Kitchen Renovation: First Two Weeks

We're two weeks into our kitchen remodel and a lot has happened and a lot more needs to happen before we're done. Lots of activity, lots of banging, lots of drilling, etc. I feel kinda bad for Bandit, our neighbor's dog, who keeps barking because of all the commotion. Our Living Room Kitchen has been better than expected and our friends have been inviting us over and dropping off prepared foods.  Yay for friends!

Our old cabinets piled up on the porch waiting for the dumpster to arrive

Hello Dumpster!

Filling up the dumpster

Demolition of the wall separating our kitchen from our dining room

Wall gone!!!

Who knew this pipe was inside the wall

Sheetrock separating our living space from the construction zone

Turns out there's another layer of even older hardwood floors under the original old timey hardwood floors

Opening up walls

Old insulation cleaned out

Glad our old picture hooks are serving a new purpose holding up masks

Kitchen Renovation: plasticmom's Kitchen Completed

Our contractor finished up plasticmom's kitchen yesterday and it passed inspection so I enjoyed a celebratory strawberry sundae from Burger King. I have some minor odds and ends to tidy up like buy and install some hardware for the wall cabinets. To glimpse the before photo, click here.

Completed kitchen with new IKEA cabinets, quartz counters and tile backsplash. Loads of long cabinet pulls for her to "hang stuff" like towels and clips. The fridge is relatively new, but she kept her old stove and microwave. New under cabinet lights that actual turn on when you turn them on. Her old ones were flickering fluorescents that took a while to fully light

Left: plasticmom's teeny counter depth fridge. She's always dreamed of a "small fridge" whereas I've always dreamed of a bigger fridge. We made her "dreams" come true with a 24 inch counter depth fridge with a top fridge and bottom freezer so she doesn't have to bend over as much

Left: Custom shelf above the fridge built using IKEA coverpanels I'm thinking it'll be perfect for stashing paper towels

Center: IKEA sink and faucet. White subway tile backsplash with a strip of green/blue mosaic glass. Maple Blanco Silastone quartz counters. They recommended putting the seam in the middle of the sink so there isn't a "long line" and I think it works. Just a little line on either end of the sink

Right: custom open cabinet with adjustable shelves built with IKEA coverpanels 

Right: custom open cabinets built with IKEA coverpanels

Right: Still, mistakes happen. Didn't realize the stove handle had a wide curve so the top drawer doesn't open all the way

Right: Top drawer only opens 75%, but thankfully the other three drawers are fully functional. Tight squeeze, but mostly OK. Oh well!

More than one weakness

Adam and I were at dinner when I misheard and thought Adam said, "That's my one weakness..."

plasticann: Well, I think you have a few more than one weakness, I could list a couple.
Adam: Umm, I said it was one of my many weaknesses not my only weaknesses.
plasticann: There's one weakness that I had in mind, you're not very good at figuring out distances, volumes, lengths, etc.
Adam: I don't really know what's a quarter mile when you're navigating?
plasticann: Quarter mile is our house to Davis, half mile is our house to the church and a mile is our house to Porter.
Adam: But that doesn't help because I'm driving not walking.
plasticann: You're also not very good at figuring out volumes and lengths. Like the other day you asked me if two feet was [plasticann holds her hands about 12 inches apart].
Adam: I'm not really sure what's a liter.
plasticann: A liter is almost like a quart.
Adam: What's the little skinny carton?
plasticann: A quart!!! I really need to quiz you on this stuff. How many cups in a pint?
Adam: A pint weighs a pound the world around!
plasticann: How is that helpful? Come on, how many cups in a pint Adam?
Adam: Umm, three quarters of a cup?
plasticann: What??? A pint is 2 cups. It's half of a skinny carton also known as a quart.
Adam: I thought a pint was the little one [holds hands about four inches high].
plasticann: That's a half pint or a cup.
Adam: I always thought the little one was a pint.
plasticann: I think we've figured out the root of the problem. You thought the little one was a pint when it was a half pint.
Adam: They never taught us this stuff in school.
plasticann: School? You learn this stuff by shopping at the grocery store.
Adam: I guess I never food shopped growing up. I also didn't learn the state capitals.

Kitchen Renovation: IKEA ordering lessons learned...thus far

Adam and I made our second trip to IKEA this week to place our giant order of cabinets. The ordering process was pretty smooth because we tried our best to be prepared. We still learned a few more lessons along the way which I'm sharing in hopes of saving someone else a little trouble.

IKEA is surprisingly easy and difficult all the same time

• IKEA is amazing wonderful and utterly frustrating. The customer service is surprisingly good as long as you stick with one sales channel. I've called them a few times to check on cabinet dimensions and they actually pick up the phone and try their best to find the information. One phone customer service rep even called the store and asked them to measure something for me while I was on hold. I've asked them questions over email and they usually respond within a day. 

• Similarly, the in-store experience is pretty good. Both times they patiently answered my questions and checked my order a few times. Some kitchen specialists are better than others, but they were all helpful. Jenni, who helped me on Monday, was awesome about checking all my colors, asking me lots of detailed questions and editing the order so I didn't order too many extra toe kicks, doors, shelves and hinges. 

Don't try to cross sales channels. There's no integration across the two experiences. 

• In the beginning, I wanted to use their in home kitchen design and measuring service that's operated out of their stores. I couldn't schedule the appointment over the phone or online. They asked me to drive to the store to make an appointment in person for someone from the store to drive to my house to measure my kitchen. Makes no sense for the customer especially a car free family like ours so our contractor helped us measure and I did the design myself.

• I wanted to change my delivery date so I tried calling yesterday. The automated system literally hung up on me multiple times when it was supposed to transfer me to someone at the store. I emailed IKEA trying to change my delivery date and received a response that I needed to either call the store (who keeps accidentally hanging up on me) or drive to the store to make the delivery date change in person. I'm resigned to keep my original delivery date. 

