Office Supply

Yesterday Lou (who we now realize spells his name L-O-U and not L-E-W) came in and installed a few items. Of note was the addition of handles for our files cabinets in the office. We found these from Rejuvenation Hardware. Initially the cabinets were able to be opened without handles and used a hidden edge instead. However, we were not able to fit the files inside—this is the solution we came up with. We like how the handles differentiate the drawers from the rest of the cabinets. Also, we like how they sort match the style of the vintage lighting.

Rotisserie Chicken

This evening we tried out the rotisserie feature on our oven. It is SO. AWESOME. It actually rotates and everything. We found a simple, yummy recipe on epicurious.com. You combine 2 tablespoons butter + 1 tablespoon coarse salt + 2 tablespoons herbs de provence. Then you rub this under and over the skin of the chicken and let it sit in the fridge for about 6 hours. Then, finally, you rotisserie it for 50 minutes. Then, awesomeness ensues. We had this with ginger garlic green beans (a recipe from the Moosewood Cafe). Yum-a-licious all the way around.

Time to Decorate

After almost a month of keeping our pictures under wraps, we finally unpacked the boxes containing our artwork. We always envisioned the Paris map being a focal point, but had some decisions to make on where to put the other items. Here you can see the three pictures we hung in the main room. Although we wish that the pictures were more spread out, we really focused on hanging them in the ideal location for each—despite their proximity to each other. The other large Paris map is in our bedroom for now, and several other pictures are still waiting to be hung in other rooms.

46"

Yesterday our new 46" LED Samsung TV was installed. We no longer have the smallest TV on the block. Which, speaking of our old TV, now seems awfully small in comparison—26" will do that. Needless to say, the new TV was on all evening while we cleaned the apartment in preparation for the arrival of our cats. We'll be picking them up tonight from my sister, where they have been residing since we moved. We anticipate some very frightened and not-too-happy cats. We think they are likely to go straight under the bed and stay there, which is why we did such a deep clean last night. Once they get past the newness of it all, though, we know they will love it (not that they have a choice). We would take bets on what their favorite spot will be, but we think it's pretty clear that all the long, wide window ledges will be the hands down winner.

Work Hard

I just discovered a new website called Reform School. It has all sorts of great things grouped into all sorts of odd categories. The website was linked through a product I saw and liked on the Design*Sponge website. That website took me to the Dwell site, which in turn took me to Reform School. While perusing Reform School I found this wonderful poster I'd love to get for our office. Unfortunately, it's sold out. Maybe they will print more. In the meantime, I thought you might like to see it too.

Guest Bathroom Progress

The guest bathroom is now mainly done—the sink faucet is in place, as are the bath "accessories" (aka towel bars). However (you knew there was going to be a "however" didn't you?) we still have a few things that need to be tweaked. The tub is not draining. The glass tiles keep cracking whenever we screw something into them (ie. said bath accessories). The sink seems too close to the medicine cabinets—so much so that it feels like you are going to bump your head whenever you bend down to use the sink. Despite these hick-ups, we're thankful to have at least one working bathroom. We're still waiting for the sink delivery in our master bathroom, and the glass for the shower will be delivered and installed tomorrow...

Homemade

To celebrate both our new apartment and the season, we had our first official home-cooked meal. We decided on a pumpkin risotto recipe, using a butternut squash in lieu of the pumpkin. We found all ingredients at our local stores—places like Murray's Cheese (already a favorite), which not only specializes in cheese (duh), but also pastas and grains. While we cooked the risotto we chose a nice bottle of red to pair with it—a 2000 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano that we got in Italy when we went there in 2003 with Nicole and Dan. Salute!