Our House at 1507

House Numbers

2010-10-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

For the past several months, we were numberless. Actually no, the contractor put this cardboard one up. Classy. This week the permanent ones were put up :)

Reading Bench

2010-10-03T21:49:00.000-07:00

My very talented friend, Yvonne custom designed a reading bench for this little nook downstairs, next to the sliding door. It has a pull out tray, a cubby, and two drawers too! It's a perfect spot to read in the afternoon, when the light shines in (that is, when there is sunlight). Thanks Yvonne!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

House Painted!

2010-09-26T15:43:00.001-07:00

I'm really happy that this is finally done! It seems to have taken forever because of the wacky weather here (the painters couldn't paint on foggy, wet days). Our house really stands out now, since the majority of the houses on our block is creamy, neutral, pastel colors.

The next project is to fill the front planters with appropriate plants, and make the backyard look more green. It's a bit tricky with the climate here; partially sunny, foggy, salty water. Hmmm...

Painting has begun!

2010-09-06T22:56:00.000-07:00

Finally, finally, FINALLY. Today the painters slapped on the first of three coats! I've been waiting since January to get the house painted. Since this is the first coat, the colors and textures are uneven; the blue will be a solid navy after two more coats.
The backyard window/door frame has been sanded down and sealed too. It was looking pretty bad after 2 years of being neglected.
I was so excited that we went to Flora Grubb today and bought some plants to fill the front yard planters. Can't wait until it's all done, which is hopefully by the end of this week. Stay tuned...

Exterior (work in progress)

2010-08-03T21:46:00.001-07:00

Melon Pan

2009-11-29T15:52:00.000-08:00

Melon pan used to be my favorite when I was little. Sometimes they even had choco-melon pan! Until recently, I had forgotten about this sweet bread and how delicious they are. And it was only when I decided to make it that I discovered that there's a thin layer of cookie dough that wraps the bread before baking! When fresh, the outside is crunchy and the inside is soft. I think it's just the right amount of sweetness that it can be served for breakfast, as well as an afternoon snack.

Melon Pan

Bread
300 grams bread flour
30 grams sugar
30 grams butter, room temperature
4 grams salt
4 grams rapid-rise yeast
200 milliliters milk, 80-90 degrees

Cookie Dough
220 grams flour
100 grams butter, room temperature
90 grams sugar
1 egg
dash vanilla
Garnish raw sugar

Directions
1. USING BREAD MACHINE: Place all bread dough ingredients in bread machine (follow machine instructions) and hit start.
BY HAND: Place all dry ingredients in a medium size bowl. Add butter and milk and mix until dough comes together. Remove from bowl and knead on surface for 10 min. The dough should be smooth. Transfer the dough into a large bowl, plastic wrap it and let it rise for 1 hour.
2. To make the cookie dough, place butter in a medium bowl and whip with mixer until it turns white and creamy. Add a third of the sugar into the butter, and blend well. Repeat until all of the sugar is blended in.
3. Add the egg and vanilla. Finally, add all of the flour into the bowl all at once and blend until you have a sticky dough. Transfer the dough into plastic wrap and refrigerate.
4. Take the bread dough out of the machine (or out of bowl) and divide into 12 pieces (48 grams each). Form them into balls and place on a cookie sheet. Place plastic wrap over it and let dough rise for 15 min. Reform the balls.
5. Take cookie dough out of the refrigerator. Divide the dough into 12 pieces (30 grams). Sandwich dough between two pieces of plastic wrap, then roll out dough. Peel one side of the plastic wrap off, and wrap around the bread dough. Peel remaining plastic wrap off, and sprinkle some raw sugar onto cookie dough surface.
6. Line up the dough on the cookie sheet, place a new layer of plastic wrap over it and let dough rise for 30-40 minutes.
7. Preheat oven to 356 degrees F. Bake bread for 15 minutes. Serve room temperature.

Bubble-Top Brioche

2009-11-22T13:23:00.000-08:00

Brioche is one of those breads that are better consumed than made. Why? Because I know exactly how much butter went into it, so I hesitate to eat it. It's buttery, delicate, and soft. Perfect with some honey or jam.
This recipe doesn't require any kneading whatsoever, but it does take time. The dough has to chill overnight, and there's this tedious task of deflating the dough every half hour for 2 hours. Otherwise, it's pretty simple. And quite delicious. I am thinking of making bread pudding with the leftovers...mm.

