low energy

Woke up grumpy. It felt unfair somehow, as if I hadn't even given the day the chance. So I thought I'd turn my low-energy frown upside down and bring you the topic of rebates for low-energy appliances and fixtures.

Most of you non-reluctant remodelers probably already know about the excellent rebates available to homeowners who buy energy efficient appliances. Oregon has a particularly good program. Laurie at 1951RanchRedo encouraged Oregonians to buy energy efficient clothes washers a month ago. I came across this information a month prior to her post when, unhappily, our washer flooded the first time I tried to do laundry in our new house. I'd recount my laundromat tale (in particular, watching a homeless man eat a package of ramen noodles moistened with cold water from the laundry sink, and worse yet, knowing I'd been subjected to that scene for so many years in my twenties and I hoped never to set foot in a laundromat again now that I'm pushing middle age), but I'm trying not to be grumpy, so I'll...

ac-cen-tchuate the positive.

After being scared out of our wits by Eugene's cult hero Mr. Appliance, we ventured in to the local Sears to buy a new washing machine. Perhaps you'll get a sense of how reluctant I am to remodel when you hear that I haven't been inside a Sears since, oh, maybe, 1988.

We discovered that we could buy a new front loader for a couple hundred more than the mid-end top loader model we were considering. We happened in to the store on a one-day sale, and got a hefty discount on the washer and free delivery, plus we received:

- an Oregon energy tax credit for 10% of the purchase price, or around $100;
- $85 from the Oregon Energy Trust for having a gas water heater; and
- $35 from our electric company, EWEB.

Rates have changed slightly for 2007 and they vary by municipality, but they're still quite good.

High on low energy, I checked out the web when our toilet crapped out, and got, with our purchase of a new water-efficient toilet:

- $25 from EWEB;
- a 10% discount for new homeowners from Home Depot; and
- a free robe hook from American Standard (promotion is now over).

I was feeling so flush, I used my rebates to buy a Delta faucet, and saw on the web that I was eligible for a new homeowner $10 rebate from Delta (promotion is now over).

So the lesson, my friends, is that the internets can indeed be useful for more than just watching your favorite Mr. Appliance videos on youtube.

Photo of high-efficiency washer courtesy of Metropolitan Water District of Southern California

elementary school chairs!

I finally did it. After years of secretly lusting over those old plastic elementary school chairs, I bought four at Goodwill this weekend. They are salmon pink and chrome and comfortable and stable and gloriously unfashionable. They even have the word LIBRARY printed on the backs. I'm planning to use them for my kitchen nook and pair them with a chrome modern table. I love them. Mr. Reluctant, however, is not quite sold. I'll work on him.

I also bought a large framed piece of handmade, handcolored Japanese paper. It has a repeating pattern of rice plants. I can't quite yet tell if I like it or if it reminds me of one of those optical illusions in which you can see the number 76 or the outline of the Statue of Liberty. Mr. Reluctant feels a strong sense of dislike for this piece. I told him that we could hang it above the fireplace, and if it got ruined with smoke, he wouldn't miss it. It's a thought.


Lastly, I scored some lawn equipment -- a Scott Accuspreader for killing the moss that makes up about 75% of my lawn, and a hose twirler thing. I hate spending money for these kinds of plastic yard products new, since they last forever, so I'm particularly pleased with these purchases.

I'm finished with the hemming project. It wasn't nearly as bad as I feared; still, it took some bravery and fortitude to do it. I learned that:

1) you shouldn't pre-cut the curtains weeks before measuring, because what you think is long at the time is too short. I have one set (of four) that is two inches shorter than the others for this reason, and the hem is not cute.

2) stitch witchery is da bomb. (I am told that my two favorite adjectives, "sweet" and "awesome," are hopelessly out of fashion, and I sound as outdated as hippy who says "groovy" and a serviceman who says "swell," so I'm trying to operate at least circa 2001.) It is good even when you only have a tiny bit of fabric to stick to itself, because it dissolves away when you heat it with the iron (see #1). It is also good as a liquid bandaid when you mistakenly cut both layers of curtain and are left with a gash in the fabric.

3) You shouldn't use a rigid tape measure on fabric. I knew this one, but I had forgotten it until the project was almost done. Oh well.

4) Now that I know how to patch walls, moving around drapery rods is no big deal.


5) Buying a bunch of drapery rods in different sizes from one manufacturer is a very good thing. That way, you can move, mismatch, and swap finials and hardware as necessary. I bought these Beme International "Library" (acorn) and "S-hook" rods for a song at Ross several months ago, and mixed and matched the packages to make the "Library" rods double-hung with the simpler ball finial for the sheers.

