The Cherry on Top!

Chickens-

Welcome to the FINAL appliance reveal for the new kitchen!  I know, I know, you are all thinking...they have put every appliance known to MAN in that kitchen, what could be left?

And I'm here to say that  1) no, shockingly we did avoid some of the appliance options available to us, including a built in deep fryer, indoor grill, and teppanyaki griddle, to name but a few.  And B) the one thing left was the one thing your Polymath wanted like it was her job.

I won't bang the travel gong too much more, but I will say that one of our favorite things about visiting other places is visiting markets.  Open air markets, enclosed marketplaces, watching the locals buy ingredients, haggle over prices, kibitz and joke and share the news of the day with the vendors is always a treat for us.  Exploring the delicacies, usually wishing we had access to a kitchen, and always picking up some of the prepared foods to eat on the go.

And pretty much everywhere we go? We are instinctively drawn to the rotisseries.  Usually large versions on trucks, laden with chickens, rolled sausages, pork roasts.  The good ones?  Have small new potatoes cooking in the meat drippings in a trough on the bottom.  You order your protein of choice and you get a hefty portion of the crispy fatty potatoes with your selection on top.  All you need is a stack of napkins, your handy pocketknife slash wine opener, and a park bench and you will feast like a king.

There is something about meat on a spit that just hits us where we live in a primal way.  And while we love pretty much any hunk of animal that has been spinning in its own juices for a period of time, the thing we dream of?

Chicken.

Yep, the perfect roasted bird is like our holy grail.  A good one is great, and a great one is transcendent.  Even a mediocre one from the grocery store still makes for a satisfying weeknight dinner.  Sure, an oven does a fine roasting job, but roasted chicken is different than rotisserie chicken.  Rotisserie chicken gets a skin that is both extra crisp and slightly sticky, naturally glazed in its own juices.  The meat is beyond moist, the seasoning manages to make it all the way through even without brining or marinating.  The fat renders out (making those amazing potatoes) but keeps the chicken constantly basted, so even the breast meat is succulent and perfect, and won't even dry out on a quick reheat for lunch the next day.  It is better cold than some chickens are hot.  We have at least one a week.

Since we both love it so much, and it actually is healthy for us, we have the rotisserie attachment for the Weber grill for outdoor cookery, and Charming Suitor supported my acquisition of not one, but TWO ancient Roto-Broil 400 machines from the mid 1950s for inside jobs.  If you really want to know why in a meaningful way, read THIS ARTICLE by Mark Bittman.  The short of it is, these machines quite simply make amazing rotisserie chicken.  And provided you don't get third degree burns from how hot the outside of the unit gets (likely why they were discontinued), you can get some terrific meals out of them.

But there is a small problem with the Roto-Broils.  Chickens were different in the 1950s, smaller.  So while these things will rotisserie the heck out of one small 2-3 lb chicken, or two cornish hens, you cannot fit two chickens in it, nor a larger roaster.  So perfect for just me and CS, but not so great for dinner parties.  And while you can par cook potatoes and put them under the chicken, they just sort of get greasy, and not crispy, because the heat element is on the top.

When we did our original list of the must haves, nice to haves, and splurges for the kitchen, the last thing I put on the bottom of the list?  A La Cornue Flamberge Rotisserie.  I know I don't have to explain La Cornue to any of you, the brand has been the dream of cooks for over 100 years.  If we had an unlimited budget, we'd have gotten one of their amazing stoves, however, they cost more than a fully loaded BMW, although the mileage is much better.  But they make the only home rotisserie on the market, and boy are they amazing. These built-in units are the size of a small oven, and are gas controlled.  A wall of wicks on the back of the unit flames to life, and the generous capacity can accommodate up to four chickens at once!  It can also do a leg of lamb, or a porchetta roast or a turkey or prime rib or several fish...it is glorious.

Are you starting to feel me?  Think about a whole pork belly, cooking low and slow all day to juicy perfection.  Or even a couple of whole pineapples, getting caramelized on the outside, to be sliced and served with thick vanilla Greek yogurt and some toasted almonds for a healthy but still decadent feeling dessert?

Yeah.  From the moment I saw this baby it was deep down in my heart in a serious way.

This is when it is a really nice thing to turn 45 in the middle of a kitchen renovation, because when your amazing hubby asks you if you would like to add in the rotisserie as your birthday present?  You say yes really fast!

