A kitchen full of old stuff

Once when I was in high-school, I went to a house that a guy had built from old materials. I thought it was really cool. Then about 10 years ago, I started to sell furniture I built from old materials. So, it was only natural for me to use old materials when I renovated our kitchen.

So I slowly started throwing out parts of the old kitchen. One year the dishwasher broke, so I ripped it out of the counter and threw it in the front yard. Little by little, I did this to our whole kitchen and then started putting it back together.

I built cabinets from cabinet grade plywood. The cabinets that were to be hung on the wall got old windows for the doors. These old windows had four panes of glass per window. Each pane of glass was about 12″ square. They were nice size windows which made for big cabinets.

Another cabinet was one that started on the floor and was about 6′ tall. We use a old french door for the door on this cabinet. On top of that, I sat a barristers box case, just a single unit, it was almost the same width of french door cabinet. These cabinets were on a wall along with 2 sets of floor cabinets.

In between the 2 floor cabinets sits a Roper gas stove. It’s a vintage Roper stove with 4 burners on a stainless steel top and an oven. A broiler, storage and a warming drawer underneath. It is stove white with a stainless steel top. It looks like a old chevy. There is also a new stainless steel refrigerator next to the french door cabinet. Above the stove is a vintage Icee clock.

Across from all that is an island. The island has a bar which runs the length of the island which is 12′ long. Starting from one end it has, a cabinet for cookie sheets and the likes, then a stainless steel front dishwasher, then a very old french style farmhouse sink. This old farmhouse style sink was here at the house when we moved in. Just sitting out in the back yard. I used a restaurant style faucet and it’s working out well for us. Next after the sink is a cabinet of 3 drawers and then a pull out cabinet for a garbage can. Next to that is a large under cabinet. On the bar and for counter-top on right of sink, I have used antique pine salvaged from a cotton mill in Carrolton, GA. The mill was built in the 1850s. This is hard, old wood. I also used it for the counter-top along the wall.

To the left of the sink, I used a piece of rock maple butcher block. The piece I had was large enough to cut a 6′ x 2′ piece for the whole counter top. So we use the end of the counter-top, next to sink as a chopping block.

I have painted all the cabinets RED and distressed them. The old windows look great like this. The walls are to shades of blue. The color scheme is much like the colors in the old Icee clock.

I was in a bind about what to do about the floors. We had moved the kitchen from a corner of the room, out to the middle of this room. And this 1 room used to be 2 rooms. So when we pulled the crap off the kitchen floor, we found pine running the opposite of the oak flooring in the other part of the room. Well about that time a builder who sometime calls me to pick up lumber he has, called. Said he had 2 pickup truckloads of wide plank flooring. It was excellent wood and all mixed up. Random lenghts and widths, from 4″ up 10″ wide. Some of it was oak, some pine, some cherry, some mahogany and some hickory. It was perfect and it was free. So I sent off for some fake antique nails. I nailed it straight to the floor. The end.

Figs

It’s that time here in East Point. The figs are getting ripe and this year we have found a new tree that has black figs on it. They are not like any fig I have seen. They are not real large and are rounder than other figs I get. Inside they are more red than other figs.

What Stacey and I do is walk the hood and look for trees we can raid. We have a few regulars.
One gives us a medium size fig with a pale yellow color. Another gives us figs just like our tree at home. I think they are a brown turkey figs. Our other tree, we have two, gives us a small purple fig.

They are all very good and we eat them many ways. I think my favorite is as a stuffing for chickens or even better, Cornish Hens. We cook a regular Thanksgiving stuffing and add the figs. Man is it good. We had some last night.

Another good way is to split them in half and gently push a small chunk of blue cheese into the center of the fig. And you can’t go wrong if you wrap a fig in bacon and broil it. It works well if you cook the bacon half way and let it cool. Then wrap the fig and fix the bacon in place with a toothpick and broil ’till the bacon is finished. This way the figs don’t over cook and turn into a sugar bomb.

Figs were not a big part of our lives until we moved to this house in East point. Right away we embraced the figs growing at our new house and were very happy to have them. Over the years we have perfected many good ways to enjoy figs. And theres always a new way to try.

