Thank you, Sum! Our Golden is not yet 4. 16 years --- that's very good for a Golden. But it's always too soon. They are such sweet and easy dogs. Mabsy, The Citeaux range has a stainless steel work counter built in. When we had our Dolomya slab cut for the island, I didn't want to waste one square inch of it. There was a random piece of it left, so they finished the edges so we could use it as a pastry board. We just happened to notice it was the same size as the stainless counter, and it has been there ever since! ... and as far as island width, I personally feel many islands are too large. I suppose it really depends on how you use your kitchen, but even for rolling dough or cookies, 6 feet by 26ish is more than fine. Amck, It's the special touches that I so enjoyed doing and notice myself every day. Thank you! CEF, Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks. : ) kksmama, That is such a sweet compliment! Thank you. I will probably post our beach house kitchen soon. I am just waiting on the sink skirt! Very happy with it, but it is eclectic for sure. Thanks, Cat_Mom! I did feel odd posting a reveal after all this time! Gooster, Thanks! You know, I don't know why more people don't use the sliders. I really like them. I also really like the cabs sitting on the counter, so easy to get stuff. LOL, Linelle, I never get tired of looking at them either. They are such fun to arrange. One little detail - the shelves are not adjustable, because I did not want those little holes all the way up and down. Each shelf sits on a wooden cleat, which I like so much better. I lose a little flexibility, but it hasn't been an issue...

>>Jakkom, as I was eating "picnic food" today, I was wondering what home food was like for you as a kid>> Our home food wasn't like any other JA household we knew of. My mother was always interested in food, and actually made everything EXCEPT Japanese food, lol. She learned Scandinavian dishes from living next to/working for Swedish families in Washington and Minnesota, then learned Mississippi soul food cooking from African-American neighbors in Chicago, along with German food (we were the only JA family who ate artisanal bockwurst and real deli sauerkraut with buttered rye bread alongside) and Jewish food (ditto for the lox and gefilte fish). My mother was more likely to create a week's worth of dinners that consisted of: corned beef and cabbage; Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes; American-style beef stew (with potatoes, but served over rice); spaghetti or lasagne; pork chops (if there was money) or Spam (if there wasn't); burgers or steaks. Chickens pre-Perdue were more expensive than beef or pork so roast chicken was a treat. I've recounted elsewhere, I think, about her experiment to find the best way to roast a chicken: over 20 chickens were roasted over six or eight months. Boy, did I love that cooking experiment [smile]. We learned to like offal because it was cheap or even free: liver, oxtails, sweetbreads, giblets. And I still remember the smelly Limburger cheese in the refrig! Mom never deep-fried; she could but didn't like to do so. Besides, we lived within a few minutes drive of the original Harold's Chicken in Chicago. NOBODY we knew of any nationality or race bothered frying chicken if they lived near Harold's! At the time it was his only storefront. You always called in your order because they would not start cooking anything until ordered. If you are from the South Side of Chicago, you understand that everybody worships at The Shrine of Harold's Chicken. We occasionally went out for tempura at Japanese restaurants - not a home dish, in my entire extended family only one aunt has ever regularly made it at home. Sushi (and chicken teriyaki on the BBQ grills) was always a part of the potluck dishes at every JA community event, however. It's standard stuff to this day, I think. I was stunned when I came to the Bay Area in 1969 and my friends told me they loved going out to sushi restaurants. My response was, "Seriously? You PAY for pressed rice?!" When I was growing up sushi just wasn't a big deal. Sashimi - yes. Always very very expensive. Later in life, Mom married a Chinese and really got interested in the cuisine. Plus, there was a Cantonese cook at the restaurant they worked at who was, to this day, probably one of the finest chefs we ever had the pleasure to know. It was home cooking taken to a high-end professional level. The employee/family banquets (the owner was a big spender as most of his employees were relatives, including Mom's DH) were as good or better than anything I've paid $$$/pp as an adult in the Bay Area. Mom's interest in food never flagged. She later took lessons from Cecilia Chiang of the Mandarin restaurant/SF as well as Mexican cuisine's first great cook, Diana Kennedy. Ran her own cookware store and gave cooking lessons for a while. We loved talking about food together, needless to say. In most major cuisines there are three types of cooking: home cooking, restaurant cooking, and banquet/royal cooking. The "quick and dirty" fallback in most Asian households is a bowl of rice, an egg with a runny yolk, and soy sauce. My DH in Hong Kong and me in Chicago both remember that one!

I feel guilty that I"ve actually been having a mostly relaxing day while dh is slaving in the kitchen ALL day. He went to the grocery store early and while he was gone, I made marinara sauce for the ravioli mentioned above. I failed to mention that *his* tradition every year is to make chocolate chip pumpkin bread (old Ghirardelli recipe) for all our friends/neighbors/coworkers. He sometimes makes 40 loaves. Well, I thought he was done but nope, got home from the store and made two more batches. Then he started in on the filling for the ravioli. He made the meat ravioli first, finally took a break for dinner, and is now working on the cheese ravioli. Our 13 y/o has been a great helper. The other day, he decided that he wanted to bring pumpkin cheesecake to my parents' house for Christmas. My mom is already making dessert but he decided he wanted this as well so she didn't have to make an additional dessert. I warned him the cheesecake needs to be made ahead. He said he was going to make it tonight. Well, he's already said he will do it tomorrow. Yet I just realized now, at 9:30pm, that he still hasn't made the tiramisu for Christmas Eve dessert. His response - "I got it, I didn't forget. I'm making both tomorrow." Every year he does this. He takes on too much and then complains after the fact about how exhausted he is. I happily would have bought the tiramisu in Little Italy where it is fabulous. Nope, he needs to make it from scratch. I wouldn't care but he makes a disaster out of the kitchen for days on end b/c he doesn't clean up until the very end. I cannot STAND clutter so it makes me nuts that my kitchen is a mess with no end in sight. I couldn't even make dinner tonight b/c there was no room! We had to get take out. I suppose I shouldn't complain - it is nice that he loves to cook. I do as well, but I am much better at planning and timing (and cleaning up and starting fresh each day). I mentioned next year doing a sort of buffet spread of heavy appetizers instead of Christmas dinner (someone else here mentioned doing that this year, and since my mom has decided this is her last year of hosting, I thought that idea sounded good for next year). Of course, he made a face. But we host a sit-down dinner on Christmas Eve! And seriously, I'd like to actually enjoy Christmas not spend two days in a row feeding a formal sit down dinner to my family when HE is the only one who cares. My kids would happily graze all day.

I like apple fritters better than doughnuts, but the ones I madewere good only right after I made them, and they did not reheat well; so I will not post the recipe, as I cannot recommend it for something that travels well. The apple fritters I get at Randy's doughnuts are very good, and they do travel well and taste good cold. Mine are better when warm. If I were to make something to take, I would make cinnamon rolls. I make them with bread dough that I layer with butter (similar to croissants), and then I sprinkle the rectangle of dough with cinnamon sugar and chopped walnuts and roll into a log to cut into rounds. Sometimes I make them fairly small and bake them in muffin tins. Because they have to much butter in them, they do not stick.