Hello everyone! It’s been almost 3 months since the last post… Things in Our Bear House have been progressing!
Updates:
– Tim began his new journey as a health inspector! He has been regaling me with tales of infestations, food violations, and surprisingly clean eateries! (Tip: the cleanest places to eat are chain restaurants!)
– Sara is finally starting clinicals for school! Sports physicals and yearly check-ups, here I come!
Nguyen Family Christmas at Ben and Jane’s:
This year, we had our Nguyen Family Christmas at Ben and Jane’s house! It was a great time and our Annual White Elephant (theme: snacks!) was so much fun. Never mind the part where I stole a box of lychee from a 2-year old..
Momma’s birthday:
Our family dinner at her favorite teppanyaki place! They made her wear a sumo hat!
Soda Springs Tahoe Trip 2019:
This winter the rain has been in abundance and the snow in Tahoe has been choice! We were able to get away on MLK, Jr. Weekend to enjoy a few days in the snow. It was a veritable blizzard on Sunday, but we had a great time!
Casey in the snow for scale
Serene Lakes all covered with snow!
Winnie was less a fan of the snow than Charlie..
Charlie LOVES the snow!!
Royal Gorge Cross Country Ski Resort
Brothers!
The day after the storm
Val’s 70th Birthday:
It was also my MIL’s 70th birthday! We did a quick weekend road trip to NorCal to spend time with Tim’s family. It was such a nice time and really great that Tim got to spend time with his family! All this recent rain really made the drive home down the 5 freeway pleasant and interesting. It just flew by!
Surprise dinner at the Boca Tavern
The 5 freeway never looked so green!
You can see rain in the distance!
Bear Garden Update:
A few weeks ago we had some potatoes in our pantry that oversprouted and since our planter box has been empty all winter, I asked Tim to stick some of the potatoes in the soil. They were looking rather alien. This is the result three weeks later!
They are growing in an odd pattern..
And that’s it! Some brief updates, but hopefully everyone is having a great start to the new year. Yesterday was the Lunar New Year of the Pig, so chức mừng năm mới and gung hay fat choy!
Being the wife of a vegetarian, one of the easiest things that I do at the beginning of the week is make air fryer tofu. This is something that I utilize in almost every single Asian dish that I make for Tim, and it only requires TWO ingredients–canola oil cooking spray and fresh tofu! It is super easy to throw this into a stir-fry, put it as a meat substitute in soup dishes (i.e. phở, bún bò huế), use it in noodle dishes (i.e. bún bò xao, pad see ewe), or literally any dish that uses fried tofu or needs a meat substitute.
I would love to say that I use the air fryer for healthy reasons, but the REAL reason I use it for frying tofu is that air fryer tofu doesn’t create the mess that deep fried tofu does. If you’ve ever fried tofu, it is a HUGE mess. Not to mention the amount of oil used and having to actually dispose of the oil once you’re finished.
I use the Simple Chef Air Fryer from Amazon, but you can really use any air fryer. I like this one because it is fairly simple–there are only two dials, one for temperature and one for time.
The other important thing to note is to use the right tofu for frying!! Whether you are air frying or deep frying, the best tofu to use is the loaf of tofu sold in Asian markets (or as I like to call it, loafu). The Kitchn has a pretty good article on the difference between types of tofu, but what it boils down to is that the firmer the tofu, the less water it has. So if you want to fry tofu, use something along the lines of extra-firm or super-firm. The loafu from the Asian market is more extra-firm, meaning you don’t have to press any water out of it and it is immediately FRY-READY!
The brand I prefer to use is Tân Nam Tofu, made in Rosemead, CA and sold in many larger Southern California Chinese/Vietnamese markets. But it all depends on what is available to you! This tofu is made fresh and packaged in plastic wrap with water. I have noticed that this fresh tofu does tend to spoil quicker–usually good for at least 2 days, but past that is pushing it–so the sooner you fry it, the longer it will last (at least a week and oftentimes more).
Instructions:
Preheat your air fryer to 375 degrees (or around there if yours is not precise with the temperature).
Cut the tofu into about 1/2-inch slices. Spray your air fryer with cooking oil spray (you only have to do this once!).
Place in a single row (if you have to overlap, try to put only a few slices on top but between the cracks of the first layer so you can get the best airflow). Spray the top of the tofu with cooking oil spray.
Before frying
Let it cook for 10 minutes on one side. Because cooking times may vary between air fryers, this is what mine looked like after 10 minutes. If it’s not completely done on one side, that’s okay, because it will still be cooking when you flip it!
After frying for 10 minutes
Flip it over and let it cook for another 10 minutes.
