Desire and salsa in a Minneapolis kitchen.
Please pay attention, we'll get to what your looking for.
But first we have to get lusty.
Know what I mean? You don't? Well, look it up, its one of the 7 deadly sins.
Lets pretend its a zest for the better things in life.
We're going to talk kitchen remodeling in a bit, but first we need a good salsa recipe, don't tell me you don't like garlic or cilantro, I don't care, the point is salsa, like life, is what you make it.
Lets get the recipe part out of the way.
Chips and Salsa Salsa is nothing more than vegetables chopped up into tiny pieces and mixed together, you can dip corn chips or bread or a spoon into it and let the explosion of its simple ingredients dance the Mamba across your taste buds.
Get a couple of tomatoes, half an onion, throw in some peppers, hot, medium or sweet, whatever you like.
Add a clove of garlic, a few teaspoons full of finely chopped fresh cilantro, juice of lemon or lime, salt and pepper to taste, and your done.
I like to add little chunks of mango or apple and I always eat it the day I make it, although it will be good tomorrow.
Whats the secret to great salsa? This! You take the time to chop the ingredients, you taste while making and you hit your sweet spot.
And how much of each? With me it's different every time, and it always comes out great.
So in essence the simple act of mixing the right stuff and taking some risk and letting yourself experiment allows you the pleasure of sharing a blast of taste with your friends or lover.
Sharing.
Watch your significant other cautiously dip the first chip, notice the awareness as they begin to experience flavors singly, and then watch as a wave of wow plays footsie with their tongue, now notice as the second chip dives deeper into the bowl and in their haste to surrender to the pleasure of this simple food the chip misses the mark and little sauce clings shyly to their cheek.
Reach over with a napkin and gently wipe the area clean.
Now is when you you grab the chips and salsa bowl, and without words, using the secret glances of an intimate couple glide gently over to the sofa and put Nights in Rodanthe in the player.
I like any movie with explosions, but no matter, sharing a bowl of spicy salsa with your partner is a simple and fun way to start the evening.
How about that remodeling part, kitchen remodeling that is.
In truth, except for some reasonable guidelines, kitchen remodeling is like salsa.
It can be simple, or you can really make it a lot of work.
Kitchens should be personal.
Chinese kitchens are very different than American kitchens, and a French kitchen is different than an English kitchen.
Greeks, Italians, Russians all do their own thing, but that's another story.
Lets talk American and cover a couple of regional kitchen remodel plans.
I live in Minnesota where the long cold winters define our kitchen designs.
Here in the land of ice and snow we serve something called hot dish.
A weird combination of comfort food generally overcooked and swimming in cheese.
If this were hell, it would probably be called cold dish.
Hot Dish is as Minnesotan as wearing your best fishing cap to a wedding, its a low key food and served everywhere by formidable women in well worn aprons who swing serving spoons with the fierceness and resolve of a Viking warrior sacking and pillaging a village of victims unable to defend themselves.
Minnesota hot dish can be good, its simple, you don't have to watch it much.
I don't like to look at it at all.
A Midwest kitchen then would be a comfort food kind of place, maybe evoking the simple charm and inviting warmth of a prairie home, a room right in from the back door where you got dressed in the morning by the friendly heat of Mom's wood fired stove.
Homework got done in the kitchen and Mom hung around with the neighbor and talked in guarded tones about things they didn't want you to hear.
Mom's Minnesota kitchen was a workshop that took the beating a busy stay at home lifestyle dished out.
Not very stylish and many times full of memories in the form of grandmas hand me down kitchen gadgets and old appliances you had to slam the door on to make them stay shut.
Times have changed, but Minnesota winters have not and today when considering the needs of an American family we still try for the old time look and inviting warmth of yesterdays happy memories with today's lifestyle demands.
But now we desire more.
Desire, as in a "Kitchen called Desire" can be anyone's kitchen.
Remodeling is an emotional purchase.
Homeowners want a beautiful kitchen that works well with the way the family chooses to live.
Nowadays that can be a traditional family, or not.
Children are moving back home, baby boomers are getting on in age and many single people share a home with other single people to cut expenses.
A good kitchen designer should be able to meet the needs of any homeowner.
That would include even odd couples.
Lets say Michael Jackson hooked up with Martha Stewart, the challenge with that couple might be a kitchen with an amusement park theme while still addressing the subtle details important to an obsessively festive party thrower, or what if Rush Limbaugh roomed with Al Franken, would you recommend a modern contemporary look or go with the Midwest sensibilities likely preferred by Al Franken, perhaps 2 prep areas would be needed, and seating would allow for both men to sit as far apart as possible while still allowing an unobstructed view to diminish the possibility of one stealing the food of the other.
How about Whoopi Goldberg sharing a kitchen with Paris Hilton, or Barney Frank and Dick Cheney, that kitchen would have to be large enough to keep the occupants from interfering with each others acutely different tastes.
Well you get my drift, I'm just having fun, the real message was the salsa, mix slowly, taste and share with someone you love.
If you make salsa in your kitchen you'll be way ahead of most people.