I cannot tell you how excited we are to start using this baby!  From a design perspective, we are giving it it's own tower of glory, next to one of the ovens, clad in the same Dekton material as the countertops.  Many of the installations we saw while researching, showed a slide-in butcher block of some sort below the unit.

We loved the potential functionality of a setup like this, and especially loved that it would give us a use for the vintage butcher block we have in our current kitchen.  The rotisserie tower will have a nook like the one above, and we are adding casters and a handle to our butcher block, and it will slide in and out of the way, but be right there when it is time for carving!

Some things to note if you are thinking about one of these for yourself:

They will tell you that they take 14 weeks to build, since they are all custom.  And by 14 weeks they mean 26 weeks because, you know, France, and also, math is hard.

They put out some serious heat, since there are no doors on the front of the unit, so you need a 5 foot clearance in front of it with nothing flammable.  I would say definitively that if you have small children?  Wait till they leave for college before installing, there are no child locks on the controls, and when you turn it on you create a wall of open flame that could spell disaster without adult supervision. You will also want to be sure there is plenty of good ventilation in the room, or you will need an extra venting system.  Ours is in a location that is pretty open, and is right next to the door to the back porch, and on the same wall as our massive powerful hood, so we didn't need to do special venting for it, but you will want to err on the side of caution.

Stay tuned for some upcoming installation posts on all of the appliances, things are really heating up, pun intended, and we may be getting close to some glamor shots in the next couple of weeks!

What would be the one thing that would be your fantasy splurge item in your dream kitchen?

Yours in Good Taste,
The Polymath

Winner announced!

Congrats, "fgirl" you have won the big Valentine's giveaway!

Please send your shipping address to me at staceyballisinfo (at) gmail (dot) com and I will get the team on sending all of your prizes!

In the meantime, stay tuned, this week there are some big house updates coming!

Bonus Travel Post

Chickens-

Before I go rogue over here, I just want to remind you all that it is not too late to enter to win the huge Valentine's Day Giveaway!  Just CLICK HERE and comment to win on the post.  Entries still possible till 11:59PM CST Friday Feb. 19!

Okay, so today I'm chatting about something a bit different.  This is not a travel blog.  And while Charming Suitor and I love to wander the world together, our travel adventures are just not something that I write about.  We don't publicize our trips on social media, we only really tell close friends and family when we are going to be away, it is just one of those things we protect for ourselves.  As such, you'll notice that while I might recommend a cool piece of travel gear or equipment on this blog, you don't really see me touting places to go or things to do.  There are many many terrific travel blogs out there, and it just has never seemed cogent to this space to write about tourism stuff.

Which is usually fine, except every now and again you have an experience so wonderful, and so unexpected, that you want to give a little shout-out.  I rely so much on people who enjoy my books to tell their social media circles about them, even if they don't have a "book blog", so when CS and I had a surprising and fantastic experience on a trip recently, I decided that this time, it was worth taking a moment to acknowledge it publicly.

CS travels a tremendous amount for work.  Sometimes this is domestic, but lately a lot of it has been to Europe.  And since my job is eminently portable, and my boss is super nice about giving me freedom to roam, occasionally I get to burn some frequent flier miles and accompany him!  Recently he had a meeting scheduled in Amsterdam.  This is a city neither of us had ever been to.  So it seemed like it would be fun to test it out for a few days, to see if it should be on our list of places to come back to and explore more in depth.  To be honest, our expectations weren't exactly sky high.  We knew there were some great museums we wanted to see, and that it would be very cool to check out a city built on canals.  But as neither of us are interested in cannibis in any meaningful way, ditto legal hookers in windows, we sort of figured it might be a "one and done" city for us.

And that?  Could not be further from the truth.  And a big part of that has to do with two businesses that I want to tell you about.

First off, I can say unequivocally, GO TO AMSTERDAM.  It is a super fun little city, chock full of wonderful cultural experiences, and quite simply the nicest people we have ever met.  Seriously the Dutch?  Amazing.  Sweet, funny, easy going, helpful, fantastic people.  The food is varied and extraordinary.  The little shopping boutiques have really cool stuff, the architecture is like nothing either of us had ever seen before.  The three days we had there were not nearly enough, and we will definitely be going back.

And when we do, we are staying at The Hoxton again.  We got the recommendation for this sweet little boutique hotel from a friend who used to live in Amsterdam.  It is right in the middle of an area called the 9 Streets, which is essentially SoHo.  9 streets full of adorable boutiques and shops and fantastic cafes and restaurants, you can wander this area for a full day and never get bored or hungry. And from the moment we checked in, they took such good care of us, with such clever amenities, we knew that this was a special place.

