Bathroom Renovation: Planning Board

Almost a year ago, my husband renovated our little love shack with hardwood floors, crown molding, new windows and paint throughout.  It was a glorious finish to almost a year of living in construction hell. Now we're ready to start again with a full bathroom remodel.

Bathrooms are very challenging for such small spaces.  Everything has to be functional like a ship while maintaining a relaxing and calm ambiance. Styles vary wildly and so many different finishes and textures results in clashing decor.

Have you ever heard that most top level executives make most decisions within 9 minutes?  If my bathroom remodeling choices are any indication of my management ability, I'd be unemployed.  Wall mount or pedestal? Corian or Tile? Modern or Traditional?

Enter the planning board.

1. Nordic Brushed Nickel 3-light Bath Sconce. This brushed nickel light fixture can fit into most bathrooms decors from traditional to modern. $101.99 at Overstock.com

 2. Interceramic Habitat Canvas Ceramic 16" x 16". Giving the appearance of fabric texture with the cleanliness of tile, these canvas ceramic tiles make bathroom floors interesting. $2.95 per sqft at Quality Flooring For Less.


3. Texture Style by Norwall. This scrubbable wall vinyl mimicks seagrass lending a natural serene feel to bathroom walls. $11.99 a roll at Mallone's Wallpaper Shop.

4. ELIANE Illusione Beige 8 in. x 12 in. Ceramic Wall Tile. Rectangular wall tiles are a good option in a bath surround, placed vertically instead of horizontally for the illusion of height. $1.86 per sqft at Home Depot.

5. Woven Natural Sea Grass Baskets With Faux Leather Handles. In terms of accessories, baskets add a natural touch that complements the seagrass wallpaper while organizing bathroom shelf clutter. $114.02 on Amazon.

6. allen + roth 24" Rustic Oak Foley Bath Vanity with Top. It's the perfect size for a small bathroom. With the floor under the vanity visible the vanity opens up the footprint and makes the room look bigger than it really is! $229 at Lowe's.

7.  Glass Shelf with Satin Nickel Rail. To corral all the daily little items and get them off the sink surface, this glass shelf is just gorgeous. $37.99 at Organize.com.

8. EKBY JÄRPEN/ EKBY BJÄRNUM Shelf. These might not be moisture safe but I'm willing to take a chance because the shelf width is so easily adjustable, the price is so low and the lines are so clean. It'll be back to the drawing board in a year if they don't work in the bathroom. $19.99 at Ikea.

9. allen + roth 32"H x 22"W Foley Rustic Oak Rectangular Bath Mirror. This mirror is great and the wood matches the vanity.  I might end up just using my existing bathroom mirror and adding molding to frame it instead. $59.00 at Lowe's.

10. Nordic Brushed Nickel 1-light Bath Sconce.  These sconces are just perfect to frame a bathroom mirror and go with the 3-light sconce above. $49.99 at Overstock.com.

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Temecula Highlights: Old Town Shopping

There's two parts of Temecula really worth visiting on a vacation trip: the local wineries and Old Town. Everything in-between seems to be suburban sprawl.

Old Town consists of little antique shops, tasting rooms, restaurants and touristy shops with a western feel.  There's even a little place called the Gambling Cowboy that I've been told serves liquor out of glass boots!

Here are a few of the more interesting shops we stopped into on our recent trip to Old Town Temecula:



American Prospector Treasure Seeker
28900 Old Town Front Street #101
Temecula, CA 92590
(951) 676-2555

My husband has just picked up a hobby of gold prospecting.  No, seriously. He and his buddies head out to the river with a pack full of tools like pans, sluices, shovels and buckets and comes back with dirt filled with flecks of gold. (Ok, filled might be overstating.) There's a whole community of hobbyists out there!

In southern California there's a handful of gold prospecting shops like American Prospector Treasure Seeker.  It has one of the larger selections of dry and wet prospecting tools, books, and a friendly Native American statue that greets customers at the door.

The shop is family owned and ran by avid prospectors who are members of numerous local clubs who own land claims and know how to find the shiny gold nuggets.

It's a little far outside of the main part of Old Town (about 1/3 a mile) but still a short walk.

Temecula Valley Cheese Company

42072 5th Street #101
Temecula, CA 92590
(951) 693-9500

Not one to pass up a opportunity to buy cheese,  I scoped out this little shop that turned out to be more like someone's home.  A home with Freedman & Cash playing Eric Clapton hits in the casual dining room where the most delicious of cheeses and wines were served. 

