KitchenStitch's Profile

I bought my cast iron skillet for about $3 at a Salvation Army four years ago, and it's definitely my most used pot. I scrubbed the heck out of it with steel wool when I got it, seasoned it properly once, and then let it build up its coating naturally. I wash it with dish soap and a scrub brush every time, and as long as I'm cooking with fat regularly the coating stays shiny and perfect. However, I will say that having a larger stainless steel saute pan around is also very handy. We have a complete set of All-Clad from our wedding. I'll second everyone who said that you should get a cheap cast iron pan and save up for a nice stainless steel one.

When I was in high school I created an "energy bar" for a science project that was like a cross between a granola bar and a rice krispie treat. You boil sugar and corn syrup, stir in peanut butter and either chocolate chips or cocoa mix (I actually like Swiss Miss cocoa mix in this recipe the best) and then stir it into a mixture of granola and rice krispies. When I'm feeling particularly healthy I mix some wheat germ into the dry mix and you can't taste it. Then you either lay out the whole mess in a pan, cool and cut it or you can dollop it onto parchment paper to make little cookies. It's super fattening but amazingly delicious. We called them "Study Buddies."

Thank you for the clarification, Chris. I think the problem the readers are having is due to the fact that all the home tours we see on AT are finished spaces that have been years in the making. At first I too was turned off by the chaos, but I got the impression from the intro that you were nearing the end of your construction process, not the beginning.

Knowing now that you've still just barely started, I find it fascinating to see how you're living through the construction. It does remind me a bit of indoor camping. I think I'd find it fun to live like this for a little while, but the novelty would wear off quickly.

Definitely keep us posted about how it all turns out. I'd also like to hear more about what's going to make this such an eco-friendly space.

I think I'm more inspired by your house tour than any other one I've seen. You've captured exactly the feel I strive for in my work-in-progress apartment. Your apartment is colorful yet grown-up, nicely styled yet so obviously lived in. I've been looking for something big but not overwhelming or expensive to go over our desk, and I'm going to go out TODAY to try to find a big old classroom map like yours. I love it.

Also, I need your shower curtain like a fish needs water. Where's it from? Share, pretty please!

I think that the reasons people are calling this home too "retail" are twofold:
First off, a lot of care, expertise, and restraint went into the selection of every single object shown in these photos. This person is a designer. This is what he does, so of course he does it to a tee in his own home. I bet he spends all day shopping around for his clients, and the best of the best of what he finds goes into his own home. The rest of us simply cant spend that much time finding great pieces for our homes.
Secondly, this is a home that requires something that most AT readers don't have much of: MONEY! Everything seen here is actual high end, not just trift store and ikea finds that are designed to simulate high end. I'm not saying one or the other is the "right" way to go, I just think that this home is very much in contrast with the usual AT aesthetic. In this home the driving factor is a sense of style, not an ability to be creative with limited resources.

I personally aspire to a home like this when I'm rearranging my craigslist and ikea furniture. It just... doesn't quite look the same.

If the photo where the kitty's eyes perfectly match the pillows wasn't intentional, it should have been. So cute!

I think that your color choices are very refined and sophisticated. My only criticism is that the extreme lack of clutter makes your photos feel a bit staged- like this is a photoshoot from a West Elm catalog. As your budget permits you should add some more personal and quirky accessories like that darling piggy to make it look and feel more homey.

Lurker2209, just pick whichever stuff is nicer, then put the rest into storage. If your new apartment won't have one of those great basement storage spaces, see if one of you can stash a few boxes at your parents' house.

My fiance and I moved cross-country together after graduation, and started out with nothing, so every piece of furniture we own was purchased jointly. Unfortunately, we started out with next to no money as well, so a lot of it is ugly Craigslist (not the cute vintage stuff- the stuff that sells for $25) and Ikea. The agreement is that he gets all the functional, ugly stuff and I get to keep the attractive stuff that I've been slowly adding to our apartment. The one thing we fight over is the TV. He works at a big electronics and got a great deal on a 42" flat screen, which I probably use more than he does. If we break up, I want it! It sits on MY pretty credenza, which was purchased to fit it perfectly. He gets the new iMac, all the video game systems, and the extensive collection of DVDs, and the old TV. I think it's only fair that I get one piece of cool electronics out of the deal. He does not agree. We just had a (mock) shouting match about who gets the TV, inspired by this post. I guess we just can't break up!

I can actually give you a bit more of a definitive answer on this. Pyrex is indeed heat resistant, and so is often used as bakeware and also in labs as heat resistant beakers. I used a lot of them when I was a science teacher. One day we were using one of our trusty old pyrex beakers for a boiling water experiment, when it suddenly exploded on the hot plate. Luckily no students were nearby, so no-one was injured.

This can happen because though pyrex is resistant to heat, it is still a glass. Glass molecules are arranged randomly, as they are in liquids, and do not have strong bonds between them. This is why really old glass in windowpanes is thicker in the bottom- the glass has flowed down over the years due to gravity. Because of this structure, to cut glass all you must do is score it with a sharp tool and you can break it evenly, since you've lined up the molecules in straight rows and they will snap down the center. This kind of arranging effect can also happen if you smack a pyrex beaker or bowl down on a counter or hard surface. If this happens repeatedly over time, and this is coupled with the expansion and contraction of heating and cooling, you weaken the structure of the glass. This can cause it to unexpectedly shatter apart in response to a temperature change. Apparently this happens a lot at schools, since students don't tend to be terribly careful about smashing the glassware around on stuff.

The moral of the story is, treat your pyrex glassware with caution and try to avoid dealing it any sharp blows, especially against those rock hard (pun intended) granite countertops everyone has nowadays.