Let me be clear.  CS and I have stayed in a LOT of hotels over the years.  There are some we love for location and function, and some we love for their romantic essence and luxury, and some we put up with because they are the best of what is available in our budget for where we are going.  But The Hoxton?  Made us fall in love a little bit.

For starters, the staff is amazing.  So helpful and accommodating, so genuine and warm, every one of them.  The rooms are quirky and comfortable, with really great beds and linens, and some fun local products in the bathrooms.  They give you a fridge in your room instead of a mini bar, and then at the front desk you can pick up anything you might want, handmade potato chips, local artisanal chocolates, wine and booze.  As they said, why stock your fridge with a ton of stuff you probably don't want, when you could customize it for yourself.  They have as much bottled water as you want or need for no charge.  Heading out for the day?  Stop at the desk and pick up a water to take with you, no problem.

They have a quirky and fun sense of humor, so the do not disturb sign essentially says "Don't come in, I'm naked", and the little sticker on the extra toilet paper says "Wipe Away!".  They have local graphic artists do custom maps for them of the area that they put in your room, with recommendations of places to visit and eat.  Lotti's, the restaurant and bar in the lobby is clearly a place the locals love as much as guests, it is bustling and lively, with really terrific food.  No boring lobby cafe this, this is just a great restaurant that happens to be in a hotel.  It was fun to come back on Friday night to find the place full of vibrant people all eating and drinking and having a great time, it brings really nice energy to the place.

And no, there was no special deal or anything, it was just a place that a friend recommended that was in the price point for CS's company, so it was like finding a magical unicorn.

Thank you Hoxton Amsterdam for taking such good care of us, we will be back!

The second business I want to give a shout-out to is Hungry Birds.  Since we had so little time, we decided to do a half-day foodie tour of Amsterdam.  I did some research online, and Hungry Birds seemed to be the perfect fit, four hours, tours limited in size, incorporates the big Albert Cuyp market that we had wanted to see anyway.  And it was fantastic.  Our guide, Ester-Hanna was fun and funny, and incorporated some history of Amsterdam into our tour.  We had a terrific group of people, and explored all sorts of delicacies.  They focus on small, family-run businesses, so every stop we met amazing proprietors who shared their personal stories with us, which made the food even more delicious.  We tasted everything from Indonesian and Surinamese food, to old school Dutch specialties, to funky fast food!  There was a custom organic yogurt bar that blew us away. (yeah, game changing yogurt, who'd have thunk THAT?!)  Well balanced with sweet and savory, and even a couple of stops that included drink as well as eats, we spent a wonderful four hours and left feeling like we had a true sense of the food culture of Amsterdam, and a list of places to return to.

So, my little Chickens, if you have opportunity, CS and I cannot recommend Amsterdam enough, and if you are lucky enough to go, stay at The Hoxton and take a Hungry Birds tour.  Tell them we sent you.  And no, cynics, this is not a sponsored post, they have no idea who I am or that I'm sharing this with you...I just like to give credit where it is due, and these are places that deserved more than just recommendations in passing :)

Please take this moment to share in the comments a business or product that you just love and think the rest of us should know about!

Yours in Good Taste,
The Polymath

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hello, Chickens, and a very happy day to you all!  I hope that you are spending the day in some sort of celebration.  If you are attached, I hope you and your darling are indulging in romance aplenty, whatever that looks like for the two of you.  And if you are single, I hope you are unapologetically celebrating your freedom, and toasting with like minded pals.

Charming Suitor and I are, as it should surprise no one, pretty romantic on a day to day basis.  I think we both know that finding each other in, let us acknowledge, the second act of our lives, so to speak, we are aware of both the time behind us that we missed not knowing each other, and the need to not waste a moment of the gift we've been given in each other.

Romance means different things to different people, so I don't mean to imply that the way we do it is right or better, just that it works for us.  There are the little things.  Every night before bed we have small glasses of champagne, to toast the day, to toast our love, to send us to sleep with little tickly bubbles in our noses.  It is the perfect nightcap, and a wonderful tradition.  

