The Renovation

I’ve been avoiding the topic.  I’ve been posting about cheerful things – The Sound of Music, my birthday, ballparks I’ve visited.  But now it’s time for me to share the bad news.

I’m about to embark on a kitchen reno.

Anyone who knows me will remember that for years I’ve said I’d never renovate my kitchen.  I hate the thought of losing it, even for a few weeks.  I would move first.

That was before our cold water supply pipe developed a leak while we were on holidays this summer, and deposited a small pool of water on our kitchen floor.  If we were fixing the ceiling and the floor, we’d might as well change the countertop, right?  And from there, new cabinets practically suggested themselves.

On Monday morning, I’m losing most of my cupboards and the oven.  I’m ahead a few recipes, so I’ll be posting those over the next few weeks.  If the reno goes longer than expected, I’ll have to find a dessert recipe I can make in my crock pot. 

In the meantime, a few photos from our reno:

Change we expected to see:

The floor has been removed to the cabinets.
The rest will come out when the cabinets do, on Monday!

Change we did not expect to see:

This was not the result of a recipe gone wrong.

If the drywall guy loses his balance and falls on your stovetop, this is approximately what will happen.  Luckily for him, when he fell I was not thickening the cherries for this recipe.

Knowing that this was my last weekend to bake for a while, I wanted to make something that I love.  I could have gone with a lot of recipes, but when I saw the cherries in my freezer my search was over.  I knew I’d be making cherry cobbler.

Depending on our summer schedule, I freeze as many different kinds of fruit as I can. But the one kind I always freeze is cherries.  It’s partly because I love them, and partly because it’s impossible to buy frozen cherries.  If I run out of strawberries or blueberries in February, I can pick them up at the grocery store.  But if I run out of cherries, I’ll be waiting until the following July.  And I’ll be freezing cherries again next summer – assuming I make it through this reno.

Cherry cobbler, posed decoratively on packing paper.
Do I know how to stage a photo?

Sour Cherry Cobbler

(adapted from epicurious.com)

4 cups sour cherries, pitted

2 Tbsp cornstarch (if you’re using frozen cherries like me, you’ll need about 3 Tbsp)

2/3 cup sugar (first amount)

1/2 tsp almond extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp sugar (second amount)

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

6 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small bits

Combine the cherries, cornstarch, 2/3 cup of sugar and almond extract in a medium-sized pot.  Stir at medium heat until thickened.  Pour into a buttered 8” x 8” baking dish.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl stir together the flour, 2 Tbsp sugar, baking powder, salt and butter.  Add 1/3 cup boiling water, stirring until the batter is just combined.  Drop the batter by heaping tablespoons over the cherries and bake the cobbler in a preheated 350 degree over for 45 minutes, or until the top is golden.