Master Bedroom: Closet

We have now begun a new phase of the project: the master bedroom. Brent and Becky visited, and we put Brent to work!

They framed out the entire space over the weekend.

Gardening

This month we focused a lot of our time gardening, and we had a lot of helpful hands.

First, Dan dug out the back yard. There was a lot of stuff buried in there. It looked kind of scary, but after asking the neighbors, we learned that the previous owners had some type of wading pool, but then was later fill in.


Dan roto-tilled the backyard:


Next, on Mother's Day, Elaine and Jim came in and helped us plant a beautiful new yard. Here's Elaine, rolling out the sod:


Here is the front yard. We have two cherry trees, a grape vine, and a whole mess of flowers to join our one lonely tulip.


Our nieces and nephews planted us some flowers:


Here is a dramatic before and after(and check out the 'after' with the kids testing out the new yard!)

Before


After!

Orange bathroom

Victory! One completely finished project! Our first floor bathroom is a pretty shade of orange, but most exciting, it is finished!! Here is just a glimpse of the color we chose:

Basement updates

Dan crafted a white door for our sump pump...out of sight, out of mind, we hope!


We also finally moved our 'tool room' in the living room down into the official tool room in the basement- there was a lot to sort through:


Dan is very pleased with his new tool room. It is getting a lot of use:

First Tulip

Our garden is atrocious. We have done nothing! But, in spite of us, one mighty little tulip popped up. Next up: Working on the garden!!

Functional Basement

We've moved in to the basement, which means the rest of the house is empty, but clean! Here is Dan's office set up:


Here's Dan's next project: Organize the tool room...

Food Construction: A Departure

"Oyster, Lemongrass, Sesame"

Dan and I do work on things...other than the house. Here are some of my favorite pictures of two weekends ago, when we attempted to reconstruct some of our favorite dishes from alinea. I attempted to make this about home construction, so that it fits in with the blog theme! I mean, at least Dan is using a blow torch in one picture, that should count...

Next we made a tuna sashimi:


with this gorgeous roe:


Dan made a Guinness jello to pair with beef short ribs:


Yuba! What is, it, you ask? It's the skin from heated soymilk (I think)... a long process, but a delicious texture and lightly sweet taste! We wrapped ours around shrimp and sprinkled with togorashi


Power tools! Dan torches a piece of cedarwood to lend a smoky, woody flavor to griled fish, mushrooms and dates!