Originally, I was just going to stop in and buy a small block of cheese and ended up sitting down for a 4 cheese and wine paired tasting. It was relaxed, calming and thoroughly charming. A must visit for anyone craving the wine country lifestyle on a trip to Temecula.

The dining room is relatively small with an occupancy of about 15 people but there's an adorable outdoor seating area for those who want to enjoy the breeze.

Spice Merchants
41925 5th St # 101
Temecula, CA 92590-2739
(951) 587-2223

On a search for pink peppercorns to use in a Parisian macaron recipe, Spice Merchants was our last and my favorite stop of the entire trip.  

It was like Willy Wonka decided to sell spices instead of candy!  A dozen types of peppercorns (including long Balinese), fragrant teas and rare spices and grains.  I could have spent hours smelling and tasting all the spices (which Spice Merchants encourages), sipping on tea samples and chatting with the sales people and customers about recipes.

I can completely understand why early trade was based on rare spices!  Why aren't there more of these shops?  Must we be relegated to stale spices in sad little plastic jars down cold megamart aisles?

In the end, we picked up bamboo rice (a grain in a pretty jade green color), habanero powder, long and pink peppercorns.

They also have an extensive collection of Hilmalayan pink salt plates and blocks. I already bought a 6"x6"x2" brick on Overstock.com for $17 but Spice Merchants prices were very competitive.

So there you have it!  All the highlights of my trip from Temecula without any details about the terrible time at Pechanga. I do not understand the joys of gambling.

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Temecula Highlights: Callaway Vineyards

Temecula surprised me this weekend!  I worked in this little bedroom town for two years and never experienced anything beyond the psuedo Orange County strip mall developments. The Temecula I found this weekend, after a 7 year hiatus, was filled with little nooks and crannies of culinary treasure.

Here is the first highlight of my trip!

Callaway Vineyards and Winery

32720 Rancho California Rd.
Temecula, CA 92589  
(951) 676-4001

Callaway is a local favorite because of its Meritage Restaurant, discounted tasting room and free winery tour.  It's a smaller more business oriented property than some of the other resort-like estates making it perfect for a quick stop rather than a long leisurely afternoon.

Beware of those party limos filled with inebriated youngsters!  Since it's a convenient and popular stop there's a large amount of unsavory traffic that takes away from the wine country ambiance.

The Tasting Room:

It's crowded with very few tables so you might have to wait for a spot at the tasting bar and then suffer through some elbowing while standing back to back with fellow tasters.


Of the 10 wines we tasted, the 2008 Reserve Calliope Red and 2010 Reserve Late Harvest Cabernet Sauvignon were our favorites.

The Calliope Red was very complex in aroma and taste.  A mix of 45% Syrah, 26% Grenache, 25% Mourvedre, 4% Cinsault resulted in a berry chocolate nose and a spicy flavor with notes of coffee and smokey leather.

The Late Harvest Cabernet was very fruit forward with cherry, strawberry, currant and licorice notes. I don't usually like sweet wine but it was well balanced and pleasantly surprising for a late harvest.

The Meritage Restaurant:

When we arrived at about 2pm the wait for a table was 45 minutes.  We ducked into the Tasting Room during the wait and when we came back the crowd had dissipated and we were rewarded with a well positioned table facing the sprawling hills of grape vines. Score!

Originally, the plan was to have a few tapas since we had dinner plans at the hotel but menu was so interesting that we ended up ordering three items!

Red Wine & Mascarpone Risotto Fritters with Crab & Anchovy Marinara:

An unusual choice of red wine in a risotto instead of white resulted in a burgundy ball of ricey complexity!  The sauce alone was too pungent but the fritters paired perfectly with the seafood based marinara. Truly inspired.



 

Potato and Spanish Chorizo Croquettes with Gorgonzola Sauce:

Light and fluffy, the potatoes were ethereal in a way that traditional croquettes are too heavy to achieve. The chorizo came in Spanish ham like chunks instead of the expected ground meat adding solid texture to the ball. The gorgonzola sauce was so mild and melty, at first we couldn't tell it was gorgonzola at all!

Crispy Steak Fries with Parmesan, Parsley & Peppercorn Aioli:

What was supposed to be a small plate of fries ended up being the equivalent of a bag of potatoes!  They were crispy on the outside and lava hot and starchy on the inside.  I don't want to know how long they were sitting in oil to get to this potatoed perfection but it was worth it.

