2008: Bill's Big Remodel

After: a warm, earthy, and highly functional kitchen 

I moved into my house in 2000, and did a big remodel in 2008. The remodel included the kitchen and great room, powder room, dining room and front foyer, and we added a new roof and new HVAC system. It was a big project.

The house was custom built in 1980 and remodeled some time between then and 2000. The finishes and floor plan needed improvement, but it took a while to figure out what I wanted. I had to live with it for a while.

The room was white with old white berber carpet gone gray, white linoleum flooring in the kitchen, whitewashed oak cabinets that looked pink under the big fluorescent lightbox on the ceiling. In the living area of the space, there was a big honkin' brick mantle with a wood stove decorated with woodland creatures- it wouldn't have been my first choice. There was one narrow hallway connecting the space to the rest of the house, and a one-foot-square pass-through in the corner of the kitchen.

The project began in July and was finished by the end of September. Here are some pictures after the remodel, including some with a change in decor.

It's a cozy space, and I love how functional the kitchen is. If you've been reading along and noticed some of the details of the kitchen, now you'll know the story behind it. The vision was very clear to create a space for living in Portland, Oregon. I was never wild about the idea of a "Tuscan kitchen" or anything like that. If that's what I wanted, I'd live in Tuscany- whatever floats your boat, I guess.

The space appeared on HGTV Rate My Space as an inspiration room for a couple who was doing their remodel on the show. It was also part of the Tour of Remodeled Homes, and was on the morning news with Drew Carney. Now that I've settled in to the space, it's really time to get cooking!

"Golden Bee" Cheese

The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs is one of those ultimate spa retreats. It is a five diamond hotel and resort, and one of the only American resorts to hold that designation continuously since 1976, when AAA began rating hotels. At The Broadmoor, there is a little pub called the Golden Bee, where they serve a delightfully decadent horseradish cheese spread. I stayed at The Broadmoor in 2004, and visited the Golden Bee, so I wanted to try making the Golden Bee Cheese at home. A breeze! Here's the recipe, courtesy of cdkitchen.com:

10 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese, grated
10 ounces butter, softened
2 tablespoons sherry
1 tablespoon horseradish
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

Blend all ingredients well and pack in a crock. Serve with crackers. This is better if it in made several days before serving. 

A few additional notes: This savory cheese spread is like the Boursin of the Rockies. There is a lot of butter in it, and the spread hardens when stored in the refrigerator. I recommend taking it out and letting it sit at room temperature to soften before serving. 

great year for Oregon raspberries

I love raspberries, but during the last couple years they were very susceptible to mold. If you bought them one day, there would usually be mold developing the next day. This year seems better already- first carton of raspberries, perfectly ripe but not overripe, not a lot of extra moisture in the package, and no mold the day after purchasing them. They'll be gone by the end of the day. 

Some interesting facts, courtesy of the Oregon Blackberry and Raspberry Commission:

The Red Raspberry

• Willamette and Meeker are predominant among the top 5 commercial varieties grown in Oregon.
• The leading caneberry for flavor recognition and commercial usage.
• Fresh season is typically June 14 – July 20
• Common names: European red raspberry, Raspberry, Red raspberry, Framboise [French], Framboisier [French], Himbeere [German], Razuberi [Japanese], Ezo-ichigo [Japanese], Framboeseira [Portuguese], Chordón [Spanish], Frambueso [Spanish],Red Raspberries

Health Benefits

• Contain high amount of polyphenolic compounds known for their anticancer properties.
• Contain strong antioxidants that fight against cancer, heart and circulatory disease and age-related mental decline.
• Have high ORAC levels – ORAC measures the antioxidant levels of a substance. Red Raspberry ORAC levels at 24 μmole/TE/g, equal to blueberries which are known for their high antioxidant levels.
• Shown to have anti-inflammatory benefits, resulting in the reduction of pain associated with arthritis, gout and other inflammatory conditions.
• Seed oil is creating interest in the cosmeceutical (skin care products which provide health benefits) market. Oil from raspberry seeds is rich in Vitamin E, omega-3 fatty acids and has a sun protection factor (SPF) of 25-50.
• Red raspberry ketones are currently being used in Japan as a weight loss supplement in a pill form and as an external patch.

Nutritional Info

For 1 cup Red Raspberries
Calories 60.00
Total fat 1.00 g
Protein 1.00 g
Dietary Fiber 8.4 g
Vitamin A 160.00IU
Vitamin C 30.00mg
Calcium 27.00mg
Cholesterol 0.00

Wordless Wednesday: Oregon Blackberries

"we can pickle that"

asparagus and green beans with hot pickling liquid in the jars

Over the last few years, one of my summer rituals has been to make refrigerator pickles. They are simple, easy, and don't involve all the elaborate canning methods you would use if you wanted to store without refrigeration. I've made pickled dilly beans, carrot and sticks, baby asparagus, red onions, beets, and even cherry tomatoes.