After frying for 10 more minutes (20 minutes total)
DONE!! If you are worried that your tofu is a little bit pale, don’t worry! It will get a tad bit darker after it is out of the fryer. If you plan to continue frying, no need to spray the air fryer with more oil, just place the un-oiled tofu slices directly in the air fryer (there is enough oil without more spray), and only spray the top side of the next batch.
The final step is to cut it into whatever size you need it for–here, I air fried two tofu loaves and cut 70% into shorter strips for stir-fry and soup dishes and the other 30% in longer strips for making Vietnamese spring rolls. Like I said earlier, this will keep for a week minimum if not a few days past that.
Final thoughts:
This recipe is not the most revolutionary, BUT the important thing to note here is that frying tasty tofu in the air fryer CAN be done in a non-messy, non-greasy way. You can see that although the air fried tofu did not get quite the same poofy airiness that deep fried tofu might get, it still has a good deal of fluffiness and bubbles in the tofu.
And as an added plus, you can have this ready all week for when you want fried tofu to throw into a recipe without going to the hassle of frying it yourself or buying some from the store. And you can rest assured that it is certainly a lot less bad for you than deep fried tofu!
I picked up some 4/4 rough cumaru (aka Brazilian teak) on sale at my local hardwood lumberyard a couple years ago and I finally found a fun use for it. I made a series of simple cutting boards for family and friends. This little project is all about bringing out the beauty of rough lumber.
Branded cumaru cutting board
First, I cut the lumber to its approximate final dimensions using my miter saw and table saw. This cutting board ended up being about 10 inches by 14 inches.
DeWalt DWS779 rough cutting 4/4 cumaru
Table saw (Jet JTAS-10-3) crosscut sled
The project’s width was limited to 10” due to my jointer’s capacity. I own an INCA 510 combination jointer/planer. These days, you can only find these machines in used condition because the company, INCA, no longer exists. This tool was likely built in Switzerland in the 1980s.
INCA 510 (343.190.01) with single phase Dayton 1-1/2 hp motor
1980’s INCA equipped with the original mobile table
10-1/4 inch jointer and planer capacity. Check out that nifty articulating blade guard.
The 10 ¼ inch capacity on the jointer is one of my favorite features of this tool. After passing one side over the jointer to check flatness, I placed the board jointed side down on my table saw cast iron to see if it sat perfectly flat. If I detected any sort of wobble, I sent it back to the jointer for another pass. Once I established flatness on one side, I placed the flat side down on the planer bed to plane the other side. I sent it through several times taking care not to overload my INCA. The end result is a ¾ inch thick board that has equal thickness throughout.
To take all the sharp edges off, I gave the cutting board a 1/8 inch round-over on my router table.
Temporary shop built router table with 1/8 inch round-over bit
Bosch 1617EVSPK 2-1/4 hp router
I sanded the cumaru first with 150 then with 220. There were minor imperfections with the edge routing that were easily sanded out. My planer leaves minimal snipe, so I’m comfortable cutting the work piece to final dimensions before planning. If there is snipe present, it’s nearly invisible and easily sanded out.
DeWalt DWE6421 random orbital sander and down-draft table setup.
Finally, I branded the cutting board with my custom branding iron and applied some butcher-block oil.
Custom branding iron
Another shot of the cumaru cutting board
Love the grain
This is hardwood is extremely dense and heavy. Part of the reason I love this wood is that the board sits stationary on the countertop during chopping even though has no “feet.” I originally had concerns with silica content of this hardwood, making it a poorer choice for a cutting board due to knife dulling, but after some trial by family and friends, we found that the character of the wood has little to no dulling effect.
It’s been a while since our last update–things in the Bear House have been trucking along as usual! It’s been a little busy the last two months, mostly due to work and school that have been keeping us busy. Tim just recently got hired for a new position with the county, and studying for my MSN degree has been keeping me busy as well.
We were able to take a little vacation at the end of September–which we were considering to be a belated first wedding anniversary trip–to a location I have been dreaming about for a while now. I snagged us some fairly priced tickets from Ontario Airport to Calgary, and we were off to Banff and Jasper National Parks!
Some tips:
To start, I purchased this Moon Travel Guide of the Canadian Rockies from Amazon, and basically came up with a general itinerary with a bit of leeway for other sightseeing opportunities along the way. This is my second book by Moon, the first being the Alaska Travel Guide of Anchorage, Denali, and the Kenai Peninsula I used for our trip earlier this year to Fairbanks, AK.
I also rented a car in advance through Costco Travel, since I find that to be the most economical and trustiest way to book rental cars pretty much everywhere. You don’t have to put any down payment and there are completely free cancellations.
