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My Little Pink Kitchen

March 23, 2023

I have a lot of conflicting feelings about my condo. On the plus side, I bought it! All by myself! The building it's in burned to the ground during the Woolsey Fire, so it's brand-new construction - which means everything works (!). Having lived in extremely ramshackle (hee) housing over the years - from our adorable-but-not-super-functional Hudson Valley house to a trailer with multi-million dollar views but no especially reliable electrical or plumbing - this is quite exciting. Sometimes I just open the closet where the water heater is kept, think back to the spricket-infested basement hellscape where the water tank lived in Tarrytown, and marvel at its shiny newness.

Our very first house. I LOVED it, sprickets and all.

Before & After Renovations

Before And After: Charcoal Bathroom Makeover

February 25, 2022

zzzzzzzzzz

OK, so nothing was wrong with the second bathroom in our new place - not technically, at least. Our condo is a new build - the original structure burned to the ground in the Woolsey fire a couple of years back - so everything was in great shape, but it just felt like...a hotel. You know, what with the large flat mirror, the nickel-plated lights, the white walls. It was one big "meh."

You know what I enjoy, though? A blank slate. Give me a boring room, and I am a child on Christmas morning.

Before & After Renovations

Before and After: Blush & Bashful Powder Room

January 13, 2022

The "before" (totally fine, but zzzzzzzz).

First, please tell me you get the reference in the title. Thank you. Now, you may recall I have a thing for pink bathrooms - I painted the tiny bathroom in our San Jose house a deep rose shade (vastly improved from the prior olive-and-vomit-themed aesthetic). In my new place, the main bath is very much not-tiny: There's an entirely separate vanity area (pictured above) with its own sink and walk-in closet in addition to the toilet-and-bathtub bathroom itself. Which means my "personal suite" in our apartment constitutes about 1/3 of the total square footage.

Which is A-OK by me.

ENTREES

Surprisingly Speedy Chicken-Ginger Broth (For Ramen Soup)

December 28, 2021

During quarantine, I got really into making my own ramen. I made it in the biggest possible pain-in-the-butt way that I could, because honestly: What else did I have to do? Might as well spend two days making soup!

Except I don't always want to spend two days making soup. Sometimes - like last night - I want truly excellent ramen, except I want it now.

Enter: This absolutely spectacular (ifIdosaysomyself) broth, which blends in hints of lemongrass and ginger to make it a perfect, ever-so-slightly-spicy base for noodles. It's about two hours start to finish (much faster than most stock recipes), because of a little secret: While it tastes 100% homemade, it actually involves a little cheating (ssh).