Bubble-Top Brioche

Ingredients:
¼ cup water, warm, 110–115F
¼ cup milk, 110–115F
3 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 ¾ cups flour
1 ½ teaspoons salt
3 eggs, room temperature
3 tablespoons sugar
12 tablespoons butter, (1 1/2 sticks) room temperature
1 egg, beaten, for glaze

Instructions:
Combine warm water and milk in mixer bowl. Sprinkle yeast over and stir to moisten evenly. Let stand until yeast dissolves, stirring occasionally, about 8 min.
Add flour and salt to yeast mixture. Blend at medium low speed until shaggy lumps form, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally, 1-2 min. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Beat in sugar. Increase mixer speed to medium; beat until dough is smooth, about 3 min. Reduce speed to low. Add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until blended after each addition, about 4 min. Dough should be soft and silky. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until dough pulls away from sides of bowl and climbs paddle, about 8-9 min.
Lightly butter large bowl. Scrape dough into bowl. Cover with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until almost doubled in volume, about 1 hour 15 min, to 1.5 hours. Gently deflate dough by lifting around edges, then letting dough fall back into bowl, turning bowl and repeating as needed. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and chill, deflating dough in same way every 30 min. until dough stops rising, about 2 hours. Chill overnight.
Butter 12 standard muffin cups. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces; cut each piece into thirds. Roll each small piece between palms into ball. Place 3 balls in each prepared cup. Place muffin pan in warm draft-free area; lay sheet of waxed paper over. Let dough rise until light and almost doubled (dough will rise 1/2 in to 1 in above top rim of muffin cups) 50-60 min.
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 400F. Place muffin pan on rimmed baking sheet. Gently brush egg glaze over risen dough, being careful that glaze does not drip between dough and pan (which can prevent full expansion in oven).
Bake brioches until golden brown, covering with foil if browning too quickly, about 20 min. Transfer pan to rack. Cool 10 min. Remove brioches from pan and serve warm or at room temperature.

Pumpkin Bread

2009-11-21T21:19:00.001-08:00

So... this isn't exactly "bread", since it doesn't have any yeast in it, but I found this recipe in an old cookbook that was put together by my elementary school. I was flipping through it for the first time in years, and was puzzled by some of the recipes. For example: Garlic Bread. Ingredients - bread, butter, garlic salt. Instructions- toast. REALLY?
Luckily, I discovered something worthwhile. Pumpkin Bread! I love pumpkin and it is very much the season for it.

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:
2 eggs
½ cup oil
1 ¾ cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 ¼ cups brown sugar
½ cup water
½ cup raisins
½ cup walnuts, chopped
1 cup canned pumpkin or cooked & mashed pumpkin

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Blend eggs, brown sugar, oil, water, and pumpkin until smooth.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon and add to pumpkin mixture.
Finally mix in raisins and walnuts.
Pour into greased loaf pans and bake for 50 min.

Cinnamon Rolls

2009-11-14T15:28:00.001-08:00

Forget those Pillsbusbury cinnamon rolls! These are 100 times better and actually quite simple. All you really need is patience. I found this recipe in Bon Apetit awhile back. It uses rapid-rise yeast so it's easier to handle than active yeast. This recipe calls for a cream cheese glaze, but today I've made it with a basic sugar glaze (recipe below). I dedicate this posting to Nicholas & Vinny (you have to make it on Christmas!) :)

Cinnamon Rolls

Dough:
1 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3.5 cups flour, divided
½ cup sugar
1 egg
2.5 teaspoons rapid-rise yeast, fro two envelopes
1 teaspoon salt
vegetable spray

Filling:
¾ cup golden brown sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
¼ cup unsalted butter, room temperature

Cream Cheese Glaze:
4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
¼ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
½ teaspoon vanilla

or

Basic Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
½ stick melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons milk

Dough
Combine milk and butter in glass measuring cup. Microwave on high until butter melts and mixture is just warmed to 120F to 130F, 30-45 seconds. Pour into bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Add 1 cup flour, sugar, egg, east, and salt. Beat on low speed 3 min. stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl. Add 2.5 cups flour. Beat on low until flour is absorbed and dough is sticky, scraping down sides of bowl. If dough is very sticky, add more flour by tablespoonful until dough begins to form ball and pulls away from sides of bowl. Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, adding more flour if sticky, about 8 min. Form into ball.
Lightly oil large bowl with nonstick spray. Transfer dough to bowl,turning to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, then kitchen towel. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 2 hours.

Filling
Mix brown sugar and cinnamon in medium bowl.
Punch down dough. Transfer to floured work surface. Roll out to 15x11 in rectangle. Spread butter over dough, leaving 1/2 in border. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar evenly over butter. Starting at 1 long side, roll dough into log, pinching gently to keep it rolled up. With seam side down, cut dough crosswise with thin sharp knife into 18 equal slices (each about 1/2 to 3/4 in wide).
Spray two 9 in. square glass baking dishes with nonstick spray. Divide rolls between baking dishes, arranging cut side up (there will be almost no space between rolls). Cover baking dishes with plastic wrap, then kitchen towel. Let dough rise in warm draft free area until almost doubled in volume, 40-45 min.
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375F. Bake rolls until tops are golden, about 20 min. Remove from oven and invert immediately onto rack.