We like them so much we have found trees all over the hood and we use them all. Some figs come ripe before ours do, so we eat off those trees a few blocks away before we start harvesting ours.

Now in the bible it seems Jesus didn’t much care for figs.
“Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he was hungry.
“And when he saw a fig tree by the road, he came to it, and found nothing on it, but leaves only, and said to it, Let no fruit grow on you henceforward for ever.”
And presently the fig tree withered away.
“And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon has the fig tree withered away!”
–Matthew 21:18-20

Man, I got to tell you - I am so glad my figs haven’t withered.

Rosenbaum house

There is a house in Tuscumbia Alabama designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The house was built in 1939 in the Usonian style. Stacey and I toured this house not long ago and it was a really good tour. The guide was very informative and had tons of knowledge on many different aspects of the whole project. She told us the house was commissioned by the Rosenbaum Family. The lot was a wedding gift from the grooms Mom and Dad, who lived across the street.

At first, Wright did not want to do the job. After a few years of getting nowhere on the idea, Stanley and Mildred Rosenbaum went to see him, and he finally agreed to design the house.

The two strangest things the guide told us was Wright never visited the property or the job site. And it was the only house he ever agreed to do a addition to. So in 1948, Wright designed the additional wing.

Mrs. Rosenbaum lived in the house until she passed in 1999, then it was purchased by the City of Florence. The house was in very poor condition by this time and the city stepped up and put out hundreds of thousands of dollars in to renovating it. Funny, the original house cost approximately $40,000 to build in 1939 and the addition cost in the $70,000 range.

It was restored to the original state after the addition. I was amazed at how much plywood was used. It was used for lots of the cabinets, used in the ceilings and was prevalent in the kitchen. It was also used for a bunch of furniture Frank Lloyd Wright designed for the house. Check out the photos. The guide told us plywood was hot at the time. It was the newest, coolest material and he loved using it for this project.

We had no idea that Frank Lloyd Wright designed a home in Alabama.
Wonder why he never went to the job site ? Wonder why he agreed to do an addition to the home ?

Two Urban Licks

July 28, 2007 - Tracy, Stacey and Mikey
We had been here before, but’s it’s amazing the difference your perception is when you see a restaurant full of people and the same restaurant empty.

The first time was on a scooter rally with Motovino Wines. It was about 1pm and the only people in the place were the 15 of us on the rally and the guys prepping for that nights service. We tried a few dishes, had a good look around and moved on to the next rally stop.

Now, we are back. Reservations for dinner at 8:30pm on a Saturday Night. A whole different scene. Loud. The place is packed. People without reservations are being told there’s a 1hour and 45minute wait. How smart are we, no wait for us.

This place is more like a HUGE bar than a restaurant as far as the vibe goes. As far as the food goes, it’s much better than bar food.

We started with crispy fried oysters with a creole mustard sauce. Yum.
Thin sliced sweet potato chips with a smoked salmon, chipotle cream cheese, capers and red onion spread. Awesome. It’s a dish we’ve been doing at home since our first visit with Motovino Wines.

Martinis were good and the wine selection was ok.

Entrees were as follows: Seared Tuna with a sesame dressing. Pork Shoulder, alot like Osso Bucco (reminds me of the time in Arkansas) was DELICIOUS. Skirt steak on a big pile of cream cheese mash potatoes didn’t suck either.

Waitron was excellent. We asked lot’s of questions and he had good answers. Even steered us away from a few things.

Decor was way cool. This is an old telephone factory turned loft/retail. You should click on the Two Urban Licks link and check it out. They have done a great job of giving you the industrial feel with tons of comfort. Once again, service was really good. The waitstaff are not working under regular restaurant situations. I cannot even tell you how many tables are in the place, there’s a huge bar for drinks, a food bar facing an open kitchen, where we noticed one station doing nothing but putting out the sweet potato chips with smoked salmon. Like I said, more like a bar serving some really good food.

These people have a couple of other restaurants including One Midtown, Piebar and Trois.

We’ve been to all but Trois. Looking forward to dinner there…

George

Everyone loves George. People smile the second they see him. I’m not sure just what it is but he has that affect on everyone. My mom says hello to George before she acknowledges either of us. Friends end email transmission asking how is George and might they have him. And they are not joking.

