My Mate Heston

'
Mills, Mills, ya wouldn't have my mate Heston's email address handy would ya?'

'Err no MOTH & I'm almost too scared to ask why you need it.'

'Well love, I need to let him know that he's a bloody legend!'

'Um, do explain MOTH.'

'Well ya know how much I love a boiled egg for brekkie & ya know how much grief it's given me over the years.'

'Yes, I do MOTH. The kids & I have all been on the end of your rants in the kitchen when the boiled eggs haven't come up to your rigorous expectations.'

'Yep, but my days of chucking a wobbly are over. Didn't you notice me in the kitchen for ages this morning.'

'Well come to mention I did think it was the longest time you've ever spent in there since I met you 20 years ago.'

'No need for sarcasm my little Pirhana Fish, you know the kitchen & I aren't compatible. But thanks to my mate Heston those days are over. I loved his way of thinking - no fluffy cheffie stuff, just good old physics!'

'How fascinating.'

'I'm just rapt that I've finally cracked it -  ha, ha, get the joke love, geez life's good!'

 

HESTON'S RECIPE FOR THE PERFECT SOFT BOILED EGG

 

INGREDIENTS

4 large eggs (55-60g.)

salt & black pepper

 

INSTRUCTIONS

 

Standing time: 6  minutes

 

Place the eggs in the smallest pan available and only add enough cold water to cover them. Put the lid on the pan and place over the highest heat possible.

When the water comes to the boil, remove the pan from the heat and wait for 6 minutes.

After the time has elapsed, remove the lid and carefully remove each egg. Cut the top of each egg before serving in egg cups. Season to taste.

 

NOTE TO HESTON:

MOTH's sitting in front of the computer, trawling through your recipe archives. He's just used 'Explosion' in his key word search. Should I be worried?

It's the weekend dear Hedgies, so go enjoy.

Images: SBS
 

A Little Treasure

I love what Priscilla Wikkerink has done with the teeny tiny kitchen space in Mark Challen's townhouse.

A warm, stylish & very functional space has now emerged for Mark & his partner to use for cooking & entertaining. And this picture validates perfectly why, if you can at all manage it, cabinets need to extend to the full height of the ceiling.

Priscilla has met the big challenge of working her magic in less than 100sq. metres. Here she's created a kitchen bookshelf/cabinet that doubles as a bar & storage for Mark's cookbooks.

Clever use of bevelled edge tiles add a wonderful dimension to the room & with the use of undermounted cabinet lights + aged mirrored panels behind the over head cabinet shelves that reflect the light - WOW! If have a moment, do follow the link below to the House and Home guided video tour of this little treasure.
Cramped Kitchen Reno House & Home

Kitchen On Wheels

A gorgeous modern European kitchen tucked inside a small vintage cottage!

Cupboards on wheels, open shelving & a fabulous bank of cooking books in easy reach.

And look what's behind those cupboard doors! A clever, clever design eschewing built-in cabinetry. I think it works a treat, what do you think?

Images: Meditch Murphey

Come Closer....

....just a little closer. Arms around each other, it's time for one big, squishy group hug!! The fabulous comments you left yesterday truly gave me the warm & fuzzies - what a great bunch of friends you all are - thank you.

Exciting news from the Bathroom-From-Hell. We now have half a frameless shower screen across the end of the room. After a lot of grunting & puffing from the Installers, lugging these very large pieces from their truck in the yesterday's rain & hail, it's transpired that someone stuffed up & the door measurements pulled up 2mms. too short. So back on the truck it went, with even more grunting & puffing to the factory. However the large piece is in & & oh my goodness, it was something akin to a religious experience. The room is coming together so well & is exactly the image I've been carrying around in my head for the past 2 years. Still lots to do, but for the first time I feel like we're on the home run - YAY!!
Image: San Carlos

Is smeg Korean For Lemon?

