I haven't been doing much in the way of cooking since just befor the move last Thursday. The kitchen here despite being nicely renovated has a fair amount of work to do to fit our appliances. What is really slowing our progress of even unpacking is the state of cleanliness. Even though the kitchen and even other areas of the house look clean they are thilthy! I have yet to open a cabinet to not find roden droppings either. The built-ins (dishwasher, oven, stovetop) are a disaster! They looked fine so I made the assumption they worked fine. We found out the dishwasher did not but the stovetop and oven reported worked. Well they both do work except the oven is likely a fire hazard given I doubt it was ever cleaned! The stovetop is in better condition but not by much. So that leaves me the microwave and crockpots except we noticed a significant brown-out problem with the electricity. The gas connection for the grill was so wobbly my husband didn't want to hook up the gas for fear of a problem. A family member is hooking up the gas dryer and grill tomorrow night and helping install my stove so I will be back into cooking mode. The freezer component of the side-by-side cannot be opened wide enough to get the ice bucket out because it hits the counter of the breakfast island. We are still figuring out a solution to this problem and since we only have 6 spare ceramic tiles to match the floor we have to be very frugal as to how we do this.
The previous owner left a chest freezer behind that we deemed a problem as it doesn't have grounded plug and creates a huge power draw when the compressor turns on. So a new, energy efficient freezer arrives tomorrow (more details to follow). We still have to buy the dishwasher. We decided on a Bosch providing it will fit where we need it to go. The sink is currently installed in the corner so that will be moved as well. I'll be going into greater detail of how we fix the kitchen problems on my homemaking blog complete with before and after pictures.
The brown-outs are being caused by electrical plugs with hot and neutral wires reversed. Today I tested all of the plugs marking each one that had a problem. We are replacing every plug and switch in the house so are working from room to room. Today my husband all the kitchen plugs and switches as well as two other problem switches. That little bit has already reduced the number of brown-outs perhaps enough to use the crockpots.
Our first meal cooked here was chicken wraps because I knew the chicken could be done on the stovetop. When moving it is best for whomever organizes the freezer to repack it at the new location. It's frustrating when you know you have something in the freezer and can't find it because of the move. The chicken was in the small chest freezer that was moved filled. I also warmed up some homemade stew from the freezer that really tasted good after eating out so much. That gave my husband just the incentive he needed to get my kitchen upto speed!I've finally went to the farmer's market yesterday so we have a lot of produce for fresh salads and sandwiches. I promise the cooking and recipes will be coming shortly. Raspberries are in season now so watch for some of those recipes shortly.
So on the cooking front there is little to report but we are making headway on the kitchen.
Thanks to all who sent best wishes for our move,
4 food lovers commented:
Did you not look at the house/kitchen before the move?? also, are things that different in Canada? they don't do house inspections before the move in?
I enjoy your site and the recipes, so hope it gets done quickly. LOL
Hi mommanator, I'm glad you are enjoying my blog and the recipes.
Yes we went through the house twice before putting in the offer and again the day of the official sale for measurements. It was very difficult to get a good look due to the tremendous amount of clutter including the kitchen. The built-in stovetop and oven weren't a real concern as we intended on installing our JennAir. We also planned on replacing the dishwasher. I had hoped to use what was in place for the first few days after the move so we didn't have to start on the kitchen immediately.
There are house inspections as part of the sale. These can be informal as in the buyer themselves or formal with an actual house inspector. We went the informal route because of location. The house itself is gorgeous and right on the waterfront. What a lot of people are doing in this area is buying waterfront property, tearing down the house and rebuilding or they do as our neighbours did, gut the house and do a complete indoor make over. This house is in too good of condition to do either.
OK then I feel better about your purchase. at first I thought someone had dropped the ball!
In a way someone did drop the ball. The owner was 84 years own, lived alone and was a major clutterholic. We looked beyond the clutter to see the potential. Unfortunately she left a lot of clutter behind for us to clear - garden, sunporch, garage, covered patio and scattered through the house. A couple of our kids helped clear a lot of this clutter to a spot beside the garage on Saturday. Another one is loading up everything for the dump today.
She stopped by today to drop off the remote for the garage. This morning we have been having problems with the main phone line. She said it does that all the time. I would have liked to know that! The electric problem while annoying is easy to fix. My husband redid all the plugs and switches in the kitchen yesterday and already we've seen a reduction in the brown-outs. I'm waiting for the new freezer to arrive shortly.
Hopefully the stove and grill will be up and running tonight.
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