The basic method for refrigerator pickling is to make a heated pickling liquid that's one part vinegar, one part water, plus seasonings- usually salt, spices, garlic, and sometimes herbs and chili peppers. The dilly bean brine, for example, includes water, vinegar, salt, mustard seed, black peppercorn, a garlic clove, fresh dill and a dried chili pepper. The brine for bread and butter pickles includes sugar, salt, onion, garlic, mustard seed, whole clove, celery seed and turmeric. Even though it's hard to ruin a pickle, some combinations of flavors work better than others. Best to check out some recipes beforehand, and by all means, adjust the seasonings to your taste.

after blanching, cold shock in ice water

pickling liquid with spices

Blanch the veggies in hot water for a couple minutes and cold shock in an ice bath, then place in a very clean jar with any herbs and spices. It's important to use a very clean jar, and it is recommended running in the dishwasher or washing in hot water with soap and air drying. When the pickling liquid is heated and the veggies are blanched and cold shocked, place the veggies and seasonings in the jar, and pour the hot pickling liquid over the veggies to cover them completely and fill the jar. Securely place lids on jars, let them cool to around room temperature, and place the filled, covered jars in the refrigerator.

Some veggies, such as sliced cucumbers, don't need blanching and can produce delicious pickles overnight. For other veggies, such as the beans and carrots, you may want to consider blanching first. It helps the pickling liquid permeate the vegetables. In most cases, you'll do well to give them a week before opening a jar. They can last several weeks, even months, and the pickling liquid is reusable- as long as it produces good tasting pickles. Just remember this method requires refrigeration. Do not try to store these pickles without refrigeration. Enjoy!

easy roasted peppers at home

For years I kept jarred roasted red peppers in the pantry as a kitchen staple. When I discovered I could roast them at home, it was love at first bite. Roasting peppers is easy- here's what you do: Wash and cut your peppers in large, flat pieces and arrange on a roasting pan skin side up. Heat up your broiler at the highest heat, and place the tray of peppers just a few inches from the heat source. Keep an eye on them. There may be smoke, but hopefully no fire.

When the skin chars, remove the peppers and place them in a glass bowl covered with plastic wrap. This process steams the peppers, making it easier to peel off the skins. Just let them sit until they are at room temperature, or at least cool enough to handle. The more fully they steam, the more easily the skins peel off.

the skin peels off easily after roasting and steaming

Home roasted peppers just taste good. You can control the seasonings, especially the salt, and you know they haven't been sitting around in a jar of salty water and citric acid for God-knows-how-long. The roasting and steaming process develops the sugars, and mellows the sharpness of the raw bell pepper. I like roasting red, orange and yellow peppers, but not really the green bell peppers- I save those for other recipes. 

One of my favorite recipes is Kathleen Daelemans' Roasted Red Pepper Salad with Basil and Mint, which is simply gorgeous when you use yellow, orange and red peppers together. Try it alongside some grilled, marinated flank steak- you'll love it!

Ina Garten's Celery and Parmesan Salad

Favorite Food Network recipe of the week: Ina Garten's Celery and Parmesan Salad. I tuned in and watched the Barefoot Contessa preparing this dish and thought it looked interesting, so I tried it. Absolutely wonderful!

The recipe includes thinly sliced celery, lemon juice and zest, shallots, olive oil, celery seed and celery salt, anchovy paste, salt and pepper, shaved parmesan, toasted walnuts and chopped parsley. I wasn't sure about the anchovy paste at first, but it was great. Follow the recipe to the letter and you'll be happy. I served it with broiled chicken and roasted red pepper. Just divine.

Goodbye Ranch dressing, hello tzatziki!

It's been warm in Portland over the last few weeks. When I say warm, I mean 85 degrees, which seems like 105 to the normally sun-starved residents of the Pacific Northwest. A dinner salad was what I wanted, and in the past I might have dressed the salad with bottled Ranch dressing, which kind of defeats the idea of the salad being healthy.

I've had a thing for Mediterranean flavors this summer, so I decided to replace the Ranch with tzatziki, and made a chop chicken salad with thinly sliced celery and chopped romaine lettuce dressed in a lemon shallot vinaigrette, topped with sliced, chargrilled chicken and my special homemade tzatziki. It was marvelous!

Tzatziki tops my list of favorite things I realized I could easily make at home. My recipe includes about a cup of good Greek yogurt - Greek Gods traditional plain is my favorite - a clove of finely grated garlic, lemon juice, fresh chopped dill, grated cucumber, salt and freshly ground black pepper, a dash of cayenne and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. The last two ingredients are optional, but I like them so I include them. Just mix it all together in a bowl, and it's ready to go. Easy- five minutes, tops.

