Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Harry Potter Party--a preview

by Leslie

Many of you might know that I started a new job a few months ago at a small public library.  I love my job and get to meet lots of people  One part of my job is planning programs, especially for teens.  It is a pretty killer job and "programs" can be anything from a book group to movie parties.  If you know me, you know I love a good movie.  I decided a sweet movie party would be a great way to break the ice with the regulars, you know?

So, who better to help me earn my stripes than Harry Potter?

I decided to do a little movie marathon showing both segments of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  Since Christmas break is going on, I'm hoping that a bunch of people show up.  I don't know if it will happen or not, but I'm just enjoying planning it!

Here's a (poorly photographed) preview of some of our snacks!  More photos to come!

Chocolate frogs!


Licorice wands!

Toad eye bark

Wish me luck!  Party down tomorrow!

Friday, December 23, 2011

Happy Holidays

From our houses to yours, 
Happy Holidays!

~ The Test Nest 



Leslie's stack 'o gifts


Erin's front porch



Laura's cheery living room.


Tuesday, December 20, 2011

White Chicken Chili

By: Laura

Okay, I'm just going to admit it, Giada de Laurentiis might know a thing or two about cooking.  I realized this when I tried out her lasagna rolls last winter and now that I'm over the fact that she says "yummy" and "delicious" waaaaay too much during her show, I can focus on trying her delectable recipes.  This new recipe I tried for White Chicken Chili was a request from my husband.  Yeah, really.  You know when you ask your husband for dinner suggestions and he just says, "I don't know"....well it didn't happen last week.  I actually had a request and therefore went forth to find a recipe.  I stumbled onto quite a few on the food network and then decided to go for the simplicity of Giada's recipe.



To begin this soup, sauté the onions in a bit of oil.  Do this for about 5 minutes, or until the onions are transluscent.   After that, get that garlic going, but only for about 30 seconds.

Now it's time for the good stuff:  chicken, chili powder, cumin, salt, oregano, and fennel seeds.  Can you say fantastic? 

After the chicken is cooked through, add the chicken stock, corn, a bit of flour and simma, simma, simma! 

Finish off this dish with some parm cheese and you're good to go for another awesome soup night.

Yes, it's another delicious recipe from Giada.  Oh, you!  Anyway, this soup was a hit at our house.  We loved the rich flavors of the cumin and fennel seed especially.  Try it out when you want to get a little crazy, and say, make chili white instead of red.  I've linked the recipe below, and note that I did make some changes in my dish, including no swiss chard (they didn't have it in stock at our grocery store) and the use of northern beans instead of cannellini. It still worked out great, so give it a whirl on a chilly winter day.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Bathroom Unveiling

by Erin

For those of you that read our blog, or if you have spoken with me in the past couple of months, you know Max and I were bathroomless for about two weeks when we moved into our new place.   To put it mildly, it was tough.  I was hearkened back to the days of Schramm Hall when I padded my way down to the shower carrying my bathroom caddy, clad in a robe and flip-flops.  Only this time I was walking across the street to our neighbor's house.  Talk about acquainting ourselves with the neighbors!  Despite this, our bathroom is done and it is beautiful.  I did a good job of monitoring the before and after, so I'm going to let the photos do most of the talking during this post.

Let's start with the before. . . .

Problem #1: No Shower!


Problem #2: Lights and sink on top of shower. 

Problem #3: Wacky wallpaper and toilet on top of the sink!
The pictures don't really show this, but all the necessities (toilet, sink, bathtub) were really jammed in tight.  We had almost two feet between the wall and the toilet!  We decided if we were going to do it, we were going to do it right.  So we had the plumber space the toliet and sink out more evenly.  As you will see below.  We, or I should say our contractor, managed to solve all these problems. 

Solution #3: Jen and Buck, wallpaper remover extraordinaire
Bathroom demo. Beginning to fix problem #2.

Bathroom demo 2
Sometimes it got hard to remember that it gets worse before it gets better.  Thankfully our plumbers put a toilet in for us every night before they left.  Otherwise the bar down the street would have gotten mighty tired of us.  But one day, things started to look up.

Our floor tile was laid!
Max used his architecture know-how and connections to get us a super deal on these pretty tiles.  And then the walls...
Subway tile

I think these things are cool.

Grout and trim.


 We got our subway tiles and platinum colored grout from the Tile Outlet store which, I must say, has about the nicest and most helpful employees ever.  We love that we chose the platinum colored grout because it really makes the tiles pop.  We got the trim pieces from Daltile.  Max's architectural sense came in handy again with those pieces. The create a nice contrast to the subway tile. 

And then one day, the wet saw was gone, we had our office back (wait a sec, we never had it!), and B-96 wasn't blaring when we got home (we love you Eugene!).  The contractors were gone, and the bathroom was, dare I say it, done.

Oooh!

Ahhh!
Ohhh!

Moen 90 Degree collection
School House Electric light fixture

Isn't it pretty? 

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Guest Blog-Gingerbread Cookies

Hello all!  Leslie, here.  We decided that since it was the holiday season, we should try to get as many fun blog posts out there as possible.

My friend Megumi (Meg, for short) always has the cutest pictures of goodies and crafts posted on her Facebook page.  We decided she would be a great person to do our very first guest blog here at The Test Nest.