6) That ghetto blond wood dining room table makes a great ironing board.

7) Having a husband with common sense, measurements to die for, and a keen sense of detail -- priceless.

I'm starting to paint the kitchen nook this weekend. The kitchen needs quite a bit of work, since it's the one room the previous owners remodeled in their special way. I decided that to do the whole kitchen at once is just too overwhelming, so I'm doing it in small pieces.

The big problem is that the drywall on the ceiling of the nook is cracked down the seams and along the edges. Does this mean they didn't nail it properly? How do I locate the nails? And when I repair it with joint compound, should I use the paper tape or the mesh tape? I'd really appreciate some perspectives on this issue. Our (former) contractor just said to caulk the little cracks and "float" the larger ones without tape. We already know he takes many shortcuts, and we don't trust his opinion.

I tried to take some good enhanced photos so the cracks can be seen. In the second photo, you can see the sheetrock cracking all along the seams on top and in the middle where the sheetrock meets the edge of the nook.

And for reference, here is a shot of the kitchen before we moved in. Since the light is so nice in the back of the house, you can't really see the soy sauce explosion, the cracks and staining from a roof leak on the wall, the grease on the ceiling, or the various other problems. You can see, however, the kountry kute apple wallpaper border which was the very first thing to go bye-bye when we took possession of the house. I was, in fact, surreptitiously peeling it off even before we moved in. There are some indignities one shouldn't suffer. The curtains went to Goodwill. The hanging light is currently in our dining room until we can get one we like. It replaced a filthy, giant paper globe. *shudder*
From the cracks, I see that the sheetrock is two panels wide, and it is about 3/4" thick, on top of what I think must be plywood that is 2" thick.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

five interesting things meme

I was tagged by Chris of The Emory Restoration, I think as a sort of welcome to the world of houseblogging. I do appreciate the welcome. But believe it or not, I actually struggle with what people find interesting about me. In my online correspondence and my real world interactions, I share stuff that I find interesting about the world. I'm not too concerned with a set of adjectives, experiences, or interests that define me as a person; in fact, the need to do so mystifies me. I think I'm too self-centered to think about how I appear to others. So when I get asked what is interesting about me (and it happens more than one would think), I generally just rattle off things from my CV (I have a BA in Japanese, I'm a grad student in a non-Japanese field, I've worked in a museum) or background (my family is from Michigan, I have traveled to some dozen countries, I'm a vehement cat person). That strategy alone says something undoubtedly uninteresting about me.

Still, I try. I asked Mr. Reluctant. Several of his responses are not publishable. The first two are, though:

1. I "sit around all day and read sex books." It's true. I do research on early twentieth century alternative sexuality, in particular masochism, and I'm writing my dissertation. That is, when I'm not caulking.

2. I'm "very witty, with the jokes." Or at least I try to be. Sadly, my sense of humor consists of wearing a baseball cap with a "chai" Hebrew letter and waving for the camera. At least Mr. Reluctant likes it.

3. And this one is the picture. The Japanese vase you see above is the most disputed item in our house. Or rather, the five nearly identical vases are the most disputed items. I love them. I found them in an alley behind an old izakeya in Tokyo. They are hand-painted sake bottles, and each one is slightly different because the calligrapher was different. Each time we move, however, Mr. R prays for them to break. He hates them and thinks they are pretentious.

4. I applied to post-graduate schools seven times, for various reasons, including family moves, career changes, and general insanity.

5. My new hobby is canning, and I put up dozens of pints and half-pints of jams and pickles and sauces last year: blackberry, raspberry, blueberry, madeira grape and white grape jams, dilly beans (scarlet runner and blue lake), cornichons, dill slices and green tomato pickles, and mixed tomato and blueberry sauces.

I tag no one, because I'm rebellious like that. Maybe that's interesting?

Maybe not, though.

fortification fridays

Back in the day, like four months ago or before all my energy was poured into reluctantly remodeling, I had planned to start a food blog. Mr. Reluctant and I were living in a rental house with a huge kitchen, all new appliances, and I could cook my brains out. I had been practicing my food photography with a budget camera and strange light, and I had been going through my recipes to find the yummiest ones.

Fast forward to Friday, January 19, 2007. Our kitchen has no vent, a half-operational stove, no microwave. I can't brown things on the range or cook anything for a long time in the oven or defrost chicken in five minutes.

