before and after: the dining room

I'm still trying to figure out how to decorate the table, side board, and mantle, but these after pics give a pretty good idea of the transformation in here.  The room started out all white, with just a wallpaper border near the ceiling (phew!).  Although all of the fancy trim took a lot of time to sand and paint, it was definitely worth it.  This room came out way better than I could have imagined.  Also, that brown color that I was so upset about a week or so ago? I love it now.

BEFORE:

Okay, so it was a mess here...but still.  Oh and there were some pretty horrendous curtains.

There's that wallpaper!

See? Blank slate...

AFTER (disclaimer: the room looks a bit darker in the pictures than it does in real life):

Also, a huuuuge thanks to Jessie for finding the amazing curtains for me! 

this weekend in pictures

A perfect salad for a hot summer's day: fresh, Maine tomatoes, black olives, herbs from our garden and goat cheese from the farmers' market.

Left-over French toast turned into the bread for the breakfast sandwich I made for Dan.  With a little bit of maple syrup on top, I thought it was super delicious.

The only glimpse of house work in this post.  Look at the difference after Dan has polished half of it!

A flat of strawberries picked by my mom at Maxwell's Farms in Cape Elizabeth.  Soooo good. Thanks, Mom!

Gooey Butter Cake baking in the oven.

Gooey Butter Cake fresh out of the oven.  Thanks to Dan's mom for the recipe! It is unbelievably good.  My dad actually said it's the best non-chocolate dessert he's ever had.  And that's saying a lot.

What's left of Gooey Butter Cake about 24 hours later.  Can you tell this was a highlight of the weekend?

Sneaking in a little kayaking in Camden harbor before the thunderstorms hit.

The makings of dinner...breaded and fried eggplant.

We rolled it up with ricotta, herbs from our garden, and tomato slices. Which Presidential candidate was it who couldn't spell potato? Ever since that story hit in the 3rd grade, I have hesitated before making potato/tomato plural. (Scroll to the bottom for the answer to my lame attempt at a trivia question...)

Here I am rolling it all up.

All done!

Flowers and lobster traps. (duh.)

Camden's harbor tonight.

The Appledore.  On this ship, you can take a cruise for a few hours.  Also, you can find/randomly bump into Jeff....Vail ski instructor, from Kansas, who just so happens to be working and living on this boat for the summer.  What are the chances?  

Camden's version of a skyline.

(...answer to said trivia question: Dan Quayle.  Actually, he was not a presidential candidate, but running for re-election as Vice President with HW Bush in 1992. From his page on Wikipedia, "His most famous blunder occurred when he corrected student William Figueroa's correct spelling of "potato" to "potatoe" at an elementary school spelling bee inTrenton, New Jersey, on June 15, 1992." Elementary spelling nation-wide would never be the same.) 

before and after: dining room chairs

Here's the hodgepodge of chairs before:

And here's what they look like now:

Nothing a little paint, new fabric, and some elbow grease couldn't fix!  p.s. yeah, we're one chair short right now. The other one I'd been planning on painting was in pretty bad shape, so I am waiting for my mom to bring me another one she had lying around this weekend. 

don't fix what ain't broke (macaroni and cheese)

There's probably only one thing that I like more than Hollandaise sauce, and that's macaroni and cheese. I mean we're talking rich, creamy, goo-ey homemade mac and cheese.  And the kind from the box.  I love it all. For the past couple of weeks, I've been really craving the good homemade kind so finally I dragged Dan to the grocery store to buy the ingredients.  I raved to him the entire time about how delicious this mac and cheese was going to be.  The thing that seemed a bit confusing to me was that Dan didn't even seem all that excited about the mac.  Now, I know I probably love mac and cheese more than your average consumer, but come on! Who doesn't love a good mac and cheese?

When we got home, I started cooking it right away.  I had already selected the Pioneer Woman's recipe and her cookbook was sitting out on the counter.  Dan walked by and asked, "where's the macaroni recipe from?"  I told him, "Pioneer Woman."  He proceeded to do one of those crazy little victory dances that most guys can do without looking totally ridiculous.  (The jury's still out on Dan.)  I said, "wow, you love her, huh?"  Dan replied, "don't fix what ain't broke."  Finally, the mac and cheese excitement I'd been hoping for.