Gifting can be complicated with couples, but luckily for us we are pretty much on the same page.  We believe in happy presents, those little random gifts, small things you find along your path that make you think of the other person and know it would make them happy.  We don't wait for holidays or special occasions for these, we just find, and give.  Because sometimes an unexpected treat on a Tuesday is just the thing.  For the holiday season, we don't give to each other, we make donations to causes that are near and dear to loved ones hearts, and give each other the gift of time.  We both take off the week between Christmas and New Years and spend it lazily at home together, indulging in naps and afternoon movies and complicated meals that we can cook together.  No work, no "have tos", no projects, just us together is all we need and the best gift we could either of us ask for.  

While the Chateau is under construction, birthday and anniversary gifts tend to be of the practical household variety.  Did you know that the Fourth year anniversary gift is appliances?  Well, it was in this house!  

For those of you who know us, you know that both Charming Suitor and I are Francophiles.  We have both been fortunate to spend a lot of time in France, both separately and together, and went there for our honeymoon.  So ever since we bought our house, since it looks like a little castle, we've been calling it The Chateau.  More specifically, Chateau de Pamplmousse.

Pamplemousse is my favorite single word in French. It means grapefruit, which is one of my favorite flavors, but I think even if I didn’t like the flavor of grapefruit, I would still love the word. Just say it once, out loud. C’mon, no one is listening. Pamplemousse. Pronounced POM-PLA-MOOSE. Isn’t that fun? Don’t you want to say it again? I always thought if I ever had a restaurant I would name it Pamplemousse. Except your Polymath does not want to work that hard. 

Pamplemousse is also Charming Suitor’s favorite word in French, something we discovered early on in our courtship. He has spent years trying to get his friends to name their pets, and alternately children, Pamplemousse. He will occasionally look me in the eye and say “You had me at Pamplemousse.” which I am sure is making you throw up a little in your mouth right now, but it literally makes my heart melt every time. 

My license plate is PMPLMUS.

So, in celebration of Valentine's Day, and the progress on the house, I thought I would do a special pamplemousse themed big giveaway for all of you!  And I've got some wonderful partners on this one.

First and foremost, as I have said before on this blog, It is important to know something about me.   I think most sparkling flavored waters taste strongly of furniture polish.  But I do like fizzy water, and have been avoiding pop for a while now, trying to stay away from artificial sweeteners as much as possible. 

So when LaCroix came out with a grapefruit version of their flavored sparkling water a few years ago AND called it Pamplemousse, I had to try it. I don’t know if I love it as much as I do because I was psychologically pre-disposed to like it based on the name, but the fact is that we now drink about two to three cases of it a week since CS loves it too, as do some of my closest friends, so I believe it is really just tasty. Very lightly flavored, and oddly great with most food. No artificial colors or flavors or salt or sweetener, so it is good for my program. 

And the lovely folks at LaCroix have sent me some vouchers for free cases of their products to pass along to the lucky winner!  You don't HAVE to use it for Pamplemousse flavor, but I do strongly recommend it.

I also do eat quite a bit of grapefruit in season, but as you can imagine, once I needed to reduce my added sugar intake, I needed to do a bit of research to find the grapefruits that are sweet enough on their own so that I didn't miss that little sprinkle of sugar.  Enter Wonderful Sweet Scarlett's, a new brand of Texas Red Grapefruit that I have become really fond of.  I have to be honest, I never really looked for a specific brand of grapefruit before, and came across these because my local grocery store had them and they looked good.  But when I tasted them, really sweet punchy grapefruit flavor with almost no acidity, I checked that little oval label and remembered it.    

The folks at Wonderful Sweet Scarlett's have put together a terrific gift basket for you!  

This basket has some delicious Wonderful Sweet Scarletts grapefruit, a circular bamboo cutting board, an apron, a grapefruit spoon and grapefruit bowl, as well as a Valentine's heart shaped cookie cutter.  And I've got some fun recipes below to use those grapefruits to their fullest, sweetest potential.

Last but not least, we had some guest soaps custom made for the house in a delicate grapefruit scent, so I will be sending a personalized signed copy of Recipe for Disaster and a bar of the official Chateau de Pamplemousse soap to the winner as well.

To enter to win, leave a comment below on your favorite way to celebrate (or not)Valentines Day by 11:59pm on February 19, and I will announce the winner on the 20th!

Here are some of my favorite grapefruit treats:

Oleo Saccharum is a wonderful bittersweet grapefruit syrup that is classically used for cocktails, but once you have some on hand, you'll find all kinds of uses for it.  I love it drizzled over vanilla Greek yogurt and sprinkled with toasted slivered almonds for a light dessert, splashed into chamomile tea for a sore throat, or as a fun substitute for maple syrup on french toast. But I've given you a recipe for a cocktail...

