops for babies.  They have Tiny Noses which is a saline nose spray for babies.  So when they makes stuff for cradle cap, why don't they call it Tiny Scales?  Its called Little Remedies Cradle Cap Lotion, but I would much rather buy Tiny Scales Lotions.

Bidet

After using my friends super amazing bidet toilet seat, I definitely want one! However, they are really all over the place in price. I've seen $5 bottles labeled as portable bidets, $30 hose attachments, $130-$1000 bidet toilet seats and several thousand dollar bidet fixtures. What have you used? What works? What doesn't work? I love the incentive of saving money on toilet paper and feeling cleaner.

The "Before" Pictures

When we bought our dream house last July, we talked about doing lots of things with the house--eventually.   

We  are now getting to a point where we are mostly unpacked, and doing something small around the house is a possibility. Jason used to be a professional painter, so I know he has been itching to repaint the very-amateurish paint job the previous owners did all over the house.  

However, we once watched a show on HGTV where the owners stripped their whole house down to remodel, then ran out of money and had to live in that indefinitely.  I KNOW I don't want to make that mistake, so I really want to focus on one room at a time.  I've read from multiple sources that the kitchen and the bathroom get the most "bang for their buck" when it comes to remodels that increase the value of a home (Which makes sense because they are also the most expensive rooms to remodel!) and after we visited friends who had recently remodeled a bathroom and saw how much work goes into a bathroom remodel, the kitchen made the most sense to start with, especially since I spend so much of my time there.

Right now the kitchen is functional, but bland.  All of the appliancesaere adequate, except the damn oven which takes FOREVER to reach temperature, and all of the appliances are the same color (black):

      

What the kitchen looked like before we moved in.

It is a fine kitchen, plenty of room and lots of potential, but it is boring and does not suit our personalities.

As you can see, the walls are a horrible mauve-y 80s awfulness that made me want to claws my eyes out of my head every time I saw it.

The company that staged the house used this bizarre choice for a table.  The table was in the corner of the room you can't see to the right of the top picture.:

This picture also helps show the mauve-y awfulness of the walls.

From the moment I saw this house, I wanted to buy it.  And from the moment I saw this corner of our eat-in kitchen, I knew it needed a nook.  So after we moved in, I badgered my poor husband to let me get a nook, even though he was very opposed to it.  I found one on Craigslist for under $100, and just like that we had a nook:

Try to ignore the sweet potato that has sprouted and now grows in our hanging basket.

My husband has learned to live with the nook, and I haven't killed the dogs for EATING my nook (they are puppies so they are teething on everything), so this is what that corner looks like now.  I know, your next question must be, "Where can I learn to keep a house that clean?" But that is a blog for another time.

Now that we are unpacked and the home stagers have gone back to wherever they came from, this is what our kitchen looks like when its actually in use:

A place for everything, and everything in its place.

And obviously we do not have enough storage space, even though we also have these to help with storing all of our kitchenry:

Yes, those are my husband's practice swords. 

Doesn't everyone store their practice swords in the kitchen?

And this was still not enough space for storing all of our crap, so we added a pantry, a microwave cart, two dog kennels, and a table to the previously too-empty-to-bother-photographing-before-moving-in wall:

After we moved in.

So since we've been living here for six months, we felt like we knew the space well enough to start making some more permanent decisions about organizing, decorating and using the space.  I also spend most of my days in the kitchen, and having the walls a color I hate is not a huge motivator to go cook.  The next thing we have to do is plan the kitchen (That blog is coming soon!)