A couple of weeks ago I found myself having lunch with Tiffani Thiessen—a perk of getting to fly down to Los Angeles for a special event hosted by Safeway to celebrate the launch of their new Signature family of brands. It occurred to me that we’d practically grown up together: we’re both from Long Beach, we’d both spent many afternoons with Zack and the other kids at Bayside High, and gone on to crush on Dylan Mckay. It was only natural that we’d be hanging out and talking about our kids over lunch.
I don’t attend many such events, so it’s often a bit more like vacation than work. Celebrities or not, it’s always especially fun to have a chance to meet other bloggers. A group of us got together in West Hollywood for dinner, spent the night on the Sunset Strip, and then enjoyed a day cooking and talking in one of those homes in the hills I’ve always been so curious to see.
One of the things we tasted were the Signature Cafe soups and I think one of my favorite take-aways from the day were the suggestions Chef Anderson—Executive Chef for Albertsons family of stores (including Safeway)—threw out for repurposing soups: everything from using a bisque as a base for salad dressing to poaching seafood. My favorite? Straining a pre-made stew and using it atop crostini. Such a good (fast) party appetizer trick!
I thought I’d share a few photos from the event. Find the recipe for the crostini below the recap…
Speaking of kitchens, I was listening to the America’s Test Kitchenpodcast in the car the other day during the caller phone-in portion of the show. A recently-engaged woman had called in to ask what Chris Kimball and Bridget Lancaster’s “all-star, can’t-live-without in the kitchen” equipment recommendations would be, and which kitchen items they would suggest one register for.
I think we can all agree that you could get by with very little, but in an ideal (wedding registry) situation, one needs a list. Here were their “big-ticket, go-for-the-gold” picks…
Okay, first off—I’m all for DIY! Whether it’s a small project that needs a few hand tools or a full-on renovation, I truly believe that if you have the patience and the time (and the money), you can tackle almost any project you set your mind to. The hubs and I bought our fixer-upper last year with zero experience or skill behind us—just a lot of stubborn determination and a tight budget!
We researched every step that would go into creating our new kitchen, asked neighbors and friends for tools and guidance, and trolled every relevant YouTube video imaginable. And while we are so happy with the result we knew from the beginning that we would be making some sacrifices in quality. Which we were totally okay with if it saved us several thousand dollars in labor.
But when it comes to DIYing your kitchen, there is always a trade off. I wanted to share the particular mistakes we made in our own kitchen reno in the hopes that you might be able to avoid them in yours:
1. Rushing projects that need more time.
UGH. This was the hardest for me, as living without a kitchen for months meant we were eating a lot of cold pizza, and it got old fast. The best example of this mistake is in our brass tile edging—which looks great from far away…
