House of Swank

Desert Island Cookware

Based on my anxiety of not having it available to me, and my excitement of finding it when I opened up the box, I've compiled a list of my absolutely essential cookware that, if I were stranded on a desert island (with a range and full array of food available), I would want at my disposal.

They are:

1. A nice, 12" saucepan.  May not be the BEST for everything, but I think you could cook just about anything in it.  And a decent quantity of it, too.
2. Wooden spoon
3. Chef's knife
4. Cutting board

Everything else is just icing on the cake.  Although, if I were allowed a 5th item, because these lists always seem to occur in multiples of 5, I'd add my Le Creuset Dutch Oven.  It can do a few things the saucepan can't.  But more importantly, it's pretty and I love it.  Also, it's damn heavy, so if some wild animal tried to come after me I could probably kill them with it.

Casualties of War

We suffered our first casualty of the move today.  Frankly, I'm surprised we've made it this far into the unpacking without any loss or breakage.  There was the afternoon that I thought we'd lost a bunch of shelves for our bookcases and entertainment center, but that ended up being my inability to count.

Anyhow, our large red serving platter was found shattered in the bottom of a box today.  Three or four large pieces, so a clean break that made for easy clean-up.  It was a shower present from the friend that Sweetie shares Mariner's season tickets with and his family.  I'm sad to see it go.

The eternal optimist in me is seeing it as an opportunity.  The thing is, my eyes were larger than my kitchen table when Sweetie and I set up our wedding registry, so all of the serving platters we registered for are HUGE.  Perfect for when we have everyone we've ever met over for dinner, but not so helpful for the more standard 2-4 friends over for a nice meal.  I've been trying to fix that since I realized the error, but it's been slow going.  As a matter of fact, WHILE I WAS UNPACKING THE BOX with the broken red platter at the bottom I was thinking to myself, "Holy shit, you really DO have a lot of ENORMOUS serving platters.  Where the hell are we going to put them all?"  I just wish that one of the boring white ones would have broken instead of the pretty red one.

I've decided to turn the negative into a positive, and start the search for an APPROPRIATELY sized serving platter to replace it.  Doesn't have to be red, but some sort of vibrant color would be nice.

Crossing my fingers this is the last casualty.

Mary Poppins' Kitchen

Remember the carpet bag that Mary Poppins carried?  How she could fit a house worth of stuff in this tiny little bag, because it was magic and apparently had all the space in the world available?  Well, I think our kitchen may be made out of the same stuff.

Our kitchen is modest in size, but well laid out.  Maybe 10x12 max, with an L-shaped work area and a pantry on another wall.  The kitchen I came from wasn't any larger, but it felt like it had more cabinet space and I had a HUGE closet in the front hallway in which to store appliances/serving trays/etc.

I wasn't too worried about this size of the kitchen, as there's a linen closet in the hallway that I could co-opt for kitchen stuff (using the linen closet in the bathroom for the actual linens), plus some perfect shelves at the bottom of the stairs in the basement for things that aren't needed as often.  And, since the microwave will be living in the basement for the time being, and eventually the fridge, it all made sense.

Except, I don't think I'll need to resort to that.  Between the kitchen and the upstairs closet, I think it's all going to fit.  There might even be some empty cabinets when all is said and done.  And everything will be very logically and efficiently housed.  It just boggles my mind.

And means I now can allow myself to go buy a bunch of new kitchen equipment. :)

Creature of the Night

OK, we've been through the labels with my cat before:

• Psychic
• Homosexual
• Oedipal Complex
• Bullimic

But we may need to add a new one to the list:

• Vampire

He hasn't eaten any blood yet, at least that I know of, and hasn't gone for my neck yet, but the total aversion to daylight is spot on.  Granted, he's only been in the house for two days now, but once night falls he is more than happy to come upstairs.  Last night I couldn't sleep, and he actually came and hung out with me and followed me around while I did some unpacking.  Then snuggled with me on the guest bed while I was watching an episode of America's Test Kitchen.  But once the daylight comes it's down to the basement to hide away in some coffin he's got stashed somewhere that I cannot for the life of me find.

We Are Family

The SwankPoet family is now fully ensconced in the House of Swank, as we moved Samson in yesterday.

