I made asparagus quiche a couple of days ago. Of course, that didn't have a sauce as it had the custard to bind the ingredients. I would have added some ham if I had thought of it at the store. I did include some red onion for flavor and color and, of course, it had Swiss cheese. Other than salt and a touch of nutmeg it had no other seasonings. I'm guessing you are looking for some more intense flavors or seasonings. The quiche was good but could have been a little more exciting probably if I had thought more about seasonings. The asparagus was on the thick side but that was O.K. because I cut it on the diagonal. Asparagus can be thick without being tough. You aren't making quiche, I know. But you said "any and all ideas" and those are mine. :-) Jim

The old color was really gold. Probably just didn't show well in those pics. It was the original paint from the house being built in 2002. We ended up choosing SW Urban Putty for the room and LOVE it. We used Shitake in our kitchen and hearth room first and could tell it was too cool of a color to use in our living room with the warmer toned rugs.

Anna (6B/7A in MD) Thanks for your reply. Yes I agree gray is being overdone but in my neighborhood area surprisingly dark grey is the one color not done yet - we have neighbors with dark blue and sage green 2 colors I would have considered. There are some light gray houses and the rest are tan and beige which I definitely don’t want to go with. I guess the only other color I’d like is white but living in the shade of the woods this gets dirty way too quickly around here and would require more than 2 coats to cover most likely.

Hi Beth, I did a search for images of the Carrara Marmi, and from what I saw it was the least patterned. But your photos show it to be very busy, so I would steer clear of it personally. Although engineered quartz is man-made, it still has variation in production lots. I remember Sophie Wheeler comparing quartz production to making a marble cake. You add the darker bits, and really don't have all that control over how it blends together. So all that being said, when selecting a countertop with any sort of pattern you need to 1. see a very large sample, and 2. view the actual slabs you are going to buy, just like you do with a natural stone.