Holy weak coffee, Tisha! Sweetie, I've got to side with the Pirate on this one... wow. I'd be clutching my head in caffeine withdrawal after coffee like that. But then I use those one-or-two cup stove-top espresso makers for my morning jolt. Other end of a caffeine addict's spectrum. Ming, the difference in taste might be due more to the brewing method than to incompetency on your part :) Most coffee joints percolate coffee (rather than drip or press), and that gives coffee a richer flavour. You can invest in a percolator, but those tend to be pretty pricy. I've found that the best way to mimic that perc-ed taste is to make my coffee in a stove-top espresso maker (they're little silver thingies, and run about $20), and to use a rich, full-bodied (but not acidic) bean - Sumatran or a French Roast of almost any bean are favourites, but I've also found most Ethiopian coffees work well, too. If you go to a health food store, you'll probably find descriptions of the various types of coffee on the bin, so you can avoid anything acidic, and look for descriptions like "full-bodied," "rich blend," etc. Also a lot of "breakfast blends" tend to be rich, without being overwhelming. You can't use cold water for a french press - too bad for that, I say, since icy coffee is so yummifying in the summer, and the wait time for coffee to cool is such a hassle! But you CAN add cinnamon to your coffee - just add a teaspoon or less to the ground beans when you go to make a pot. It'll change the taste, of course, and if you don't like cinnamon or are a coffee purist, then this tip is not for you. But I find that cinnamon adds depth to what might otherwise be a pretty lackluster coffee - you know, old and stale or bitter beans... that kind of thing. Good luck with your coffee experimentation! It's kind of fun, eh? Oh yeah! Sometimes, the cream you use can alter the taste of your coffee! If my cream isn't fresh, even if it hasn't ~really~ gone bad yet, then my coffee tastes SO bitter. Shelly

My knives cut raw chicken, raw pork, raw beef. I want them to be clean. Dishwasher. Knives are expendable supplies. If they need sharpened I sharpen them. If they need replaced I replace them. Getting a little more life from knives that will last 5 to 10 years is not a good trade-off vis-a-vis bacteria growing on the blade or hilt that gets transferred to our food. First, dishwashers make things no more sanitary than does hand washing. In fact, home dishwashers (unlike commercial ones) contain NO sanitizing agent, so a DW is really no more sanitary than is hand washing, unless you use water at 180 F or higher. The Food Safety Code allows either type of washing to be used for any type of dishes, or tool. If you want to sanitize your knives, after washing, dip them in a container that contains one cap (yes, cap, NOT cup) full of standard, plain bleach in a gallon of cold water. One minute in this solution will sanitize your knives. This solution must be made fresh daily, as the Chlorine dissipates over time. Yes, knives can easily be replaced, but why waste money? Several knives in my house are 40+ years old, and almost all are 20+ years old. As edlakin says, most cooks use one knife for everything. After cutting up some chickens, they (we) wash their knives, dry them, and store them. This storing dry helps kill bacteria by desiccation. After the chicken are cooked, they (we) use the same knife to cut the chicken into portions. Happens millions of time per day, and I don't see people keeling over in the streets daily from food borne illnesses. So relax a little, and treat your knives to hand washing. They will thank you.

Glad to hear you're getting closer Eastsider :) As to the insurance because we own part of the company. We talked to our insurance agent (the commercial one) and there are no compromises in coverage if we don't manage the job (and we never were going to...we were just asking the GC to try a different sub). The electrical and plumbing were seperate bids and insurance policies. (Each having their own). THe balance of the job is at a fixed price (under the GC's responsability). Our insurance on the company level is significantly more than any GC would carry (because we build multi million dollar buildings and electrical structures). So the insurance hurdle on that side was dealt with. And just to be clear...our GC has full veto power on the electrician. He has specific standards for subs he'll work with (most likely because of these types of issues) so he is doing an interview and we've pulled this out of our final contract so that he can make his decision. Frankly our company is huge and his, while a good sized contracting firm, is very small in comparison. He's already said he feels good about the idea and dosen't mind being introduced to another electrician option because he's frustrated with the one he brought over (apparently he was bidding 3 jobs and each came in way over reasonable with no explaination). As to the holdbacks...we pay our contractor, he pays his subs. We aren't trying to get in the middle of that. The bank will track to see that folks get paid which is standard, but we didn't change that arrangement at all. We're meeting with our insurance agent (for the house) tomorrow at 2 to discuss issues like living in the house, etc. We're running into a road block on adding a builders risk policy because it's "a condo" (it's actually a townhome in PUD legal structure). We are going to live in the home (it's five levels so that's not crazy entirely...ok well a little), but I want to be on site and not force my son, who is ill, to have to go to yet another place he's not familiar with. He's been in hospital so much of his 18 months that he gets upset every time we spend even a night at a hotel anymore. We test drove the kitchen demo with him in the house on the bottom level and he did great so we should be ok (there is a level separating the demo and the level we will live on). We'll also be building a temporary wall to protect us as much as possible from dust issues, which adds to cost, but is worth it for us to stay home. Besides temporary housing in Alaska in the summer is almost unheard of...tourists you know :) Our total budget for the job is actually up to $250,000 plus we have a 20% reserve in the bank. The electric is about $10,000 of this and the plumbing is about $20,000. The majority is "stuff" cabinets, granite, the french stove, tile, lighting, blah blah blah :) You know the drill. In alaska it's tough to get into the summer schedules with any contractor. They have a limited building season and want to do any open air stuff during the summer and push folks like us to the winter. That's part of the problem with the electric. We would use either of his other two normal companies but they won't take on any new jobs before September and we're not going one more month without starting heh heh Anyhoo, we'll nail down the insurance stuff this week and demo next I guess...I say demo :) We already gave the kitchen away lock stock and barrel so we have to go forward now huh? We had cabinet folks out for final changes and orders, and have our Lacanche order ready to fax in as well as the orders for the balance of the appliances. We did sign contract after it was reviewed (leaving the electric out) and everyone is happy so...fingers crossed, hammers will hit walls soon (or I'll do it!) How close are you East?

How I Loooooove these cat stories!! I couldn't help getting a few tears in my eyes but so many more laughs!!! At 73, I can't say I ever remember a time I didn't have at least one weaving in and out of my legs, tail up, meowing either for attention or food. A few even tried to use me as a scratching post !lol My bff in IL takes in rescues, and at the moment has 21 or 22. The 100 yo historic home she bought 9 years ago came with 2 separate garages, one housing the majority of the kitties, the other is used for storage, but she always keeps the big door open a foot at the bottom, and knows *other* critters take part in the 'vittles' also. Sthe has either 4 or 5 in the house, one being a mama cat w/7 kittens, the very start of her rescue 'mission'. She gave away 2 of those kittens(after neutering!),and never stopped regretting it. They have all found a forever home with her. Her vet/food costs are insane, and when I visited in the summer we found worms in one of the litter pans, and in a two day period, took every cat into the vet to be dewormed. That was $400. It's neverending work! Whenever I call she's scooping, feeding, or rocking one of them in the old rocking chair that was moved out to the garage. She also donates to almost every animal organization known to man, even if it's only $5. She's a one-woman rescue shelter, and I wish I were closer to help. We always say we like animals more than people because animals can't help their situatuon, but people usually can.