Assembly of the IKEA Kitchen…..With Fish and Chips on the side.

  So the big project for today was to assemble the final pieces of the kitchen and call that room good.   Or at the very least,  “mostly” finished.  The final parts to this puzzle are the kitchen table and the two red benches that Cheryl selected to go with it.   Add in the Rolley Cart for me to cut and cook with and the final picture would be complete.

First:    Clean the floor.   This is a bitter lesson we learned the hard way when we assembled our anniversary table.  We had a EVER so Small of a pebble on the carpet.   The result:  A HUGE!  HUGE!    Scratch across the very top middle of the table.   Ruined RUINED it  for EVER!   With that lesson fresh in our head…..Cheryl vacuums the floor. 

Next: Since the kitchen is the largest room to assemble things in,  AND it is the only room with the most current floor space;   We decide to assemble the benches first.   Solid wood construction,  the screws are a bit more of a challenge to go in compared to the other shelving units.   In the end,  Everything works out  pretty painless with no scratches or hiccups to mention.   

Then the table…..Even easier than the benches,  it consists of a top and 4 legs.   EASY!   The hardest thing about it was getting it out of the box and …DISPITE my BEST EFFORTS,  ( see story above)  we ALMOST had a repeat with a stray screw on the carpet rug as I was about to slide it to a better position.  Luckily, Cheryls “Eagle Eye”  Caught the near fatal flaw and warned me in time.  She was nice enough to remind me about how dense I can be.   I guess i would rather hear it from her than have to live with ANOTHER RUINED TABLE TOP!   Perhaps I am my own worst critic.  I HATE that even after taking all those precautions,  a stray screw or piece of cat little can still mess up your item randomly.

 

  In the end, It all worked out!   The benches and table fit nicely inside the designated area.  I did have my doubts at first.   I thought the set would be too large for the small section and we would be having to cram it into the corner more.   As it turns out,  everything fits together nicely.

 

   After lunch,  we worked on the rolley cart.  It was a little more of a challenge and I managed to cut myself in the process,  but in the end,  it fits in its designated space perfectly as well.  I even used it to cook out first meal in the new Kitchen.

Which brings me to the last part.   FOOD!  What better way to check out the arrangement than to actually cook something and eat in the finished room?   It’s a great way to get a “feel” for things while enjoying the flavors and conversation with that special someone.     Tonight,  we had Deep fried Beer Battered Halibut with Calamari, Shrimp, and French Fries.  With dessert being a blueberry tart ( also from IKEA!) and beer.  Speaking of beer!   In addition to the usual Honey Brown and Sapporo, we tried that two hearted ale once again.   Ironically, the fried foods brought out the different notes in the flavor MORE than the cheese and fruits the previous night.  The Aroma was still awesome but you could actually taste the Pineapple and Pear flavors that were only hinted by the smells.  I guess it goes to show that foods DO make a difference when drinking special beers.  I wonder how it would taste with a hotdog or pizza?  No matter, As mentioned in the previous posting, it IS STILL a GOOD beer.   I now at least know what to have it with to enjoy it to the fullest.    Or at least a little more than simply by its self.  

Hope everyone is having a great weekend so far.   It was a really nice day here in Iowa today.  Cheryl and I walked the long loop with just our summer jackets on.   I hope we continue to get these pleasant days in the future with no wind to mess things up.  Here’s to a brighter future!   Enjoy!