Take full advantage of their online planning tools, but don't trust it blindly.

• The IKEA 3D kitchen planner can be a bit buggy, but is good enough. Basically, you enter the dimensions for the room layout and you can drag and drop cabinets. I obsessively used this tool for both kitchens making edits along the way. It's kinda addictive like Candy Crush is for Adam. Sometimes the kitchen planner doesn't let you do what you want and you just have to remember it's not you. The kitchen planner program can be wonky, naughty and petulant...you're not the crazy one.

• The kitchen planner program is like a bad version of Microsoft Word. Like Word, the kitchen planner will want to "format" your order with the best of intentions yet totally gets it wrong. For both my orders, the kitchen planner tried to calculate the number of accessories I needed and both times, it made major errors like undercounting the number of cabinet legs I needed or overestimating the amount of material I needed. Triple check it all and assuming nothing is accurate. This is where the in store staff's expertise is very helpful.

• The kitchen planner lacks common sense because it's a not super bright computer program. I almost ordered extra cabinets because I found wayward extra cabinets hidden inside obstacles and walls. I couldn't see it visually, but the extra unexpected cabinets appeared on the order list so I had to hunt them down and delete them.

• The kitchen planner is also a bit color blind which is how I accidentally ordered a birch cabinet for plasticmom's all white kitchen. I almost ordered the off white parts for my white kitchen based on the kitchen planner's recommendation. Off white is a default setting that was mascara ding as an expert recommendation. 

Be prepared to be prepared

• Because I'd spent two months working with the kitchen planner and my contractor creating dozens of iterations, I thought I was prepared. I knew the cabinet configurations and dimensions IKEA offered in and out. I had checked my item list about 10 times and made corrections with each version before our store visit. It still took me over an hour with the kitchen specialist to place my order. I got about it 95% right and 5% wrong even with all my obsessive preparation. Granted none of the minor mistakes were tragic, but I needed their in store help to get it as accurate as possible if I wanted to avoid another trip to IKEA for missing parts.

• Even with all the preparation, I felt low level anxiety during the ordering process because there were so many details to tend to. I was totally flabbergasted that other customers were literally planning their kitchens from start to finish at the store. The couple across from me was having an animated conversation about corner cabinets. Turns out many people spend the day at IKEA planning their kitchens using the IKEA computers. Some even come in an hour before the store closes expecting to order a kitchen before dinner. I can't even imagine! I'm not laid back enough to wing designing a kitchen in one day with a lunch break for Swedish Meatballs.

• Check the order obsessively, but expect some minor mistakes because minor mistakes are part of life. I accidentally ordered plasticmom a brown birch sink cabinet and I accidentally bought her 40 cabinet pulls when I only needed 20. Thankfully, I returned the cabinet pulls and you can't see the birch cabinet with the white doors. 

• Also be prepared to take delivery of hundreds of little boxes and parts. I had over a hundred items to inventory plasticmom's kitchen and it took me 2 hours to inventory the items with their 8 digit SKU numbers. My kitchen will be about three times more parts so I'm blocking out an entire day next week to get organized after they deliver.

Get a good night's sleep and remember to eat

• Eat lots of snacks...that's just a life philosophy of mine
• Take bio breaks
• Wear comfy shoes and cross body bags for all your gear

Get the IKEA family card upfront and use it for all your purchases

• The IKEA family card is free and it's actually great. I used it to get 20% off our kitchen cabinets which is a nice chunk of change. The kitchen promotion is running through end of April and they run the promotion a few times a year.
• They'll also price adjust any purchases up to 90 days so had I bought my cabinets before the promotion, I could have gone into the store and received the discount on past purchases as long as I used the IKEA family card. 
• You get free coffee and free tea at the cafe.
• Key takeaway: no IKEA family card, no price adjustment, no promotions and no free coffee.

Kitchen Renovation: Practicing on plasticmom

I should probably clarify that I'm actually renovating two different kitchens. Since I'm new at this, I decided to start with plasticmom's smaller and much simpler kitchen project. For a few reasons, some selfish and some not, I prioritized her project first:

1. plasticmom is off somewhere warmer and it would be more convenient to complete her kitchen while she was away so she could come home to a nice new kitchen
2. I'm practicing on her project for experience before I tackle my own
3. By the time our remodel is underway, plasticmom will be back in Beantown and I'm hoping she'll use her new kitchen to make us lots of prepared foods we can microwave in our living room kitchenette. Thanks plasticmom!

I've been wanting to get her new cabinets for a while because hers are about 30 years old and held together by glue. Since her appliances are in good shape, we only updated her tile and her cabinets. I found the prospect of cabinet shopping a little intimidating and overwhelming so when our contractor suggested IKEA, I decided to check it out.

Original 1990s Kitchen, still in decent shape, but limited base cabinet storage

Electrical work for new layout, moving some outlets, adding some more...

First, plasticmom and I went to IKEA in LA over Christmas and picked out the cabinet doors she liked and cabinet pulls. Then, I used the IKEA 3D online tool to try different cabinet layouts. After much trial and error, I finally settled on a cabinet layout with more cabinets with drawers. plasticmom is kinda short and can't really reach the wall cabinets very well.

Her original kitchen also had a full sized dishwasher which was a bit of a waste on plasticmom since she never used it so we swapped the dishwasher out in the new layout for another base cabinet. I figured she could always swap the base cabinet out for a small dishwasher later if she wants to. For now she'll enjoy the convenience of more base cabinet storage.

The original kitchen also had 2 dead corners under the counters. By shifting a few things around, we were able to get one corner base cabinet with a rotating carousel. The second corner is still dead empty space. We didn't want to spend the money to get truly custom cabinets to maximize storage.  That's one of the tradeoffs when going with IKEA versus more custom options.