If you use the Costco Citivisa card (as of writing this), international rentals are covered by insurance from the credit card as long as you decline the rental companies insurance. But always be sure to double check your credit card so you can avoid those extra fees.
Everywhere we went accepted credit cards (make sure you have a credit card that doesn’t charge you international fees or else you might be paying a 3% fee for every transaction), so we didn’t have any need to exchange any USD for CAD.
So without any further ado, here is our road trip adventure from Calgary, Alberta, Canada to Banff National Park all the way up to Jasper National Park. This was probably one of the most beautiful and scenic drives I have ever been on, and one of my more favorite road trips!
Calgary, AB, to Canmore, AB
We flew into Calgary, AB, around 5 PM, picked up our rental, and decided we wanted to head straight into Canmore, the location of our AirBNB for our first couple nights. The drive was pretty straightforward, and we made a quick stop at the Hamptons Co-op on the way out. If you’ve never been to a co-op, they are basically stores that supported by not just sales, but also by members of the co-operative association to bring affordable prices to its members. They are great places to stock up on food, snacks, and anything that you might get anywhere else at good prices.
It was a very overcast and chilly day, sometime not uncommon to Canada in the autumn (or so I’m told!).
Tim walking into the Co-op
So clean!
The drive into Canmore was about 70 minutes, most of it through fairly flat farmland on impeccable highway roads.
The clouds were lying low as we drove in, so we didn’t get a true grasp of the majesty of the Canadian Rockies until the third day of our stay. Canmore itself is a little town that sits about 15 minutes away from the entrance of Banff, so it is a great place to stay if you don’t want to pay premium prices for a hotel stay–but even then, the AirBNB prices for a shoulder season stay were about $175/night (pretty pricey for not being a hotel).
It had been raining the night before, and when we woke up, we were shocked to find that it had snowed overnight and dusted everything!
Our trusty little Chevy Cruze that we really enjoyed!
After a quick breakfast at the Summit Cafe, we headed up Trans-Canada Highway 1 to the entrance of Banff National Park. We ended up paying each day for the cost of two adults (or one car with more than one adult), since a season pass didn’t make sense for our brief trip.
I got the breakfast burrito, but strangely they melted mozzarella on top to make a sort of strange Italian-flavored burrito
After taking a turn onto the Bow Valley Parkway for the scenic route, we headed to Johnston Canyon Falls for our first hike. Funnily enough, because it was so cloudy, we had NO idea what the mountains were like around us on the parkway. We would realize what it was like the following day when the clouds lifted, but it was pretty cloudy that day.
Where are all the mountains?
When we got there around 9 AM-ish, the two parking lots both had quite a few spaces, but when we left, people were circling the lot like vultures. Make sure to arrive early because this seems like quite a popular hike.
The hike is a paved trail that meanders alongside Johnston Creek and at points becomes a metal catwalk that takes you right up against the canyon and hangs over some parts of the creek. The Lower Falls are about 0.6 km up, and the Upper Falls are another 1.6 km past. Past the Upper Falls are the Ink Pots (which we actually didn’t make it to, since we were a bit wet from forgetting our umbrella). This hike actually reminded me a lot of the Narrows in Zion National Park, Utah.
Tim by the creek
Lower Johnston Falls
After we finished up at Johnston Canyon, we continued driving along the Bow Valley Parkway with our destination of Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. I had heard that both of these were HUGE tourist destinations and that the parking situation was somewhat of a disaster. We wanted to try and see both of the lakes, and since we were prepared for difficult parking and also difficult weather, we were willing to make as many attempts as possible to see the lakes in all their glory.
Stopped along the parkway–the sun started to come out!
The entire drive I had my eyes peeled for any sort of wildlife–after being denied a bear sighting in AK, I was prepared for this drive! However, the most we saw driving to Lake Louise (this day) on the parkway were some mule deer walking on the side of a hill.
Lake Louise – Attempt #1
Lake Louise has 3 different parking lots on the way up–there is an overflow a couple miles down that you turn left on right after this sign, but if you continue up the mountain, there is first an overflow parking lot on the right, and then you continue up to the chateau, and there is another lot you drive through, and then a final lot at the top. (I wrote all of this from memory–can you tell we went to Lake Louise a few times?)
We were able to snag a perfect parking spot in the top lot, and eagerly racing down to the lakeshore, we were meet with this glorious view…
If you’ve ever seen Instagram pictures of Lake Louise, all I could say was, “huh????” As it so happens, it gets pretty cloudy up on the lake. We walked around the lakeshore a bit, checked out the inside of the Fairmont Hotel (very lakeside lodge-esque with a huge fireplace, wood trimmings, and antlers abounding), and then ending up deciding to leave and try again another day when the fog had lifted.
