Surviving a Kitchen Renovation, Part II

How goes the renovation you ask? If I had to pick one word to describe it, I’d choose: unpredictable. We stripped everything out of the old kitchen on Saturday, took the room down to studs. Which means, of course, that we have to redo everything that we demolished. Wiring, plumbing, insulation, new windows, a bit of framing, sheetrock, and paint, in addition to refinishing the hardwood floors throughout the downstairs, before the new cabinets and appliances go in. And by we, I mean my husband and I, with, when we’re lucky, the help of friends. We figured we had at least two solid weeks (read: weekends) to make headway before the new cabinets arrived. Not so. They are showing up today.

Wahhhhhhh!

That’s me crying, by the way. What in the world am I supposed to do with the new cabinets? If you read the previous post, you know that we are also without a living room, as we are redoing the sheetrock and flooring in that room. The rest of the house is filled with living room furniture and makeshift kitchen stations. There is no room. What are we going to do? I have no clue. To be honest, I’m ignoring the dilemma. It could be worse, however. The cabinets could have arrived while the hardwood floors were curing. We must always be thankful for something, you know it?

In the meantime, I’m adjusting to life without a real kitchen. I have my old island set up in a bedroom which I’m using for all prep work. It’s only been five days, so I haven’t cooked a whole lot, but my husband did make waffles, and Tuesday night, I made Grilled Vegetable Bruschetta. I have to say again that this dish is so freaking good. My husband and I love it. It was a perfect meal for a cold, rainy day trying to survive a construction warzone. We pigged out, quickly running out of grilled vegetables.

With the leftover bread and pesto, I discovered my new favorite snack—Pesto Bruschetta. It’s simple, easy, tasty, and hearty. Here’s how you make it.