But I'm still cooking, and I'd like to indulge myself by dedicating one day a week to recipes to fortify the remodeler for a weekend of projects. Just for kicks, I'm going to challenge myself to providing recipes that can be made in crippled, handicapped, er, handicapable kitchens. Honest, they can.

I'm relying on my oven for high heat and my new slow cooker for long cooking. These aren't necessarily going to be simple recipes, because I like to cook and usually make Middle Eastern, Japanese, or French-inspired recipes. But they might be an unusual addition to someone else's kitchen life, and I like the idea of being an unusual addition.

So I bring you Meatball Goodness Soup, the first recipe for Food Fortification Fridays!

Meatball Goodness Soup

This recipe was adapted 'til unrecognizable from May S. Bsisu's excellent cookbook The Arab Table. Bsisu's Rice and Meatball Soup (page 133) is a dish served to children at lunch and new mothers. It is also traditionally served at Easter by Middle Eastern Christians to break the fast of Lent. In short, it's a fortification soup. My version adds a jolt of tang via lemon and cilantro, plus the very non-Arab meat, pork.

If you plan ahead, you can make the lamb or beef stock the day before (I did) and freeze it for later. Stock is easily made in a slow cooker by roasting lamb shank or beef shank bones slicked with vegetable oil in a 425 degree oven until very brown (turn bones over once). You can also add onion wedges, and take them out when you turn over the bones. Make sure the onions don't burn, though. Then place the meat and onions in the slow cooker, fill it 2/3 with water, add some pepper and a few bay leaves, and a piece of carrot and/or celery if you wish, and cook on high for 4-5 hours.

Another option is to double the meatball mix, and use the other half to stuff zucchini or peppers the day after making the soup.

Serves 4 for dinner with bread
Kitchen requirements: oven, slow cooker or one range burner

A. For the meatballs:
1/2 lb. pork
1/2 ground beef (15-20% fat is best)
1 t. white pepper
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. torn bread pieces
1/4 c. milk
1/4 c. pine nuts
2 T. chopped cilantro

B. For the soup:
8 c. beef or lamb shank stock, preferably homemade (see note above)
1/3 c. uncooked basmati rice
2 cardamom pods, crushed
1/2 c. sliced zucchini
1/2 lemon
chopped cilantro for garnish
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Oil a foil-covered cookie sheet. Toast pine nuts until golden brown. Soak bread in milk for 15 minutes, then squeeze out extra milk and discard milk.

Mix pork, beef, pepper, salt together with bread. Use your hands, it's ok. Then add pine nuts and cilantro and mix just until incorporated. Form balls about 1-inch in diameter, and bake on cookie sheet until browned (turning once), about 15 or 20 minutes.

While meatballs are cooking, place beef stock, cardamom pods, and rice in slow cooker on high or on range burner on medium low heat to cook rice. Add salt and white pepper to your taste. You will have to cook the soup for a couple of hours if you use the slow cooker, or about 30 minutes if you use a range burner. When the meatballs are done, add them to the soup with the zucchini, and let them simmer for a while to be fully infused with brothy goodness. Just before serving, squeeze in 1/2 lemon's worth of juice and adjust seasonings. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

I've decided I want this stove. I probably won't get it, because we have no money right now and there are cheaper models that would work just as well. For example, a warming drawer? Handy, but highly not necessary. We live a streamlined life. We are academics, and I'm still in graduate school, so we really can't afford such luxuries as a warming drawer. Plus, it's one more thing to break down. Furthermore, we need to get $omeone to hook up the ga$ line under the hou$e AND vent the $tove, since the crapta$tic "vent" we had in the kitchen ceiling wa$ permanently di$connected when the electrician$ changed the outlet$. Are you $eeing the $ubliminal me$$age here?

It's way too expensive. But I want it! *stamps feet*

In that perfect world where I can pick out what I want and have it arrive at my doorstep the next day, I would still have qualms about the stainless steel finish on my new stove. I posted my profound thoughts about black appliances a month or so ago, and said we were leaning toward white. The problem I did not realize at the time was that our entire kitchen is currently white (why? WHY??), and it would make white appliances sink into a sea of white. See the white cast iron sink in the picture of our kitchen?

No? Well, that's what would happen with white appliances. Poof.

Consumer trends say to go with stainless for resale value. I'm afraid, though, that on top of the cleaning issues with stainless, stainless may become the next avocado green. Will people be turned off by the industrial, smeary look in a few short years?

Image of canisters courtesy of Cyber Attic.