It's no wonder The Meritage was listed as one of the Inland Empire's best restaurants.  Not only was the food delicious, the portions were so filling that we spoiled our dinner. 

Callaway was the perfect first stop on a weekend long trip through Temecula.  Stay tuned for more on our travels.

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Matzo Ball Soup for the Soul

My first experience making Matzo Ball Soup was at a Seder Dinner my friend Steffany hosted a few years ago.  I was so honored to be invited, I went on a mission to find a proper hostess gift in the form of Kosher wine and dessert.  Sadly, living in the suburbs, I was only able to find a couple of bottles of Baron Herzog wine. Good but not great. I did, however, find some coconut macaroons from Katella Deli in Los Alamitos and bought a small container of creamed pickled herring on the advice of a kind deli regular.Score!

First attempt at Matzo Ball Soup

Before Seder dinner, I helped her form some matzo balls before she dropped it into her broth that she had simmered overnight.  It seemed pretty simple: a little bit of fat, a little bit of matzo meal and some water. We read through the Haggadah, my husband being the youngest at the table hid the matzo and we drank many sips of wine.  By the time we had the Matzo Ball Soup, I was starving.

I don't know if it was the warm glow from the wine, the religious spirit uplifting me or just the sheer hunger, but that soup was simply amazing.  This soup, I thought, must be the Jewish version of congee. A simple starch cooked in some broth to make a cure for all ailments.

Dearest Husband, when sick, does not enjoy congee like I do.  Naturally, when he recently got sick and rejected my beloved congee, I offered to make Matzo Ball Soup.  He was unreasonably excited.  Poor sick baby.

Not remember exactly how Steffany made hers, I scoured the internet gathering up all the little tricks of fabulous home cooks.  Schmaltz.  Seltzer water. Dill. Egg separating. It was going to be a little more challenging than I thought.  I set out in hopes of making light, airy and flavorful matzo balls.  Here's how:

Matzo Ball Soup

Finding chicken fat for schmaltz was the most difficult part of this recipe.  I ended up buying a whole chicken and removing the fat and skin from the chicken to render out the fat.  This yielded approximately 2 tablespoons of schmaltz.  If staying Kosher is not an issue, butter or even bacon fat is a suitable alternative to this ingredient.

Matzo meal can also be made from matzo crackers.  It does come already processed into mealy form but if that's unavailable, take matzo crackers and put it in a food processor until it resembles bread crumbs.


Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons shmaltz
• 2 large eggs, separated whites from yolk
• 1/2 cup matzo meal
• 2 tablespoons seltzer
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill 
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6  cups chicken broth
• 2 chicken breasts, skinless, bone-in
• 1 cup of carrots, diced
• 1 cup of celery, diced
• 1 cup of onions, diced
• 2 dill sprigs 
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions

1. Bring a stockpot to medium heat.  Saute carrots, celery and onions in olive oil until the onions are translucent.  Pour chicken broth into the stockpot.  Add 2 chicken breasts.  Bring to a medium low boil.

2. In a dry ingredients bowl, combine matzo meal with fresh chopped dill and fresh chopped parsley and salt. 

3. In a wet ingredients bowl, take egg whites and whip until they form soft peaks. Fold in egg yolks one at a time. Fold in cooled shmaltz and seltzer.  Fold in the dry ingredients mixture from Step 2. Be careful not to over work. It seem like the mixture is slightly too wet to hold a ball shape.   Place mixture in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes.

4. Skim any gunk that might have boiled to the top of the stockpot.  Remove chicken breasts from the broth.  Remove chicken meat from bones and place bones back in the broth.  Shred chicken into desired chunk size and add back to broth.  Add 1 sprigs of dill. 

5. Remove matzo meal mixture from the refrigerator. Form balls into desired size.  I prefer something a little smaller than a golf ball, about 2 bites per matzo ball.

6. Bring stockpot to a medium boil.  Drop balls individually into the soup.  Cover and reduce heat to a simmer for about 20 minutes.  The balls should rise to the top when done.

7. Again, skim any gunk at the top of the stockpot. Remove and discard bones and dill sprigs.  Ladle soup and a couple of matzo balls into a bowl.  Garnish with snips of dill from remaining sprig.

8. Enjoy the warm soothing goodness.

Other Matzo Ball Soup Recipes
Smitten Kitchen - matzo ball soup
Saveur - Matzo Ball Soup Recipe
All Recipes - Oma's Fabulous Matzo Ball Soup Recipe

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