New corner base cabinet in the spot that was previously empty dead space

Original sink

New sink is shifted more to the center

I accidentally ordered a birch cabinet for the sink, but fortunately the doors will cover the cabinet so you won't be able to see the birch cabinet until you open the doors. I'm trying to pass it off as a design choice, but really I made a mistake which is why I worked on plasticmom's kitchen first

Since IKEA doesn't offer cabinets smaller than 12 inches, my contractor offered to use IKEA cover panel material to build custom narrow 9 inch open cabinets to fill the cabinet gaps.

Custom narrow open cabinets to the right and left of the hood and stove

Custom narrow open base cabinet made from IKEA cover panels

New tile floor, contractor saved some time and $$$ by tiling over the old tile

So far, I've been really happy that we went with IKEA. Once you get the hang of it and understand the little quirks, their 3D planner can be addictive. It's been my version of playing Candy Crush this winter. All the hundreds of parts that make up these IKEA cabinets were delivered in about a week so you can't beat the quick turnaround on IKEA. They're actually having a 15% to 20% off kitchen sale through the end of April which Adam and I plan on taking advantage of in a few weeks.

IKEA cabinets are like building LEGO kits without any written instructions. You get stacks and stacks of parts rather than completed cabinets. Fortunately, my contractor was happy and willing to work with IKEA so "everything is awesome!"

Kitchen Renovation Adventures...here we go

Adam and I have talked about renovating our kitchen for almost as long as we've lived in our lovely condo. We absolutely love almost everything about our home except for our kitchen. I don't want to malign our hardworking little kitchen with all its modern conveniences like running water, dishwasher, gas stove, etc. and its nice little touches like working drawers and granite countertops, but it's rather small and lacking in storage for the two of us. We're often bumping into each other and we have way too much kitchen stuff. We've taken to storing our appliances and other things up on top of our cabinets. It's not only unsightly, but dangerous if something falls off the top of the cabinet and say hits me on the head. We also love having people over so having a more functional kitchen would be super awesome.

Our kitchen renovation plans are so big, we're actually annexing our dining room. [Insert current events reference to Crimea.] The kitchen will be one big combined room with lots of cabinets, new appliances and loads more storage. I'm super excited about getting a double oven so I can bake 2X as much. Yay! Adam is excited about a new bottom freezer fridge where he doesn't have to bend over to find things in the fridge. We're aiming to start early April and hopefully we'll be done in 2-3 months. Wish us luck and invite us over for dinner since we'll be dining on Hot Pockets for a few months. For now, I leave you with our most frequently asked question.

Q: Ummm...I hear you two aren't the most "handy." How much "work" will you guys be doing?

A: Great question! We're totally not handy so we've decided to outsource. We're feeling pretty good this decision for the following reasons:

1. The economy. Hiring a contractor will boost GDP whereas doing the work yourself does not boost GDP officially. We aim to boost the GDP by less than 0.00000000000000000329%.

2. Comparative advantage! If we all stick to what we're comparatively better at, economic theory tells us we'll have higher utility.

3. Absolute advantage! Turns out Adam and I are really bad at being handy and our contractor absolutely has not only comparative advantage, he has an absolute advantage over our terrible skills so therefore we will really be much much better off outsourcing.

No Sew "Napkins

Seersucker Napkins Circa 2010

A few years ago, I saw this Martha Stewart Seersucker Napkin DIY I became obsessed with. Basically, you cut seersucker cloth into squares and fray the edges so there's no sewing involved. Anyone who's come over for dinner in the last few years has been subjected to these intentionally frayed scraps of cloth that I call a "napkin." Fortunately, my friends are pretty gracious about these quirky "napkins" and I just tell them that it's a Martha Stewart DIY if they look at them funny. Since I'm intimidated by my sewing machine, I like that I can crank out a lot of no sew "napkins" while I watch TV. Adam has come to tolerate these "napkins" over the years, but I know they mildly irritate him because they fray and sometimes leave threads in the laundry. He's a little long suffering, but we're using fewer paper napkins by switching to cloth and I figure mild adversity is character building….right?

Last week, I decided that our towering stash of Seersucker Napkins from 2010 were starting to feel a little thin and nearing the end of their useful life so I found a stash of cute patterned cloth in my closet and made some new "napkins." I bought the cloth in 2010 with aspirations to make some cute pillow cases, but I'm still intimidated by my sewing machine four years later and the color scheme of my house has changed enough that I figured I might as well make some "napkins" with the cute cloth. The good news is the 2014 edition napkins are more substantial and they're more generously sized. Yay!

 "Napkins" Circa 2014

The Zakun Way

I've recently been referring to a few things as "the Zakun way" or "Zakunisms." Inspired by the insightful NYTimes dialect map quiz that's been all over Facebook, I've created a hyper specific dialect / behavioral quiz in honor of my family in-law.

Q1: What do you call the end piece of a loaf of bread?
a. The Heel
b. The Chulupka
c. Inedible Trash

Q2: You receive a phone message from Grandma that simply says, "lemons are 2 for a dollar in Seattle." 
a. You get excited because Grandma makes the BEST lemonade and you can't wait to enjoy some when you visit Seattle next week
b. You pack a box of lemons from your lemon tree to bring to Seattle
c. You call Grandma back and report that "hot dogs are 2 for a dollar in San Francisco."

Q3: After you get the check for a nice celebratory dinner out, you say...
a. "How about we split it?"
b. "Holy Moly!"
c. "Should we dine and dash?"

Q4: You want to try this cool new cocktail recipe from Food & Wine magazine that calls for Angastura Bitters. You go to three different liquor stores in your area and fail to find Angastura Bitters for sale. You assume...
a. My neighbors must be a bunch of cocktail swilling alcoholics
b. There are no Angastura Bitters available in my area, therefore there are no Angastura Bitters available in the entire country
c. Angastura Bitters don't exist! Food & Wine magazine made a mistake in their cocktail recipe. You decide to write a stern letter to Food & Wine expressing your disappointment and you'll ask them to "make it right."

