Kitchen Remodel, Week Ten: Hard as a Rock

The counters are in!

The soapstone is beautiful, although it is still in its pre-waxed state, so it is a pale greenish grey.  Once it gets waxed (or oiled), it will be a dark charcoal grey, almost black. I watered down the island top, below, to get an idea of what it will look like.

I’ve been reading Lavinia by Ursula Le Guin all week. It is the story of how Aeneas (of Vergil's Aeneid) fought the locals of Latinum, married the king’s daughter Lavinia, and founded Rome – told from Lavinia’s perspective. There is nothing food-related in it, except for several scenes of sheep sacrifice and an interesting bit about collecting sacred salt from sea mud.

So instead of reading about food, I’ve been daydreaming of writing about food. Specifically I’ve been fantasizing about the upcoming Cook N Scribble food writer’s retreat at the Tutka Bay Lodge near Homer, Alaska in July. Called “Food, Nature and the  Writer’s Wild Mind,” the retreat is facilitated by authors Molly O'Neill and Carolyn Forché.

It sounds like a heavenly five days of eating, exploring, writing workshops, and a cooking class, culminating in a LongHouse Food Revival billed as “a gathering of food thought leaders” -- more precisely, “an evening celebration of poetry readings, with a local seafood slam dinner by acclaimed chefs.”

I want to go!

Big thanks to everyone who has left comments and good wishes on these kitchen remodel posts. It has been particularly interesting to hear about other people's remodeling projects. Thanks!

WEEKEND COOKING

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