Public Service Announcement

I'm a little embarassed to be posting this but I consider it a public service announcement; keep a fire extinguisher near your bbq.

I was bbqing ribs on the weekend following a recipe from a bbq book. It had you put a pan under the grill to keep liquid in and for the drippings to go into. The liquid ended up running dry so I refilled it, but I didn't notice when it ran dry the second time. The drippings that were in the pan then caught fire and the whole Binford 9000 was up in flames! I pulled the pieces of ribs off with Mom trying to blow out the flames as I went (yeah, we're a real Laurel and Hardy team here), then I slowly poured water into the edge of the pan which put out the pan fire (please don't spray water on a grease fire!).

So then I had a huge mess to clean up out there. I'm just so greatful I didn't burn down my house! :o The Binford survived it's ordeal (would that be "trial by fire"?). So off I went to Canadian Tire the next morning toot suite (yeah, I know, my French is awesome) to buy a fire extinguisher; and I bought another one for the kitchen while I was at it.

But speaking of kitchens, I'm getting a new one! Really! As in new cupboards, countertop, sink, floor, you name it it's being replaced. Well not the appliances. But still. I've been wanting to do this since I moved in 5 years ago but the thought of doing it was overwhelming. Not to mention that I'd probably be out of a kitchen for at least six months if I did it myself. Well with the ol' arthritis raising hell I figured that's a good enough excuse to hire it out and let someone else do it. And the best thing is it'll be done in about a week! Ok, not this week. Or next week. But a week nonetheless.

Now I've been racking my brains and my Mom's brains and my friends' brains to come up with ideas to rearrange my disfunctional kitchen, and even allowing for tearing down walls there was no realistic solution in sight. Yet this fella who does it for a living was in my kitchen for all of 15 minutes when he had a new layout done up that's quite frankly scathingly brilliant, not to mention it uses the existing walls. For that alone he's worth the money!

That's my ginormous fridge on the right that blocks the working area from the seating area. Someone always needs to get into said fridge just as soon as I'm in the middle of some daring feat of cookery over there, which sets me off like the crazywoman I am with hair frizzing out in all directions screaming "get out of my kitchen!" while waving sharp instruments of torture. But no more; that fridge is taking over the dishwasher's spot where there will be open access in front of it and no one will be in my way as I, with smooth hair and fresh lipstick, invite them to help themselves to a cool drink while I whip up some gastronomical delight. And that dishwasher is moving over by the front window so I no longer have to close it 7 or 8 thousand times during the process of stacking or emptying it as I won't need to move from one side of it to the other any more. And the microwave is going to make nicey nicey with the overhead fan to clear more countertop area. Did I tell you this guy is brilliant?

And not that I'm one prone to excess, but say goodbye to the kettle and the compost pail as I'm also getting a hot water dispenser and a garburator (or food waste disposal for my American friends). There'll be a ceramic tile floor in the kitchen and I'm replacing the tile in the hallway to match, a new front door, a ceramic tile floor in the bathroom and a partridge in a pear tree.

I'm just at that point where if I don't do it now I'll never do it. Besides, someone's got to keep the economy going, doncha think? Who cares if the most to come out of that kitchen for the next few years is gonna be Kraft Mac n Cheese?