Q5: When you yawn in public, you say...
a. "Pardon" in a posh English accent
b. "Arghhh Mendoza" like a pirate
c. "Will y'all look at the time" with a bad Texas accent

Q6: What do you do when you need to replace a small household appliance that costs under $40? 
a. Remember that you have an extra one in the garage that you bought on sale last year
b. Do research by going to Consumer Reports and reading all their reviews
c. Go to Amazon and buy the one with the most stars

Q7: What do you call removing clean dishes from the dishwasher?
a. Unload the dishwasher
b. Unset the dishwasher
c. Dishwasher? I thought that was a giant drying rack!

Q8: You're shopping for a new winter parka and you find one you like. On the way to the register you...
a. Decide to pick up some warm socks since they're on sale
b. Methodically check every zipper, button and whether any down is escaping from the parka
c. Swing by the sale section just in case, find a parka that's less than ideal, but half off, then debate for 15 minutes on which parka to buy and proceed to leave the store with neither parka

Scoring: If your answers are mostly "b" then you might belong to a very small group of people who hail from the Peninsula with the last name or maiden name "Zakun." You have a great sense of humor and can laugh at yourself. You are also very good looking, super nice, generous and very forgiving of your in-laws.

Only the "b" answer to all these questions are true "Zakunisms," but Q4-c and Q8-c are within the realm of possible "Zakunisms."

1 day to Christmas: You're kinda in a bind unless you're celebrating Orthodox Christmas

At this point, it's 24 hours to Christmas and you probably want to avoid the mall because it'll be crazy busy and possibly crazy depressing. I'm going to make some last minute suggestions for your local 24 hour drugstore without resorting to the gift card rack.

Band Aids: 

Last time I checked, little kids love Band Aids. It's like crack to kids, but the safer crack since it's marginally less destructive than than actual crack for kids aka refined sugar. Stop by the Band Aid aisle and buy at least 5 boxes of cute themed Band Aids, 10 boxes if your budget permits. Get the premium branded cute stuff, don't skimp out on generic plain Band Aids. It's Christmas, don't be a grinch. Wrap them up and let them rip it all open on Christmas morning. It's the gift that might not last long and it's the gift that parents might not like very much, but it'll provide about 5 minutes of pure joy and quite a bit of trash.

Themed sets of magazines:

Stop by the magazine aisle and top like twenty bucks on a pile of magazines geared toward someone's interest or guilty pleasure. If you want to fake it, buy a hard copy of a magazine and then sneak online and buy them a subscription that will come in a few weeks.

Decor and Home Stuff: 

• House Beautiful
• Dwell
• Elle Decor

Trashy Stuff - buy a couple for multiple sources of Kim Kardashian's latest adventures:

• US
• Star
• National Enquirer
• People…to keep it a little respectable

Food Stuff:

• Bon Appetite
• Food & Wine
• Gourmet
• Food Network

You get the idea…just buy a bunch of stuff in the same category for the illusion of thoughtfulness

As Seen on TV:

I've noticed that my local CVS has a section of goofy Christmas gifts that are mostly as seen on TV type gifts. If you're gonna go this route, I recommend you totally own the gift by playing up the campiness and being over the top. Avoid "practicality, "usefulness" and "good taste" at all costs since most gifts from this drugstore aisle will not qualify. Get them something that they'd never buy themselves, something they might secretly want, but are too embarrassed. Think butter butlers, chia pets, chocolate fountains, lava lamps, etc.

Merry Christmas! Best of luck at the local drugstore if you're headed there to shop…you're gonna need it in more ways than one.

When parents stop being polite and start getting real

It goes without saying that plasticmom is just the best. She's endearing, very sweet, hilarious and incredibly nice. You know how older people sometimes speak their mind and stop caring so much about being polite or saying the right thing? I think plasticmom might be tipping into that and I'm going to start finding out what she really thinks. It's gonna be good!

Scene: plasticann is sorting through old photographs

plasticann: [looking at a high school photo] I think I'm going to have to shred this one.

plasticmom: No no, let me see it first.

plasticann: [holds photo for plasticmom to see] What do you think?

plasticmom: [Wincing with a look of mild horror grabs the photo] AGHHHHHH! The pimples, the braces, the hair, ughhhhhh! Is that really you? Maybe you should shred it.

plasticann: [laughing] MOM, that's the wrong thing to say. Here's another one from high school. You ready?

plastimom: [bracing herself] That's not you? That's your friend. 

plasticann: That's me!

plasticmom: I don't believe it. That's not you. Why is this shirt so loose, what's this weird dress?

plasticann: That's my shirt and my dress. I remember buying it and I really liked it.

plasticmom: I still don't believe it.

Key takeaways:

• plastimom is horrified by my class photo, the one day I made some sort of effort regarding my appearance. I'm with her, I too feel mortified in retrospect. Fortunately, I was blissfully unaware during my "awkward years."
• plasticmom can't recognize me from a photo and still insists it's not me.
• plasticmom was gracious enough or blind enough to think I was "adorable"during these awkward years, but she's clearly mildly horrified looking back. Ignorance is bliss.
• plasticmom continues to make me laugh so hard my sides hurt.

Dear Diary…1988

"Going through my stuff" at plasticmom's is always an interesting and often hilarious trip down memory lane. I unearthed a Peanuts diary that said "KEEP OUT!" complete with a combination lock. I wasn't even going to bother opening up the diary since I couldn't remember the combination, but plasticmom persisted for about 30 seconds and the contents were revealed. Tah dah!

The only thing "juicy" about this diary is the amount of orange juice we were all drinking according to my meticulous record of our 5th grade snacks. There are only two entries on one page, both for November 1988 so I must have lost the combination for the lock real quick. 

