Building my Pantry; #2

Yesterday the impatience kicked in and forced me to Home Hardware.  I had a brief chat with hubby before I left and was pretty much forbidden to bring anything home.  His reasoning was sound - I just didn't care. ;)  He's still not back on his feet from surgery and the table saw is buried in the shed - so - he wasn't able to rip the pine needed for the shelf brackets.  Ok - I understand - and the other pine is too expensive - bla bla bla...But...since hubby used to work at this particular Home Hardware - the guys are super helpful.  They pulled out some very clear 1x2 pine for me and cut my 8' shelving down to 6' so that it would fit in the civic.  I only picked up 3 shelves...then didn't get to do a darn thing with it last night.  this morning, though, I'm up and attem and reeeeely wanna put some shelves in there.  The trouble is...I found THIS article...and now I'm second guessing everything.  *sigh*  What to do??  I bought 3 shelves that are 12" deep...time to think some more I think...

Building my pantry

when I was a kid, I Loved my great grandmothers pantry.  Her home was older than old.  It was plain and simple with lots of character.  Her pantry was in the back corner of her kitchen and was built entirely of dark wood.  There were 2 steps to get into it and given my size at the time, couldn't have been very big at all (likely the size of a phone booth).  For as long as I can remember, I've always wanted a pantry. 

This is a very old picture of my Dining room.  The walls are now a nice vanilla cream color and we replaced the icky light fixture... but you can see where the floor is different on the left hand side.  That's' where there used to be stairs to the basement (there will be a post some day about fixing the discontinued hardwood flooring...but it has still not been fixed so that post will not happen today). 

 We decided to build the pantry in the back left side of the dining room.  We wanted it half the width of the room so that it will leave the window centered on the right.  The main entrance to the house used to be there so the wall and ceiling is pretty wonky and un-fixable.  The light is still there too - from when it was the entry ( you can see it on the ceiling )  Putting the pantry there will let me hide some of the crooked "sins"  of my home and will give me a light inside.  The final measurements of the pantry are about 5' wide and 29" on the outside (25" on the inside)

 

I've finished the rest of this post with lots and lots of pics. 

As a fun side note...Hubby decided that this stage made for a better "Smoochin Booth" than a Pantry. :) 

 

 My pantry is still in progress so check back for updates as I get closer to done. :)

The Hollee-Olive-Experiment...Take 1

It's been a while since I've posted...but so be it.  I keep apologizing for not posting very often but I've convinced myself that it's because I actually have a life...HAH!  Not really but it makes me feel better to fib to myself a little...

Ok here's the reason for this particular post...I need a new "go to" recipe...all of my recipes call for butter or vegetable oil.  I definately don't have a problem wiht butter - but...I'd really like to find a nice alternative.  lately I've been reading up on Olive oil in cakes.  It caught my interest so I thought I'd give it a try.  First - I decided to brush up on my science (Yes Mr. Patriquin - I said it...i'm voluntarily referring to science!).  I know that every ingredient in cake has a job to do and if I make any changes - I'll change the way the batter behaves.  Here's what I know...

1. The minute the dry ingredients hit the wet, the clock starts to tick.  If I whip the dickens out of it until the batter is smooth - or wait too long to put it in the oven, I'll have a very fluffy - airy cake that won't hold together.  Kinda like a cake from a box mix.  Not awesome and completely un-decorateable.
2. Cake gets the structure from the flour and eggs.
3. Cake gets the moisture from sugar and fat
4. Room temprature eggs mix more evenly and hold air better = less dense cake.
5. Olive oil does not hold air.

In theory - if I let my eggs warm up and whip the crap out of the batter, theorhetically, I should have a reasonably fluffy cake that is moist and full of flavour - but stable enough to hold together nicely and be decorated.  Ok - I'm sold! 

 I referred to this recipe from Duo dishes it went together very easily - My spidey senses were tingling like crazy when it came time to add the lemon, though.  I'm not a fan of lemon and neither are most of the kids who eat my cake...I reached for the vanilla instead...then put it back and stuck to the recipe.  I can't fix/fiddle if I dont' know exactly what to fix/fiddle with.  Overall - at that point, I was pleased to say the least.  I was able to mix it more than I normally would - it doesn't make a huge batch - doesn't have a ton of sugar and has nothing that I can't pronounce - it's just good old fashioned cake. :)  In the oven it went and the house smells amazing!!!  It cooks quite quickly and stayed fluffy - and puffs up evenly.  All good signs.  I took it out of the oven to cool and it's really fluffy.  The recipe says to let it cool for 30 minutes before removing it from the pan...but it also says to line the pan with parchment (I skipped that step).  So - I took it out of the pan and it's maybe a little too fluffy...but i think if I let it cool a little, it would be fine.  Because I'm impatient, I sliced the ant hill dome off the center of it to taste it and BAM! Lemon!!  Then I asked kiddo to give it a try.  She is my cake berometer - the instrument by which I determine the success of a cake.  She's brutally honest and never lies to spare my feelings.  Love the kid for that.  Her verdict??  1st...she screwed up her face...then she stuck out her tongue and made a chewing attempt that looked like a donkey eating peanut butter.  Then she asked "did you put that lemon stuff back in it"??  Yup - it's a different recipe...her response??  "I don't like it".  I must take out the Lemon...

I did try another piece with some buttercream on it - but the flavour in the cake didn't blend well with the frosting, sooooo...baaaaaack to the kitchen I go.  First, I'll do my dishes from the 1st go-round, and then I'll give it a trey without the lemon.  I will not refer to science this time, though.  Sorry Mr. P. :)