Dear Signore Bertazzoni

I'm sorry to interupt your Summer holiday, I'm sure your villa on Lake Como is positively gorgeous this time of the year, but as a smeg customer, I am not happy. I've been a microwave fan for years, having previously owned your competitors products, a Sony & a Panasonic. The Sony was a gem, 14 years old & still going strong, as was the Panasonic at 8 years, it was as good as new. Both went to good homes, the Sony to a son who was setting up his own place & the Panasonic to the Rowing Club, who were in desperate need of a microwave after their kitchen refurbishment.

4 years ago, to replace the Panasonic, I purchased one of yours, a SA31-1MX, paying the princely amount of AU$695.00. MOTH wasn't happy, & I had to do a lot of convincing that we would get our money's worth - how wrong I was.

During the first 6 months the globe blew & the metal door trim peeled away from the cabinet frame. Small things you might say, but not what I was expecting so soon into our 'relationship'. Then after about 12 months I noticed small areas of bubbly corrosion on the black enamel interior, similar to rust spots. Now before you jump down my throat & accuse me of misuse, I will tell you that I followed the care instructions to the letter. Wiping out the interior with a sponge using warm water & mild detergent only, drying it afterwards, cooking in the appropriate containers etc. etc.

I checked the Warranty & noted that we still had a further 12 months running on it, so phoned the number on the paperwork. I quickly discovered that you don't go direct into Australia, you sell through a Distributor Omega Appliances. I spoke to their Customer Service person, who quite frankly, would have won the annual Company Award for providing the most disinterested & unhelpful advice to a customer. Her 'advice' was to carry the offending appliance out to my car, spend 2 hours driving to the other side of the city, lug it into their Service Dept., & leave it there for 2 weeks. When they had a spare moment, they would have a look at it to see if my complaint was genuine. If it wasn't, then they'd happily confirm that I was the raving loony she secretly thought I was. Oh, & even if the issue was my fault, I'd have to pay a fee of $95 for the privilege of being told that. You've got to be joking.

We purchased the product originally from David Jones, a reputable Department Store who has provided us with excellent service over the years. I phoned their Small Appliances Manager, who listened carefully to my complaint, & confirmed what we reckoned, that during manufacture, the enamel baking process had somehow failed. She promised she would speak to her contacts at smeg to see what could be done & phone me back the next day. 2.5 years on, I'm still waiting for the return call.

As time has passed, the interior of the microwave has rapidly deteriorated, with large areas of erosion spreading, like ulcerous cankers. The inside rim of the door buckled & warped & the rubber seal fell off. Each time I wiped it out, large flakes of rusty metal would adhere to the sponge - it was atrocious. Sunday night was the final straw. As I was wiping over the interior after cooking a small container of rice, my hand suddenly plunged through the floor of the microwave onto the kitchen bench underneath, just about ripping my hand to pieces on the jagged metallic edges in the process. A large gaping hole, aptly around the size of a lemon now renders SA31-1MX totally useless....... she is as dead as a dodo.

So here we are Signore, 4 years on, with no microwave & $695.00 worse off. I'm just wondering if you or any other member of the family conglomerate, have any ideas as to what we do next. Oh & the icing on the cake was when yesterday morning, as MOTH was yelling for me to check the fine print on the smeg Warranty again, I noticed on the back page this little gem ' Thank you for buying this Daewoo product'. I feel like a right sucker. I was never under the illusion that the manufacture of products like this wouldn't be outsourced to other parts of the globe but Oh mio Dio - please explain!!!

2 very angry & miserable ex-?smeg/?daewoo customers - Millie & MOTH.

Plumbing 101

If this image had a head & a face, I swear they would be mine! This past weekend we had plumbing 'issues' involving the grotty old taps over the grotty old kitchen sink. Plumber MOTH came to the rescue - 'Don't worry Mills this will only take me a couple of minutes' was the expert opinion. 9 hours later, numerous trips out in the wind & driving rain to turn the mains supply off, then on, then off, then on - the problem had ballooned from a small, annoying drip requiring a new washer to a full blown plumbing catastrophe. We are talking splashback tiles ripped off in a fit of pique, existing hardware discarded, masses of cussing & cursing from Plumber MOTH & finally, a trip to see his old mate Greg at Stirling Mitre 10.