Cream Cheese Glaze
Combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat until smooth. Spread glaze on rolls. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Basic Glaze
Whisk together all ingredients into a medium bowl until smooth. Spread glaze on rolls. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Basic Bread Rolls

2009-11-10T23:07:00.000-08:00

While I was in Japan a week ago, my friend Vicki and I became obsessed with curry-pan, a Japanese savory pastry. It's deep fried, chewy, with curry in the middle. Yum?! When we returned from our trip, we decided that we will make home made curry-pan. Except, I've never really baked bread before.

Thus, my bread adventure begins.

This first recipe is the dough that is used for curry-pan, except I've made little rolls instead (safer to take little steps!). I've made this twice, once using the bread machine and the second time by hand. Honestly, there really was no difference in quality or texture...so the bread machine wins! Less labor for sure. Also, according to the recipe that I followed (via http://cookpad.com/recipe/588063 ) it says to add butter after you've kneaded the dough for some time. This got SO messy when I did it by hand! In the bread machine, I just put the butter in with the milk at the beginning and it turned out just the same...so I have altered the recipe a bit, but here it is. (Sorry for the grams!)

Basic Bread Rolls

ingredients:
200 grams bread flour
10 grams sugar
4 grams salt
4 grams rapid-rise yeast
50 grams milk
80 grams water
10 grams unsalted butter, room temperature

Instructions:
1. In a bowl, combine all dry ingredients.
2. Heat milk in microwave for 15 seconds and combine with water and butter (80-90 degrees F).
3. Pour milk mixture into bowl of dry ingredients and stir until it forms into a ball.
4. Take the dough out of the bowl and kneed on a surface for 5 minutes.
5. Form a ball and place dough in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap. Then place that bowl in a larger bowl containing warm water (about 90 degrees F). Let rest for 1 hour.
8. Remove dough from bowl and punch out the air on a work surface. Cut the dough into 12 pieces using a scraper.
9. Form each piece of dough into a ball and place on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.
10. Flatten the balls to remove excess air and reform into round balls.
11. Place damp cloth over the dough and let rest for 1 hour.
12. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and bake bread for 10 min. or until top is golden brown.

Some goodies made in this kitchen

2009-10-14T22:42:00.000-07:00

Decorate!

2009-02-27T20:55:00.000-08:00

The decorations are slowly coming together... a combination of modern and vintage things...

Done! (well, almost)

2009-01-29T11:03:00.000-08:00

Finally...! The countertops are in, the appliances are in place, and we can go crazy with cooking. Now we are in the process of digging out boxes of kitchenware and washing them since everything is coated in dust. The only thing that is still being worked on are the two open shelves...they weren't supposed to be that short... But otherwise, everything looks great. LOTS of counterspace. Yay!

Counter Stools

2009-01-19T18:56:00.000-08:00

Since we'll have an eat in peninsula, we'll need some styling chairs. I just ordered two of these LEM Piston Stools in Stainless Steel. We tried them out at Design Within Reach over the weekend and they were pretty comfy. They'll arrive this Friday...so excited!

Handles & Hood

2009-01-19T18:46:00.000-08:00

It's almost done...! The handles were put in today, the refrigerator is now in place, the hood has been installed. Oh, and all the lights work now too. So what's left? The countertops, some minor plumbing, and the open shelving.

Fireplace

2009-01-19T18:39:00.000-08:00

It's been done for awhile now...but look! It's finished, and it doesn't look horrible! (For the longest time, I feared that we made a huge mistake. For some reason, picking out tiles was the most painful part of this remodel process). These are half inch mosaic stone tiles that came on sheets. Our original plan of mixing two different colored tiles didn't work out so well...so we went back and ordered more of this one.

Peninsula and Glass Doors

2009-01-08T17:41:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year. We are back, and jetlagged, but that's okay because the kitchen is finally coming together. The frosted glass doors were installed today. The peninsula (eat-in bar) is yellow, with open shelving. The countertops were ordered yesterday, so stay tuned for more pix...

Cabinets

2008-12-15T22:28:00.000-08:00

Finally, the cabinets are here! They started installing it last thursday, and most of the cabinets are in place now. The top cabinets will have frosted glass doors, which is ordered separately from a local glass company. The gap in the middle of the base cabinets is where the dishwasher will go. To the left will be the sink.

This is what it all looked like when the truck dropped off the packages. I had to park outside for a few days.

