Rucy's Profile

@SHADYLANE:

http://goo.gl/5Er5e

I love these parties but what I genuinely love is how generous everyone is with sharing ideas (so it makes it far easier on the next parent using that idea!).

I'd definitely change that roofline & facade however I'd save money until I could do the full job, for now I'd just put some plants in the planter box, the shutters won't be as noticeable if you put some taller plants in front of the shutters.

Hey, it looks great!

I did the same in my kitchen, using that cabinet paint kit and I installed new hardware (just over $1 each for 6" bar hardware on eBay - those were $5+ at my local big box store), and the cabinet paint is holding up so well everyone thinks they're brand new cabinets. Sanding wasn't required but since my old finish was flaking off on a few doors I really had to sand it off before painting. In my case the cabinets switched from oak to white and the cabinet hardware is bronze since I was trying to match other finishes already in the house. Instead of the wallpaper, which I'd considered using, I went with actual beadboard because I was replacing the countertops (the wallpaper's a great solution if you're not replacing yours). Instead of the countertop painting, which I've used and it worked out very well in the laundry area, I opted to remove my kitchen counters and install IKEA butcher block until I can afford my dream of marble counters. I looked at a complete kitchen tearout and new cabinet install but it turned out that my current cabinets were in great condition, because they're solid wood they're better construction than the new cabinets I'd be getting, and I only needed to add inserts to two cabinets to give them the modern convenience I wanted. My kitchen reno so far and I still have to buy a new ceiling light, install new flooring, and additional molding is under $425.

I'd suggest you switch any egg white for meringue powder.

An alternative icing would be confectioner's sugar, flavoring (juice/extract), and agar agar (for body - it's purified seaweed and a substitute for gelatin).

A friend once told me that, prior to our having met, at her wedding the cake stood out too long in the summer heat and everyone who ate the cake came down with food poisoning. Be safe, refrigerate the cake until serving, then quickly refrigerate any leftovers and ask guests if they want a second slice.

I harvested the last of the oranges so an orange chocolate chip angel food cake, mint orange-ade, and later some homemade pasta with goat cheese - grated orange rind - pistachios and an early cherry tomato confit (sounds crazy mixed up but it tastes great).

I'm not a big microwave user so I packed that away, made a bunch of favorite meals & froze them, used an electric wok ($16), a Breville toaster oven (it's the best of the best), and a crockpot. I also simplified my diet for the time the kitchen was out of commission, used a number of ready-to-eat ingredients from Trader Joe's (cooked lentils, cooked brown rice, combined with a crockpot of slow-cooked caramelized onions), and setup a great yogurt buffet for myself (plain yogurt in bulk, jams, jarred fruits, dried fruits, nuts, spices, different sweeteners, extracts for more flavoring, granola). Of everything I made it turned out that making a different flavor of yogurt each day turned out to be my favorite. And when I was really tired, because I was doing the renovation work myself, it was the yogurt I went to first for dinner (about 40% of the daily protein you need in one cup).

I got the kids more interested in vegetables by battering them with tempura and frying, things like green beans and cauliflower and artichoke hearts and mushrooms (that they'd flatly refused before), and then I introduced the vegetables un-fried every third time then every second time then every time until the fried version came the rare "treat". Green beans and cauliflower with a soy ginger dipping sauce, mushrooms with a Greek yogurt ranch-style sauce, worked like a charm. After that they became so interested in veggies that they were choosing what we grew in the garden (and eating everything!).

Or you can make shiitake mushroom 'bacon', you'll find videos on YouTube, I make it using large portobello mushrooms and my old-favorite bacon flavorings (brown sugar & black pepper is one). You have to experiment to come up with the right technique to satisfy your fattiness & flavor preferences but I've figured out how to make it work for me. This is how well it works for a former bacon-addict --- I don't even crave pig anymore.

And, um... Parmesan cheese isn't vegetarian, indeed most cheeses aren't vegetarian, one has to check the rennet that's used and I have yet to find a real Parmesan-style cheese that didn't use animal rennet. Vella's dry monterey jack cheese is a good vegetarian substitute for Parmesan. Slightly different flavor but the same grating qualities. Costs nearly the same arm & a leg as Parmigiano does too ($20-25/lb).

Yes, it's called a kink-free or self-coiling house, available at garden centers & big box stores - they've been available for nearly a decade.