A Slow Drain OR Decades of Gunk

Dug finally rerouted the kitchen drain. To give you an idea of what we were dealing with, I've provided illustrations.

The first is a diagram of how water drained from the kitchen sink to the sewer line. Notice the many-cornered path the waste water had to travel. This route + corroded pipes = eventual slowing of drain.

The second diagram illustrates the new route. Straight lines, few corners. Easy peasy.

Not only does the kitchen sink have happiness, but our downstairs (and right now, only) shower can drain by itself. The kitchen sink drain pipe used to run into the shower drain and often plugged it. Few things are grosser than taking a shower that stops draining and suddenly pieces of decomposing food start floating around your bare ankles. Nastiness.

But now it's all better. One more step to a completely happy house.

For your viewing enjoyment. Here is one last picture. This is a cross-section of a piece of pipe that Dug removed. Believe it or not, this is not the worst of them. (Sorry I didn't add anything in the picture for reference. That hole is just big enough to let a nickel fall through.) And we wondered why the sink and shower were always clogging...

Choice Goods Wednesday!

Do you need more from the knives in your kitchen? When you are fixing a meal, is there a hidden ninja wanting to come out?

Before I was given an ulu, the answer to both these questions was a resounding, "Yes!"

My husband is from Alaska where they have a saying: "Alaska - where the men are men, and so are the women." How is that possible? Well, my friend, they have ulus in the last frontier.

The ulu is a knife. A super-sweet knife historically used by women and crafted by Native Alaskans over 5000 years ago. It has a curved blade and looks quite menacing. Actually, it is menacing to any food you want to prepare. One look at the blade and that green pepper will know you aren't messing around.

According to Wikipedia.com, "Traditionally, the ulu would be passed down from generation to generation. It was believed that an ancestor's knowledge was contained within the ulu and thus would also be passed on." I love that sentiment. Of course I don't believe it, but I love the generational closeness that it symbolizes. How cool to work with the same tools that your great-grandmother worked with.

You can get an ulu by itself or as a set with a specially designed bowl-shaped cutting board. The cutting board is indispensable if you want to cut messy things like nuts or olives. The bowl keeps the olives from rolling away and the nuts from flying off. If you want to quickly mince herbs, use the ulu on a normal flat cutting board. With a quick, rocking motion you can make short work of those leaves with professional chef-like speed.

I have to be honest, when I hold my ulu I feel like a kitchen warrior. Woe to the vegetable that thinks it can best me. My ninja moves cut it down to perfectly minced pieces. What can stand in my way? Nothing! Nothing, I tell you! Wa ha ha ha ha...

Normally, the proper follow to that paragraph would be something like, "Sorry, I got a little carried away." But I can't lie. I wasn't getting carried away. I was merely baring my soul. My honest kitchen-hero soul unlocked by the power of an ulu.

If you feel restrained by your lack of food-prep weaponry, I highly suggest acquiring an ulu. With one you can be freed to prepare food in the highly efficient, entirely speedy way God intended you to.

Ulus...they're choice!

Vacation time is over!

We officially ended our Christmas vacation today. If yesterday was a do-nothing day, today had to be a do-something day. And what did we do? Why work on our bathroom, of course.

A refresher: Our bathroom is gutted. We need to fix it. Refresher ended.

As Dug was looking at the bathroom wall that the sink plumbing had to go through, he realized that the built-in spice rack shelf thing in our kitchen had to go. (See picture above.) The shelves were literally up against the bathroom wall, effectively closing off the between-stud area.

Unfortunately, our walls are lathe and plaster. Not too conducive to specific area removal. The lathe (little wooden boards running parallel to the floor and ceiling) are the "ribs" of the wall. The wet plaster is smeared all over it, making sure it gooshes through the gaps in the lathe so that when it dries, it's holding on tight. It's a sturdy wall and has a great texture, but that's where the pleasantries end. If you try to break off a piece of plaster, it breaks in highly irregular pieces. If you pull a piece of lathe free, it removes the support for the plaster and it can just fall off the wall. Any sort of trauma, even hammering nails, can cause the plaster to let go of the lathe and become unstable. So if we wanted to just remove this one piece of the wall, the violence of the act effectively destabilizes the entire wall. Huge cracks appear. It's not a pretty sight. So what could we do?