Meg and I met way back in 2003 when we were matched up as roommates our freshman year of college.  She came all the way from Japan and I was so excited to meet her.  When I finally moved into our dorm, it turned out that we were made to be roommates.  We had the same computer, printer, and hot pot. A perfect match!  Meg was such a wonderful roommate and friend.   In any case, she and I are still friends and love to keep in touch.  Here is her first blog experience!




Thanks to Leslie, Erin, and Laura, I’m writing my first blog post ever! I will report a cookie-baking session that my friend Alian and I had the other day. Alian bakes holiday cookies for her family and friends every year, and she knows how to make various kinds of delicious baked and unbaked cookies.

I helped Alian decorate gingerbread cookies last year and LOVED it. So I asked her to let me help her again. This year, I did the rolling out and cutting, too! I don’t know how much of help I was, but I really enjoyed baking and decorating the cookies with her. Alian already had the cookie dough ready because it had to chill for a while. I would love to help/see her prepare the dough next year.






Cut-out cookies are popular in my home country, Japan. They are usually simple sugar cookies (sometimes flavored with cocoa powder). We often do “egg wash + sprinkles,” but I don’t think many people do icing to decorate cut-out cookies. I probably have made royal icing with my mom when I was little, but I don’t remember well… So making gingerbread cookies with icing was an “American” experience for me. Thanks Alian for the new experience!

I love exploring American dessert (and food in general). I think it’s the fun part of living in a foreign country. I still remember the “wow” moment when I made marshmallows for the first time with Leslie and her mom about 8 years ago. My journey of American food continues, and I look forward to more new experiences.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Meg

Gingerbread Cookies


1 c. Butter flavored Crisco

1 c. sugar

1 egg

1 c. dark molasses

2 T. vinegar

4.5 - 5 c. flour

1 1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. salt

1 T. ginger

1 t. cinnamon

1 t. cloves

Cream shortening and sugar. Stir in egg and molasses. Add vinegar and beat well. Stir in soda, salt and spices, and mix thoroughly. Add flour and mix until smooth. Chill at least 3 hours, overnight is better.

Roll dough into 1/4" thick sheet and cut out chosen shapes and put at least 1/2" apart on cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. The cake should be brown, flat and smooth. Let cool thoroughly and decorate.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

"You'll Shoot Your Eye Out" and other classic holiday lines

by Leslie

When it comes to holiday movies, there are really very few that can beat what I deem:  The "It's the Holiday Season, so whoop de doo and dickory dock" movie trifecta.  I might have to find a way to abbreviate that title, but right now, there's really no time.  There's no time, because right now we are going to hearken back to our childhoods and recount some of the best movie lines ever to have been spoken near December 25th.

Movie One:


A Christmas Story.  Check out some of these classic lines:

"It's a major award!!"

"Don't want to waste electricity."

"Fra-gee-lay.  That must me Italian!"

"Mommy's little piggy."

"A crummy commercial?  Son of a bitch!"

"I want an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle! "




Movie numero dos:




Home Alone.  See if you remember these lovely tidbits:


"When I grow up, I'm living alone!"


"Kevin, you're what the French call les incompetents."


"Fuller, go easy on the Pepsi!"


"We slept in!"


"Kevin, you're such a disease"


"Buzz, your girlfriend.  Woof."






Movie Three:




National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.  A classic by any standard:


"Burn dust.  Eat my rubber."


"We're going to have a fun, old fashioned family Christmas."


"Save the neck for me, Clark."


"And why is the carpet all wet, Todd?"  "I don't know, Margot!"


"Later, dudes!!"


"I wanna get you somethin' real nice, Clark."




Don't you just want to sit down with the fam and watch these now?  I know I do.  Only a few more weeks until we're all together.  So what are your favorite family holiday movies?  What are you favorite lines?  Share them here.  We love movie trivia, no matter the season.



Monday, December 5, 2011

Chowda Down

By: Laura

This weekend we were finally graced with our first snow of the winter season.  It was a beautiful sight to see, indeed.  I've always told Derek that it's great to see snow in December, but really, that's the only month I need it, following Christmas, I could do without it!  But, hey, I live in the Midwest, so what should I expect, right?

All this cold weather and snow makes me want to warm up inside, and what better way to do so than with some soup, or chowder to be exact.  This weekend, when I had a chill in my bones that I couldn't quit reach with the help of an extra sweater, I had to turn to Mom's good old Ham and Cheese Chowder.  I'ts easy and delicious, not to mention you probably have all the ingredients on hand, so get yourself warmed up too...here's how.



Start by peeling and cubing two cups of potatoes.  ( I actually did this in the morning and let them set in water in the fridge so they would be ready for supper in the evening.)

Boil the potatoes for about 15 minutes (or until tender) in 1/2 cup of water with a dash of salt.

Once the potatoes have been cooked, drain them, making sure to keep the "potato water" (what else do you say, really?)
Next, get three tablespoons of butter melting in a dutch oven or large stock pot.  Cook the onions until they are translucent, then add three tablespoons of flour to thicken things up.
Finally, put the soup together by adding milk, ham and cheddar cheese.  Place some homemade croutons on top and  whammo - your body temp will definitely be on the rise.

Yep, it's that easy.  I may have skimped a bit on pictures here, but you get the idea.  A soup is always a great solution to the winter blues, so put one in your meal plan this week.  I've got another soup coming soon that is sure to turn up the heat as well.  Until next time...what are some of your favorite soups to cozy up to in winter?

