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My mother got to the point where she would include a self-addressed stamped envelope with a thank you note for gifts she sent her grandson and still got no thank you notes.
Can you hear my tapping toe, waiting for a photo? I really can’t wait to see the results!
@nini804 - thanks, that's very helpful. I saw Ivey's but that's a little rich for my blood. Sounds like any choice nearby would be fine.
@gsciencechick - is that where you are located? The things I'm interested in attending are at the Belk Theater and the Knight Theater - various events in Nov, Jan, Feb, Mar and April. I will probably commit to the opera tickets soon.
Yep! I live in NC but work in SC so I drive back and forth all the time.
YAY - I can get together with another GWer and a cat lover with cats like mine!
:@Joseph Corlett, LLC, do you have a fave 30" sink with a top right corner drain?"
I don't have a favorite, but I'd look at Kraus and Blanco stainless.
"Is Blanco Silgranite considered a composite sink?"
Yes, unfortunately, I can't recommend them.
@gardener123 Thanks!!! It’s been delayed, but I’’m replacing the cabinet fronts in white and the island will be all white also. I think this will be nice in that I want the architecture and landscaping to be the focus. It also gives me a chance to replace these sinks!
You'd better test and find out beforehand.
Can I borrow that cute mosaic table while you are gone?
I am in the same boat right now — leaving Fri for Italy/Switzerland — except my clothes are in messy piles on the guest room bed.
I know what you mean Jojo, but the profiles are more varied now than the funny proportions of the restaurant ones . I did a thread on this a few months back.
A few things to look out for:
1. the warmth of the light
2. on mine, the cord comes from the top (the shade) which is odd to me. I think that is often the case, so look out for it because if you leave yours plugged in (as I do) and ready to go, I think that looks odd
I really like the mirrors! Your buffet is gorgeous with the art and sconces. I would shop your china cabinet for something for the top of the buffet. Or maybe look for something brass to carry that down to the top. Maybe an art glass piece?
ok, I'll bite. What's a Lady Boss chair?
An attractive and comfortable chair that a woman would want to sit in all day to work. Preferably with custom upholstery and nail heads.🙂🍾
I would not add anything as a backsplash - those are for kitchens to protect the walls from splashed food . . . Want this to look like an office.
Agree with the chair suggestion, but the most important thing is that the chair is comfortable and ergonomically appropriate if you are sitting in it for 8+ hours a day.
Have you done poured epoxy before? If not, I would experiment on something else before attempting to do it here. It looks like this is a Formica / laminate top. If I am correct this could easily be covered with another sheet of laminate in the color / pattern of your choice. There are quite a few marble look choices, but I may go for a solid white or solid color vs marble.
You an have too many rectangles on a wall if you're not careful
Well I didn't realize this was that thread lol.
I opened and and thought, wow what a pretty bedroom! I wonder what that paint color is....... and then I read on and thought this sounded familiar.
So yes please, any updates, and do you know the paint color? It's lovely! ( or was it there and we don't kow). Anyway it's lovely.
If this is Thibaut Katsura it is 54" wide and the pattern goes Up the roll so it would have to go Around the bolster. You aren't going to get a 56" bolster with the fabric oriented the right way out of a single width of fabric, there would be a seam running up each side,
The very widest you will get seamless is 52" with a one inch seam
In other words, if you were using a fabric that went across the width instead of up the roll, since the pattern would then be vertical on something lying down like a bolster, you could have a seamless bolster almost 100 yards long. Since your pattern goes up the roll and you want it to be the correct way on the bolster, without seams you are going to end up with a 52" bolster. If you want 56" you are going to have a 2" strip of fabric up each end of the bolster. That's fine, they do it all the time, but it's a lot more fabric and fabrication.
my favorite is a hamball ... equal amounts ground beef/ground pork/gound ham. a few breadcrumbs and eggs combined and formed into largish meat balls.
they freeze raw really nice ... flash freeze on a sheet pan and once frozen store in a zip bag until it's go time.
baked in the oven drizzled with a tangy/slightly sweet [mustard-tomato-vinegar-brown sugar] glaze. Usually holiday fare around here --- except Independence Day
Alex has a six part series on meatballs. Can't believe that was 4 years ago. When i made köfte for the first time.
