Channeling Taylor Swift

Lights......

We finally finished the lighting - under cabinet, inset and these beauties, which hang over the penninsula. They are made of Murano glass, with a brushed nickel wire going up to the ceiling.

I did most of the painting last week; what I thought would take a day took a few, as several coats were needed for both the ceiling and the walls. We ended up going with a pale shade of blue, which took applying several samples to get right. Ariana was very helpful, not only helping me paint the walls, but in weighing in with her favorite. The trim needs another coat and then I will be done.

Today though was Father's Day, so well all took a well deserved break and went to the Pepsico Sculpture Garden.........a visual treat of beautiful gardens and some amazing sculpture. Having to go to work there every day can't be all bad, especially if you have a view from your office.

Pizza!!!!

The test - homemade or ready bought crust. The homemade wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. And, with the granite counters, rolling and kneading were easy. Ariana decided to "decorate" the store bought crust, so I completed my homemade specimen.

Diligently working, Ariana slowly placed the pepperoni (her new favorite food) around the pizza. She ended up lifting my own diligently placed peppers thinking they would make a good addition. Then, into the oven and -


OMG!!!!! - See something wrong with this picture - no cheese!!!!!

That's better.....
Baba-san thought the home made crust was better than the store bought one (honest or just "knows what's good for him"???) In any event, the meal was decent. But now of course if I am going to be making pizza, I need a pizza pan!

It's All In The Details

More than a week after getting all the appliances working, we have moved on to other things. A few replacement cabinet doors arrived, now sitting still in their boxes in the garage. We will get around to putting them on, eventually. Right now we have more pressing things.

The shelves that were delivered were the wrong size. We have been informed that the correct size doesn't exist (salesperson's error) and so we have two choices - have the originals cut down and stained (for another couple of hundred dollars) or buy wood and do the whole thing ourselves. This week I will price out the wood and make a decision.

Baba san picked up the under cabinet lights, which are now installed and doing their job wonderfully. The soft blue glow illuminates what needs illuminating and eliminates the need for the overheads much of the time. I took a trip into the city and, thanks to friend and design expert Kevin, finally found and ordered the small pendant lights that will hang over the peninsula. We celebrated the purchase with cocktails at the W Hotel on Union Square and a short and thoroughly disappointing visit to the Nordstrom Rack that just opened there.

After a frustrating time with the cork manufacturer, I finally ordered the tile for the floor. If I didn't like the tile so much I would have gone elsewhere for the actual tile - where oh where are knowledgeable and helpful sales people anymore? The next three weeks will be spent painting the ceiling and walls and preparing the floor for the installation.

Tonight we will use the oven for the first time - making pizza, also for the first time. It was Ariana's idea. I just found a recipe online for the dough and have a bunch of toppings already to go. With it will be a salad from our garden, or more accurately, the lettuce plants I bought to plant in the garden that have grown so much we can actually eat them - I am so excited!!!

More on the garden and the pizza another time................manga tutti!!!!