The Wyeth Restored!

In the continuing plaster restoration and repair project, three rooms have been completed as of this writing, and the upstairs hallway and stairwell are almost completely finished. Philip Lamachio of Estate Plaster has now begun on the old TV room, affectionately referred to as the Dali Room. When that is finished sometime next week, the upstairs will be all repaired and repainted, with the exception of the disaster which is my study.

This is excellent news.

In the meantime, let me share the transformation of the guest bedroom in the southwest corner of the original part of the house, which has been dubbed The Wyeth. When I first moved into the house back in 2003, I had designated this room as the TV room, and that's what it was for several years. Then I decided to make it into a bedroom. Here it is cleared out, from shortly after the completion of the 2008-2009 renovation and addition project:

This door leads into the bathroom that I added as part
of the renovation and kitchen addition project.

Once it was set up as a guest bedroom again, it looked like this:

Here are a couple of shots of the new bathroom for this room:

Before the plaster restoration came to this room, there were definitely some problem areas:

And then Philip's associate David Mearns got busy tackling the yucky parts:

All cracks were resecured to the wood lathe or to the ceiling joists, and most if not all of the room was screen-meshed and replastered. Then they primed the walls:

And now it's all finished:

This is not a good capturing of the actual green color.
The next two pictures are much closer to the reality.

Demise of the UVA Stadium Cup

On November 16, 1996, I attended my one and only football game at Scott Stadium at the University of Virginia. I was in my first semester of my PhD program and some of my family came up to root for our beloved Carolina Tar Heels against the Cavaliers.

We were decked out in our UNC finery and sat in the visitors' section, thanks (I'm sure) to the generosity of long-time Rams Club member and family friend Bill Randall. UNC was favored to win but UVA pulled off a thrilling 20-17 upset and we Tar Heels had to head home with our sad heads wagging.

Other than the lingering bitter disappointment at throwing away a game that UNC had mostly controlled, my other souvenir was this stadium cup. It's served me well for nearly 18 years but, over the weekend, it finally cracked. Farewell, silly souvenir!

Key Lime Tarts

It's been quite a while since I made these, but I like to keep an accurate record of these things via the blog! I had some little shortbread shells that I'd picked up from a Virginia Kroger and used those instead of the mini phyllo shells that were the source of the recipe. That might be tacky on my part.

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"Key Lime Tarts," from the Mini Fillo Shells package. Recipe found online at AthensFoods.com.

Meal No. 1059: Kung Pao Chicken Stir-Fry

The Saturday night meal at the Roediger House was the delicious and flavorful stir-fry favorite, loosely considered "kung pao chicken," even though it's not like what you'd get at a Chinese restaurant. And I never fret over topping it with peanuts. I just know it's good.

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"Kung Pao [Chicken]" (p. 80) with Szechwan Marinade (p. 28) and Spicy Peanut Stir-Fry Sauce (p. 27). In Wok Fast, by Hugh Carpenter and Teri Sandison. Ten Speed Press (Berkeley/Toronto), 2002.

A Visit from Fellow Buies Creeker Todd Martin

Yesterday, I got the unexpected treat of a visit from childhood friend (and fellow graduate student for our respective masters programs at Wake Forest University) Todd Martin, who's now a professor at Huntington University in Indiana. He's down this week visiting his parents, who moved not long ago to Asheboro. That puts him only about an hour away from Winston-Salem.

Todd moved to Buies Creek when he was in second grade and his parents lived there until just a few years ago (his dad was on faculty at Campbell University in Buies Creek).  He's just one of the good guys, and always has been.

But I should also add that he is a black belt in karate.

I probably haven't seen Todd since 1991 or 1992, I fear. That's a heckuva long time! So it was especially great to catch up, check out the house, and grab a meal at local favorite 6th & Vine.

Here's a fun photo when he and close friend Jay Brown came by the house back in our high school days:

Meal No. 1058: Japanese Fried Chicken

After a great week of work in Virginia Beach and a remarkably smooth and easy (but still 4.5 hours!) drive home Thursday evening, I went with Japanese Fried Chicken over vinegar sushi rice for dinner last night. It's always good!