Ham and Cheese Chowder
From the kitchen of: Mom

1/2 cup water
Dash of salt
2 cups of peeled and cubed potatoes
3 T. butter
1/2 cup onion - chopped
3 T. flour
Dash of pepper
3 cups milk
1 1/2 cups diced ham (deli ham works too!)
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Bring the water, salt and potatoes to a boil.  Cook for about 15 minutes or until tender.  Drain the potato, making sure to keep the liquid.  Add enough water to the potato water to make 1 cup.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large pot , add the onions and cook until translucent.  Add the flour and stir to thicken.  Finally, stir in the milk, cheese, ham, and the cup of potato water.  Stir frequently until all the ingredients are fully combined and enjoy.

Homemade Croutons

Butter 
Bread (the drier the better)

Butter the bread and cut it into bit size pieces.  Broil it for two to three minutes or bake at 350 degrees for a few minutes until crispy and slightly browned.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving weekend is drawing to a close, and as I type the only sound I hear is that of Max's rollers (bike training).  Gone are the Thanksgiving days of sweet squeals of laughter from my niece, the vibrant vibrato of Leslie and I's rendition of Climb Every Mountain, and the familiar voices of my family in our new house, like they've always been here.  I always have much to be thankful for, but having all of my family here at our new home for Thankgiving is truly the icing on a most delicious of cakes. 

Of course, you know that nobody could have stayed in this house without the help of my most wonderful friends and family, and I want to close this Thanksgiving weekend by thanking them personally.  So here goes (if I forgot you it doesn't mean I 'forgot' you, it just means I have too much on my mind.  Please forgive me if I do!):

Grandma - For calling me for our Sunday phone visits instead of waiting for me to call you.  I think she knew it may never happen if she didn't call. :) That extra bit of money didn't hurt either!

Jeffe Perkins - Thank you for your Xtreme staple removal! Jeff spent over three hours with me, removing staples from the guest bedroom floor.  Who knew removing staples could be such fun?

James - Thank you for your unending use of her car, island assembly (we got it to work, BTW), and delivery of Home Run Inn pizzas and vino.

Buck and Jen - Thank you for your extreme wallpaper removal in both our bathroom and kitchen. 

Jen (again!) - Thank you for coming over twice this week, to help get the house ship-shape for guests.  Jen and I were roommates in three different places together, so we are on the same wave-length when it comes to setting up a room!

Mike and Eva - Thanks for snacks and fun with Walteress on our first weekend here.  You had to know we were starving, because we were too busy to remember to eat.  Oh, and that gin is sooo good. 

Jean and Kevin - Thank you for turning what I thought was an almond refrigerator white and essentially being at our beck and call.  At one point Jean said something to this affect, "if you need something just text me the word, don't even bother saying you need it."  And let me tell you, she meant it!

Laura - Thank you for taking my teary calls and providing the support and understanding I needed.  That was rough week. 

Laura and Les - Thank you for planning an improptu 'let's help Erin' visit, taking days off work, painting kitchen, and working tirelessly for an entire weekend.  Our kitchen looks beautiful because of you two. 

Lisa and Patrick - Thank you for removing more wallpaper and keeping me company on a lonely Sunday afternoon.


Tony, Jill, Katie - Thank you for working with me through the difficult decision of which toilet to buy on a Saturday night in Chicago.  You might never have heard such deep conversation between four people in the toilet isle at Home Depot.  Together, we team-lifted that thing back home and into our non-existent bathroom. 

Garrison - Thank you for being generally awesome and helping us with just about everything: fixing walls, cabling a tree, Home Depot runs, just to name a few. 


Tony - Thank you for the use of your sander.  Without it, the money we would have spent on renting it would probably been equivalent to an actual sander.  Thank you also for all your advice,  encouragement, and introduction to The Magic Eraser.  You are the best!

Meagan - Thank you for that voice mail you left me when you explained to me that pretty soon house stuff was going to feel overwhelming and not fun, but that I shouldn't worry because it would eventually be all right.  I can't tell you how many times I listened to that over the past month and a half.  Also thank you for the lovely Lemon Verbana Mrs. Meyers cleaning products; they smell so good!

May - Thank you for tearing down that weird wall and putting a new one up the very next day!

Mary - Thank you for offering up your bathroom while my sisters were here.

Lisa (our new neighbor) - Thank you for letting us use your shower for two weeks.  I've never had a shower that felt so good, as that first one at your house.  Ahhh!

Eleanor - Thank you for making me lunch the week of the move,  you knew that otherwise I would be eating crappy chicken sandwiches from the school cafeteria.  Also, thank you for letting me dominate our lunchtime conversations with our successes and tribulations at the house. 

Mom and Dad - Thank you for coming to Thanksgiving in Chicago with work clothes and seemingly endless energy to do jobs around the house. 

Penny - Thank you for taking kindly to your new home, and reminding me that I need to sit down and take a rest so you can sit on my lap and take a cat nap.

Yeah, no kidding, pretty amazing friends, huh?  I have so much to be thankful for.  I love you all!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Spicing it Up...in the bedroom.

by Leslie

No.  It's not what you think.  Really.

As you might know, we live in an apartment, or, as I like to call it, the white cube.  By most standards, our apartment is great.  It is pretty spacious, it has some good sized rooms, and it has two bathrooms (hooray for guests!).  It does have a few problems, though.  After living in "The Castle" for a year, I had grown to expect tall ceilings, delicate woodwork, and grandiose mantles upon which to place decor.

I mean, just look at it!

