Eat Boutique

It’s snowing in New England. We’ve already been blessed with 3-4 inches in the last hour. It’s fairly consistent and determined to fall. This time stuck inside has permitted me to clean my kitchen and take some far better photos of the new construction.

I’m so in love with my kitchen. It’s filled with Ikea cabinets, tables, chairs and hardware, new stained oak floors, sealed granite counter-tops (in Jet Mist Antique), new lighting and my great new 36″ Thermador dual-fuel convection range/stove. This is the kitchen I’ve been dreaming about since I fell in love with food and cooking so many years ago.

There are so many friends and family who have been bugging me for better photos. Take a peek at all of the new photos. (And for those who can’t remember, you can recall our old little space here.)

Finally… what you’ve been waiting for… photos! I took these on Thanksgiving morning, very early… I plan to take a few more this weekend, once I can prop efficiently. Let me add that this kitchen was completed at 6pm on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I spent all day Wednesday cooking and greeted my lovely guests on Thanksgiving morning around 11 AM. Dinner was a success - thanks to my shopping lists, task lists and detailed recipes that I researched weeks in advance. I feel so fortunate and lucky to have the kitchen you see below. I woke up at 7 AM this morning to spend some alone time in the new kitchen. I still can’t believe it’s mine. Check it out. (If you’re wondering what those champagne corks are doing lined up on my center table, well, I cut slits in them and wedge hand-written place cards into them - the perfect holder for a casual table setting.)

If you’d like to know where all this gorgeous stuff came from, let me know. I’ll be glad to share.

I feel remiss for not posting earlier about the status of my kitchen renovation. I’ve wanted to do a grand post all day - full of photos. But the guys are all still here - seven of them! - and it’s a bit of a mess; we’re all walking all over each other. I’ve made 3 trips to Home Depot and finally completed my food and wine shopping for Thanksgiving. It’s been nuts. I was so zonked earlier today, standing in the bulk nuts isle at Whole Foods, that I literally said, “This is all nuts.” And I had to chuckle, not for the fun of it, because that’s so not funny. But because I was so zonked and exhausted and overwhelmed that I didn’t have the forethought to self-censor before the words slipped out. More soon, I promise.

I have talked myself off a ledge, have calmed down, and have adjusted to the fact that my kitchen is not ready tonight. All contractors, sub-contractors and my gut tells me it will be done tomorrow. So… Wednesday will be a marathon, Martha-style cooking day - but I will have help from my Mom, sister, husband and dog (cleaning up as I drop extras on the floor). All will be OK. I am exhausted and excited. Latest pictures coming shortly!

You know how you take one good look at something that feels wonderful - like dark hardwood floors - and you’re so happy and feel like you’re really in the home stretch. And then - when you, with your contractor, trick your electrician into showing up to finish his part of the job as discussed and it looks like you will indeed have a stove and great recessed lights today. And then, well, something happens that is entirely controllable, like your plumber (who works only for YOUR contractor) doesn’t show up and all your hear is “we’re trying to reach him” or “we’re calling him now” and it’s almost 3PM and there’s no plumber and it’s the end of the contractor’s work day and well… you’re totally deflated. Well, that’s where I am right now.

I am making an announcement:

I am not paying anyone one cent if I don’t have a working kitchen today. DO YOU HEAR THAT? That goes out to my contractor, my plumber, my electrician and MY HUSBAND. No one is getting paid, or anything else, if I don’t have a working kitchen today.

I think I will just pretend I’m in Hollywood and go on strike until I can make myself some damn toast. This doesn’t feel like a home stretch - more like a mile.