The problem is not resolved however - the disgusting cheap new tap sets from Greg's chuck out bin that were purchased by a certain stingy Serial Renovator are still sitting in their boxes on the kitchen window sill. When queried this morning when he'd be back to finish the job, Plumber MOTH yelled 'Geez Millie, I'm still traumatized by yesterday's events, just leave it will ya!' The hot tap still requires 30 rotations to get a trickle of water from it, there are only bare bricks now behind the sink & it's taken me nearly an hour to do a small amount of dishes by hand this morning. And he reckons he's traumatized!!

Image: Bernard Touillon

Future Plans

There is lots to love about this sweet kitchen. My own kitchen longings have been suppressed for some time, but I felt a twinge of excitement over the weekend. MOTH emerged from the Bathroom-From-Hell (which is coming along beautifully) & asked me to dig out the plans for the kitchen/laundry renovation. Locked away in a very small room precision tiling on less-than-straight walls, has provided him with much thinking time. He's decided to change a couple of aspects of the plan & so wanted to run them past his Project Manager. I'm not totally convinced, so I told him to go away & come back with some additional drawings, as I'm struggling to visualize his complicated explanations.

I loved reading all your comments from yesterday's post. The jury's still out about getting that certain son to do a guest post. However, he writes like a professional, so chances are permission will be granted. When I tentatively broached the subject with him last night he said 'No worries Mum, I've got plenty more stories like that.' Why does that not surprise me at all!!

Images: Gemma Comas

Table Talk

I'm having a nostaligic moment today. A table in the kitchen - no free-standing large swish bench/prep. area, just a simple table for dining at, spreading the morning papers on, rolling out pastry for a pie, study assignments, the monthly accounts & coffee & conversation! Some of these kitchens are quite stylish & sophisticated, others very simple......some are large & roomy, others cute & cosy. Whatever, I really like each of them, I hope you do too.

And for more fabulous kitchen table images, my dear blogging chum Leigh over @ Brabourne Farm has posted on the same theme today! It had to happen one day in BlogWorld & today's the day - I couldn't ask for lovelier company.

Image 1,9,12: The Kitchen Designer Image 2: Country Style Image 3: Tim Davis Image 4,5: This Old House Image 6: Country Home Image 7: The Kitchn Image 8: Country Living Image 10,11: Trends Book

McCreamy

A great balance of the traditional with contemporary fittings & finishes

This new Living Room was created from an old Conservatory & uses the same colour scheme as the kitchen to create a unified & relaxing space.

The light fitting over the small dining room table can be raised & lowered.

This custom-built cabinet sits comfortably in a small corridor that links the kitchen to the new Living Room.

A bank of 6-pane windows & a skylight provide additional light to the kitchen.

The owner made the mirror & its matches the silver look of the other furnishings in the Sitting Room.

A relaxing corner of the new Sitting Room with original paintings & art work.

All the custom-built cabinets were given a hand-painted finish.

Images Trends Books

MOTH's always having a go about my style files complete with magazine pages from many, many years of diligent reading & collecting. He says they take up valuable cupboard space & should be turfed. However, he fails to recall (conveniently!) that our previous home's new kitchen, bathrooms & laundry were all designed from various pages of these precious files & often he was the first one to put his hand up to take a compliment on the finished product! Now in putting together the final finishes for our new bathroom, the old files have yet again come into their own, as I pour over them, pulling lots of different ideas together to formulate our end result.

I'd forgotten I had this one tucked away in the kitchens section & how much I love it. While it would be unsuitable for our present house, I'm still enamoured by it despite it being at least 10 years old. The owner from Wellington in New Zealand, combined her favourite images & clippings from magazines & because of this was confident enough to complete the entire design process herself. Her house is an old 1890's timber frame villa & as part of the renovation process a new Sitting Room was created from an old Conservatory which led off the kitchen. The original kitchen had an old coal-fired range in the fire-place & this was removed & the fire-place tiled to match the colour of the kitchen. A new wood combustion heater was about to be installed in that space, to provide additional warmth to the area.

