Welcome to Cooking Stuff. I’m Marcella. This is a place where I talk about all things food, cooking, and my life. If you are not a subscriber, hit that button below to join us. And, yes, original recipes from me will be coming back soon. When? I don’t know but soon, promise!
It took 163 days to feel at home in our new life. That’s much longer than I expected. I had thought the holidays would do it for us. With momentous from the last nine years together, childhood ornaments, and hosting family and friends how could it not feel like home? But it wasn’t until we finished the last detail of repair from our guest room flood that we both realized we were home.
Our home wasn’t a home when we bought it, it was a house. A single man had owned it for many years before he took it down to the studs and redid the entire thing. Three months before his beautiful new home was done he decided to sell it. That’s where we come in. He worked in the art world and designed this house to look like a gallery – it is beautiful. When we bought it everything was brand new and when I tell you no one lived here, really no one lived here. As much as that was a pro, it has also been a con.
There were a bunch of little things that popped up during our first few months here. One was our closet doors not staying closed and sliding all the way open, which I remedied with magnets. One screwed to the door and one screwed into the wall. Easy, done. Another was the AC dripping down the wall. When the installer came to fix it, I was told that they sometimes need more insulation than what comes with the unit but he didn’t install it at the time because he didn’t know if it was necessary…because no one ran the unit for more than 20 minutes at a time to notice extra condensation. This house, although beautiful sparkly and new, needed some love. It felt cold and I think we could feel that coldness too.
A big thing that popped up was the improper grading of the side of the house, lack of drainage, and missing gutters. All of these became obvious when Los Angeles was hit with Kansas City size storms.
The first flood we had was New Year’s Eve. Sometime after the ball dropped Marco came out of the guest room frantically snapping at me that there was “a puddle” in the room. It was a decent size. Big enough to need two beach towels to dry up and it had already warped the wood floors badly. Water wasn’t dripping down anywhere, it was seeping in from the baseboards. We both knew there wasn’t much we could do at that moment. We had plans to leave town three days later and more rain was coming. I left towels and ask my girlfriend to check on that room. It was bad. I’m talking huge puddle in the corner of the room bad.
The night we returned it stormed again. This time we were able to watch the water flow in ourselves. Marco was able to poke around and see there were no cracks or holes. This was just simply a poor drainage issue that wasn’t an issue before because the house was new and it never rains in LA!
It took about three weeks for everything to be fixed and let me tell you construction was not on my to-do list for January. Major drainage was put in along the entire south wall of our house. We were hoping the use the extra floor pieces that were left behind to repair the floors but the water damage expanded to about 80% of the room. RIP to our brand spanking new wood. It hurt to rip the whole room out. The guest room needed a new coat of paint after that work. No big deal but of course, the seller decided to mix two colors by hand to find the perfect shade…I wish I was kidding. I had it matched and decided not to give it another thought.
The last step was finding and replacing the floors. After having our agents contact the seller's agent we were able to track down where the floors are from, imported from a company in Spain.
I am grateful for this man’s beautiful taste in design, really I am, but at that moment I was not. We made a hard pivot and went to a local carpet company that was able to have carpet installed four days later. You know what? I love carpet in bedrooms! Sue me.
So while all this was happening we were faced with the last bit of crap, clutter, and boxes we had shoved in that room. We vowed to get the last box unpacked, donate the crap, and do a few tasks we had been putting off. I arranged to have our laundry room door fixed which wasn’t functioning because the closet was built for a compact Miele washer and dryer. We learned this information after our LG washer was installed and the door would not fit on the track. This ended up being a blessing in disguise because the new french doors give us more space and I was able to have a cute cat door cut out to hide the litter box inside. Every day for four months we rolled our eyes when we pushed the nonfunctioning door to the side. Now when I open it, I’m so happy that it opens properly.
Some art went on the walls. Why did we wait so long to hang a few pieces of art? Don’t wait, get hanging. Maybe the most exciting task was setting up my Big Green Egg in its temporary home. It had been sitting in the driveway in an unusable spot all because we have plans to set up an outdoor kitchen “soon.” For now, it is on cinder blocks and a concrete slab that we found buried in the dirt during the construction. Funny how that worked out.
Last Saturday morning I walked by the guest room (which feels incredibly cozy thanks to the beautiful carpet we had installed) and noticed how lovely the room looked with the sun shining in. Framed photos of us leaning against the wall, an extra chair in the corner, and a Lola rolling on the new floor. Adding the carpet felt like adding our mark on that room and we both love it.
