The drywall is up and painted, the underlayment is down and ready for the flooring to go in. I’m not sure what is next but we are getting close to setting the cabinets.
Meanwhile we are eating easy food. I made a pot of chili one day and had the leftovers on hot dogs the next.
Bonus kittehs! Ginger Boy and Ollie tussling.
I made so much sloppy joe that I figured we needed to use some for something other than sammiches. My giardiniera is so good on this I may make it a regular addition to my pasta. It is garlicky enough to add it to plain noodles.
I found a package of pork with mole sauce in the freezer and decided to make a meal from it. It’s been in the freezer, sealed in a vacuum bag, for so long I don’t remember making it. It was really good.
These are the kind of tacos that you eat with a fork. That extra fork is for emergency use. Kroger sells the Mexican cheese now, it has a regular spot on their shelf next to the Parmesan. Baby steps. Queso fresco is a mild, crumbly cheese similar to feta.
There won’t be any serious cooking for the duration, here’s a couple of smoked pork tacos while we wait for the kitchen emergency to abate.
They say sharks never sleep. Ha! Mrs J had our Shark on the sofa where she could get good light so that she could snip all the tightly wound threads and fibers off the roller/beater brush.
Kroger sells never frozen pizzas in their deli. I have to trim the sides a bit to fit them into the toaster oven. They’re no too bad. I, of course, add to them. This one has extra ham, pepperoni, cheese, garlic, and oregano. The toaster does OK but the pies need to turn at least once.
Bitsy has a drinking problem.
She is pretty sure she likes pizza but isn’t equipped to eat a slice on her own. I tore off a tiny bite and she managed that but decided to look elsewhere for her dinner.
We still have plenty of sloppy joe. I made a few sloppy sliders and topped them with giardiniera.
The drywall peeps have returned to tape and put a first coat of mud on the sheet rock. There is much more light in the room that it appears in this shot, the camera’s auto function was fooled by the bright light.
The contractor had to take the flooring off down to a bare minimum because the fellow who built the house framed it atop what was a basement house with a flat roof. Tar paper! Hot mopped tar! Thankfully, he did that over a sheet of plastic so it came off without a struggle. The plywood is the last (first) layer – it’s what is visible from the basement.
They went back with 3/4 OSB. The plumber has made a visit and roughed-in the sink and ran the water for the ice maker in the new fridge – that’s the small box on the same wall. The new dishwasher will locate between the sink and fridge. The stove will be against the far wall, the window on that wall will move to the right a few feet. 
The electric skillet will be working hard for the duration. Here I am sweating down onions and peppers for sloppy joes.
I made a lot because everyone likes them and they are pretty easy to make a meal out of.
We always light the TV to provide background noise for the meal.
Mrs J reclining on the sofa with 4 of the six cats. Missing are Bitsy and Homer. Gabe is present but Ginger Boy is in his usual spot at Mrs J’s feet. Katie is in her safe room.
I made soup from the crockpot beef by adding frozen mixed veggies and more broth. I have already generated enough leftovers to feed us for the duration… but where’s the fun in that?
These are a sort of open faced taco. Pulled pork with onions and peppers with an egg piled on corn tortillas.
I loaded the plate with refries and guac with a few nacho chips and poured on some tomato salsa and hot sauce.
Delicious!
I made big batches of beans and potato salad and bought a bunch of hot dogs. I have spent a lot of time these past couple of days peering into boxes looking for things like salt and pepper shakers, not to mention various foodstuffs. I was losing my mind looking for the garlic and onion powders. I knew they were in a box with all the other spices and went through some angst before I found them in the last place I looked.
Our crockpot was especially handy. I’ll turn the rest of it into soup. The TV in the background is playing one of the Youtube foodie travelogues.
We have a full, open plan basement and have taken over a corner of it for eating and cooking. We have the stuff that came out of the kitchen scattered all over. Some is in the garage but all of the pantry items and most of the utensils and small appliances are down here.
We made sure to hook up the TV so we could watch videos. I have a beef roast in the crockpot, going with the potatoes and carrots instead of the Italian beef option. We’ll have sammiches for lunch.
We’ve been watching foodie shows on Youtube, there’s one guy who has a series of videos from all over Asia. He’s Canadian and lives in China. He speaks Chinese and uses his home as a base for his expeditions. Recommended!
Anyway, Mrs J wanted potstickers. I’m not about to make them from scratch when the frozen sort are as good as they are.