Here's the castle "turret" where we would dine.  I have the place a little jazzed up for Halloween.

Looking down on a snowy walkway from the castle.

Here's the view from the outside--can you believe that this was ever ONE man's house?

Needless to say, when we moved into our little white box here in Rochester, I was little less than inspired.  I did decide that it would be a good time to start over in our bedroom with a blank slate.  So, I moved our duvet cover to the guest room and left ours plain white.  

Although this only shows a part of the room, you get the idea.

I really liked this look for summer.  It was funky fresh and cool.  It was super "zen" in there and I really liked it.  But, now that it's getting a little chilly . . . I need a little spice!

So, we took a little trip to IKEA.  Jaime actually picked out this duvet cover, and it turns out, I LOVE IT!

Spicy!  And this was a super quick change to add something special to the bedroom.  
Now I'm inspired to make some quick little changes to our apartment to give it a little more character to it.  Any ideas?  Share them!


Tuesday, November 15, 2011

The many uses of butternut squash

If you, like me, have a huge bag of butternut squash in your pantry, you are probably continually looking for delicious recipes in which to use it.


I happen to be a lover of butternut squash.  My grandma grows it in her garden and usually gets a really good crop.  She is generous with the fruits of her labor and I am more than happy to accept her gifts.  There really are a lot of great squash recipes out there, and it seems like squash is even becoming a foodie trend, which I heartily approve of.  So, without further ado, here are some tried and tested recipes that I really liked.

Need a Thanksgiving appetizer?  Try Butternut Squash Ricotta and Sage Crostini from Tracy at Shutterbean--one of my fave blogs.

This Roasted Butternut Baked Penne was a great hearty supper that comes together very quickly.  This comes from the blog How Sweet it Is.

The first butternut squash dish I ever made was Ina Garten's Butternut Squash Risotto.  It's a winner for any type of meal.  It would be great for entertaining.

This soup is so delicious.  I don't know what it is about sage and butternut squash, but the combination of flavors is a winner.  I didn't make the croutons and it was still delish.  Here's the step by step.

Start by cutting your squash into cubes and roasting it in the oven.  The photo is above.  Then saute your onion, sage, and olive oil.  Let your senses be dazzled!

Add cooked butternut squash and chicken stock.

Let it simmer...let the flavors meld...

Then get out the immersion blender (or regular blender) and go to town!  I cover my pot with a towel so that the soup doesn't spatter everywhere.

Taste the flava flave.


Monday, November 7, 2011

Homeowner Task #1: Refinishing Hardwood Floors

by Erin
 

I think this picture sums up Max and I's existence for the past month (wow, we closed on our house one month ago today).  We are living in a mixture of sawdust, plaster dust, and whatever the hell the contractors are doing in the bathroom (hey, who needs to shower, right?!?!!!!).  After taking ownership of our new abode, Max and I went immediately to work on the floors (see our previous carpet removal post).  It was three weeks of after work sanding and three full weekends of sanding and sanding preparation (i.e. removing staples from the floor, etc)

After we completed four floors in our house I asked Max if he would recommend doing this to a friend.  His response, "hell no."  In some ways I agree, but I must say that I had quite sense of accomplishment after that final coat of poly went down on our floors.  I would just tell a friend that they better need to know what they are getting into by being prepared to take it slow, to know that you are going to have a serious mess on your hands, and to be sure and have somebody on hand that can give you advice.  Thankfully our lord and savior, Tony, my school's building engineer, answered frustrated text messages to help us through any and all problems we had.  He also didn't seem surprised when I told him it took me three days to sand the first floor, so I felt like I wasn't a complete idiot, which was how I spent my first weekend of sanding.  You also need to be prepared to find butt prints all over your house, from weary sanders that need a place to lean. 


Anyway, here is what we did. 

The office, sanded and ready for polyurethane.
The office is the first room we went to work on.  It was Columbus day weekend, so I had three days sand this, and it took all three of them to get it to this state.

Coated floors

 
Next I moved on to the living room and dining room.  Now, we didn't have to do this one, since it had most likely been recently done, but it looked dingy and we weren't a fan of the bright white color.

Living room dining room in progress.
This floor was super strange.  If you didn't move the sander along it quickly enough it would create kind of a paste out of the sawdust, then grind it into the floor, which required more sanding to get it off.  It took some serious finesse.  


Here is me staining the floor with a roller.  It was recommended that we apply the stain with a rag, but you know, we were tired.



The floor looks lovely and shiny now!

While I was working in here, Max took on the bear of a room, the "stair room."  The carpet in this room had been secured down with glue.  Ugh!

Max removes toxic glue.  Safety first!
Poor Max spent several days chipping away at the glue with paint remover.  Thankfully Max seems to enjoy slow, tedious project.  Strange.

Grimy edges
Max handling grimy edges!

Ready for poly!

Do you see the x's in the floor?  I'm pretty sure Indiana Jones is going to come over and find something underneath this one!

The final floor we tackled was the upstairs bedroom.  It proved to be the most uneven, and it had a nice coat of carpet padding under it.  Lovely.

Streaky mess
 All of the floors resembled this after using the drum sander, but this one took the longest to fix. 

Closets were always such a bummer.  We would feel like, we almost had it and then. . . the closet!  Another mess.