Peels of 8 grapefruits, removed with a peeler with minimum pith

1 c sugar

Place all of the peels in a Ziploc bag with the sugar and press out the air.  Mush around to begin to release the oils.  Let sit at room temp at least 6 hours to overnight dissolve the sugar, smushing it around occasionally, then strain into a bottle for use.

Makes about 1/3 c

The Chateau de Pamplemousse Fizz

1 1/2 oz gin

1 oz Aperol

1/2 oz Dolin white vermouth

1/2 oz oleo saccharum

1 oz LaCroix Pamplemousse

Mix the gin, aperol, white vermouth and oleo saccharum in a mixing glass over ice, and stir to combine.  Strain into a rocks glass with ice cubes, and top with the LaCroix.  Serve with a half-slice of grapefruit to garnish.

Grapefruit Cornmeal Cake

Serves 12

1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 ½ c all purpose flour

½ c medium grind cornmeal

1 ½ c granulated sugar

2 t baking powder

½ t kosher salt

3 large eggs

1 T grapefruit zest

¼ c fresh grapefruit juice

Glaze:

2 c confectioners sugar

¼ c poppy seeds

1/3 c fresh grapefruit juice

Preheat oven to 350.  Butter a 9 in cake pan, line bottom with parchment and butter parchment.

Whisk flour with cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Whisk melted butter with eggs, zest and juice.  Add butter to dry mixture in slow steady stream while whisking constantly.  Scrape into pan and bake 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Let cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and invert on the rack, peel off parchment paper and carefully flip cake right side up.  Let cool 30 minutes.

Mix glaze ingredients until smooth.  Pour glaze all over still warm cake and spread over top and sides.  Let stand until set, 30 minutes.  Store in airtight container for up to three days.

Yours in Good Taste,
The Polymath

Soup. Because, winter.

Chickens-

Just a brief pause in the house updates to say that I hope everyone in the storm's path this weekend is safe and warm!  Even though winter has not exactly slammed Chicago with the white stuff, it is still plenty chilly out there, and in weather like this, I turn to soup.  Usually I like to begin a meal with a salad, some good fiber and veggies, a little bit filling to help me not overdo it with the entree.  But while I don't abandon my salads completely in the cold months, I do tend to prefer to have soup on hand for everything from easy lunches, to a warming afternoon snack, to a replacement for my dinner salad.

In terms of the whole dieting plan, healthy soups, especially ones that are veggie focused, can be a really useful tool for me when I'm craving comfort foods.  And this one is an old family favorite, amped up a bit for my palate.

First off?  Please do not confuse this soup with the "Cabbage Soup Diet" soup.  Yes, it is a cabbage soup, but it is the sweet and sour cabbage soup favorited by my Eastern European ancestors, and it has some oomph, not that watery wan sad stuff promoted as a way to quick weight-loss.

This has sweetness from fresh orange juice, agave nectar, and thick sweet black soy sauce.  It has acidic punch from fresh lemon juice, tempered with a mellow sherry vinegar.  It is rich in fiber and super good for you, and with some of the optional add-ins, can be a meal unto itself.  The recipe as-is is vegan, fat free, and clocks in at about 70 calories a cup, so it is a total guiltless pleasure.  But even if you thicken it up with rice or barley, add beans or lentils, give it a twirl of olive oil, or even toss in a bit of leftover beef or chicken you have floating about, you are hard pressed to make it either unhealthy or horribly caloric.

I make mine in the slow cooker, because it makes the house smell fantastic all day, but a large stockpot over low heat is fine too, ditto a big covered Dutch oven at about 250 degrees for several hours in your oven.  The key is to cook it low and slow so that the veggies retain a bit of substance while getting soft and giving up all their goodness.  If you boil it, it becomes mush.  Delicious mush, but mush nonetheless.  I usually make this big batch and freeze half of it for the next storm.

If you have a favorite cold weather recipe, be sure to share in the comments section!

Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup
makes approx 24 cups

1 medium head white cabbage, chopped into one inch pieces
1 large onion, diced
1 lb. carrots, peeled and chopped into half inch chunks
6 ribs celery, sliced
1 28 oz can whole peeled plum tomatoes (I use scissors to chop them up in the can, use juice and all)
3 T tomato paste
1 T demerara sugar or brown sugar
2 T kecap manis or sweet black soy sauce (you can substitute 1 1/2 T of plus 1 T of soy sauce)
4 T sherry vinegar
1-3 T agave nectar
juice of one orange
juice of one lemon
1/2-3/4 t red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste

Dump everything into a 6 qt slow cooker and add 7 c cold water.  Turn slow cooker on high and cook 8 hours, stirring occasionally and tasting for seasoning.  It should have a mellow sweet and sour flavor with a bit of heat on the back and some savory richness.  Use the sherry vinegar and either sugar or agave to adjust to your taste.  If you like it with more umami, try replacing the water with chicken stock.  Serve hot with a sprinkle of chopped parsley.  Approx 70 calories per cup.

Some wonderful add-ins to make it heartier, use 2-4 c total of any combination of the following:
Canned beans
Cooked lentils
Cooked barley, brown rice, farro or wheat berries
Cooked orzo or other small pasta
Cooked meats, like shredded chicken, small chunks of steak, ground beef, or even frozen meatballs!
Chopped mushrooms.

Yours in Good Taste,
The Polymath

Color. Don't Be Scared.

Chickens-

Things are really jumping over here at the Chateau!  Appliances are arriving at a breakneck pace, all of the infrastructure is completed and we are in finishes and fixtures mode.  Which means it is time to return to our conversation about color and paint.

Remember when I shared with you my personal philosophies about paint and use of color in a home? Well, we've been making some serious design choices over here!  I love that we have been able to continue to be passionate about color in this house, and feel strongly that we are making choices that feel organic to us and will be colors we will be excited to live with for many many years to come.

Because I have written about Sherwin-Williams being the paint we have chosen to use in the house, they were kind enough to invite me to their annual presentation at the Merchandise Mart to announce their new colors and colors they see as being on trend for 2016.  Since it was right around the time we were beginning to make design decisions, it was perfect timing and I was excited to see what they were presenting.

To say that Colormix 2016 was inspirational is a vast understatement.  It began with a description of their color experts four influence categories, which they defined as:

Pura Vida (pure life):  colors inspired by the elements that remind us to live well, be well, and stay well.  Colors that are designed to flow in spaces that are about serenity.

Mas Amor Por Favor (more love please!):  Colors inspired by social gatherings, garden parties, outdoor weddings, playful holidays, with heavy influence of floral elements.  The kinds of colors you use in rooms where you want energy and connection.

Nouveau Narrative:  Colors inspired by the current levels of industrial evolution, the repurposing and reuse of older machinery because it is better built than some of the new stuff.  Rugged strong colors that stand the test of time.

Trajectory:  Colors inspired by the pace of technology, how the boundaries between art, science and commerce continue to blur.

When I listened to their experts explain how these various color palettes worked together, and why the colors connect in the ways they do, I realized that it would be enormously helpful in looking at the color choices we were confronted with.

So we decided to really go for it, and see if using these four categories could make our decisions easer.  And boy did it!  We literally chose every color for the spaces out of these four groupings and even though in some rooms we chose different specific colors (lighting changes color a great deal, so even though you think a swatch is the right one, you still want to test several colors in that arena before committing.  Here was what we ended up with!

 Pura Vida:  Serenity spaces.  This palette is a lot of greys and beiges with earthy elements.  When we looked at some of our spaces, the smaller guest bedroom, the pantry and kitchen library...those are the rooms that felt like they should have that element of serenity about them.  So when we began to think about design in those spaces, the colors became clear.

The first serene space is the smaller of the two guest bedrooms.  This is the room we call The Paris Room, one wall is going to be a floor to ceiling antique map of Paris, and we wanted the space to be a cosy little room that would remind guests of a perfect pied a terre.  So we wanted a pale gray to keep the room from feeling closed in.  Useful Gray from the Pura Vida was our inspiration, but it didn't shock us when Light French Gray became the final choice, it seemed just too perfect!

Then, we looked at the pantry and kitchen library, because those are my happy spaces and by their nature bring me that sense of calm and well-bring this palette is going for.  The deepest color in their list was Urbane Bronze, a deep dark chocolate brown with just a hint of dark gray in it.  The minute we saw the sample in those spaces it just sang, so both the pantry and kitchen library got that gorgeous rich color.