Paul Lesieur
Please pay attention, we'll get to what your looking for.
But first we have to get lusty.
Know what I mean? You don't? Well, look it up, its one of the 7 deadly sins.
Lets pretend its a zest for the better things in life.
We're going to talk kitchen remodeling in a bit, but first we need a good salsa recipe, don't tell me you don't like garlic or cilantro, I don't care, the point is salsa, like life, is what you make it.
Lets get the recipe part out of the way.
Chips and Salsa Salsa is nothing more than vegetables chopped up into tiny pieces and mixed together, you can dip corn chips or bread or a spoon into it and let the explosion of its simple ingredients dance the Mamba across your taste buds.
Get a couple of tomatoes, half an onion, throw in some peppers, hot, medium or sweet, whatever you like.
Add a clove of garlic, a few teaspoons full of finely chopped fresh cilantro, juice of lemon or lime, salt and pepper to taste, and your done.
I like to add little chunks of mango or apple and I always eat it the day I make it, although it will be good tomorrow.
Whats the secret to great salsa? This! You take the time to chop the ingredients, you taste while making and you hit your sweet spot.
And how much of each? With me it's different every time, and it always comes out great.
So in essence the simple act of mixing the right stuff and taking some risk and letting yourself experiment allows you the pleasure of sharing a blast of taste with your friends or lover.
Sharing.
Watch your significant other cautiously dip the first chip, notice the awareness as they begin to experience flavors singly, and then watch as a wave of wow plays footsie with their tongue, now notice as the second chip dives deeper into the bowl and in their haste to surrender to the pleasure of this simple food the chip misses the mark and little sauce clings shyly to their cheek.
Reach over with a napkin and gently wipe the area clean.
Now is when you you grab the chips and salsa bowl, and without words, using the secret glances of an intimate couple glide gently over to the sofa and put Nights in Rodanthe in the player.
I like any movie with explosions, but no matter, sharing a bowl of spicy salsa with your partner is a simple and fun way to start the evening.
How about that remodeling part, kitchen remodeling that is.
In truth, except for some reasonable guidelines, kitchen remodeling is like salsa.
It can be simple, or you can really make it a lot of work.
Kitchens should be personal.
Chinese kitchens are very different than American kitchens, and a French kitchen is different than an English kitchen.
Greeks, Italians, Russians all do their own thing, but that's another story.
Lets talk American and cover a couple of regional kitchen remodel plans.
I live in Minnesota where the long cold winters define our kitchen designs.
Here in the land of ice and snow we serve something called hot dish.
A weird combination of comfort food generally overcooked and swimming in cheese.
If this were hell, it would probably be called cold dish.
Hot Dish is as Minnesotan as wearing your best fishing cap to a wedding, its a low key food and served everywhere by formidable women in well worn aprons who swing serving spoons with the fierceness and resolve of a Viking warrior sacking and pillaging a village of victims unable to defend themselves.
Minnesota hot dish can be good, its simple, you don't have to watch it much.
I don't like to look at it at all.
A Midwest kitchen then would be a comfort food kind of place, maybe evoking the simple charm and inviting warmth of a prairie home, a room right in from the back door where you got dressed in the morning by the friendly heat of Mom's wood fired stove.
Homework got done in the kitchen and Mom hung around with the neighbor and talked in guarded tones about things they didn't want you to hear.
Mom's Minnesota kitchen was a workshop that took the beating a busy stay at home lifestyle dished out.
Not very stylish and many times full of memories in the form of grandmas hand me down kitchen gadgets and old appliances you had to slam the door on to make them stay shut.
Times have changed, but Minnesota winters have not and today when considering the needs of an American family we still try for the old time look and inviting warmth of yesterdays happy memories with today's lifestyle demands.
But now we desire more.
Desire, as in a "Kitchen called Desire" can be anyone's kitchen.
Remodeling is an emotional purchase.
Homeowners want a beautiful kitchen that works well with the way the family chooses to live.
Nowadays that can be a traditional family, or not.
Children are moving back home, baby boomers are getting on in age and many single people share a home with other single people to cut expenses.
A good kitchen designer should be able to meet the needs of any homeowner.
That would include even odd couples.
Lets say Michael Jackson hooked up with Martha Stewart, the challenge with that couple might be a kitchen with an amusement park theme while still addressing the subtle details important to an obsessively festive party thrower, or what if Rush Limbaugh roomed with Al Franken, would you recommend a modern contemporary look or go with the Midwest sensibilities likely preferred by Al Franken, perhaps 2 prep areas would be needed, and seating would allow for both men to sit as far apart as possible while still allowing an unobstructed view to diminish the possibility of one stealing the food of the other.
How about Whoopi Goldberg sharing a kitchen with Paris Hilton, or Barney Frank and Dick Cheney, that kitchen would have to be large enough to keep the occupants from interfering with each others acutely different tastes.
Well you get my drift, I'm just having fun, the real message was the salsa, mix slowly, taste and share with someone you love.
If you make salsa in your kitchen you'll be way ahead of most people.
Paul Lesieur