I ran into George one afternoon here in the hood. He was smelling stuff. Walking around in the church yard across from my shop smelling stuff and then peeing on it.

I had seen him around before and wondered about him. I knew someone was taking care of him, he was in really good shape. But after the third time I saw him out and about I invited him to get in my truck and he hopped right in. I took him home and made a few calls and found his current address. When the young lady who answered the door told me she didn’t want “that dog” any longer, I just turned and walked away. Fine with me, I had fallen in love with him right away and would be happy to take care of him.

And so it’s been for about 3 years now. He is the perfect gentleman, always dressed to the nines in his tuxedo. Always saying thank you, no sir or yes mam, never peeing on the floor and never fighting with the other dogs. He is the perfect mix of Bassett Hound and Black Lab. He loves to travel and never runs away from as he did before he came to live with us.

And sorry, but, no you can’t have him.

Tomato sandwiches at the pawn shop

Ol’ Ben would show up around the first of July with the best damn tomatoes I have ever had in my life. I mean these things were so good they made me want to slap my granny. But instead I slapped Ol’Ben. Really, the only thing slapped was my ass to the car seat on the way to get a few loaves of white bread and a huge jar of mayo.

Anyway, what I’m talking about here are tomatoes. It’s been years since I have had a tomato like the ones we had at the pawn shop I worked at in the 90’s. It’s not just that these were the best but they were also the last ones I have had that tasted like a tomato should.

As I write this, I realize the beauty of it all. Here I am, in the middle of downtown Atlanta, loaning “huge bucks” on wedding rings, stereos, cameras, gold teeth, 9mm handguns and uzi’s. There was me , Jimmy, Straw, Pauli, Marlin and John our faithful manager and some other dumbasses. And here comes Ol’Ben. With 20 pounds of sunshine soaked tomatoes that some neighbor of His had grown way too many of, how lucky were we ?

This was a big box Ol’Ben carried. At least 20 pounds of tomatoes. We would spend the rest of the day eating tomato sandwiches, writing loans and selling all kinds of stuff. We would skip lunch and basically eat all day. Lets say Ol’Ben showed up around 9:30 a.m. We began eating sandwiches by 10 and ate one every half hour on the half hour ? We closed at 6 p.m. soooooooooooooo I ate about 16 sandwiches those days Ol’Ben showed up.

I haven’t had a really good tomato in 6 or 7 years. When I try hard I can find some O.K. tomatoes and some that look really good but when it comes to taste they are all lacking. Stacey and I refer to these as being mealy. More than not they taste old.

I want acid, I want that juice that burns a little. I want the soft, sloppy yen yang of the white bread, the bite of the tomato and the cool sweetness of the mayo. Hell yes - that’s what I’m talkin’ bout, thats how I wanna roll.

But I can’t. Can’t find the right tomatoes. Can’t seem to grow them either. I got some plants and they are giving us tomatoes. All different kinds. I also buy them each weekend from one organic farmer or another and still, still I say - they just ain’t the same.

Remind me to tell you more about working at he pawn shop sometime!

West Indies Salad

Ask anyone, not from the Mobile Alabama area, and I bet they have no idea what West Indies Salad is. I have asked Chefs here in Atlanta on more then one occasion and not one knew about it -and I am OK with that. This is about the best thing I can tell a person about my hometown, it was invented here. Not many folks know about it.

It is one of the best things you will ever put in you mouth. It is also one of the simplest dishes to prepare. And the fellow who invented it, his name was Bailey, was way ahead of the current thought of chefs, which is fresh and simple.

I am not gonna say a lot about this salad, you just need to make it yourself and enjoy, what else need be said. It just don’t get much better then this. You can thank me later, with a bowl full please.

This is all it takes: 1 lb white lump crabmeat
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 o.z. wesson oil
4 o.z ice water
3 o.z. cider vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Layer onion and crab in dish with cover; add salt and pepper to taste. Evenly distribute oil, then vinegar, and finally ice water over layered mixture. Cover tightly and marinate at least six hours, preferably overnight. Toss before serving in individual bowls on a leaf of lettuce.
4 Servings