The History... part whatever…the Renovations

On New Year's Eve we cooked a full Christmas dinner for ourselves and Robin and Beth (my brother and sister-in-law). This is the first major bit of catering we've done in our new kitchen. We've been trying to get our kitchen and bathroom replaced (floors, ceilings, bathroom window and all) for the past 2 years. We finally found someone who would give us a quote, and the work has been done (by and large). Everyone who came was excellent; we only had a couple of days in which no work took place. The bathroom is now a lot smaller, with a 'utility box' between it and the kitchen. We have a range style cooker with 2 ovens and 7 burners (great for full roast meals). We have cupboards. We have doors! We have space! Eleanor enjoys being able to come into the kitchen and sit in the middle of the floor. And Paul and I enjoy getting back to real food. We had five weeks of microwave meals (when we could get at the microwave), baltis, inviting ourselves to friends’ houses, and eating at the pub across the road. We realised it'd been going on too long when Eleanor started walking down the road saying 'hooray pub!' and pointing out pubs on the way home from nursery. The work was all completed the week I had my diagnosis, so we didn't really feel like opening the saved bottle of champagne. And we won't be having the 'kitchen warming party' we had been planning - or at least not yet.