Kitchen Refresh Project, Monday - Day 4

I woke up at an incredibly late 8:13 AM. I made three pork sausage patties to go with the three leftover KFC biscuits. No coffee, so I washed them down with water. Now onto work! I checked, and the ceiling where I had cut in looks pretty good, but I need to get back to the cupboard doors.

Took all the cabinet doors and primed the fronts. I had to inspect them and sand as needed as some of the primer on the back had run onto the front and those drips had dried. I'm using the garage as the paint area and the back room for drying again. This is a much slower process as I have to cut in the lathe strips, and then roll the door.

Carla called and we solidified today's menu. Then, Melissa called and we talked briefly (well, briefly for us, lol!) When I confessed my back was killing me, but I didn't want to take my strong pain pills, she suggested three Tylenol. I checked and I did have generic Tylenol so I ate three of them. I hardboiled some eggs for today's potato salads.

I finally finished up the doors, so I shaved and showered. Then I made a quick trip to (where else?) Home Depot (at 12:30 PM on Memorial Day, it was a mob scene). I stopped at Farmer Jacks and picked up some ground round, Kaiser rolls, tomatoes, sharp cheddar from the deli, a chunk of blue cheese and more mayonnaise. Yesterday, I invited Jake and Carla to come over for some grillin' and chillin' but NO work today for them.

When I got back home, I cut up 5 pounds of redskin potatoes and put them on to boil (I'll explain why so many potatoes, later). Jyl had left a voicemail telling me to check out her niece's wedding photos she'd emailed me, so I was looking at them (You're right, Jyl! She did look beautiful!) when Jake and Carla showed up (they had a bet on whether or not I'd be sleeping!)

The potatoes were almost done and Carla showed me a neat trick. You drain, then leave them in a metal colander and cover them with a towel and they will steam themselves until perfectly done!

We went outside for a hotly contested horseshoe game between Jake and Carla (I was the cheering section). However, the game was called when Carla's allergies kicked in. So, we went back inside and started preparing dinner.

I had seen two recipes for potato salad and couldn't decide which sounded better. So, we were going to make both and have a taste test. Carla made the dressings and ingredients for each. One was called "Creamy Horseradish" and the other was called "Deviled Eggs." She got those done and we put them in the fridge to get cold. Then she cleaned a pound of shrimp and she and Jake made a marinade for them. Jake made up the burgers, while I lit the charcoal. Carla put the shrimp onto the wooden skewers I had soaked in water.

Excellent food! We ate the shrimp on the front porch as an appetizer, and then went inside to eat dinner. The burgers were so big I could only eat one (and Carla couldn't finish hers).

And the results of the potato salad taste test? Carla and Jake both voted for the "Deviled Eggs" type. Jake explained that while the "Creamy Horseradish" was good, it was also just one-dimensional: All you noticed was the horseradish. The "Deviled Eggs" had more layers of flavor. I liked each of them, so my vote was split, and "Deviled Eggs" was the winner!

They cleaned up and then left about 6:30 PM. My back was still hurting and now my right shoulder was also complaining (probably from rolling all the doors), so I decided to take the rest of the night off as well. Got all the work clothes from the last four days into the washer, filled the bird feeder, and so on. Then I watched a little TV and ate a little more potato salad until bedtime.