This savory special sauce is one of the ingredients in gyros and souvlaki, but the dinner salad is a slightly healthier spin on those old favorites. I started making tzatziki a few months ago, around the time I rediscovered my charcoal grill. It seemed like the perfect way to enjoy chicken kebobs, and now I put it on salads, and serve it with a variety of grilled meats. It's just delicious. Goodbye Ranch dressing, hello tzatziki!

rediscovering Cheerios

As a kid, I didn't eat Cheerios a lot. Cap'n Crunch with Crunchberries was my favorite- guess I had a sweet tooth. As an adult, cereal in the morning is the "easy button" but most of the time I've gravitated toward bran or whole grain cereals.



After hearing about all the fuss over a recent Cheerios commercial with a multiracial family, I decided to buy a box. Not bad, not bad at all - especially with milk and berries. Even though I try to avoid processed foods when I'm eating healthy, I don't mind pushing the easy button once or twice a week with a product that supports diversity. One of the best things I discovered while reading about the commercial was a Fine Brothers video with kids' reactions. When I heard there was a controversy about the commercial, I was just as baffled as these kids.

leftover veggies? try roasting

It was time to do something with the leftover grape tomatoes and arugula hazelnut pesto with basil and mint. Spaghetti with pesto and roasted veggies was my solution. There were some roasted red peppers leftover, and I roasted the grape tomatoes and some sliced fennel. It was superb! I really like roasting veggies. It's a great way to morph your leftover fresh vegetables into something different.

The peppers were roasted a few days earlier, under the broiler on high until the skins charred, and dropped immediately into a glass bowl covered with plastic wrap to steam the skins loose. Once the peppers were cool, the skins peeled off without a hitch.

The fennel and tomatoes were roasted at the same time, in an oven preheated to 425 degrees. The tomatoes were halved and tossed in extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and dried oregano- and I pulled them out after about 15 minutes. The fennel was tossed in oil, salt and pepper, and they took about 30 minutes to cook through and get slightly caramelized around the edges.

I served the roasted veggies over whole wheat pasta tossed with the pesto. There was enough pesto for one more meal, plus a small container to stick in the freezer. Did you know you can freeze pesto? Well, now you do! It was a lovely, healthy, Mediterranean style summer meal- and it was vegetarian! Tomorrow, it's back to being a carnivore with the last of the leftover brined and barbecued chicken. It might be time to make a batch of tzatziki and serve it up on a big Greek salad.   

must have kitchen gadget

I stopped in my tracks when I saw the Bear Paws on "Triple-D"

In case you hadn't noticed, I'm a Food Network junkie. Every so often I'll discover a new must have kitchen gadget while watching. The microplane was one of my favorites, but yesterday I was watching Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives with Guy Fieri, and there was a new must-have kitchen gadget. The segment was filmed in St. Louis, Missouri at the Highway 61 Roadhouse restaurant, and during the segment, they were making pulled pork. That's when I saw something I'd never seen before- BBQ Bear Paws!

As someone who loves pulled pork but always struggled through pulling a whole shoulder roast, this simple gadget looks like the answer to all my prayers. Can't wait to try them out. Available online through Amazon and several other sellers. If these Bear Paws work as easily as they did on Triple-D, I'll be serving pulled pork a lot more often in the future.

Pesto Pulled Chicken Salad

I love chicken salad, but don't love using diced chicken. Whenever I make a chicken salad sandwich, pieces of diced chicken fall out all over the place, and it's a mess! So, today I decided to try something a little different- I pulled the chicken rather than dicing it. I used one leftover brined and charcoal grilled chicken breasts. It worked beautifully. You can "pull" or shred cooked chicken with two forks, but I prefer to do it with clean hands. Once it was pulled, I decided to make a pesto chicken salad sandwich.

hand-pulled, brined and charcoal grilled chicken

pesto chicken salad ready for sandwiches

To make the dressing, I used a heaping tablespoon of Arugula Hazelnut Pesto with Basil and Mint, a dollop of mayonnaise and a tablespoon of Greek yogurt as the dressing. I added some chopped red onion, roasted red pepper, and thinly sliced celery cut diagonally, and tossed until the salad was dressed. It was sensational, and I didn't have diced chicken falling out of my sandwich! Best part about it- there's enough left for lunch tomorrow!

Arugula Hazelnut Pesto with Basil and Mint

Pesto always reminds me of summer. The first time I made pesto was with my mother in Moorestown, New Jersey in the late 70s or early 80s. She grew basil in the garden. When it was ready to harvest, the only thing we could do with all of it was make pesto. We washed the basil leaves in a sink full of water, and made the pesto in our newest kitchen appliance- the food processor. It was the traditional recipe with basil, garlic, salt, pepper, parmesan, pine nuts and extra virgin olive oil.