• I could totally picture myself writing a very similar entry in a diary today. I would like to think my snack records would be more refined, but I'm pretty sure I've actually made note in a journal about enjoying "Cheetos with orange juice" at some point in the last 12 months.
• I've always been food obsessed. What everyone brought for snack was clearly the highlight of the day. Maybe the big secret I was keeping locked up in my diary was that I was more interested in snack than school. Scandalous!
• This kid Nobu might have been a hobbit who enjoyed multiple snacks. First some orange juice and then some Cracker Jacks for elevensies. Now that I think about it, I remember he had these awesome Teddy Grahams for snack one day and I was jealous. 
• How come I'm eating an apple while my friends are chomping on fruit roll ups, corn chips Frito to be exact, chips, Cracker Jacks and Cheetos. Most disturbing is, why am I "eating nothing" for snack on November 23, 1988. I'm gonna have to ask plasticmom some tough questions.

The only person I'm still Facebook friends with is a girl named Michelle. I wonder if she's feeding her adorable kids "Fritos corn chips" and "Cheetos?"

Postscript: Both plasticmom and Adam were befuddled. They both asked "why would you write about snacks in your diary?"

1 Week to Christmas: Backup Gifts

Figuring out a "thoughtful" gift for someone you don't really know well is really challenging so I get really excited when I find universally appealing gifts. I think these two gift ideas should adequately cover your gift giving needs for most older kids and adults you don't know well for under $15 that's a little more unusual than a liquor [for the adults] or gift cards.

PocketMonkey Tool - $12

I've come back to this PocketMonkey gift of a workhorse again and again this year. It was created by a friend of a friend so I can play up the "ZIT" connection and the "created in Somerville" aspect. It's not yet widely available so it's still a novelty and broadly appeals to most people age 8+. It's also super compact and TSA compliant so you can carry it on planes. When I traveled this summer, I brought five PocketMonkey tools to give away as gifts to relatives I had never met and they went like hotcakes. plasticmom emailed me this week, "I need 5 monkey tool cards for Taipei gifts" because "everyone wants one when they see it." The only small challenge is finding them, but fortunately EMS carries them in Boston and you can check store availability and reserve them online which is how I acquired 10 more "monkey tool cards" for plasticmom.

Pilot Hi-Tec C Maica Pen Set - $15

I am obsessed with these Hi-Tec C pens from Japan, but that's not exactly news. I use those pens almost exclusively because they write very smoothly and the colors are really lovely. I seek them out when I travel in Asia and I possessively hoard my pens. If you "borrow" a Hi-Tec C pen, you can be confident I will ask for it back even if the next time I see you is not for a long while. My friend Zara ran out [virtually] to JetPens.com to buy herself a set after she tried my pen. The newest version of the pen is called the Maica so it looks a little different, but the reviewers on JetPens really like it. I usually buy them from JetPens, but I see that even Amazon sells them and will Prime ship them to boot.

2 Weeks to Christmas: I really wish I were kid...

Ice Cream Truck from OTO Toys

When I saw this beautiful cardboard ice cream truck toy, I was smitten. It's adorable! I want it, but I need this cardboard ice cream truck as much as I need an ridiculously expensive handbag. I can probably semi justify the handbag more easily. Someone I know, please buy this for your child so I can come visit and play.

Uncle Goose Blocks

I'm also obsessed with all shapes (just cubic) and sizes of Uncle Goose blocks. I bought a set of lower case blocks for Zristen's baby shower as decorations and I really really wanted to keep them for myself.

The classic upper case ABC and lower case abc blocks are great. The lower case abc blocks are a little unusual, they feature baby versions of animals on the blocks. They also have foreign language blocks for smart multiethnic babies. I bought the Arabic set for a friend who's Moroccan Moving beyond the letter blocks, you'll find awesome blocks with periodic tables, USA blocks and Presidential blocks. If you want to get all high design and buy me gift, they have Eames House blocks, House Industry Font Alphabet blocks, Christmas Tree blocks and so much more.

3 Weeks to Christmas: Game Night

As a child, Adam dreamed of family game nights which rarely came to fruition either due to lack of interest or initiative. These days, Adam hosts a monthly game night that's now a "thing" after a year of persistently having fun. It's a potluck game night so you bring games and snacks to share. It's also been fun to learn about new games that would also make cool gifts. Here's the round up of new discoveries and old favorites thanks to adventurous game playing friends.

King of Toyko

You might not realize by looking at him, but Adam is really into super heroes, zombies and monsters. Our friends Zrian and Zbigail introduced us to King of Tokyo, a game pitting imaginary monsters with even more imaginary powers in an epic battle set in pretty much an imaginary Tokyo. Let me assure you that there's nothing culturally educational about this game. You will learn nothing about actual Tokyo, but it's fun nonetheless. Adam loved King of Tokyo so much, he promptly ordered his own set the next week so he could bring it his new toy to someone else's house. I've come to enjoy it myself and I especially like to make sound effects like, "whack whack" when my monster takes a "whack."

Ticket to Ride

I love this train building game because it's a perfect fit for my personality and it's right in my sweet spot. It's even sorta educational and it's definitely a ton of fun. We have the American version, but there's also an European version. I look forward to playing it every game night without fail.

I'm an ISTJ and if you're not familiar with Myers Briggs, let me break it down for you within a Ticket to Ride context.

Introvert: There's no trading and negotiating in this game which is perfect if you want to hang out with people, but maybe don't want to be chatty the entire time. Everyone has their own agenda, there's almost no cooperation and minimal interaction. I almost feel energized after a game of Ticket to Ride.

Sensing: Collecting train cards, building trains, building routes is all super tangible and detailed oriented. I love it!

Thinking: Successfully building a train route from LA to NYC requires a lot of forethought, deliberate planning and lots of opportunities to use the old noggin…quietly with little interaction.

Judgement: First step of this game is to decide which train routes you're going to build. Yipee! I know where I'm going and I have a tangible goal. I can measure my goal when I reach it and check it off my list.

Oh man, I really want to play Ticket to Ride now. Maybe I can persuade Adam to play with me.

