Today I made French Onion Soup from scratch (as my husband would willingly add). I have wanted to make it since I learned that it was one of his favorite soups. Even though it is snowing, I am inside preparing the soup, taking short breaks to help my husband pull wire (he is currently moving a switchplate in the dining room).

This recipe is great for a romantic dinner, complete with tablecloth, cloth napkins, and candlelight.The recipe was easy, I used too many onions. Next time I will use 2 cups or less of onions. I would also use a larger loaf of bread for the toast. The small French loaf from Kroger was too small for my liking. I didn't have dried thyme so I substitued sage. The cheese (Grueyer) was wonderful although I would use more cheese. My husband's suggestion was to serve with a Roast Beef sandwich next time. I used white wine in the soup, possibly a little more than called for. I tasted the wine and it wasn't to my liking so I poured the rest into the soup. When I tasted the soup, it did not need salt or pepper.

French Onion Soup for 4 - 6 people

8 onions, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

8 cups beef stock

1/4 cup dry white wine

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper

1 loaf French bread

2 cups grated Gruyere

Saute onions and garlic in oil over low heat until tender and golden yellow. Sprinkle flour over onions, cook a few minutes more, browning the flour well. Add stock and wine and bring to a boil, add thyme and bay leaf. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer gently for 20 minutes or so. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

Meanwhile, slice French bread into 3/4-inch slices and butter both sides. Toast slices on griddle until golden brown. Ladle soup into an ovenproof bowl, add toasted bread and cover with cheese. Place ovenproof bowl on a baking sheet lined with tin foil. Bake at 350 degrees F or 5 minutes under a hot broiler.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_33453,00.html

Tile Floor part 1

Ok, the prep work has been done. DH has the hardiboard down and yesterday (**yawn**) late in the evening we finished putting down the radient heat for the flooring. This means that tomorrow we can start putting down the tile. It has taken a little longer to get to this point but the floor was not level, the whole kitchen had to be gutted so the pipes and electrical wires could be worked on. That being said, we both are very grateful to be at the point where we are. Woo-hoo!! The radient heat wires are finally down!

Fireworks for the 4th of July

Sorry, not our first fight, the fireworks mentioned is what we saw on Friday evening. We took Sizzle and Belle with us to walk on the Square of Marietta. There were lots of people there, street performers, food vendors, and sidewalk vendors. We had fun strolling around looking at everything. Belle stayed with DH and kept to his side. Sizzle, on the other hand, wanted to greet everyone and if someone walked by with their hands by their side she saw that as an invitation to lick their fingers. Several people stopped us wanting to pet, or wanting their children to pet, the Goldens. Of course they both soaked in the limelight and loved every minute of attention. They were not scared by the fireworks, which were amazing and loud. This is an event to repeat next year! Great fun!

Wisteria's 2nd Vet appointment

Today DH took Wisteria to the Vet's for her vaccination shots and for testing of Feline Respitory disease. She played with the vet and did well for her shots. She tested negative. Yea!! She is now 3 1/2 pounds.

Sheetrock in the Kitchen

DH is putting finishing touches on the sheetrock in the kitchen. It is interesting how people have different terminology for the same thing. I call it 'spackling' and he calls it 'mudding' and yet it is the same thing.




The cabinets arrive tomorrow. We don't even have the floor down yet. They will have to sit in the basement and the garage until DH is finished. I am torn between whether or not I want to see them before we are ready to install them. I don't want to get my hopes up yet.


DH let Auntie Goldens come over today. I am having issues with it. I do not really like some of the things she has said in the past and I don't like DH giving in to her so often. I do not recollect one time that I know of when she was turned down to play with the dogs. It isn't that she comes over and plays with the dogs, she mollycoddles Sam, just because he has the same father as Bogey did. She lets him jump on her, she ignores Sizzle and Harry.



Now I am having issues with Sam because she favors him. I can't stand him anymore. He disgusts me because he is the reason she is so much in our lives and he is her leverage tool to get to DH. He has never had a puppy that he sold to anyone die before. I asked him, "What if it was Campbell? Or another puppy? Would you do the same?" He said he would not. That makes me feel more ill will toward Auntie Golden. It wasn't his fault that Bogey died. It wasn't Auntie Golden's fault either. But it isn't DH's responsibility to monitor her passion for our dog. I feel like she is trying to take Sam away from us. I notice a difference in Sam's action and attitude after she leaves.



I am at wits end. I tried to explain peacefully to DH about how I feel. The way he treats this I feel as if I am being brushed aside. Hmmmm..... have to think of something to do to get my point across.

The Cabinets are coming - Earlier than planned!

DH called KDI (Kitchen Designers, Inc.) to ask about the garage and whether it had a back. If it has a back we do not need to do any extra work on the walls. If it doesn't have a back we have to paint or tile, most likely paint. He learned that the garage has a back and that the cabinets will be in one week early. This is putting a lot of pressure on DH. We don't have the tile down yet and we still need to repair the sheetrock from the wiring that was done.

The cabinets will be nice. They are coming from a company in Alabama, if I am correct the wood is local too (could be wrong on that part). We are excited. The countertops will be St. Cecilia granite. We have purchased a new stove from Sears, have a new fridge from Lowes, the tile for the floor is from Home Depot Expo, the radient floor heat came from a place my husband found, and the cabinet knobs and pulls came from a place I found over the internet. Seems like everything is coming together fairly well!

Father's Day

Father's Day. A great day for grilling out, doing work around the house, and having all chaos break loose. The day started out fine. We woke up, let out the dogs, played with the kitten, got dressed and headed out to price tile for the kitchen backsplash.

What better place to look for tile than Floor & Decor? It is a local discount tile place in Kennesaw. DH had been in the store previously, checked out the tile, had several picked out for me to look at. We went to the 'Imagination Station" where we arranged the tiles ourselves and I took a photo so we could think about it during the week. The store police, in form of an employee, told us we could not take photos, that is why they sell samples and sell idea books. That really upset DH and I. It was our design, no one helped us, the idea books don't have our granite with the backsplash we were trying out, and why could we not take photos of the tile? What were they hiding?

Phase Two: On the way home, DH's chick magnet decided to take a holiday. We had to get the car towed. Instead of mowing the lawn before going to my parents' house we had to wait for a tow truck. Pee Wee's Towing was a good service to use, however I do not wish towing upon anyone.

Phase Three: Lunch at parents' house was interesting. They are becoming more amiable toward DH. It is like they have finally resigned themselves to the fact that he will be joining us for family functions. Dad got moonpies and RC cola from us, he said he didn't want anything but a card. He has a new hive of bees, they just took up residence in one of his old hives. DH had to see the hives. May be we will be able to have them soon, promote local pollination and have raw honey.

Phase Four: Because we were at my parents' house we went to Lowes to look at their tile. We found just what we needed, on clearance, and because of the size of the tiles and the insert we will not have to cut tiles lengthways. The only tiles we will have to cut is for the border on the verticle edge of the tile. Thank you Floor & Decor Store Police, if it wasn't for you we would have paid more money at your store.

Phase Five: DH and I pull wire from the basement to the kitchen. Now that is done, he will work on plumbing and sheetrock. Woo-hoo!!