Kitchen pictures

Remember me talking about our trip to IKEA and all the wonderful things we (Mike) got? The kitchen was finally semi-clean and suitable for pictures. Here is the new light fixture we got to replace the old fluorescent one that died:

You can still see the outline and the holes from the old one, since we were in desperate need of light in the kitchen so I could cook ,that we haven't gotten around to painting the ceiling or filling in the holes....someday. Next is a new rack we got to replace the big glass beer steins that were holding all these utensils:

Yes, I know that the coffee pot and the mixing bowl are missing, but they were in the drying rack after being used earlier that morning. Next is the new spice rack:

This was to replace the metal rack with glass jars I had taking up the corner to the left of the stove. Of course I have a ton more spices, they are all in the spice cabinet, but these were the pretty ones that looked nice in the metal, magnetic containers. And finally, another magnetic bar:

This allowed us to get rid of the knife rack, clearing up more counter space. You can also see our new glass tea pot in this picture. It has a strainer basket in the middle to use with loose leaf tea (also an IKEA find). Where the blender sits it where the old spice rack used to be. As you can see, I now have a lot more counter space and things look a little more IKEA-y, which I love. Mike and I love going to that store and just standing around admiring their kitchen displays (as well as there bookcase displays, we have a weird obsession with bookcases and old books).

To the cooking, yesterday (my 3rd day off of 4), I made some flax seed bread using this recipe. Mixer dough hook action:

 The bread cooking:

And the finished bread:

I think maybe I over mixed the bread or killed some of the yeast or something, but it didn't rise as much as I would have liked during the second rising time, so the bread didn't get as big as I would have liked. I think it could use a little more salt, but Mike liked it just as is. For being a wheat, flax seed bread it was really moist and chewy and not bland at all. It also sliced really well, so I think it will be really good for sandwiches.

I also tried out our new ice cream maker yesterday:

I made fresh strawberry ice cream. Unfortunately, I for got to take a picture of the first scoop, but there is still some in the freezer, so I will take a picture next time we eat some.

Today is my lazy day (I work a full day tomorrow and we are going to a concert tonight), so don't expect anything for a few days! Until next time, please enjoy this photo of me and some friends scuba diving in the Florida Keys during a class trip there in the summer of 2008: