Posting color swatches...

OK, I took some color swatches and placed them around the cupboard.  What do you think?  Originally I was leaning towards a very light blue, but now the green seems to be taking hold.

I think because I have so much blue (from light to cobalt) in my kitchen, that perhaps the green would show off the cups better. Click on the pictures to make them larger... if it helps.

This is a very old cupboard that my friend and I found in East Texas a few years ago. It fit perfectly into this corner of our kitchen.

There's blue in the back splash and the stove's blue...  so maybe green would be better??? Can you look at this photo above (perhaps make it larger) and picture the back of the cupboard painted blue or green?

Oh, and I just bought this rooster lazy-susan at Tuesday Morning this week.  The colors fit so well. Now I'll have to give the wine barrel one that I had there originally to my daughter.

Guess that's it.  Not a very fascinating post, but it's what I'm up to at the moment.

a kitchen full of lazy cats and a disappointing recipe result...

a kitchen full of lazy cats - please click to make larger to get full effect

Julie is looking at me saying, "what...???"

from another angle

Now I'm posting the result of my recent recipe try-out: the Chocoflan.  The Chocoflan didn't turn out that great.  It was easy to make, but the cake part didn't bake well.  It was supposed to take an hour in 350, but I had to cook it an hour and a half for the cake part to bake firm. It did come out of the pan easy enough and the flan did end up on top, but the taste of the cake part was disappointing... although the flan was good. And I learned that the Mexican Canned Caramel called ? is really very good.  This was for swirling around the pan before the cake batter is put in and also for swirling over the top of the Flan before serving. Well, I could easily just eat this stuff out of the can...

But the true test is whether I would make it again... and the answer is no.  IMO the chocolate cake texture as well as the taste was disappointing.  (However, DH and the boys gobbled it up with no complaints.)

the story of Reggie (bunny) and Rupert (rat)...

This post belongs in my "Cats, Coffee, and Chocolate" blog... since it is about critters.  But it's also part of the ongoing story of our Aga... which was my "Older but better...?" site's previous post.  So, forgive me but I'm posting it on both sites.  Talking about the Aga got me to go back and read one of my old web sites called Agasite which began as a journal of the horrendous days of remodeling our kitchen. If anyone has undergone this elective devastation, you will understand.

Anyway, as I was reading I came across the story of Reggie and Rupert.  It's a true story that I put into a children's story form in a letter to my then 3 year old grand daughter.  (I send her stories about the critter activities in our backyard).  Anyway, it is a cute story about 2 real life animals that became friends and hung out in our yard.  Even the workers who were remodeling were fascinated by this friendship. So, if you're interested, here is the story of Reggie and Rupert.



Our Aga...

In 2005 we remodeled our kitchen and put in an Aga.  It's a simple story, but there is a story.
For years I followed an online friend's blog, and he made mention several times in his posts how much he missed his Aga.  He lives 'across the pond' in England. Being from the States, I had no idea what an Aga was. So I researched it and found that even though they were not popular here, they were still available.  So DH and I decided to check them out.  Well... for a kitchen appliance, we both thought they were absolutely beautiful. I had the intention of 'admiring from afar'.... beautiful, but not attainable.  DH had different ideas.  So... tada! 

And if you're wondering if we later regretted our purchase because of the Texas heat (an Aga is on 24/7 - continuous heat - no knobs), the answer is no, we love it! The cats love it!  It does get a bit warm in the kitchen in July and August, but the rest of the year it offers warmth and comfort to us all. I tend to sit on the floor with my back to it and drink my coffee with the cats in the early mornings...