When it came to my office, that was one space that felt a little bit conflicted.  On the one hand, the Nouveau Narrative certainly seemed like a natural fit, since my whole working life is about New Narratives.  But there was also an energy in Mas Amor Por Favor that I felt was invigorating creatively.  Luckily, I'm a Gemini, and very much an AND girl instead of an OR girl, so I found that space best served with a little bit of both!  For the walls, I was inspired by the Mas Amor Tansy Green, a bright green with a bit of mossy olive in it that seemed like it would be an energizing color to work in.  The exiting part?  Not even using that color in paint...we are upholstering the walls in velvet that color!  I know, sounds nutty, but I've never had that special "Room of one's own", and loved the idea of the color having that tactile cushion to it.  Then I saw pictures of this room, and knew I was right!

Green velvet walls here I come!  Doesn't that look lush???

 I also loved the deep glow of the Relic Bronze Metallic from Nouveau Narrative.  There is a wonderful tray ceiling in my office and I have a vintage chandelier that I wanted to use in that space, so painting the inside of the tray in the Relic Bronze Metallic would create a wonderful warm glow overhead that I just know will keep the stories coming.

Nouveau Narrative had many other treasures for us!

For the den, which is a large room that has a lot of furniture and rugs with strong colors, we wanted something to balance all of that out, give it a mellow background.  Morris Room Gray turned out to be the perfect color, a medium-light tone of gray with a slight undertone of green that will be a gorgeous foundation for the furniture, which is all in browns, burgundies, dark greens, brass and glass.  The second guest bedroom is pretty large and is getting a massive suite of wood furniture, much of which is English Arts and Crafts, so that room feels a little British to us.  The deep almost-navy blue in this palette called Naval was our inspiration, but because that room gets very little natural light, it got a little muddy.  We ended up with Honorable Blue, which is one tone lighter in the same family, and will be a terrific foundation color for that space.  Finally, in the kitchen, we needed a great color for the backsplash behind the stove, and what do you know, the brownish gray color called Backdrop was just perfect!

The final color we needed was for the first floor bathroom.  This is a showstopper formal space, and I really wanted to a bold rich color in here.   The peacock teal called Tempe Star in Trajectory was a wonderful jumping off point.  Here was my inspiration picture:

I just love the connection between the wood and the high gloss teal!

Tempe Star went a little too slate blue in the lighting in the bathroom, so we went with Oceanside which has a bit more brightness.

As before, all hallway spaces are Superwhite, and the ceilings (except for my office) are Ceiling Bright White, to make sure that there is visual breath as you move through the space.  We also went Superwhite in the kitchen because we wanted that space to feel light and airy in spite of the sheer volume of cabinetry and appliances being installed, so white was the obvious choice there.  Same reason we decided to do the bathroom on that level all white.

Once we had what we felt was a strong cohesive palette, we checked them all out together....

That is the green velvet for my office, and from top to bottom:

Morris Room Gray
Urbane Bronze
Oceanside
Backdrop
Honorable Blue
Light French Gray
Relic bronze Metallic

They are all friends, and once again, should flow well as you move from space to space with the moments of white linking them all together.

So, thank you to Sherwin-Williams once again, I had no idea that going to that Colormix 2016 presentation would so influential!

Have any of you ever been to something that really just inspired you to make some decisions for your home?

Can't wait to share more...stay tuned!

Yours in Good Taste,
The Polymath



PS  Just as an FYI, when I met the Sherwin-Williams folks and told them about the project, they were hugely supportive and have provided a small percentage of the paint for the project.  But all opinions are, as always my own and awfully heartfelt!

Getting Stuff Clean!

Chickens-

Can you believe we are almost done with sharing appliances with you?  I know, I know...this is the kitchen of a thousand appliances, and guess what?  I am neither ashamed nor disappointed!

So now that you know almost all about how we intend to sauté, braise, boil, bake, and roast, steam and warm, not to mention how we are going to keep all our perishables from perishing, it's time to talk about all of those dishes and pots and pans and utensils that are about to get dirty!

You know where we are going with this, it is DISHWASHER time.

There are a lot of really good dishwashers on the market, and once again, I refer you to our rules for appliance buying:

1.  Figure out your budget
2.  Figure out the actual needs of your family
3.  Research available models within your budget extensively, and ask people who have the units how they feel about them
4.  Buy the best quality product you can afford!