Powder Room Updates

It's been a few months since we painted and updated our first floor powder room, but I haven't posted any photos because the bathroom is small enough that it's challenging to take photos. It measures about 30 inches by 60 inches which as teeny as it can be while still being comfortable. I've seen teenier bathrooms that are extremely uncomfortable and fortunately our's is big enough to be functional.

The "before" of this small bathroom was pretty unremarkable. Functional, clean and pretty comfortable. Plain white walls that eventually started peeling, extremely dim, generic white cabinet over the toilet and a plain mirror I picked up on a whim at Target the weekend we moved in.

The "after" features a few updates:

• Extra sparkly lighting with a disco ball pendant lamp from PBTeen
• Taller mirror from West Elm
• Purple walls Benjamin Moore North Cascades
• Removed white cabinet and installed clear shelf from CB2
• Collection of six maps of significance from various Etsy stores online

Disco ball light from PBTeen

Mirror from West Elm

Etsy Maps

Providence, RI, Boston

Seattle, San Francisco

Los Angeles, Taipei

"Floating" clear shelf from CB2

4 Weeks to Christmas: Fancy Pants gifts that are not actually pants

Here are two items that I instantly coveted as soon as I saw them. They provoked an unfamiliar feeling of profound regret and the thought, "I wish I'd waited to buy XYZ, this one is so much cooler. Wah!" Buyers remorse is a very rare experience for me which is why I'm highlighting these two fancy pants gift ideas that are just a little bit slicker and cooler, but entirely unnecessary.

Custom Jambox…ships in 2 days…wow!

I am a sucker for anything customizable, especially if the custom version costs the same as the standard version. Years ago, Wheezy and I wasted countless hours customizing messenger bags at Timbuk2 so I knew I was in trouble when I saw that you could customize your own Jambox. I already own a little red Jambox so I don't need another one, but I love little red Jambox so much, I'm considering replacing my Bose iPod sound dock with a second Jambox. It's small, portable, super easy to use and easy on the eyes.

Bose Noise Canceling Earbuds

I just bought myself Bose Noise Canceling Headphones this summer. In fact, Adam and plasticmom both have their own headphones so I can't even pawn my headphones off on them and buy new ones. I do love my headphones and I use them all the time. One of my favorite "activities" (and plasticmom's) is to wear the headphones while miming to those around you (namely Adam) that you can't "hear" them even though you sorta still can. The only downside to the headphones is that they are bulky and these new earbuds that Bose released are NOT bulky. I absolutely do not need a second pair of noise canceling thingies, but I kinda wished they'd been offered earlier this year when I was buying my bulky headphones.

Bulky Noise Canceling Headphones? Nah, just some old school 80s headphones on baby plasticann.

Almond Coconut Meringue Cookie Recipe

I ended up with three leftover egg whites because a cake I made last week called for three egg yolks so I was looking for a recipe that called for egg whites so I could score one leftover point. I have also been dreaming of the almond coconut meringue/macaroon cookies they offer at the Blue Room for Sunday brunch so I decided to experiment and create my own version. I adapted a meringue cookie recipe online and added my own extras.

Almond Coconut Meringue Cookies - yields about 36

4 egg whites
1 pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 and 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup shredded coconut
1/3 cup almond flour/meal

1. Preheat over to 275 degrees. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. On high speed, whip egg whites, salt and cream of tartar until you have soft peaks
3. 1/3 cup at a time, add sugar to egg whites and whip on high until you have stiff peaks
4. Add almond and vanilla extract, whip
5. Gently fold in coconut and almond flour
6. Spoon mounds of meringue onto cookie sheet
7. Bake about 30 minutes until cookies are light brown and easily peel off the parchment paper

Crumbly crisp exterior with soft center. If you don't know your own strength, you just might squash the cookie like a little bug.

5 Weeks to Christmas: New Home Sweet Homes

This year, a number of my friends have bought new homes and moved. It's both exciting and a little bittersweet with everyone moving on to a new phase. I've leaned on these two gift ideas to celebrate this milestone recently and since they're require a little bit of lead time, order early and be done with your shopping.

Fancy Address Stamp: 

Your friends might not buy themselves a fancy personalized address stamp because they're waiting for their first batch of "free" address labels from the American Cancer Society, but you know they'll appreciate one of these fancy address stamps. I'd like to think it makes paying the mortgage more palatable. 

Save The Date on Etsy is a favorite vendor of mine. Here are some more cool looking shops like foryoo and and Greenhouse Studio. 

Personalized Word Map:

A little personalized something to remember their last home and all the memories. Adam and I personalized this map for Adam's dad who grew up in Seattle. Amanda from UrbanFootprintDesign on Etsy helped us personalized the map with important landmarks from growing up there. 

6 Weeks to Christmas: Local Candy Gift Ideas

This year, I'm not feeling super ambitious so I'm going to keep it at just one weekly post with a few gift ideas in the six weeks leading up to 12/25/13. I'm starting out with some local candy gifts which also work great as gifts for your Thanksgiving hosts.

Local candy if local means Somerville, MA

Taza Chocolate: This is not a new discovery by any means and it's a massive local favorite, but I've rediscovered them recently when searching out for gluten free and dairy free gifts. It's been challenging to find food gifts that are GF and DF that I actually really enjoy myself so I'm pretty excited about Taza Chocolates this year for its dietary versatility

• Gluten Free and Dairy Free
• Fun limited edition holiday flavors like Gingerbread and Eggnog
• Chocolate samplers are a great way to try a bunch of their flavors, I love the Salt & Pepper
• They even offer tours at their company store in Somerville which is super fun. You do have to wear a hair net and a beard net if you've got a winter beard like Adam

Adam's hair net and beard net at the Taza factory tour

Spindler Chocolates: I discovered these guys at the Davis Square Flea Market this fall where I bought their Almond Clusters and their Pate de Fruit jelly candies. Both were delicious and they're made right outside of Porter Square.