So I guess I haven't taken a final picture of this room, but I didn't want to wait any longer to post on the floors and it doesn't take a whole lot to get distracted in this house, so I'll put it up later.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Harry Potter Party--a preview

by Leslie

Many of you might know that I started a new job a few months ago at a small public library.  I love my job and get to meet lots of people  One part of my job is planning programs, especially for teens.  It is a pretty killer job and "programs" can be anything from a book group to movie parties.  If you know me, you know I love a good movie.  I decided a sweet movie party would be a great way to break the ice with the regulars, you know?

So, who better to help me earn my stripes than Harry Potter?

I decided to do a little movie marathon showing both segments of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  Since Christmas break is going on, I'm hoping that a bunch of people show up.  I don't know if it will happen or not, but I'm just enjoying planning it!

Here's a (poorly photographed) preview of some of our snacks!  More photos to come!

Chocolate frogs!


Licorice wands!

Toad eye bark

Wish me luck!  Party down tomorrow!

Friday, December 23, 2011

Happy Holidays

From our houses to yours, 
Happy Holidays!

~ The Test Nest 



Leslie's stack 'o gifts


Erin's front porch



Laura's cheery living room.


Tuesday, December 20, 2011

White Chicken Chili

By: Laura

Okay, I'm just going to admit it, Giada de Laurentiis might know a thing or two about cooking.  I realized this when I tried out her lasagna rolls last winter and now that I'm over the fact that she says "yummy" and "delicious" waaaaay too much during her show, I can focus on trying her delectable recipes.  This new recipe I tried for White Chicken Chili was a request from my husband.  Yeah, really.  You know when you ask your husband for dinner suggestions and he just says, "I don't know"....well it didn't happen last week.  I actually had a request and therefore went forth to find a recipe.  I stumbled onto quite a few on the food network and then decided to go for the simplicity of Giada's recipe.



To begin this soup, sauté the onions in a bit of oil.  Do this for about 5 minutes, or until the onions are transluscent.   After that, get that garlic going, but only for about 30 seconds.

Now it's time for the good stuff:  chicken, chili powder, cumin, salt, oregano, and fennel seeds.  Can you say fantastic? 

After the chicken is cooked through, add the chicken stock, corn, a bit of flour and simma, simma, simma! 

Finish off this dish with some parm cheese and you're good to go for another awesome soup night.

Yes, it's another delicious recipe from Giada.  Oh, you!  Anyway, this soup was a hit at our house.  We loved the rich flavors of the cumin and fennel seed especially.  Try it out when you want to get a little crazy, and say, make chili white instead of red.  I've linked the recipe below, and note that I did make some changes in my dish, including no swiss chard (they didn't have it in stock at our grocery store) and the use of northern beans instead of cannellini. It still worked out great, so give it a whirl on a chilly winter day.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Bathroom Unveiling

by Erin

For those of you that read our blog, or if you have spoken with me in the past couple of months, you know Max and I were bathroomless for about two weeks when we moved into our new place.   To put it mildly, it was tough.  I was hearkened back to the days of Schramm Hall when I padded my way down to the shower carrying my bathroom caddy, clad in a robe and flip-flops.  Only this time I was walking across the street to our neighbor's house.  Talk about acquainting ourselves with the neighbors!  Despite this, our bathroom is done and it is beautiful.  I did a good job of monitoring the before and after, so I'm going to let the photos do most of the talking during this post.

Let's start with the before. . . .

Problem #1: No Shower!


Problem #2: Lights and sink on top of shower. 

Problem #3: Wacky wallpaper and toilet on top of the sink!
The pictures don't really show this, but all the necessities (toilet, sink, bathtub) were really jammed in tight.  We had almost two feet between the wall and the toilet!  We decided if we were going to do it, we were going to do it right.  So we had the plumber space the toliet and sink out more evenly.  As you will see below.  We, or I should say our contractor, managed to solve all these problems. 

Solution #3: Jen and Buck, wallpaper remover extraordinaire
Bathroom demo. Beginning to fix problem #2.

Bathroom demo 2
Sometimes it got hard to remember that it gets worse before it gets better.  Thankfully our plumbers put a toilet in for us every night before they left.  Otherwise the bar down the street would have gotten mighty tired of us.  But one day, things started to look up.

Our floor tile was laid!
Max used his architecture know-how and connections to get us a super deal on these pretty tiles.  And then the walls...
Subway tile

I think these things are cool.

Grout and trim.


 We got our subway tiles and platinum colored grout from the Tile Outlet store which, I must say, has about the nicest and most helpful employees ever.  We love that we chose the platinum colored grout because it really makes the tiles pop.  We got the trim pieces from Daltile.  Max's architectural sense came in handy again with those pieces. The create a nice contrast to the subway tile. 

And then one day, the wet saw was gone, we had our office back (wait a sec, we never had it!), and B-96 wasn't blaring when we got home (we love you Eugene!).  The contractors were gone, and the bathroom was, dare I say it, done.

Oooh!

Ahhh!
Ohhh!

Moen 90 Degree collection
School House Electric light fixture

Isn't it pretty? 

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Guest Blog-Gingerbread Cookies

Hello all!  Leslie, here.  We decided that since it was the holiday season, we should try to get as many fun blog posts out there as possible.

My friend Megumi (Meg, for short) always has the cutest pictures of goodies and crafts posted on her Facebook page.  We decided she would be a great person to do our very first guest blog here at The Test Nest.

