Solving The "Puzzle," First Passover in New Kitchen

Without a doubt, I am extraordinary pleased with the relative ease I had switching my new kitchen into Passover mode, setting it up for Pesach. Even though I made no real/expense effort to plan/build cabinets special for Passover, there ended up being quite a bit of easy to reach/no need to switch cabinets. 

One of the reasons I didn't want to spend extra is because we're not getting any older--meaning that not only don't I host humongous s'darim anymore but even ad meah esrim-we don't have too many left. But that's also a reason to make the Passover switch easier. Yes, that doesn't make sense completely, but we managed to pull it off. And, no, I didn't hire a kitchen planner. Our son-in-law and I planned the kitchen, with one super brilliant tweak by the guy who was hired to be in charge of and do the shuiputz, renovation.

Our kitchen isn't all that big, but it's not small either. My priorities when planning were to have room for two standard Israeli ovens and two separate full-sized sinks. And I have them.

The dairy sink is an "island," and instead of an eating counter, there are closets underneath facing the dining room table. Those closets are full, actually were partially empty, of dairy and parve Passover dishes, pots, etc. They've been empty enough for me to have stored all sorts of Passover pantry items as we purchased them. That was convenient. 

We didn't need to to much switching. I had plenty of room in the big storage drawers to add my mugs and coffee paraphernalia. Then I cleaned and covered the shelves, filling them with Passover mugs, dairy dishes, etc. The only major cabinet switch was for the meat dishes. My husband was able to climb up for that after I emptied, cleaned and covered the shelves. 

My biggest challenge was covering the counters. I was overjoyed to discover that the "oil cloth" I had bought a couple of years ago was more than sufficient to cover all. Cutting to fit required a lot of brain power, engineering skills. I'm very proud that I pulled it off. Here are some photos.

Tonight is the Pesach/Passover Seder, Gd willing, and it is also Shabbat. Blessings and Joy to All.

Shabbat Shalom

Chag Kasher v'Sameach

May You have a Peaceful Shabbat and Joyful and Kosher Passover

Is There a "Jetlag Special?"

Last night I didn't get enough sleep. That happens a lot after Shabbat, especially in the summer when I've dozed off a bit too much in the long lazy afternoons. My body doesn't need tons of sleep, so my brain just refuses to turn itself off at a normal hour. I then get up in the morning feeling awfully jetlagged.  Think about it, Jetlag sans the expense of a flight abroad.

Last night was one of those nights. As we Gd willing draw to the end of My New Kitchen Saga and all the added stress it involves, falling asleep is even more difficult than usual.

awfully early
didn't sleep enough last night
coffee to rescue
#morningcoffeehaiku

To add to the kitchen renovation stress syndrom, when we arrived home last night I discovered that the freezer door had been left slightly open over at least 30 hours. Thankfully the food was still cold,  B"H. But it took until I woke up in the morning for me to see signs that things were refreezing.

Gd willing I'll be off extra early to the pool, in order to be home for the kitchen workers.

I once requested a "jetlag special."