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!

Trim!

Looking good! For the most part, Dan finished the trim this past week, so here is a picture of Jenn pretending to do the trim:



And here is a picture of Dan's excellent corner trim craftsmanship:

Fit and Trim

Next project: Basement trim. We are trimming our office, laundro, and hallway with a white synthetic trim which is quite firm, and the rest we will trim with a dark grey vinyl wall base; like the trim you see in a school or a hospital. Very industrial.

Last night, Dan and I went to Home Depots (plural) at 9:00PM. The first we picked up our white trim, but it didn't have the vinyl. So we rode to a 2nd HD with the trim hanging all out. Here's my view from the back seat, squished next to trim:

Thanks to my dad and Elaine- you can see how quickly we turned around the birthday gifties! Thank you!

First of all, welcome a new member, and then...Oh no!

APRIL FOOLS! The joke is on Dan's face :) The mustache was enjoyed on this ONE DAY, and ONE DAY only, Dan!!! Alas, no cat was stuck in the wall, it was just a way to get a good picture with Dan's 'stache. Interestingly enough, all cats received votes. So, basically, all of our cats are ill behaved.

First of all, welcome Elaine! The newest member of the wickerparkhouse gang! Please enjoy the ridiculous antics of Dan and Jenn.

Now, a big update: We drywalled a cat into the basement!!! Oh No!!!! Dan tried his best to lure out the poor kitty with food, toys, and his silly face. Which cat do you think ended up in this perilous situation? Ninja-like Ben, Slinky-like Diego, Old Blue Eyes Torpedo, or Miss Noah? Vote with your comments!!!

My Name is Mud

Well, Dan's name is mud. It's difficult to capture photographically the progress that has been made, but I'll try. Since the last post, Dan has fixed a water heater, taped the entire basement, and put up two coats of mud. So here is my best attempt to illustrate what's been happening at Bell:

Ken custom-made a lock plate for our garage! Take that, criminals!


I love this picture. These are the stilts that Dan borrowed from our friend Tommy to do mud work. They're kind of scary, but very practical:


Please note, the following pictures are not representative of the amount of work done. Dan did every single seam in the basement, connecting each wall together. I did one. One. He saved one for me because I wanted to try it. He's good like that:
Here's dan's picture of doing a seam. 1 picture per 1000 seams:


Now, here is my picture. 1 picture per 1 seam:


Shwew! Can you believe it! Dan will be working on the final mud work, and will start priming this week. This is HUGE. Other focus right now is having some roof repairs completed, now that the weather is nicer. Stay tuned.