My friends joke with me, they say that the cart is perpetually 2 weeks from being done. I know I wrote a few weeks ago… or a few months ago that the cart was done and finished. Well, it’s not true. I’m now working on hanging the shutters. This is a jig for cutting the hinge mortises.
Oh jeez, everything is taking so long in finishing up the cart. I built a handwashing sink that will go between the two ovens. That took quite awhile. In the photo you can see the shutters. That’s really all that’s left to do, to hang them, stain them, and make some sort of locking mechanism. I’m very tired of building, building, and building. I want to cook.
My goodness, I never thought this would happen. Everything is in place, no gas leaks, the water only leaks in small and controlled quantities, but it’s ready to go. Of course the first thing I wanted to do in it was to cook. Me and Kate made 225 cupcakes and 50 mini sandwiches for the Betties 360 benefit gala. It was like a dream, I couldn’t believe I was actually using the kitchen. Kate seemed a little less shocked. ‘I’ve seen it being built and I just assume that when you install a sink it works like a sink.’ She did however think it was remarkably spacious for such a tiny space. We didn’t get in each others way in the slightest.
Today was a continuation of the last two days. During the dissasembly of the Vulcan stove I had to saw and remove a small pressure ring. To aquire a replacement ring proved somewhat difficult. I called 10 supply companies. The official Vulcan service company in Portland did not have the part, neither did RSK, Winks, the corner hardware store, Standard Supply, etc.. I finally found the odd sized brass compression ring at Napa auto parts. So anyway, all the equipment is hooked up.
While out I met Suzanne for lunch and a friend of hers stopped by. He has some interesting pursuits. He grows spirulina, which is a type of algae, in large fishtanks in his back yard. He cultures it in a water saturated with baking soda as the main nutrient. Several dozens gallons of incubation capacity yields a harvest of 2 oz. I’m not sure how often he is able to reap this quantity. He processes it into a tasteless green paste which is ‘reputedly’ very healthy. He was an interesting guy, in town from San Francisco. He seemed quite knowledgeable about chemistry and molecular organization. He grows coca leaf and extracts cocaine in small quantities, as a hobby. He makes little cubes of sugar, tea extract, and lightly processed, presumably organic cocaine which you suck on for a little energy boost late in the day. He’s like someone out of a Phillip K Dick novel!
Michael, a co-owner of Anisha, where Kate works, and his brother are building a cart from scratch, much in the same manner which I have done. Custom trailer bed, 2×4 stud walls, a pitched roof with shingles, and a full little kitchen in a 7 by 16 foot space. They will make Polish dumplings and serve ionized water to the New Seasons shoppers across the street.
Hunting around in the New Seasons for lunch, Suzanne pointed me to the truffle box. The beef and cheese caught my attention, but the espresso was the real winner, made with Joel’s coffee.