Kevin won't eat beef or pork, and so when I make meatballs, I use ground turkey.
I pretty much always add a packet of gelatin, 1/4 tsp baking soda, egg, bread crumbs, and spices, depending on how I will use them.
For Italian style, I add oregano, basil, thyme, garlic, and sometimes minced onion.
For Chinese style:
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp dry sherry, sake, or dry Vermouth
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp Chinese chili paste
- 2 tsp grated fresh ginger
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2-3 green onions, chopped
- 2 tsp cornstarch 2/3 cups breadcrumbs or Panko
- 1-1/4 pound ground turkey
I make small Chinese meatballs and use them in Japanese soups, and so I guess you could call them Japanese meatballs. I also use these meatballs with stir-fried vegetables with noodles of various kinds, such as Yakisoba, rice, bean, or tapioca.
I also make Greek and Lebanese style meatballs and serve them with tzatziki sauce, usually with pita bread, lettuce, tomato, and hummus.
You can also skip handles on that cabinet and do a magnetic push latch on the inside.
Mallory, overall I’d say I’m happy with the Sofia Pro. The induction top works fabulously. The individual hobs have great control and also have fast heat settings when you want to get things going quickly. I only need more than one hob for one pan when making pancakes or French toast. In these cases I do need to place my griddle over both the center and one of the front hobs, so kind of going diagonally across the cooktop surface. I do not notice any problems doing this even though there is no bridge. Is the temperature in the middle of the griddle less than the parts over the two hobs? Yes, but not enough it seems to really matter - at least for the stuff I cook. It may be different if someone is doing something needing super-critical temps across the entire cooking surface.
The oven is pretty good. Part of the reason I decided on the Sofia Pro is that it has one of the largest oven capacities among the 36” brands I looked at. And it does. It’ll take anything I can throw into it with room to spare. The gliding rack is a really nice feature, even if it does use up a bit more vertical space than a regular wire rack. It can always be replaced with a standard wire rack when necessary.
Oven calibration works very well. If I remember correctly the range is -35/+35 degrees of calibration adjustment. Pre-heat time when set to Fast (a button press activates this when desired) is quite fast. Comes up to Bake 425 in about 10 minutes, give or take. Evenness is reasonable when using non-convection settings. I still have to rotate pies and the like to get perfectly even browning across the surface, but I can tell that it’s better than my old 30” KitchenAid gas range. Evenness for convection settings is better. Beyond that I can’t say much as I haven’t done critical temperature testing over the oven space.
I have had a disappointment with the self-clean, however. Do a search for that here and you’ll see it. Apart from that I’ve been happy with this purchase. Hope this helps.
Very helpful, Tony, thank you. Mallory, have you made a decision? Also in the same boat!
Has anyone dropped to a 30" since there are so few good options?
I haven't had an issue. I wipe up spills as they occur. If there is on baked on grunge, I put a wide shallow pan of water in the oven, set it on bake at 300 and let the steam loosen the mess and wipe clean.
I have a GE French door wall oven with self clean and I've never used the self clean mode. I use the same technique for both ovens.
Could anyone with the FP 36” induction in classic or conremporary tell me what size breaker they have? The manual says load (recommended power supply) is 40. It is unclear if this means a 40 amp breaker or a50 amp breaker since a breaker should be bigger than the usage. A 40 amp breaker seems smaller than other 36” induction ranges require. I want to be safe, but I don’t want to undersize. I want that pot of water to boil fast!
