Kitchen finale!

I know I haven't talked much about our home projects or our kitchen redo since July, but I have some new reports for you.  I'm incredibly late getting to this, but...better late than never!

You might recognize this picture from right after we finished the tile...in July.  Well, for the rest of the summer and into the fall, this is what my kitchen looked like.  We were actually really getting used to not having to open or close cabinet doors!

And our lower level looked like this...for months.  With 1 coat of primer and 2 coats of paint on each side of the doors, this turned out to be quite an intense process.  That was after the filling of holes and cracks and drilling of new holes for the new hinges.

Once the doors were finished, husband prepped the bases of the cabinets in the kitchen while I was away at Homecoming.  He filled the existing hinge holes, cleaned and sanded everything, covered everything in plastic and put tape along the shelf edges and other places we wanted to protect. 

I took the opportunity to touch up some other eye sores, like our pantry door.  I knew it was ugly, but I'm not sure I ever realized just HOW ugly - this is just primer on it, and look at the difference!! 

Plus, the bottoms of the cabinets were brown.  Like, dark brown.  I'm hoping that I've finally covered everything that used to be brown in our house with a better color. 

Then we had to hang the doors.  This wasn't as bad as it sounds, but was still a chore.  We both said several times if we'd realized how BIG of a project this was, we would have just torn them out and bought all new from Ikea or somewhere like that...



But we do love the result.  We have new hinges, the hidden hinges, which really make a difference.  M was determined to change the hinges, and I didn't really think it would matter - but it gives the kitchen a more modern, cleaner feel.  We also replaced all of the hardware - so from a darker metal to a nice brushed nickel.  They look great with the stainless steal.  It's quite a change, and we're definitely glad it's finished! 

Before the big reveal, lets remember...

Before...look at that AWFUL refrigerator! Ugh.

And now!

We really love it.  The new appliances are beautiful, and I love the cupped drawer pulls.  I've always wanted those!  Sorry it took so long to do this post, but even with the elapsed time I wanted to show you the finished product!

Cilantro shrimp and herb orzo

Happy Friday!  This week has just flown by...it's that time of year for me, the crazy conference time.  We have about 2 weeks until our freight truck leaves, and less than 3 weeks before we all head to New Orleans! It's crunch time!

This recipe was so delicious, I wanted to share it with you - I haven't posted a recipe in a while.  I found this while poking around on the Skinny Taste blog - she's one of my new found favorites.

One of our friends stopped by to visit for a little while on Wednesday and I insisted that he stay for dinner.  This came together so quickly, and was really easy.  I added some orzo to the meal since we had company, but you could totally eat it without it.

Put the pot of water on the stove for the orzo.  While it's heating up, get everything else out and ready...start chopping the herbs, drain the shrimp (I used a bag of unthawed shrimp that needed to be drained and rinsed).  Put a cup of orzo in the pot of boiling water, and turn on the skillet with a little olive oil.  Once that's hot, put in the shrimp, in 2 minutes flip and add the crushed garlic.  The orzo takes about 8-9 minutes and the shrimp 5 or so.

Drain the orzo, then mix in some lemon juice, olive oil, chopped parsley and cilantro.  Stir in lime juice and cilantro with the shrimp, and serve!  It's really that easy!  I threw a bag of steamer vegetables into the microwave, too, and it was a well rounded meal.

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Cilantro Lime Shrimp
2 tsp olive oil
2 lb shrimp, shelled and deviened
6 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 lime
salt and pepper

Heat a large frying pan on medium-high heat. Add oil to the pan, when hot add shrimp. Season with salt and pepper. When the shrimp is cooked on one side, about 2 minutes, turn over and add garlic. Sauté another minute or two until shrimp is cooked, careful not to overcook. Remove from heat. Squeeze lime all over shrimp and toss with cilantro. Serve hot.

Lemon Herb Orzo

1 cup of orzo

1 tbsp olive oil

A couple tablespoons lemon juice, to taste

1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

In a medium pot of boiling salted water, cook orzo according to package directions (about 9 minutes). Drain pasta and transfer to a bowl.  Mix in remaining ingredients and serve.

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Enjoy, and have a great weekend friends!

Wine Wednesday

Dave Matthews is one of my favorite musicians, and now he's making some pretty good wine too.

Dave's first experience with wine was in Virginia, where he purchased a property in Charlottesville to farm.  A couple of years later, he met Steve Reedy of Simi Winery in Healdsburg, CA, and that lead him to the other side of the country and Sonoma County.

