         
February 3rd, 2012
So, I know it’s not EXACTLY food related… but tiling an awesome back splash is KITCHEN related, and tutorials are *almost* recipes, right? I swear this is actually a food blog…!
Remember back when I debuted the photos of our finished bathroom renovation, with Fibonacci sequence tiled into the main wall, and a few digits of pi tiled behind the toilet? It was a last minute design idea, and it was to be a subtle, small nod to our nerdiness.
| Well, one thing led to another… and now we have 159 digits of pi tiled into our kitchen backsplash. If you follow me on Twitter, you’re probably sick of hearing about it by now… but I not only have the final photos, I have a tutorial on how to do it yourself!
Now, I know we went sort of nuts with the pi day celebrations last year… but this really takes it to a whole new level. We’re happy to have this in place in time for this year’s party, but… damn. No idea how we’ll top this for Pi day 2013. Or, you know, 2015, when we should really go all out! (3/14/15!)
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I guess the one good thing about getting your house destroyed by a tornado is that it forces you to get off your butt, make a bunch of design decisions and actually DO renovations on the house, rather than just talk about “someday, it would be cool if…”.
We still have quite a ways to go, but the house really is looking great. We won’t have cabinet faces and doors for a WHILE – still waiting for the lumber we had milled to be properly dried, so we can build all that. Oh well. I think the fact that the black walnut that destroyed our kitchen is being used to rebuild it is badass enough to be worth the wait! Anyway…
Now, I realize that the odds of anyone else tiling pi into their kitchen is fairly slim… but this tutorial is also good for anyone who wants to put in a new backsplash, but with a personal twist. The photos and specifics here are for pi, but the principles can apply to any design you can think up, with 2″ x 2″ tiles.
For instance..
- Using two favorite colors to create a custom checkerboard design, should you not be happy with the small amount of pre-fab options out there.
- If you look at the tiles as “pixels”, you can do pretty much anything you can come up with that is 9-10 squares tall, by however long you want.
- Tetris!
- Music fans or musicians could make an amazing “equalizer” type design!
I can’t tell you how rewarding it is to look at a finished, completely custom backsplash, and know that it is YOURS… and it wasn’t the difficult! On to the tutorial….
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Posted in Home Life, Pi Day, Renovations, The Geek Life, Tutorials | 14 Comments »
February 2nd, 2012
So… I have a functional kitchen now! The cabinets are built, the countertops installed, backsplash set, everything grouted, and the sink, dishwasher, and stove are all hooked up! *CANNOT* tell you how god it feels to have some culinary autonomy back.
We haven’t had the use of the dishwasher since May’s tornado – it’s been used to store the glassware ever since! We’ve been living off takeout. While my access to the kitchen has been sporadic at best, my brain hasn’t taken a break, so I’ve had this LONG list of ideas and theoretical recipes brewing, with no ability to do anything about it, short of write them down. I tell you, working through those ideas on paper, while being stuck with months crappy fast food? Torture.
One of the things I wanted to make this whole time was a proper tourtiere (“tortiere”, for some). It’s a French Canadian meat pie, and it’s soooo good when made properly. Also, as part of the planning process, I worked on a gluten free pastry crust that wouldn’t make me grieve for my inability to eat wheat.
| I did it!
Yesterday was my first day with the new kitchen, so I rolled out of bed and almost immediately went to buy groceries. With 3 items I wanted to make, Tourtiere was to be made in the afternoon, closer to suppertime. Couldn’t handle it, dug in to the preparation right away!
I tell ya, the filling, as it’s cooking, smells amazing on the best of days. All those fresh veggies, herbs… yum. To someone who’s eaten more Wendy’s takeout in the past few months than anyone should have to in a lifetime? Absolutely amazing. |
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The crust also turned out extremely well – you’d never peg it as being a gluten free crust. Very rich and flaky! Oh, so good. I just had some leftovers for breakfast – this recipe is definitely a winner!
Oh, and if you want to make a regular, non-gluten free version? Just swap out the crust for your favorite double-crust recipe, or premade dough.
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Posted in Canadian, Ethnic, Gluten Free, Main Dishes, Pies, Recipes | No Comments »
February 1st, 2012
Today’s post is a guest post from Katrina, one of my fellow Food Bloggers of Canada members.
While I’d originally planned to have a few guest bloggers while my kitchen was incapacitated (an idea that came FAR too late in the game, LOL!), consider me inspired – I’m going to try and make this guest bloggers thing a regular thing. As I find Wednesdays to be the BEST day of the week, I figured it’d be the most appropriate day to spread some awesome! 
| I figure that I should start off this post with an introduction.
Hi, I’m Katrina. I usually post over at Kitchen Trials.
That should pretty much cut it right? We are all here for the food after all. I’m going to help out Marie with a little guest post while she gets her fabulous kitchen finished. Lucky Marie!
I’m sharing my recipe for Roasted Butternut Squash Ravioli. Take a look at this baby! |
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Posted in Guest Posts, Main Dishes, Pasta, Recipes | 1 Comment »
January 28th, 2012
This weekend – and the past few weeks – is/has been a big push to get out post-tornado kitchen reconstruction DONE. Well, not quite done-done … we won’t have the lumber for the cabinet faces and doors for a while, and those will take some serious time to make … but functional.
I haven’t had a functional kitchen since we bought this house, a year ago. The kitchen, as we bought it, was only barely functional – you may have seen the “before” pictures and description on twitter. Don’t worry, I’ll be posting the awful “befores” when I can finally post the “afters”!
This weekend is all about building the cabinetry to surround the slide-in oven, which has been free-standing since we moved in. By Monday, I should not only have the base cabinets, but tiled counter AND backsplash there, also. *CANNOT WAIT*. I’m not being facetious there, either. We’ve been discussing all of the great foods I haven’t been able to make in a long time, as well as the recipes I’ve been mentally designing ever since losing my kitchen. All of this takeout food… ugh.
| So, we went to the store to pick up groceries for the first couple of meals I’ll be able to make, and I used one of my new counters – and my freshly-installed sink area! – to make Cod au Gratin on Friday night. Aw yeah.
Cod au Gratin is a traditional Newfoundland dish, and one of my all time favorites. Generally speaking, it consists of cod, Béchamel sauce, and cheese / bread crumbs on top… but – of course – I started bastardizing it the first time I made it. Béchamel because a hearty cheese sauce, filled with tons of sharp cheddar. I’ve made this with dill, with asparagus, with bacon, and with other seafood involved. It’s just one of those recipes that I make by “feel”, and I’ve never written down measurements or anything as I’ve gone. Til now.
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Posted in Canadian, Ethnic, Gluten Free, Main Dishes, Recipes, Seafood | No Comments »
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