You'll have a lot more options if you can convert the cabinet to take a freestanding range, or the cooktop over oven combo. In general, Induction is pretty much the same unit to unit, especially in the moderate price range (super fancy might be making their own inductors, doing interesting layouts, etc., and low end can have inferior wiring and controls). The things to check for are power output per element, which elements have power sharing (same with a separate cooktop), how many power levels (at least 17, plus potentially boost, ultra low simmer, fry, etc. Boost is very useful. Others may not really be needed, but may appeal to you).
Location of the various elements for your cooking style--I use my least powerful least often because it's in the back. Great for a simmer--but a long reach and why bother if I don't have to put something to the back to use the greater power of the front. But there's nothing better for making toffee or melting chocolate; small pan, low heat, no double boiler. Also check the location of the controls and how they operate. Some people don't have good results with touch pads, or have trouble with sliders because they don't have the right heat/signals in their fingers. Others are fine when each element has its own control, but go bonkers when they have to select the element first, then use a single control on each--or vice versa. But the quality of induction cooktops at the most would vary on the quality of the wiring. They all work pretty well. And the forgoing things to check out are most meaningful in the "don't let that in my house" category because there's so few 36" slide-ins.
For ovens, I always want the ability for a cold start without going into preheat mode, which is needed for my baking. Others don't give a hoot about that. Also, the accuracy of the temperature. That isn't such a big deal if you're a comfortable and adaptable cook. This is the biggest variation in ovens, but all ovens, even the same brand, have quirks. Do a lot of checking on things when you first get it and learn how it works and you'll be fine.
So, if you find one you like (and BTW, giant ovens are inefficient, and sometimes the absolute space isn't the same as the usable space, so the FP might be fine). Do go check them all in person and bring your go-to pans. Oh, and make sure there's repair available locally! Ask them about how many repairs they have to do on them as well. They'll often tell you.
Thank you all again for your kind words and thoughts about this. I finally worked up my courage to call her, worried that I wouldn't be able to squeak out any words, but just start crying. But it was a really upbeat conversation and she made it very easy to stay positive. I had sent a waxed Amaryllis bulb to her via her daughter and she told me how it was in full bloom and such a delight. Then she told me how in 1924, her grandfather had moved in with her family for a few years and brought a tub of Amaryllis bulbs with him that bloomed every year. He kept them going for many years, then in the 1980's he passed on the bulbs to his great-grandson, who has kept them going all these years. Her daughter (my friend) recently visited the great-grandson and brought home 4 of these bulbs. So, in telling me this story, she was relating how special having a blooming Amaryllis is for her at this time.
She was a teacher and our conversation ran the gamut from Socrates to her thoughts about humanity going forward. One take-away for me when we talked about the current political climate and happenings: "It's always been hard to be a human." And another, "I think humanity, despite how it might look, is still headed in an upward direction."
So we said our good-byes, expressed our love, and I had a good cry after I hung up.
Olychick I too am conflcted about such a final step but also recognize it as individual’s own choice to end their life.
Selfishly, I’d like any person who would make a goose raincoat to remain on the planet as long as possible just to elevate the tone of the rest of the population.
For a minute I thought it was an inspiration pic! It's gorgeous!
It’s so good! Now you get to enjoy it.
It is so on trend, but the vanity makes it just a little bit different. I love the rug you chose and hope you post when that is in.I might add some bamboo blinds to the windows in a light color like your vanity.
Very nicely done! You must be so excited to have it done!
This is another Iceland view taken while driving - DD1
This is a blue passionflower in Belize - DD2
This is an arch near the Colosseum in Rome - me
This is a natural bridge in Iceland’s Snaefellsnes peninsula - me
This is a bridge in Bosnia - DH
Much easier to see! Thanks. I have not sorted through our photos but they are mostly in albums for better or for worse.
Congrats on your new condo. I am glad you are happy. One can only do what they feel up to. Your physical & mental well being matter the most. Gardening outside, especially in the summer, is physically a lot of work.
Houseplants are a huge craze now lol. I dont have a lot of light inside my house now (windows shaded by deep porches) so I hang houseplants outside near the eaves of the porch roof most of the year.
Sounds liberating! Have fun finding some happy houseplants!