We headed out to run some errands first stopping at my dad’s house to grab a dolly and running into my sister who turned sixteen that day. Then we were off to Home Depot, the butcher shop, impromptu afternoon iced coffee stop, and back home to fire up the grill. All in sweatpants because it was Saturday. This day felt GOOD. It felt normal. It felt like us.
While the sun was going down I stepped away from the grill and pulled Marco into the street to see the orange clouds from the sunset. We toasted our beers to a pretty perfect day. Boulevard Wheat with lemon for me (my fav KC beer) and some gluten-free something for him. I started to say “this feels like…” and before I could finish my sentence he cut me off with “…home.”
*I wish I was making that cheesy story up but it happened!!!
My Way Duck Confit – From Where Cooking Begins by Carla Lalli Music
One day I decided to make casual duck legs for dinner after seeing them front and center in the butcher case. I have used Carla’s tips for confit-ing many times. This recipe is clear, easy, and doesn’t require anything extra. AKA a big jar of extra duck fat. Give it a try! You’ll be pleasantly surprised by how easy and yummy it is.
Save your fat for cooking with later!!!
Welcome to the Shoppy Shop. Why does every store suddenly look the same? – I am a fan of the shoppy shop and I actually shop at the shoppy shop they mention in this article, Wine + Eggs. Shoppy shops have been one of my favorite things being back in LA. Walking into a store to hold items you see online and discovering new items has been really fun. They remind me of bodegas, which LA does not have, and I am here for the shoppy shop.
This Is Why Eggs Are So Expensive Right Now – We are paying $9 / dozen from our egg guy at the farmers market here in LA but they are the best eggs I have ever had. I will admit, when I have big baking projects, like around the holidays, I buy cheaper eggs from the store.
A Chicken That Gives Itself a Standing Ovation – I have one of these and plan to roast my next chicken this way. I have used it to smoke a chicken in my egg but not roast one in the oven. Stay tuned, will report back. I can’t see it being bad in any way. And if you try it out, you have to send me a full report on how it turned out.
Pressure Cooker on Netflix
This was a good show. It’s hard to create new cooking shows that are actually good (I’m talking about you The Big Brunch 🙄). Pressure Cooker was kind of like the Survivor of cooking shows. They live together, they turn on each other, and they cook. I liked it!
I don’t really love Graza, I have said that here before. It’s a fine product and squeeze bottles are great but their bottles leak everywhere. I listen to this podcast with one of the co-founders and I also don’t really love him. Something irks me but the details of the business are fascinating. He’s smart and they have a wicked team behind them.
Pijja Palace – You don’t need me to tell you about Pijja Palace because it is everywhere right now. They are getting a lot of hype and rightfully so. Their vibe is Indian sports bar…I don’t care about the sports bar but I love Indian!
Malai Rigatoni and Green Chutney Pizza are two things that are getting the most buzz and they were the two best things we ate. Definitely order those. Achaari Buffalo Tenders, Lamb and Shells, and Dosa Onion Rings were good but I wouldn’t be mad skipping them and trying something else next time. 10/10 on the Cookies and Cardamom soft serve.
Reservations are hard to get right now but the bar is open seating. Go early and you’ll be able to snag a seat with a short wait.
Remember when I shared my frustrations about not being able to reach the top of my kitchen cabinets? Well, I still can not reach. Unfortunately, I did not magically grow another foot but I have purchased a stool. Not just any stool a cool stool.
My goal was to procure a stool that looked so attractive I could keep it out all the time. A functional decorative piece. When I spotted the orange acrylic stool in Emma Chamberlain’s guest room turned closet during her Architectural Digest home tour – I had to have it.
A little internet search and I found the Red Orange Upper Step Ladder by Kartell. It comes in three other colors – YSL blue, classic clear, and a limey yellow. It will run you $540 and that’s not quite what I had in mind for a stool, even a cool stool.
So I did a little more internet searching and I found a pretty identical stool on Amazon by ADKINC for $192 (but I think it was $150 back when I bought it?). Without hesitation I bought this “Stool for Adults” and I haven’t looked back. It is indeed a very cool stool. The light reflects through it beautifully and I am never mad when I leave it out. It feels solid, really. I have had a few dudes doubt me and try it out. Even they feel safe! And the third step allows you to reach really high. If you need a stool, you totally need this cool stool!
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