Meg and I met way back in 2003 when we were matched up as roommates our freshman year of college.  She came all the way from Japan and I was so excited to meet her.  When I finally moved into our dorm, it turned out that we were made to be roommates.  We had the same computer, printer, and hot pot. A perfect match!  Meg was such a wonderful roommate and friend.   In any case, she and I are still friends and love to keep in touch.  Here is her first blog experience!




Thanks to Leslie, Erin, and Laura, I’m writing my first blog post ever! I will report a cookie-baking session that my friend Alian and I had the other day. Alian bakes holiday cookies for her family and friends every year, and she knows how to make various kinds of delicious baked and unbaked cookies.

I helped Alian decorate gingerbread cookies last year and LOVED it. So I asked her to let me help her again. This year, I did the rolling out and cutting, too! I don’t know how much of help I was, but I really enjoyed baking and decorating the cookies with her. Alian already had the cookie dough ready because it had to chill for a while. I would love to help/see her prepare the dough next year.






Cut-out cookies are popular in my home country, Japan. They are usually simple sugar cookies (sometimes flavored with cocoa powder). We often do “egg wash + sprinkles,” but I don’t think many people do icing to decorate cut-out cookies. I probably have made royal icing with my mom when I was little, but I don’t remember well… So making gingerbread cookies with icing was an “American” experience for me. Thanks Alian for the new experience!

I love exploring American dessert (and food in general). I think it’s the fun part of living in a foreign country. I still remember the “wow” moment when I made marshmallows for the first time with Leslie and her mom about 8 years ago. My journey of American food continues, and I look forward to more new experiences.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Meg

Gingerbread Cookies


1 c. Butter flavored Crisco

1 c. sugar

1 egg

1 c. dark molasses

2 T. vinegar

4.5 - 5 c. flour

1 1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. salt

1 T. ginger

1 t. cinnamon

1 t. cloves

Cream shortening and sugar. Stir in egg and molasses. Add vinegar and beat well. Stir in soda, salt and spices, and mix thoroughly. Add flour and mix until smooth. Chill at least 3 hours, overnight is better.

Roll dough into 1/4" thick sheet and cut out chosen shapes and put at least 1/2" apart on cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. The cake should be brown, flat and smooth. Let cool thoroughly and decorate.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

"You'll Shoot Your Eye Out" and other classic holiday lines

by Leslie

When it comes to holiday movies, there are really very few that can beat what I deem:  The "It's the Holiday Season, so whoop de doo and dickory dock" movie trifecta.  I might have to find a way to abbreviate that title, but right now, there's really no time.  There's no time, because right now we are going to hearken back to our childhoods and recount some of the best movie lines ever to have been spoken near December 25th.

Movie One:


A Christmas Story.  Check out some of these classic lines:

"It's a major award!!"

"Don't want to waste electricity."

"Fra-gee-lay.  That must me Italian!"

"Mommy's little piggy."

"A crummy commercial?  Son of a bitch!"

"I want an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle! "




Movie numero dos:




Home Alone.  See if you remember these lovely tidbits:


"When I grow up, I'm living alone!"


"Kevin, you're what the French call les incompetents."


"Fuller, go easy on the Pepsi!"


"We slept in!"


"Kevin, you're such a disease"


"Buzz, your girlfriend.  Woof."






Movie Three:




National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.  A classic by any standard:


"Burn dust.  Eat my rubber."


"We're going to have a fun, old fashioned family Christmas."


"Save the neck for me, Clark."


"And why is the carpet all wet, Todd?"  "I don't know, Margot!"


"Later, dudes!!"


"I wanna get you somethin' real nice, Clark."




Don't you just want to sit down with the fam and watch these now?  I know I do.  Only a few more weeks until we're all together.  So what are your favorite family holiday movies?  What are you favorite lines?  Share them here.  We love movie trivia, no matter the season.



Monday, December 5, 2011

Chowda Down

By: Laura

This weekend we were finally graced with our first snow of the winter season.  It was a beautiful sight to see, indeed.  I've always told Derek that it's great to see snow in December, but really, that's the only month I need it, following Christmas, I could do without it!  But, hey, I live in the Midwest, so what should I expect, right?

All this cold weather and snow makes me want to warm up inside, and what better way to do so than with some soup, or chowder to be exact.  This weekend, when I had a chill in my bones that I couldn't quit reach with the help of an extra sweater, I had to turn to Mom's good old Ham and Cheese Chowder.  I'ts easy and delicious, not to mention you probably have all the ingredients on hand, so get yourself warmed up too...here's how.



Start by peeling and cubing two cups of potatoes.  ( I actually did this in the morning and let them set in water in the fridge so they would be ready for supper in the evening.)

Boil the potatoes for about 15 minutes (or until tender) in 1/2 cup of water with a dash of salt.

Once the potatoes have been cooked, drain them, making sure to keep the "potato water" (what else do you say, really?)
Next, get three tablespoons of butter melting in a dutch oven or large stock pot.  Cook the onions until they are translucent, then add three tablespoons of flour to thicken things up.
Finally, put the soup together by adding milk, ham and cheddar cheese.  Place some homemade croutons on top and  whammo - your body temp will definitely be on the rise.

Yep, it's that easy.  I may have skimped a bit on pictures here, but you get the idea.  A soup is always a great solution to the winter blues, so put one in your meal plan this week.  I've got another soup coming soon that is sure to turn up the heat as well.  Until next time...what are some of your favorite soups to cozy up to in winter?

