When I lived in Paris, many years ago, I learned how to make real lemonade – fast and easy. The French call this citron pressé and it is served in every café.
1. Juice up (roll around on the counter) one lemon. Cut in half.
2. Place 2 teaspoons of sugar (or sweetener) in a tall glass. Squeeze in the juice of both lemon halves. Fill with ice. Add water to the top and stir.
Israelis add a handful of mint to this concoction. That’s good too.
Now, pull up a lounge chair on the patio. Get a good book. Get comfortable. Drink up!
Hint: Pour lemonade into a plastic bottle, leaving room at the top. Freeze. Take it with you for a cold drink that will last for hours on hot summer days.
You may remember that I decided to give the romantic treatment to my kitchen this year (check out Romantic Kitchen Inspiration post) – just as I did with other areas of our home here, here, here and here.
This was my inspiration:
Photo Apt. Therapy Butlers Pantry After
My hope was to add a little sparkle, better lighting, make things we use often more accessible (not having to constantly get cookware from the bottom cupboards for example), make use of wasted space and update the look.
As with other areas in our home, I am not spending money to change out perfectly good counters, sink or cabinets just because they are 10 years old and don’t match styles in new construction. Likewise, our appliances don’t match but they work and so are staying, as is the flooring.
Here is the before picture.
Last year we replaced our stove with a new for us/used one. I painted the backsplash area a soft yellow. DH also installed a track-light fixture with 7 movable lights on a dimmer switch (worth every penny) for direct over-counter, sink and cabinet lighting.
So that leaves the following:
1. paint the back wall
2. visually use the dark green counter tops
3. use vertical wall space.
I’m all for painting ONE wall in a room. It provides the color lift I need, without painting an entire room. Plus, I like the warm white and soft yellow walls we currently have. The back wall of the kitchen has been painted a few times over the years. I can easily paint it in only one hour with just a quart of paint.
So today I am spending my afternoon wielding “weapons of mass destruction” including a power drill, hammer, screwdriver and tape measure.
After picking up a Grundtal shelf at IKEA, 2 trips by me and 1 trip by DH to the hardware store for the correct screws and anchors, the shelf was finally attached to the wall.
This made me stop and think how difficult all of this would be for someone who didn’t own a car or who relied on public transportation. It’s quite a drive to the hardware store and a lot of gas is used each trip – even if I try to consolidate trips. Those in poverty don’t easily have the luxury of doing even simple things to make their homes more efficient or their lives easier. Something we deem as simple as doing the laundry or grocery shopping can be an arduous proposition if you are taking the bus or walking. Then imagine having small children with you!
In the end my kitchen update cost me a quart of paint from Sears ($10), shelf ($15), hardware ($5), track-light fixture ($98), bright orange rug ($13) for a total cost of $141.
I don’t have a before picture but the back kitchen wall was previously painted a dark orange color. It is now a light sage green color that visually relates to the green counter. I like the final results. It looks fresh. The shelf makes using the pots & pans so much easier, opens up cabinets and uses wasted vertical space.
Photo R. Meshar
The counter area was revamped too. I made use of the dead corner space for stacking white low bowls. We use these to eliminate a myriad of other plates, salad plates and soup bowls. These white porcelain bowls actually look good with the green counter tops. Three glasses hold cutlery. This is not only convenient, it puts unused counter space to work. Everything stored on the counters are items we use daily.
Photo R. MesharPhoto R. Meshar
That finishes the kitchen update. I like the look. It isn’t sterile. The baskets organize coffee & tea supplies and add texture. Hanging shiny pans add a little bling. A small lamp on the snack bar, along with overhead track lighting warms the space. We do cook together easily in this kitchen. It works for us.
Welcome to our kitchen –
Photo R. Meshar
The front entry area will be the next to see a little attention. Watch for changes coming soon.
No, this isn’t a post on picture frames. This is a post on the way we frame, view or understand the world. Frames are powerful. Once we are in a frame it is almost impossible to see our way out.
However, sometimes something happens that will snap us right out of our frame. Language can help us reframe. Read this post by DH to learn how the language we use determines how we understand or frame crucial issues.
An accident, a trauma, a comment or even a story can quickly pull us out of our frame.
Jesus told stories, called parables, to shock people out of their frames. Jesus was adept at the Judaic tradition of parables. An example of this is the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37).
Jesus tells this story in response to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” In this story, both the priest and the Levite – upstanding people in this social “frame” – refused to help the traveler who had been robbed and left on the roadside. Yet, the Samaritan not only helps but takes the traveler to an inn and pays for his care until his return. This is a shocking story because Samaritans were considered unclean and undesirable people. In our day perhaps the Samaritan might be a homeless person. In the shock of the story, Jesus re-frames the question. Ask not, “Who is my neighbor?” Rather, ask “What must I do to be neighborly?”
All of Jesus’ parables were meant to shock us in this manner, to jolt us out of our distorted view of reality. Jesus used the word metanoia, a Greek word meaning change your mind, change your view of reality. It was directly translated as “repent” but the modern meaning of this word misses what Jesus was communicating. It wasn’t about stopping a particular action or behavior. It was about changing one’s entire orientation to life.
We have other examples of reframing. Aesop’s Fables served a similar purpose.
In ancient Greece, Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is probably the most famous frame-breaker. In this story people, chained to a wall, labor deep in a cave. Their world is very small. All they can see are shadows on the wall before them. They can’t even turn around to see the fire behind them that causes the shadows.
One day, one of them escapes. In leaving the cave she sees the fire that casts dim light into the cave and creates the shadows. Climbing further out of the cave she sees more light reflected from a pool of water. Moving higher still, she finally sees daylight far above at the mouth of the cave.
She returns to tell the others. But they don’t believe her. They won’t even try to turn around and see the fire, much less move towards the light reflected in the pool.
In the end, she must climb upward into the daylight and leave the cave behind.
The cave is a metaphor for being trapped in cultural or family systems, or perhaps being trapped in a life story that is limiting or a narrow worldview. It results in a lack of real freedom to choose better possibilities.
Life is full of possibilities. Full of light. Do we want to live in the shadows? Or in the light? Re-frame.
It was a dark and stormy Sunday night… We really hadn’t planned anything for dinner. Maybe fish & chips? Not really sure, I went to the grocery store. Strolling into the frozen food aisle, where I haven’t really shopped in some time, I couldn’t find anything that wasn’t loaded with cheese, salt or fat. Worse, no fish & chip options unless I wanted fish sticks with an entire meal (think Lean Cuisine, ugh!). Then, I saw it – a bag of frozen gnocchi. Suddenly any other ideas about dinner went out the window.
Gnocchi is fabulous, succulent, rich and wonderful. (Post Script: gnocchi is potato based for those who avoid wheat.) Even better, this gnocchi was made by the Pasta Works Restaurant nearby in Chisholm, Minnesota – a local business. Now all I needed was a can of tomato puree and some fresh basil for a fabulous meal.
You can try making gnocchi from scratch, but we’ve never had good luck with that. On the other hand, frozen gnocchi is inexpensive (around $3 for 8 side servings) and really easy to make. Boil water in a pot. Put in half a bag of the frozen gnocchi. Wait 5 minutes until they float to the top. Drain and you have two main servings. Top with the heated tomato sauce and thinly sliced fresh basil, a little pecorino or shredded Parmesan and Mmmm. It may never make it to the table.
Another option: with basil plentiful at farmers’ markets right now, try it with fresh pesto sauce – also delicious!