• Full of dairy
• Local dude making a living making candy
• Product looks more expensive than it actually is, always a plus

"Chipotle" Chicken Rice Soup - Recipe Shortcut

Adam's feeling a little under the weather recently and I wanted to make him some chicken soup for dinner, but I didn't really have a lot of time and I also didn't have much food so I took some pretty extreme recipe shortcuts that I think are pretty genius.

plasticann: I'm going to make some chicken rice soup for dinner, but I'm taking a "shortcut."
Adam: That sounds good, did you buy rotisserie chicken as the shortcut?
plasticann: Actually, I bought a Chipotle chicken burrito bowl
Adam: [eyebrows raised]

Here it is...Chipotle Chicken Rice Soup with a major shortcut

1 Chicken burrito bowl (I got it with white lime rice, extra corn salsa, cheese, peppers and onions. I skipped the sour cream.)
1 box of chicken stock
2 cups water
1 lime (Chipotle kindly gave me some complimentary lime wedges)
1/4 cup leftover salsa
2 chopped tomatoes
3 ears of corn
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste

• Bring chicken stock and water to a boil
• Cook corn and burrito bowl on low for a little while to meld the flavors
• Add all the other ingredients
• Serve alone or with chips especially Chipotle Lime Chips

So this Chipotle Chicken Rice Soup has been on my mind since it was so easy and super delicious. I've been telling everyone about how they too can turn a burrito bowl into a pot of soup. I got super excited yesterday when I got an email from Cook's Country with a recipe for easy chipotle chicken soup. I thought, "wow, Cook's Country is doing the same thing I did, buy Chipotle and make soup." Once I read the recipe, I realized they mean "chipotle" as in the pepper chicken soup not "Chipotle" the restaurant chicken soup. Wah wah!

Homemade Cookie Gifts - Freeze Ahead

A friend's mom was super duper disappointed to find out recently that it was her daughter-in-law, not her son, who'd been selecting, buying and sending all her thoughtful gifts over the last decade. I certainly wasn't surprised because the same deal holds in my household. Adam and I made this deal early on that I would take on all the gift giving, cards and social niceties while Adam tackled most of the cooking. It was a clear example of comparative advantage and the benefits of trade because we have both been delighted with the arrangement. While we never announced the division of labor to Adam's parents, I think they caught on since they're pretty smart. Adam jokingly confessed to his parents that "he had nothing to do" with their gifts to which they graciously responded, "yeah we figured, it's ok."

Within the scope of my gift giving responsibilities is making sure we have stuff to bring for social occasions. To prepare for a weekend of fun social events, I baked up a bunch of home baked cookies. I made some extra packs of cookies which I'll freeze in freezer bags so I'll be ready for whatever comes from housewarming parties to impromptu birthday lunches. This week's selections include:

• Apricot Jam Coconut Thumbprint Cookies
• Shortbread Cookies
• Ginger Molasses Cookies
• and Sprinkledoodles

All these cookies freezer super well. They usually thaw out in about an hour so I just grab them out of the freezer the morning of or the night before. To joyfully efficient holiday celebrations! I'm ready!!!

Trouble...don't "really" even know how to get into it

I've realized over time that I lack a working knowledge of what "trouble" even means It's laughable as in laughing at me, but I'm OK with it. Funny/confusing conversations sometimes arise around what I think "trouble" means. It's a tossup whether I lack imagination or if I have an over active imagination when it comes to "trouble."

plasticann: [wearing a leather jacket] Adam, I'm going to make a quick CVS run, be right back.
Adam: Don't get into any trouble wearing that leather jacket.
plasticann: [earnestly] What kind of trouble? Like eat too much ice cream?
Adam: [slightly exasperated that his joke is falling flat due to to my misunderstanding] No, not too much ice cream...trouble like join a gang?
plasticann: [confused] Join a gang? In Davis Square?

Fortunately, Adam is also a giant square like me and I'm the biggest square of the family We've both committed to abstaining from the following activities just so we can really "lord it over" our nonexistent unborn children. We don't want to chance being called hypocrites...we want to legitimately be self righteous:

• Cigarettes
• Pot
• Piercings of any kind including earrings
• Tattoos

Which brings me to my favorite one...tattoos. Who doesn't have a tattoo? Practically half my friends have tattoos of and some of them are hardly demure. Pretty soon, the inked are going to outnumber the uninked. That's why I like say "F*$K the anti-establishment, I'm not getting a tattoo."Don't worry, I Adam totally admonished me when I jokingly said the uncensored version. He said, "sweetie pie, that's surprisingly rude." Yeah...I got in trouble.

Cilantro Pesto Panzanella (+7 leftover points)

Ever since my friends Zbigail and Zrian introduced me to "leftover points," I've been motivated to cook with things I already have. It's a bit of a challenge, but kinda fun. Basically, you get one point for every ingredient that you already have. Think half finished items in your fridge or pantry. Some veggies and fruit that are about to be too ripe and need consuming could count too. I didn't give myself points for garlic, seasonings and other staples because that felt like cheating.

Cilantro Lime Pesto (+4 points)

Big bunch of fresh cilantro (+1)
Grated Parmesan or grated Romano (+1)
Lime zest and lime juice (+1)
Almond meal (+1)
Garlic
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper

• Use food processor to blend the ingredients together into a pesto like paste. Season to taste and adjust ingredient ratios to taste

Panzanella (+3 points)

Cilantro lime pesto
Stale olive bread (+1)
Olive oil
Cucumber
Bell pepper
Avocado (+1)
Tomato (+1)

• Cube bread, toss in olive oil, bake in oven at 350 until crisp
• Chop up veggies
• Mix bread, veggies and pesto together, season to taste

16 pounds of Caramel Ice Cream...Check

2013 vintage

All 3 gallons or 16 pounds fit nicely in a tote bag

We've partied with a big tub of Caramel Apple Ice Cream from JP Licks going on five years so it's sorta becoming a bit of a tradition. Every September, Adam starts peeking into the JP Licks window in Davis Square to see if the "flavors of the month" include "Caramel Apple Ice Cream." It only comes once a year, typically in October. However, JP Licks has been known to release the flavors "early" so Adam checks it starting mid September just to be sure he doesn't miss out on the very narrow Caramel Apple Ice Cream season. Having confirmed it's release, I walked over to JP Licks this afternoon to secure our annual supply when the following reconstructed conversation occurred:

plasticann: Hi, I'd like to get a big tub of Caramel Apple.