When we first arrived at the house fear and curiosity were his primary emotions.  We showed him where the litterbox and food were, and let him explore.  At first there was a lot of us following him around, but then we just let him to it.  For a while I sat on the couch in the family room while he wandered the basement.  He found somewhere very dusty, and emerged with fuzz hanging from his muzzle.  Then he found a hiding spot that I couldn't find.  I thought he might be back behind the furnace, but that was not the case.

We just let him be, and eventually he poked his nose upstairs to check things out.  He was not at all interested in us, but did enjoy checking out the surroundings.  At one point Sweetie decided that Samson was old enough that he wouldn't have the ability/desire to jump up on our bed, which is quite high.

Last night when we went to bed that cat proved us wrong on that.  Once we were safely snuggled in place, the cat joined us for the night.  From my perspective he was rather well behaved, and never tried to walk or sleep on my face.  He was also very accepting when I would roll over and oust him out of his position.

This morning, after Sweetie had left for the day but before I had woken up, the cat made it up onto my dresser, and stood there screaming for a few minutes.  I think it was fear of heights and wondering how he would get down.  I wasn't concerned, as he had obviously used the chair or nightstand to get up there, and could also easily jump over to the bed.  Once the cat realized I wasn't rushing to his rescue he shut the hell up.

He snuggled right up against me for a while, and really made it difficult to get out of bed this morning.  Once I was up, he was gone, and I haven't seen him since.  (Of course, I've been away from home for the last two hours, but even while I was there he was deep in hiding).

Overall, I take this as a glowing rave from the cat.  I was fully expecting him to hide for two days before he ventured out at all.  I think he's hiding during the day, just on principal, but then wanting to make sure we know of his love for us at night.

Notes on Moving

• If you're going to pack the metal napkin rings in with glassware, wrap each ring individually so they won't be clanking together.  The expense of time is more than worth the saved stress of thinking all your nice glasses have broken.
• When moving from one large closet to two smaller ones, it may seem like you have no space to hang up clothes, but you may be pleasantly surprised to learn you actually have MORE space than you did previously.
• When the new slats start to fall out of the bed, make sure the headboard isn't falling apart.  And then be thankful for a father who can easily fix such things so you don't have to find the time to do it yourself.

All Swankette Wants For Christmas

Dear Santa,

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, it is time to turn our attention to Christmas.  Years past posting my Christmas list on line has seemed to work well, so if it ain't broke don't fix it, eh?

It should come as no surprise to anyone that many of the items on my list are directly influenced by the fact that I've just moved into a new home:

• A subscription to Sunset magazine
• A desk chair
• iPod speakers
• A grill
• Jewelry

And, of course, gift certificates are always appreciated.  Some places to consider:

• Sephora
• Local Yarn Shops (This place is probably my favorite)
• Powell's
• iTunes
• Kitchen Kaboodle

The list is, perhaps, shorter than years past, but I'm sure anything you get for me will be fabulous.

Love,
Swankette

Happy Leftover Day

I'm going to celebrate with George Clooney.  More later.

Thanksgiving, SwankPoet Style

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, even though y'all are probably all in tryptophan comas by now and won't see this until tomorrow.

We have celebrated turkey day with the in-laws this year.  The brother-in-law participated in a flag football game this morning.  While he was gone we started to hypothesize what injuries would befall him while he was gone and then we decided to bet on it and then we set odds and next thing you know a pool was created for the winning of M&M's.

Injuries included the expected - hamstrings, shoulders, thumbs and neck - and the bizarre - appendix, spleen and tonsils.  Death was also on the list.

I ended up rooting for:

• No injuries (at 250 to 1 the odds were too tempting to pass up)
• Fingers
• Spine
• Whatever the final pick in the pool was (I don't remember and am too lazy to look)

The most entertaining moment was when he came home from the game, trying to find out about any injuries without letting him in on the bets.  Line of the day goes to his wife who asked, "Your ego is still intact?"  (Ego being one of the potential injuries, with the lowest odds at 1 to 1).

He claimed no injuries.  Until he learned of the pool, at which time there was the question as to if a shoulder or neck injury had perhaps been sustained.  We decided all three bets got paid out on, but I did win the most M&Ms of anyone, so that made me happy.

Happy Leftover Day everyone!

DONE!

For the first time EVER everything that Sweetie and I own is in one location.  No separate homes, no storage units, no secret stashes of anything.

And it's all in boxes in our living room.

In Seattle for Thanksgiving, we're ignoring all that until Saturday.

Happy Turkey Day everyone!