Ham and Cheese Chowder
From the kitchen of: Mom

1/2 cup water
Dash of salt
2 cups of peeled and cubed potatoes
3 T. butter
1/2 cup onion - chopped
3 T. flour
Dash of pepper
3 cups milk
1 1/2 cups diced ham (deli ham works too!)
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Bring the water, salt and potatoes to a boil.  Cook for about 15 minutes or until tender.  Drain the potato, making sure to keep the liquid.  Add enough water to the potato water to make 1 cup.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large pot , add the onions and cook until translucent.  Add the flour and stir to thicken.  Finally, stir in the milk, cheese, ham, and the cup of potato water.  Stir frequently until all the ingredients are fully combined and enjoy.

Homemade Croutons

Butter 
Bread (the drier the better)

Butter the bread and cut it into bit size pieces.  Broil it for two to three minutes or bake at 350 degrees for a few minutes until crispy and slightly browned.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving weekend is drawing to a close, and as I type the only sound I hear is that of Max's rollers (bike training).  Gone are the Thanksgiving days of sweet squeals of laughter from my niece, the vibrant vibrato of Leslie and I's rendition of Climb Every Mountain, and the familiar voices of my family in our new house, like they've always been here.  I always have much to be thankful for, but having all of my family here at our new home for Thankgiving is truly the icing on a most delicious of cakes. 

Of course, you know that nobody could have stayed in this house without the help of my most wonderful friends and family, and I want to close this Thanksgiving weekend by thanking them personally.  So here goes (if I forgot you it doesn't mean I 'forgot' you, it just means I have too much on my mind.  Please forgive me if I do!):

Grandma - For calling me for our Sunday phone visits instead of waiting for me to call you.  I think she knew it may never happen if she didn't call. :) That extra bit of money didn't hurt either!

Jeffe Perkins - Thank you for your Xtreme staple removal! Jeff spent over three hours with me, removing staples from the guest bedroom floor.  Who knew removing staples could be such fun?

James - Thank you for your unending use of her car, island assembly (we got it to work, BTW), and delivery of Home Run Inn pizzas and vino.

Buck and Jen - Thank you for your extreme wallpaper removal in both our bathroom and kitchen. 

Jen (again!) - Thank you for coming over twice this week, to help get the house ship-shape for guests.  Jen and I were roommates in three different places together, so we are on the same wave-length when it comes to setting up a room!

Mike and Eva - Thanks for snacks and fun with Walteress on our first weekend here.  You had to know we were starving, because we were too busy to remember to eat.  Oh, and that gin is sooo good. 

Jean and Kevin - Thank you for turning what I thought was an almond refrigerator white and essentially being at our beck and call.  At one point Jean said something to this affect, "if you need something just text me the word, don't even bother saying you need it."  And let me tell you, she meant it!

Laura - Thank you for taking my teary calls and providing the support and understanding I needed.  That was rough week. 

Laura and Les - Thank you for planning an improptu 'let's help Erin' visit, taking days off work, painting kitchen, and working tirelessly for an entire weekend.  Our kitchen looks beautiful because of you two. 

Lisa and Patrick - Thank you for removing more wallpaper and keeping me company on a lonely Sunday afternoon.


Tony, Jill, Katie - Thank you for working with me through the difficult decision of which toilet to buy on a Saturday night in Chicago.  You might never have heard such deep conversation between four people in the toilet isle at Home Depot.  Together, we team-lifted that thing back home and into our non-existent bathroom. 

Garrison - Thank you for being generally awesome and helping us with just about everything: fixing walls, cabling a tree, Home Depot runs, just to name a few. 


Tony - Thank you for the use of your sander.  Without it, the money we would have spent on renting it would probably been equivalent to an actual sander.  Thank you also for all your advice,  encouragement, and introduction to The Magic Eraser.  You are the best!

Meagan - Thank you for that voice mail you left me when you explained to me that pretty soon house stuff was going to feel overwhelming and not fun, but that I shouldn't worry because it would eventually be all right.  I can't tell you how many times I listened to that over the past month and a half.  Also thank you for the lovely Lemon Verbana Mrs. Meyers cleaning products; they smell so good!

May - Thank you for tearing down that weird wall and putting a new one up the very next day!

Mary - Thank you for offering up your bathroom while my sisters were here.

Lisa (our new neighbor) - Thank you for letting us use your shower for two weeks.  I've never had a shower that felt so good, as that first one at your house.  Ahhh!

Eleanor - Thank you for making me lunch the week of the move,  you knew that otherwise I would be eating crappy chicken sandwiches from the school cafeteria.  Also, thank you for letting me dominate our lunchtime conversations with our successes and tribulations at the house. 

Mom and Dad - Thank you for coming to Thanksgiving in Chicago with work clothes and seemingly endless energy to do jobs around the house. 

Penny - Thank you for taking kindly to your new home, and reminding me that I need to sit down and take a rest so you can sit on my lap and take a cat nap.

Yeah, no kidding, pretty amazing friends, huh?  I have so much to be thankful for.  I love you all!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Spicing it Up...in the bedroom.

by Leslie

No.  It's not what you think.  Really.

As you might know, we live in an apartment, or, as I like to call it, the white cube.  By most standards, our apartment is great.  It is pretty spacious, it has some good sized rooms, and it has two bathrooms (hooray for guests!).  It does have a few problems, though.  After living in "The Castle" for a year, I had grown to expect tall ceilings, delicate woodwork, and grandiose mantles upon which to place decor.

I mean, just look at it!