Scooper: [pointing to the quart tubs] Oh you mean like a quart.

plasticann: [gesturing about 2 feet high] No, I mean like a giant tub.

Scooper: [incredulously] Like the "buckets" that we scoop from?

plasticann: Yes! A bucket of ice cream.

Scooper: Uhhh, I'm going to have to ask my manager. I'll be right back!

Manager: So you want a "bucket" of ice cream?

plasticann: Yup!

Manager: Do you KNOW how our buckets are?

plasticann: Yes!

Manager: Do you have a deep chest freezer with enough space to store the bucket?

plasticann: I cleared out plenty of room today.

Manager: Do you KNOW how much a bucket costs?

plasticann: [sheepishly] I do...I've actually bought a "bucket" every year for the last 5 years so I do know how big it is and how much it costs.

Manager: OK...I just have to make sure that you know what you're buying. I don't want you to be surprised when you get it home. Do you need help carrying it to your car? It's big!!!

plasticann: Just put it in this tote bag, I'm all set.

As I was leaving

Scooper: [whispers to the manager] How much does a bucket cost?

Manager: $XY dollars!

plasticann: [chiming in] It's actually very economical when you think about per quart.

Manager: [nodding] It is a very good deal.

There you have it! They don't let just anyone walk out with a bucket of ice cream. It's practically a controlled substance and they've probably added me to some sort of ice cream anonymous database at this point. From my perspective, it's just 16 pounds of ice cream and I'm confident that this year we'll be able to take down the bucket like we did last year. Join in this heroic endeavor and lookout for an email from Adam sometime soon.

Pumpkin Cake with Maple Frosting - updated with photos

I recently made a Pumpkin Cake with Maple Brown Butter Glaze to bring to a baby shower for some college friends and it turned out great so I'm making a record for my blog since I'm definitely going to make it again sometime soon.

Because of scheduling, I couldn't make my potluck dessert the day before or the day of so I tried some make ahead ideas that turned out great. I had made doughnuts with maple glaze earlier in the week so I had all this delicious maple glaze leftover in the fridge. I baked a Pumpkin Cake using this popular allrecipes.com recipe, wrapped it up in lots of foil and layers of plastic grocery bags and froze the bundt cake. Then I pulled the cake out of the freezer the night before the party and drizzled the warm maple glaze on the cake when I arrived at my friends house. It was so easy and I got so many nice compliments, that I'm a little embarrassed.

Maple Brown Butter Glaze (make ahead, yields two cups or enough frosting for 2 bundt cakes)

3/4 stick butter
1 pound powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup maple syrup

1. Melt butter in a small pan over medium heat and cook until butter browns, but don't burn the butter
2. Place powdered sugar in a stand mixer bowl, beat brown butter and vanilla into the sugar
3. On high, beat maple syrup into the mixture until the glaze is well mixed and a little fluffy
4. Use immediately or store in the fridge
5. Before you glaze the cake, just warm up the glaze in the microwave for 10-15 seconds or until the glaze is runny and then pour it over your cake. Glaze will set or firm up in about 30 seconds after you pour it on the cake

 Melt butter on medium high and brown

Browned butter with little brown bits...should smell a little nutty, but not burned

Pour browned butter into powdered sugar in mixing bowl. Be sure to scrape in all those lovely brown butter bits

Pumpkin Cake (can also make ahead and freeze)

Wet Ingredients:
2 cups white sugar
1.25 cups vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups or 1 can of pumpkin
4 eggs

Dry Ingredients:
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Optional: add some other spices you like. I used 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Liberally spray Bundt pan with lots of oil+flour spray. Invest in the spray, it works like magic. Use it liberally, it'll make or break your Bundt cake
3. Sift dry ingredients
4. In a bowl, mix sugar and vegetable oil together well
5. Mix in vanilla and pumpkin
6. Blend in eggs until well mixed
7. Slowly mix in dry ingredients until cake is mixed
8. Pour batter into the Bundt pan (remember to spray it liberally with the oil+flour spray)
9. Place Bundt pan on top of a rimmed cookie sheet in case the pan overflows a little
10. Bake Bundt in oven for about 45 minutes. You'll want to check on the cake since every oven is different, but bake it until the cake is no longer raw and a toothpick comes out "clean-ish." Super goopy is raw, too clean is dry
11. Let cake cool in pan
12. Turn cake out onto a plate. It should slide right out if you remembered to use the oil+flour spray generously
13. Warm up 1 cup of maple glaze so it's a little runny. Just a little warm and pourable will do
14. Pour glaze over the top of the cake and let it flow down the sides of the cake
15. Eat it!

Note: Use the special oil+flour baking spray. Don't be cheap, don't skimp, just buy it for $3. You'll be glad when your cake slides out of the Bundt pan with ease. If you don't use the spray, your cake will probably be stuck in your pan and you'll be full of regret. Seriously, just buy the spray, it's worth the $3.

Be sure to spray that 10 cup bundt pan liberally with Bakery's Joy spray

Pour that batter into the sprayed pan...all the batter. Place on large rimmed sheet just in case it bubbles over

 Cake slides right out of the bundt pan because we used that Baker's Joy spray

Pan is pretty clean of cake crumbs because we used the spray. I just stick it in the dishwasher top rack to clean

Glazed cake! Adam thinks it looks like a volcano with molten lava.