Millie's Kitchen

The divine Ms. Ness from Marley & Lockyer has challenged me to show you my kitchen and what I love about it - hah, what a joke! I feel like that commercial for toothpaste that goes along the lines of 'This man's a Dentist, so we can't show you his face.'....well, Millie's a cool chick, & she doesn't want to show you her revolting kitchen! However, in the spirit of the wonderful world of blogging I will, but please keep in mind that this edition is just about to feel the might of MOTH's sledge hammer & soon I will have the kitchen of my dreams & I promise you, there will be endless pics posted then!

When we moved in 2 1/2 yrs. ago, the kitchen was the original 1972 disaster, although the oven & laminate benchtops had been replaced about 10 yrs. ago. It was made from varnished marine ply wood (oh, joy!!) with the ubiquitious Mission Brown floor tiles. Behind the kitchen is an even grottier laundry & a corridor leading to the back door. We knew that re-doing this whole area was going to be our biggest project, so dear MOTH quickly slapped a coat of paint onto the kitchen cupboards to stop me from crying & whingeing in the interim!

So here's a few pics of the wreck I'm currently having to live with, a few of my favourites that make my day a little easier & precious pieces I couldn't live without.

Looking into the culprit from the meals area - corridor leading to back door in far right of shot.

MOTH quickly used this sheet of plasterboard to cover up the most horrible wall of brown wooden cladding I'd ever seen - totally yuk!

I picked up the wallposter for $4.00 from a bargain bin at Pottery Barn on a trip to the U.S.

My most precious object in the kitchen is a book of my Mum's hand-written recipes. She started it on her honeymoon & it's a journal of the towns we lived in as I grew up. Most South Aussies will immediately know that we we were living in Clare at the time Mum wrote down our neighbour Mrs. Knappstein's Little Buns (Rock Cake) recipe.

This recipe for Ginger Fluff Sponge was my darling Dad's all-time favourite. I love to open each page & see Mum's very distinctive school teacher hand-writing. It brings her back to me in so many ways - my boys love it too, so it will always be in good hands.

I positively can't do without Bill in the kitchen!

Recycling at it's best - drink the contents & use it's packaging!

....and I also can't do without Helen & Annette - this book is my all time favourite & in constant use.

A must-have for creating the recipes from the gorgeous Spirit House.

Couldn't be without my Nature Nurture Hand Wash & Lotion from Mr. Kenneth Turner.

Son # 4 happened to call in as I was taking these pics. He gladly picked up MOTH's sledge hammer to illustrate what's just about to happen. Just love that Breakfast Bar.

Need some light relief, it's all too depressing, so here's my favourite fridge magnet, with apologies to our American mates, but I did buy this in Washington!

This is a plan of our current kitchen.

Our new plans - with the Laundry moved into cupboards near the newly relocated back door & the space converted into a Butler's Pantry - yah!!!

Ignore the kitchen in this pic, but this is our inspiration for opening up the whole back corner of the house where the new kitchen will be. Floor to ceiling windows (or a 'Tree-Walk' as our lovely Draftsperson has strangely named it!) Our garden outlook is almost identical to the pic, so it will be fantastic to welcome this magical outlook into the house through all the glass.

1.What colour is the kitchen? Solver Parchment x 4 strength.

2.Describe your kitchen? You're joking aren't you.

3.Describe your dream kitchen? Refer to future post.

4.Fave activity in kitchen? Leaving the bloody thing!

5.Name 1 thing it is lacking/missing? Curtis Stone.

6.Do you cook and bake a lot? In my dreams!

7.What don't you like & what would you change? Oh, pleeeeeeease!

8.What do you love about your kitchen? Leaving it.

9.Worst kitchen activity? Coming back to it.

10.Tea or Coffee? Coffee please- I've never had even a sip of tea, can't stand the smell!

11. Chocolate or Vanilla? Vanilla anything at every & any opportunity.

12.Do you like to prepare food or eat it? No contest here - a resounding BOTH!

13.Do you prefer to serve meals in the kitchen or dining? Neither - try the Stirling Pub's Bistro at least 4 times a week - we'll be there!!

Now I challenge...
Debra - Lifescapes

Coty - Coty Farquhar

Rosemary - Content in a Cottage

After the trauma I've been through, your posts will be a steal girls!