Here's the castle "turret" where we would dine.  I have the place a little jazzed up for Halloween.

Looking down on a snowy walkway from the castle.

Here's the view from the outside--can you believe that this was ever ONE man's house?

Needless to say, when we moved into our little white box here in Rochester, I was little less than inspired.  I did decide that it would be a good time to start over in our bedroom with a blank slate.  So, I moved our duvet cover to the guest room and left ours plain white.  

Although this only shows a part of the room, you get the idea.

I really liked this look for summer.  It was funky fresh and cool.  It was super "zen" in there and I really liked it.  But, now that it's getting a little chilly . . . I need a little spice!

So, we took a little trip to IKEA.  Jaime actually picked out this duvet cover, and it turns out, I LOVE IT!

Spicy!  And this was a super quick change to add something special to the bedroom.  
Now I'm inspired to make some quick little changes to our apartment to give it a little more character to it.  Any ideas?  Share them!


Tuesday, November 15, 2011

The many uses of butternut squash

If you, like me, have a huge bag of butternut squash in your pantry, you are probably continually looking for delicious recipes in which to use it.


I happen to be a lover of butternut squash.  My grandma grows it in her garden and usually gets a really good crop.  She is generous with the fruits of her labor and I am more than happy to accept her gifts.  There really are a lot of great squash recipes out there, and it seems like squash is even becoming a foodie trend, which I heartily approve of.  So, without further ado, here are some tried and tested recipes that I really liked.

Need a Thanksgiving appetizer?  Try Butternut Squash Ricotta and Sage Crostini from Tracy at Shutterbean--one of my fave blogs.

This Roasted Butternut Baked Penne was a great hearty supper that comes together very quickly.  This comes from the blog How Sweet it Is.

The first butternut squash dish I ever made was Ina Garten's Butternut Squash Risotto.  It's a winner for any type of meal.  It would be great for entertaining.

This soup is so delicious.  I don't know what it is about sage and butternut squash, but the combination of flavors is a winner.  I didn't make the croutons and it was still delish.  Here's the step by step.

Start by cutting your squash into cubes and roasting it in the oven.  The photo is above.  Then saute your onion, sage, and olive oil.  Let your senses be dazzled!

Add cooked butternut squash and chicken stock.

Let it simmer...let the flavors meld...

Then get out the immersion blender (or regular blender) and go to town!  I cover my pot with a towel so that the soup doesn't spatter everywhere.

Taste the flava flave.


Monday, November 7, 2011

Homeowner Task #1: Refinishing Hardwood Floors

by Erin
 

I think this picture sums up Max and I's existence for the past month (wow, we closed on our house one month ago today).  We are living in a mixture of sawdust, plaster dust, and whatever the hell the contractors are doing in the bathroom (hey, who needs to shower, right?!?!!!!).  After taking ownership of our new abode, Max and I went immediately to work on the floors (see our previous carpet removal post).  It was three weeks of after work sanding and three full weekends of sanding and sanding preparation (i.e. removing staples from the floor, etc)

After we completed four floors in our house I asked Max if he would recommend doing this to a friend.  His response, "hell no."  In some ways I agree, but I must say that I had quite sense of accomplishment after that final coat of poly went down on our floors.  I would just tell a friend that they better need to know what they are getting into by being prepared to take it slow, to know that you are going to have a serious mess on your hands, and to be sure and have somebody on hand that can give you advice.  Thankfully our lord and savior, Tony, my school's building engineer, answered frustrated text messages to help us through any and all problems we had.  He also didn't seem surprised when I told him it took me three days to sand the first floor, so I felt like I wasn't a complete idiot, which was how I spent my first weekend of sanding.  You also need to be prepared to find butt prints all over your house, from weary sanders that need a place to lean. 


Anyway, here is what we did. 

The office, sanded and ready for polyurethane.
The office is the first room we went to work on.  It was Columbus day weekend, so I had three days sand this, and it took all three of them to get it to this state.

Coated floors

 
Next I moved on to the living room and dining room.  Now, we didn't have to do this one, since it had most likely been recently done, but it looked dingy and we weren't a fan of the bright white color.

Living room dining room in progress.
This floor was super strange.  If you didn't move the sander along it quickly enough it would create kind of a paste out of the sawdust, then grind it into the floor, which required more sanding to get it off.  It took some serious finesse.  


Here is me staining the floor with a roller.  It was recommended that we apply the stain with a rag, but you know, we were tired.



The floor looks lovely and shiny now!

While I was working in here, Max took on the bear of a room, the "stair room."  The carpet in this room had been secured down with glue.  Ugh!

Max removes toxic glue.  Safety first!
Poor Max spent several days chipping away at the glue with paint remover.  Thankfully Max seems to enjoy slow, tedious project.  Strange.

Grimy edges
Max handling grimy edges!

Ready for poly!

Do you see the x's in the floor?  I'm pretty sure Indiana Jones is going to come over and find something underneath this one!

The final floor we tackled was the upstairs bedroom.  It proved to be the most uneven, and it had a nice coat of carpet padding under it.  Lovely.

Streaky mess
 All of the floors resembled this after using the drum sander, but this one took the longest to fix. 

Closets were always such a bummer.  We would feel like, we almost had it and then. . . the closet!  Another mess.

So I guess I haven't taken a final picture of this room, but I didn't want to wait any longer to post on the floors and it doesn't take a whole lot to get distracted in this house, so I'll put it up later.