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"Japanese Fried Chicken," from Cuisine at Home, Issue 98, March/April 2013, p. 44-45.

"Vinegar Sushi Rice," from Cuisine at Home, Issue 98, March/April 2013, p. 45.

Homemade Krispy Kreme Glazed Doughnuts

If memory serves, it was when I was vegging out on the road in some hotel room that led me to stumble across this "how-to" for a pretty good approximation of Krispy Kreme glazed doughnuts. That put it on my radar but it took until the last weekend of July before I was willing and motivated to tackle it. Here are some of the pictures I snagged along the way:

After the first rise, and that's my largest bowl!

Yes: I have a doughnut cutter.

Ready for the second rise.

Frying 'em up in peanut oil at 350F.

Crispy and golden!

With a perfect sweet glaze.
(I ate three for dessert that night.)

To me, working with yeast dough, this was a heckuva thing to decide I wanted to make for dessert on top of the dinner I was already preparing. And it made dinner mighty late that night (9:30 pm, to be exact) but fresh hot homemade glazed Krispy Kreme-esque doughnuts for dessert? Absolutely worth it. Amazing. Delicious. I want more.

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"Krispy Kreme Donut Recipe," from scoochmaroo. Recipe online at Instructables.com.

Dining Roomsurrection

Ladies and gentlemen, something amazing has happened at the Roediger House this summer. Finally, in my 11th year in the house, I'm getting moving again on much-needed and long overdue restoration and repair work. Let it begin with the dining room, which has looked like this for a very long time:

To be fair, the walls look much worse in no small part because I had the previous wallpaper in there removed back in 2009, as chronicled in this blog post.

It can take me quite a while to get motivated sometimes, and once that initiative kicks in, I have to milk it while I can. I also have to hope that I can line the right people up to do the job, people who actually come through. That's what I've found with Philip Lamachio and Estate Plaster, Inc. The plaster restoration needs in the house are enormous but he's the perfect guy for this job, because it's not about hiding the cracks. It's about true repair and resecuring of it, in the hands of a meticulous artist. I was so happy when he got started:

And the finished product thrills me:

Not only did Philip repair and restore the plaster...he also eliminated the inappropriate textured ceiling and returned it to the flat and smooth appearance that the house would originally have had.

What's kind of interesting is that, when good friends have come to the house since this was done, they glance at the dining room but don't really notice this makeover for the dramatic shift it is. My theory about that? Not that it isn't a great result, but that now it finally looks like it's supposed to!

The Sweet Master Suite

When I bought this house in 2003, this is what the room looked like that has become the master bedroom:

October 2003

October 2003

October 2003

The "master bath" was pitiful, with a sealed-up window, a ratty sink, and a lonely toilet:

October 2003: master sink

October 2003: master toilet

After living here the first five years without a shower or tub in the "master bath," I was pretty darned glad to get a whole new bathroom as part of the renovation and addition project of 2008-2009. I've been meaning to toss a few pictures up of some of the bedrooms but never have gotten around to it. I'll use this blog entry to share a bit of the master suite, though:

April 2004

This shot is much outdated now, because the bedroom hasn't been this clean and orderly since then. The nightstands, dresser, and wardrobe were part of a suite that I bought on eBay...they came from Europe. Here's a shot of the wardrobe after it arrived (with a broken mirror that was quickly replaced):

April 2004

The bedframe that came with this set has been stored upstairs ever since I got this, because it is European-sized and therefore does not fit standard American mattresses. So for many years, I used a brass bed loaned to me by my sister Janice. This summer, though, I got this frame out and assembled it, as a prelude to taking it to a custom woodworker for small repair but also to fashion new bedrails for it to make it appropriate for a California king. Isn't this a funky headboard/bedframe?

Finally, here are a couple of photos that show the new master bathroom (well, new as of 2009):

My nephew was happy to give the shower an imaginary test when we graciously hosted his family a while back, as shown in this blog entry.