Anyway, after grating a pound (yes, a whole entire pound!!!) of sharp cheddar, I started on the roux.  I combined the butter and flour as directed and whisked it constantly over medium-low heat for a whole 5 minutes as directed. I even set the timer. This seemed impossibly long and I still do not understand why it was necessary, but I'm sure it had something to do with the chemistry of cooking.  I told myself when I got to four minutes, I could stop.  But once I got to that point, it seemed ridiculous not to finish the last 60 seconds. 

Then I added the milk and waited for the sauce to thicken.  Pioneer Woman said this would also take about 5 minutes.  For me it took about 10 to 15 minutes.  Luckily, I had timed the first section and diligently whisked for the full five minutes, so I wasn't blaming myself for not whisking long enough the first time. 

Here's what it looks like when you add the partially cooked macaroni.  Yum.  Are you drooling yet? Of course, you don't get to eat it right away.  You have to bake it for awhile, but, trust me, it's worth the wait. 

We served it with steak and asparagus and it was oh, so good.  Creamy and delicious and just what I had been craving!  The best part is that it's such a basic recipe that next time I can spice it up with different cheeses or other additions. And it makes enough to have left overs for days! (If you don't eat it all in one sitting, like I almost did...) 

Here is the recipe straight from Pioneer Woman's site:

Macaroni and Cheese

Prep Time: 15 Minutes

Cook Time: 15 Minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 4 cups Dried Macaroni
• 1 whole Egg Beaten
• ¼ cups (1/2 Stick Or 4 Tablespoons) Butter
• ¼ cups All-purpose Flour
• 2-½ cups Whole Milk
• 2 teaspoons (heaping) Dry Mustard, More If Desired
• 1 pound Cheese, Grated
• ½ teaspoons Salt, More To Taste
• ½ teaspoons Seasoned Salt, More To Taste
• ½ teaspoons Ground Black Pepper
• Optional Spices: Cayenne Pepper, Paprika, Thyme
• 
  

Preparation Instructions

Cook macaroni until very firm. Macaroni should be too firm to eat right out of the pot. Drain

In a small bowl, beat egg.

In a large pot, melt butter and sprinkle in flour.  Whisk together over medium-low heat.  Cook mixture for five minutes, whisking constantly.  Don't let it burn.

Pour in milk, add mustard, and whisk until smooth.  Cook for five minutes until very thick.  Reduce heat to low.

Take 1/4 cup of the sauce and slowly pour it into beaten egg, whisking constantly to avoid cooking eggs.  Whisk together till smooth.

Pour egg mixture into sauce, whisking constantly.  Stir until smooth.

Add in cheese and stir to melt.

Add salt and pepper.  Taste sauce and add more salt and seasoned salt as needed!  DO NOT UNDERSALT.

Pour in drained, cooked macaroni and stir to combine.

Serve immediately (very creamy) or pour into a buttered baking dish, top with extra cheese, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until bubbly and golden on top.

post-weekend

It's been harder than usual to get back to work after spending such a fun weekend with Jane and Ryan.  Luckily, the end is in sight and hopefully we'll have many more fun days to come.

We've been busy trying to get that room set up again, get the other room set up for a first time, put the finishing touches on the dining room and fix any little things that Jane and Ryan pointed out to us. We also finally got around to hanging up the sign! 

I think it looks pretty good! Of course, even this wasn't easy.  I figured we could just hang up the sign that my grandmother had used (which is this one) but it had been banged up in places and needed to be repainted.  I got a match for the blue paint and painted over a bunch of white parts. I figured I could free-hand filling in the white parts.  Boy was I wrong.  When I was first finished with it, the sign honestly looked like I had let a bunch of four-year olds have their way with it.  Whoops? I guess that's what you get when you haven't taken an art class since the 8th grade.  Dan saved the day with some painters tape and a steadier hand than mine.

I've been working a lot on the other website too...the one that we hope people will actually find on the internet.  I have spent so much time looking at it that I feel like I can't pick up on any more mistakes. I'm too used to it.  Could you guys please take a quick peak and let me know if there's anything you'd change and if you pick up on any grammatical errors/sentences that sound really funny?  I know I still need to do a few things...like descriptions of sailing, and maybe a calendar of July and August? 

The address is www.thegoodhousecamden.com   Thanks in advance for your help!