Yellow Wall

2008-12-09T21:54:00.000-08:00

This color makes me happy, and I am so excited to see it on the wall. I think this is only the first coat... This color matches the base of the eat-in bar. Stay tuned, the cabinets are arriving tomorrow!

New Window and Skylight

2008-12-06T11:50:00.001-08:00

The new window was placed in about a week ago, and they replaced the skylight yesterday. The old skylight had a metal bar going through the middle of the glass and it looked prison-like. Now that it's replaced with clear glass, it looks so much nicer! The four holes on the side of the skylight are for lights.

Widening the Hallway

2008-12-06T11:37:00.000-08:00

Technically, this is not the kitchen, but we are having the contractor widen the hallway opening to the living room. This is what it looked like before:

...and during:
...and here it is completed. It really makes our living room feel a lot roomier now, when entering from the hallway.

Interruption

2008-12-05T23:08:00.000-08:00

This is what I came home to today... before I was allowed to actually look at it, the contractor explained that everything was under control and that I should not be alarmed that there was a GIGANTIC hole in our ceiling. Of course, I tried not to panic but what the...!? They had plastic over our desks and computers, which was fine and all, but once the man started stepping and leaning on my desk, I was immediately concerned and alarmed.

The reason for this sudden interruption was because they were putting the wooden floor in the kitchen (which is directly above our office) and accidentally put a nail through our floor heating system, which heats through tubes of water. So, to fix the leak, ta-da. A huge hole in our ceiling. Of course, I appreciate that they caught the problem immediately, rather than realizing later that our computers were soaked in water from the leakage. However, now we will not be able to sleep in tomorrow morning because they're coming to patch the ceiling at 8am...fun, fun.

Side note: The red cables is part of the radiant heating, and what the contractor had to patch. I guess the tubes are attached to sheets of metal, which is what spreads the heat to the floors.

Drywall

2008-11-24T22:50:00.000-08:00

All the walls are sealed up now! When I walked into the room, it suddenly felt much smaller...maybe it's the white. Notice the vent on the ceiling and all the sockets (there are so many!).

Sink

2008-11-21T10:44:00.000-08:00

We got our sink in the mail a couple days ago! I'm excited...it's stainless steel and very modern by Houzer. I love the sharp corners. It's not as big as I would have liked, but it's still so much better than what used to be there. It looks something like this:

Lights and Insulation

2008-11-21T10:11:00.000-08:00

There's been a lot of banging around, sawing and hammering every morning. It's been 2 weeks since the construction began and they have recently completed all the electrical work. We have sockets! Tons and tons of sockets! (previously, we had only two). There are now six recessed lights and four tiny ones in the skylight.

The room is nice and cushiony with insulation too! Hopefully, we won't be hearing too much of our neighbors anymore. (In case you didn't know, our house is literally sandwiched between two other ones, very typical of San Francisco).

The Fireplace

2008-11-10T20:52:00.001-08:00

Okay, I know this isn't part of the kitchen, but we are having the contractor replace the tiles of the fireplace. If you haven't noticed, it's PINK. It has to go.

And actually, it went away today (which isn't any better):

I've thought long and hard about what to replace these tiles with...and it's been really tough. Right now, we are considering a brownish red rectangular mosaic tile pattern. Mosaics can look really good as a small swatch, but it might be a completely different story when it's a slab of it. So, we are still contemplating whether we want mosaic or larger, simpler tiles. Here are a couple of samples we were looking at:

I don't think I'll last staring at that ripped out fireplace for long though...so we'll have to decide soon. Stay tuned...

Reframing & Plumbing

2008-11-10T20:34:00.000-08:00

Today the contractor reframed the window, shifting the whole thing over a bit to the right so it's centered. Here's the old window on the floor:

The plumbing was done in a day. They replaced the exhaust pipe, and moved the location of the gas and water pipes. We also decided to open up the skylight. The framing and the glass has been taken out so far. The plan is to replace the skylight and add small lights on the sides of the walls. First photo is the original picture.

Demolition

2008-11-06T23:17:00.000-08:00

This is the progress the contractor made in one day. Wow, it's all gone already...

And now it begins...

2008-11-06T22:18:00.000-08:00

This is the original kitchen, built in 1940, with very little counter space and a total of two outlets. The window is not centered, the piping of the hood is exposed, and the linoleum floor is just awful.

The plan is to have cabinets along both walls and have a eat-in bar towards the entryway. We will have a dishwasher next to the sink (yay!). The placement of the refrigerator and the range will be swapped, allowing a nicer view of the space when entering. Here's the basic idea:

As far as materials, the cabinets will be bamboo, with white CaesarStone countertops, and a yellow laminate for the base of the eat-in bar. The linoleum floor will be replaced to match the existing hardwood floors. One thing I am very excited about is making a portion of the wall (to the right of refrigerator) a chalkboard!