(no subject)

[pensnest]

We had a kitchen designer round yesterday, which was a very interesting experience.

We'd previously had a plan drawn up at John Lewis, and another one done (more recently) with Wren Kitchens. Well, in both of those cases, we designed the layout and told the rep what we wanted, and really what they did was to slot in appropriate units for the design and tell us how much it would cost.

This was different. Our visitor asked all sorts of interesting questions about our (my!) cooking habits, like, what is the smelliest thing you cook, what's the point at which you stop plating meals and start putting them out in serving dishes, do you like other people helping in the kitchen, do you 'blue smoke', how often do you grill.... Awesome stuff, actually, and I think it is going to result in a kitchen design (or two) that will be far more geared towards what we actually need than towards what they can sell us. Well, naturally they want to sell us stuff, but we loved the sales pitch.

I just hope we can afford it!

*

Today, the Chocolate Festival! A room full of stalls offering high class, low volume, often locally made chocolates. Lots of tiny tastes. I didn't want to break my "I don't buy chocolate for myself" rule, but really, really wanted some of these, so my most excellent Beast bought a box for us to share. It turns out to be from a company that supports an autism charity, which pleases me. And the chocolates are, so far, very good indeed. We also had a drink of hot chocolate: mine was 'cinnamon and rose', and really tasty. I don't know that I can deal with the rose element, but I must remember to cinnamonise my hot chocolate in future. Hmm, I do have some rose sugar...

The Food and Wine Festival was a wee bit disappointing, by contrast. I did have a truly wonderful cup of chai, filled with flavour, but there was nowhere near as much there as I had expected. Unless we somehow managed not to notice the bulk of the stalls? There was an unexpected collection of cosplayers gathering beneath a mighty tree—I *think* they were video games themed, though I'm not sure.

Beast went home after our first pass, so I went back to the Chocolate Festival to buy some Christmas presents, and pottered about a bit—bought a hat (as you do) and some local cheese and made my way home, by which time he was playing WoW.

Tomorrow I have a Barbershop Day. I'm a bit wary, but it should be okay.

Comments

[rikes]

Fingers crossed that the kitchen design turns out well - even if you can't afford it, you might get some new ideas!

The Chocolate Festival sounds like a fantastic event.

[pensnest]

Even before she left she had suggested a couple of things we hadn't thought of, and which I like, so I have high hopes for the actual plans.

The chocolate festival was a *lot* of goodness crammed into just one room!

[turlough]

That sounds like a very educational experience. Good luck with the remodeling!

I must remember to try cinammon in my hot chocolate.

[pensnest]

It's going to be *hideous* for quite a while next year, but *fingers crossed* should be worth the pain. My house will have the kitchen it deserves and enough bathrooms to go round.

[turlough]

Now I'm imagining your new kitchen surrounded by bathrooms :-)

[frausorge]

Ooh, that sounds like a very well-versed planner. I hope they come up with a great design for you!

[pensnest]

It was really interesting - she didn't ask any of the questions I'd expected, or hardly any; but she was delightfully excited about the room we were in, which was fun. I'm looking forward to see what she suggests.

[chalcopyrite]

That kitchen planning sounds very exciting and interesting! And actually geared towards how you use your kitchen, which is nice. :)

The Chocolate Festival sounds delicious!

[pensnest]

It makes perfect sense to work out a kitchen plan according to how I cook, but I hadn't really thought of it in that light before. We'd worked out a layout for ourselves, but I think hers may win—I hope so!

Ah, chocolate! Little tiny free portions of tasty things, like a Rose and Cardamom piece, and some excellent gluten free, dairy free chocolate that managed to taste just as chocolate should.

[sperrywink]

Good luck with the kitchen designer.
They can be very useful at times, if you get a good one.

[pensnest]

It was a very interesting experience, because she was finding out *how* I like to cook (I am apparently an unsociable cook, in that I prefer my minions to be over *there*, not right *here*). I do hope she comes up with some good layouts!