There are a million and one ways to make pesto, and I like trying different ingredients- particularly when I don't have all of the usual ingredients on hand. No pine nuts? No problem! I used toasted hazelnuts. Not enough basil? No sweat! I used baby arugula with a small amount of leftotver basil and mint. Everything else was the same- salt, pepper, garlic, parmesan, and olive oil. This combination of ingredients was lovely. The sweetness of the hazelnuts worked well with the peppery arugula, and the other flavors hit all the right notes. 

A success! Sorry there aren't specific amounts of each ingredient- I never measure when I'm making pesto, I just feel it. A little taste along the way helps, too. So, what's your favorite pesto recipe?

Best Barbecued Boneless Breasts

The secret? Brine! Boneless skinless chicken breasts are notorious for being dry and flavorless on the inside, even when marinated. Recently I read about brining before deep frying boneless skinless chicken breasts, and decided to test the theory on the charcoal grill. Unbelievably great!

It was simple. I filled a large bowl with cold water, enough to cover four chicken breasts, and added 1/2 cup salt, a couple smashed cloves of garlic, peppercorns, coriander seeds, hot chili peppers, a bay leaf and a small handful of sugar. After placing the chicken in the water, I put a plate on top to weigh the chicken down, and let it sit in the fridge for 24 hours.

When it was time to grill, I rinsed and dried the chicken, brushed it with extra virgin olive oil and dusted it lightly with dried seasonings. It was absolutely amazing. If you've never tried brining, you must. The flavors permeated the meat, and it was perfectly cooked, caramelized on the outside and juicy inside. 

Shrimp Toast

When I first moved to Portland in 1998, I was disappointed with the Chinese food because I couldn't find three of my favorite dishes- cold noodles with sesame (peanut) sauce, scallion pancakes, and shrimp toast. I started making the cold noodles right away - couldn't live without them -  and several years later mastered the scallion pancake, but shrimp toast was much more intimidating because it was deep fried. As much fun as it is to recreate restaurant dishes, I usually steer clear of the deep frying.

Recently I decided I had to figure out how to make shrimp toast, and used a simple recipe found online. It had shrimp, an egg to bind, chopped scallion, fresh grated ginger and other seasonings, and the mixture was pulsed into a paste in the food processor. One tablespoon of the paste was applied to the top side of quartered bread triangles with the crusts cut off, and the top sides were dipped in breadcrumbs to coat.

The deep frying was quick and easy. I fried the shrimp side down first, turned when golden, and drained. That's all there was to it- just took a minute or two per side, really quick! It was amazing, and the thing I discovered is I can freeze and reheat them - just 12 minutes at 375 degrees. Finding "Duck Sauce" for dipping was another story...apparently that's not a thing in the Pacific Northwest!

what's in your fridge?

When it comes to great food, we are so spoiled in Oregon! This morning I went to the market to pick up some packing tape, and found myself strolling over to the familiar freezer case for another tub of Willamette Valley Fruit Co. freezer jam. It's wonderful, and made in Salem! It's outstanding mixed with Greek yogurt, and of course it's amazing on toast. Would also be great on Belgian waffles or vanilla ice cream.

I asked the checker if she'd ever tried these jams and I said, "It's one of the best products in the whole store!" She hadn't tried the jams, but liked the packaging. When she looked at the label on the bottom, she was impressed because it was easy to understand everything on the label.

We like local, natural foods in Oregon. Click here for more info., about the Willamette Valley Fruit Co., their products, where to buy, etc. I have no affiliation with the company, but I'm a big fan of their freezer jams.

So, what's in your fridge?

visiting Spain for dinner

Earlier in the week, I tried Ann Burrell's Eggs Flamenco recipe - insanely delicious, and it made enough for leftovers, so that's what I'm having for dinner tonight. The dish is one of many versions, with a smoky tomato chorizo sauce and eggs baked on top with Manchego cheese. I've seen other recipes with toasted garlic breadcrumbs on top- will have to try that some time.

I love trying new foods from far away places, and have been on a Mediterranean kick lately. Tonight I guess I'm visiting Spain for dinner! Since it's Friday, I thought I'd make some sangria. Bobby Flay was demonstrating a recipe for Strawberry Pink Grapefruit Rose Sangria the other day - yes, please! That's what's chillin' in the fridge right now. Is it 5 o'clock yet?

breakfast the other day

It was very simple- just a perfectly cooked, soft-boiled egg, toast and coffee. It had been decades since the last time I had a soft-boiled egg. Why now? I don't know, but it was a great way to start the day!