The Dreaming Tree winery was created.  Their first 3 wines were just released this year, and they have been a big hit.  They produce a chardonnay, a cabernet sauvignon, and a red blend called “Crush,” all from California grapes.

Crush is the highlight of today's Wine Wednesday.  It is a 2/1 Merlot and Zinfandel blend.  It was originally introduced to me by a friend who's a big DMB fan.  I had tried both Crush and the Cab in the fall, and enjoyed both of them.  This past Sunday while checking out the wine section of Costco, we were surprised to see that they had Crush and decided we should pick up a bottle.

At Costco and Wegmans, a bottle of Crush is $11, on their website it's $15 and at Total Wine it's $16.  At $11, this wine is a great value...for $16, there are some other wines I might buy first.    

They're wine making philosophy is to make wines to enjoy now rather than having to save them.  This one has a bit of a 'smokey berry' flavor with 'raspberry jam' notes.  Great with food, or on it's own on the back deck!

Previous Wine Wednesday posts here and here.

Photos from The Dreaming Tree Facebook Page

Weekend recap

I have a love/hate relationships with winter.  I am not a big fan of cold, ice, coats - all things that come with winter.  But, the last couple of weekends have been great to just kind of hunker down and spend some good time at home.

Friday night, after long days at work for both of us, we stayed in, opened a great bottle of wine, had soup for dinner and cozied on the couch with a movie.  We finally got around to watching The Help!

I read the book in the summer and it was absolutely one of my favorite books.  I've had a hard time picking up another one since then, because I know it just won't be as good.  I've started a couple, but just can't seem to get into anything...suggestions welcomed!  The movie was very good - not quite as great as the book, but still good.  I'm so glad we finally watched it!

Saturday we got a little ice and snow around the DC area.  We got up early and went to Wegmans, and then got a ton of things done around the house...all of those little things you put off for months that just suck out time...those things.  But it felt so great to get the grocery shopping, good workouts, and other chores finished!

Saturday night we headed over to Clarendon and met one of our favorite couples for dinner at Eventide.  It's on the same block as Liberty Tavern.  The lounge on the first floor is a great spot, and I've been several times.  We hadn't been to dinner there, so we were excited to try it.

The main dining room is on the second floor and is just stunning.  We were totally not expecting the gorgeous, 2 story room when we walked up the stairs.  Long, navy velvet curtains, bench couches at booths and other tables and chairs are placed around the room.  It's very spacious and elegant.

The food and wine was fantastic.  We had the 2004 Burgess Napa Valley Syrah, which was great.  I had the braised short rib, and I wanted to lick the plate - I only used my knife for the broccolini, the meat was so tender I didn't need one.  Everyone raved about their dinners, we will certainly go back.  We were so glad we decided to finally try it for dinner!

Sunday I met up with a girlfriend of mine for brunch at Chef Geoff's in Tysons.  It was great to catch up and have a delicious, leisurely brunch.  We both had veggie omelets, and they were very good. The steamed milk for our coffees was a great touch!

Sunday afternoon was spent watching football, doing more chores around the house, cooking a delicious and healthy dinner of skinny salisbury steak, and getting ready for the week.

As much as we like to travel and be active and busy on the weekends, it's amazing how refreshing it is to stay home, spend time together, and be productive!

What did you do over the weekend?



picture 1 source
picture 3 source

Wine Wednesday

I've had so many people comment to me about the new Wine Wednesday series!  I'm so glad y'all like it :)

Today's wine is one that I enjoyed earlier this week!  It's a great 'Tuesday night wine' or party wine.  Since our adventures in French wine last fall, we've been more adventurous in trying all French Cotes du Rhone wines (lets not get ahead of ourselves here).  We found this at Total Wine shortly after our trip, and have really enjoyed it since then.  We have served it for a couple of get togethers at our house, and it goes quick - always a good sign!

Source

This wine is from the Costieres de Nimes appellation in the Rhone Valley, France.  It is a blend of three Rhone varietals - 50% Syrah, 30% Mourvedre and 20% Grenache.  It's very dark in color, almost purple, and has lots of red fruit flavors.  It's know as their Cuvée Tradition and has been listed on the European Values Guide from Wine Spectator.

Source

You can find this wine at Total Wine in the Cotes du Rhone section of the French wines for about $10. There's also a rosé with the same blend that I can't wait to try when it gets a little warmer!  

And one of the best parts about this wine - it has a screw cap...can you say picnic?  Cheers!