More demolition! I, for one, love demolition. It has always been a dream of mine to go to Pleasure Island with Pinnocchio and destroy stuff with all the bad boys. I think it would be worth it, even if I was turned into a donkey. Dug, on the other hand, hates demolition. It's messy and it is destructive. He prefers cleanliness and building. What is that they say? Opposites attract? In the words of Bethany, "Fo Sho!"

So to build the bathroom, we needed to tear some more stuff down. But with Dug around, it has to be in an orderly fashion. Which is probably best. If I was left to my own devices, we'd probably have the authorities knocking on our door, condemning the place. With Dug at the helm, not only would the entire process be systematic and organized, but at the end of the day, we wouldn't have much mess to clean up either. He's a clean-as-you-go kind of boy.

(He's right, you know. It is easier to clean as you go. You just do a little at a time. Where with me, the end is a huge disaster that takes forever to clean. So props to the big guy, I was able to make dinner about thirty minutes after we finished. But my way is soooo much more fun!)

Before:After:
The picture has those jagged edges because it is a blending of nine photos! I wanted to get the entire area but I couldn't get back far enough. Isn't Photoshop cool?! Notice how much more you can see compared to the "before" photograph.
So that's what we did today. Sounds a little counter-productive, but you've got to do what you've got to do. I think it's a bit of wisdom we can all take to heart: Sometimes to fix your bathroom, you've got to knock down 1/2 your kitchen wall.

Choice Goods Wednesday!

It's the second weekly Choice Goods Wednesday! Hurray! Today I have another item (actually items) that I wonder, "What did I ever do without you?"

Pictured at right are Adjustible Measuring Spoons from Pampered Chef. Mine are an older model and don't have the liquid-proof rubber. But even though I can only use mine for dry measures, they are sooo worth every last cent of their $7.25 asking price.

Imagine, if you will, you are making some spaghetti sauce. You know, that one from your great-grandmother Fortunella who immigrated from Sicily. The one with forty-seven herbs and spices. Well, just pick up your adjustable measuring spoons and with a little flick of the thumb, 1/2 tsp oregano. Another flick, 1 tsp basil. Flick again and you've got 3/4 tsp garlic powder. I could go on forever (or at least long enough for the other forty-four ingredients). It's all right there. One spoon goes from 1/8 teaspoon up to 1 teaspoon. The other picks up from the 1 teaspoon and continues up to the big daddy, Ol' Tablespoon himself.

These little guys are a huge time- and space- saver. Not only is every measurement available (including the 3/4 tsp and the ever-elusive 2 1/2 tsp), but it is literally right at your fingertips. No more searching around, finding the spoon and then realizing you grabbed the 1/2 Tb instead of the 1 tsp. Nope, not anymore. Plus you get all the measuring spoons you need only taking up the space of two, albeit bulky, spoons.

Some people have complained that the time needed to clean them negates any time saved by them. Here, I must disagree, and divulge a little secret in the process. Are you ready? I only wash mine when they get dirty. And I mean dirty, not just dusted with a little with cinnamon. But what about contamination?! I'll be honest with you. I have measured chili powder and cumin for chili and then turned around and made a cake with the same measuring spoons. Could anyone notice? Nope. (Although, I might have discouraged any of you from ever wanting to come to dine with us.) So my answer to the "they take too long to clean" people is this: You wash them too much. Throw them into the dishwasher with the dinner dishes after you're done cooking for the day. One thing to mention, I only use mine for dry ingredients. If I used wet ingredients in them, I would wash them more.

Since I'm raving about these, I wanted to inform you that I don't sell Pampered Chef, nor do I know anyone who does. I just happened to have bought these and love them. I also found a couple other spoons on the web here and here, if you're interested. Just keep in mind that I haven't tested the other brands. So their performance might vary.

Adjustable measuring spoons...they're choice!