And here's the alcove for the big soaking tub:

See this blog entry for the teaser that came with the report of the first bath taken in that great big soaking tub. I think over the last five years I might have used it one other time. Oh well. Seems a shame not to have a nice tub in the master bath, even if baths aren't what I'm accustomed to taking.

Furniture Repair & Recovery

Back at the beginning of July, when I went through an intense period of motivation to get a lot of things done on the house front, I did a bit of Angie's List research and came up with a couple of good names for furniture refinishing and repair. I loaded up the truck with a parlour set (along with an extra side chair I got through eBay) and took them to Grubbs' Woodworks on the west side of Winston-Salem:

Two of those chairs needed casters reattached to stay, and all of them were rickety to some extent. I've gotten the call to come pick them up and will be dropping other furniture off when I do!

I also got the guys from Reynolda Upholstery to come pick up some other furniture that's in a bad way:

Club Chair

Club Chair: Busted Springs

Club Sofa

Club Sofa: Busted Springs

I really like the old fabric on these two "club" pieces but the chair covering is showing a lot of wear and also seems to have a fair amount of dry rot. I hate to lose that upholstery and may try to save what's on the sofa.

This sofa belonged to my parents and is part of
what I inherited from my mother.
It's been in yucky storage for several years
and really needs to be recovered.

I was surprised at how quickly this fabric wore out.
This chair is only a few years old!

Lots of problems with springs!

Making Friends with a Wide Angle Lens

With the renovation work resuming on the house, and with the need to provide good documentation for the historic tax credits that these house projects qualify for, I decided to bite the bullet and go ahead and get a good wide-angle lens for my camera. It arrived last week and is quickly proving its worth and its quality. I've yet to do much to post enough photos of the inside of the house, with plenty of rooms not yet documented on the blog. This is about to get easier and more informative for blog readers.

Of course, I'm also living moments of regret that I didn't have this lens back before I started working on the house. I have very little, for instance, showing the old kitchen, in part because it was so small and hard to photograph.

If I'd clean up the butler's pantry so that I'm not embarrassed by how trashy it looks, I could also take some much more revealing pictures of the terrific original cabinetry in there and post them here. Maybe one of these days! When it's not been one of those days, that is.

Meal No. 1057: "World's Best Lasagna"

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"World's Best Lasagna," by John Chandler (Dallas, TX). Found online at AllRecipes.com.

Meal No. 1056: Chicken with Coronation Sauce

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"Coronation Sauce for Chicken," from 400 Sauces, by Catherine Atkinson, Christine France, and Maggie Mayhew. Hermes House (2006, 2008), p. 155.

Meal No. 1055: Lamb Meatloaf and Smashed Sweet Potatoes

It's been quite a while since I reached for this fine, fine pair of recipes from the Tupelo Honey Cafe cookbook. I think tonight this lamb meatloaf was as good as it's ever been.

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"Lamb and Multi-Mushroom Meat Loaf" (p. 150) and "Smashed Sweet Potatoes" (p. 128), in Tupelo Honey Cafe: Spirited Recipes from Asheville's New South Kitchen, by Elizabeth Sims with Chef Brian Sonoskus. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC, 2011.

Meal No. 1054: Hamburger Supreme

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"Hamburger Supreme," from the late Mrs. John T. (Glynn) Johnson of Buies Creek, North Carolina, via Janice Jones Bodenhamer.

Meal No. 1053: Ultimate Cream of Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

A pretty rapid repeat of a recent meal but too good to avoid the temptation:

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"Ultimate Cream of Tomato Soup," from Cook's Illustrated, November 1999. Recipe can also be found online at Cookography.com.

Meal No. 1052: Chicken Caesar Salad with Restored AC

This was dinner this evening, and it was really, really good. I'm glad it was a simple meal tonight because I had a frantic late afternoon combo of meeting with an engineer to look at the attic space at the same time I had to have Webb HVAC return because the downstairs system had shut itself down again. Not sure what's going on, completely, but the technician this time wanted to say it was simply all the dust from the renovation work in the house at present.