For us, we knew a few things going in:

We planned for two dishwashers for this kitchen.  We run our current dishwasher at least twice a day...we have two people eating breakfast at home, I eat lunch and snacks at home, plus I am usually testing recipes of some sort during the day, then we cook dinner.  When we entertain, the dishwasher runs pretty much nonstop for about three days, a day and a half of prepping and cooking mess, followed by a day and a half of dishes, serving pieces, and glassware.  We have it down to something of a science, we load all of the appetizer and dinner plates and flatware right in when we clear and set it to run.  Then, when our guests leave, we empty, reload with the serving pieces and dessert items and run it again.  In the morning we empty, reload with any remaining serving pieces and run it, and then one last time for glassware.  I don't love doing glasses after a party with dishes, invariably there are some little bits and pieces that get stuck inside a wine glass.  So I do all the glasses separately with an extra boost of finishing rinse agent so that they come out extra sparkly!

So you can imagine our delight in thinking about halving the amount of time we spend waiting for one load to finish so that we can reload!

Our current dishwasher is a pretty good model, and does a lot very well, but the one problem area has always been the flatware.  On a day to day basis, when it is just the two of us making a few forks and spoons dirty and they have plenty of room in the flatware basket, there is no problem.  But invariably for entertaining, some spoons get nestled, some things get stuck and at least 10-15% of the flatware pieces have to get run through a second time.  So while we wanted all of the basics that you want in a dishwasher, large capacity, different cycle options, excellent efficiency, a dealbreaker for me was that I wanted a separate tray level for flatware.

If you haven't seen these, they look like this:

All of your cutlery pieces get their own little slot, so everything gets clean!

And the minute you research a cutlery tray, the first brand that pops up is Miele.

For us, this was probably the appliance we needed to research the least, because we know about a dozen people who have them and every single one of them absolutely loves it!  They swear by the functionality, many of them have some older models that still work beautifully without a glitch, and they all agree that the cutlery tray is something they will never go without again.  So we were pretty sure going in that Miele was going to be our brand of choice.

When we went to the showroom at the Mart in Chicago, that choice was completely solidified!  These things are the end all be all of dishwashers.  There is amazing internal flexibility, trays that raise and lower to accommodate various sizes of things, and they are the quietest ones on the market.  This is really essential since we will be doing most of our dinners in the kitchen, and it will be great to be able to run them with people in the room and not make a racket.  They have four options for finishes, white, black, stainless, or panel ready so that they can disappear into your cabinetry.  And they have a range of models with various features so that you can find the one that best fits your needs.

We ended up picking the Diamond model.  It had all of the features we wanted, the 3D cutlery tray, 8 different operating modes, including one for china and crystal, and a huge capacity, able to hold up to 16 placesettings at once!  The trays are very flexible, so we can configure one for regular dishes, and one for pots and pans and large serveware.  It is panel-ready, since we wanted to match it to our cabinets.  It was the clear winner for us and we were very excited to have found it.

So much stuff fits in these things!

Fits right into your cabinetry.

And then Scott in the showroom said...."You know this one has the knock to open feature?"

What the what now?

He closed the dishwasher.  Then he rapped twice on the door.  And the door...POPPED OPEN.

Okay, in our life we spend a lot of time explaining why we are going low-tech in many ways...this is not a "smart home", we aren't filling it with the latest gadgets and features, they all seem to me like unnecessary complications destined to create potential for little things going glitchy all the time.  We are not putting in a garbage disposal in the sink (I hate them), or a garbage compactor, or any number of other non essential items.

But I have to admit, when Scott knocked on that dishwasher and it gently popped right open as if to say "Hello there, how can I address your dishwashing needs?", Charming Suitor and I were giddy as kids.

And no, that feature is not why we chose the model we did.  But yes, we did each knock on the dishwasher about 42 times before we left, giggling sheepishly every time.  And I can bet that it is one of the first things either of us will do when taking new folks on a tour of our kitchen!

The decision to do panel ready was a hard one.  Charming Suitor doesn't love kitchens where all of the appliances disappear into the cabinets, he feels like it is off-putting for guests, randomly opening everything in the room looking for the fridge or dishwasher.  But because we have so many appliances going in this place, Marcy, our amazing designer over at Poggenpohl, thought that we would want to consider just for the dishwashers to let them blend.  So we compromised by ordering handles that are definitively larger than the rest of the handles on the cabinets, so that there is a clear visual clue that these are the dishwashers, but preventing our kitchen from resembling an appliance showroom!  Thanks, Marcy :)

Never thought I'd say it, but I cannot wait to start washing dishes up in here!

Yours in Good Taste,
The Polymath