The road to Moraine Lake is to the left of the Lake Louise road, and 75% of the time (probably more) it seemed to be closed/full. The traffic control in Banff was well-staffed and very regulated.
We ended up taking the TCH-1 back to the town of Banff to check out things there rather than the parkway. First stop in town: Vermilion Lakes!
It was a very pleasant lakeside drive (you could walk it to), and we ended up taking our time and pulling over just to enjoy the scenery and crisp fall air.
You can just barely make out the mountains behind the clouds
Driving into Banff, of course there was a giant BANFF sign.. Also to note, one of the best purchases camera-related I’ve made this year was the purchase of this tripod from Amazon. It is only $20, and has been surprisingly sturdy through several trips and has all kinds of features that I keep discovering! So if you don’t have a tripod yet, this is a great one for the casual photographer.
Next stop was the Cave and Basin, a rather underwhelming tourist trap that is an historic site and the birthplace of Banff National Park and the Canadian National Parks system. It is the location of a hot springs that had a bathhouse built on it, and then ended up being made into a historic site. It had a cool video in this large structure that was the actual bathhouse building about the history of Canadian National Parks, but overall, I would probably have skipped this.
Pool inside the site that was the original hot spring pool
Behind the bathhouse building is another part of the hot spring. Endangered snails live in the water and thrive in the mineral-rich conditions.
After this, we continued our drive through Banff town and ended up at Bow Falls, a waterfall that sits below the Banff Fairmont Hotel. There is a parking lot directly adjacent to the shore of the Bow River that you can get some quite nice views of both the falls and downriver.
Bow Falls in the background… You can bet it took a few tries to get a picture without Chinese tourists taking selfies behind us..
My favorite model! He had to pose so I could try out different camera settings =P
After Bow Falls, we were pretty exhausted, so we decided to go home to Canmore and relax the rest of the night. We got back to Canmore (from Banff town, it was maybe a 30 minute drive back to Canmore), Tim went for a run around Cougar Creek, and then we went out to dinner. We stopped at Green Chili Indian Cuisine for dinner, and it was probably some of the better Indian food I’ve had in my life, but was also probably some of the priciest I’ve had. I found on this trip that a lot of the places really did charge a touristy amount for food, and even outside of Banff, you couldn’t really escape it. Either way, it was delicious!
Icefields Parkway (Drive to Jasper National Park)
The next day, we woke up early, packed up our stuff, and started the journey from Canmore to Jasper. The straight drive without stopping was 2.5 hours to Jasper, and then to Hinton (our hotel location) was another 45 minutes. In total, maybe a little less than 230 kilometers or a little less than 150 miles.
When we left the AirBNB, we were in for the surprise of our life! All around us, the Canadian Rockies rose up. I had NO idea how beautiful of a place we were in until the sun came out and the clouds blew away–which incidentally was perfect weather for our drive us, since this is purportedly the most beautiful drive in Canada.
This was just the highway on-ramp!!
The Moon tour book does an excellent job of narrating the entire Icefields Parkway drive from Banff to Jasper, and we essentially followed that and did a pick-and-choose of sights we wanted to see. The entire drive has 13 viewpoints, multiple trails, and so many glaciers along the way (if you’re a glacier aficionado like Tim).
Stop #1: Herbert Lake
Funny enough, none of my pictures of Herbert Lake turned out well, especially since the sun was directly behind the lake. But you’ll have to take my word for it that it was nice. A very quiet little glacial lake with a nice little thicket around it.
Stop #2: Hector Lake Viewpoint
Something about the way the clouds obscure the tops of the mountains was a little magical. The peaks would fade in and out of view as we drove, and it was also so surprising to see that the mountain never ended where we thought it did but was often times much higher.
Stop #3: Bow Summit and Peyto Lake
The water in the Canadian Rockies is this unnaturally turquoise color which comes from the glacial silt in the water and the way it refracts the light. It makes this really strangely ethereal color that is so breathtaking you wonder why no one has ever told you that it really IS that blue and it really IS that beautiful (also that it’s not a filter!).
Potential Christmas card contender..
Peyto Lake Viewpoint – about a 1-mile trek on a paved walkway to a magnificent viewpoint (albeit a tad crowded)
Stop #4: Peyto Lake – Trail to Shore
We decided to take an unmarked hike (from the Moon book) off of the parkway that was about 0.9 miles one-way to the shore of Peyto Lake. It is in a small, unmarked parking lot to the left of the parkway about 1.5 miles up the road from the Bow Summit parking lot. The hike is a pretty short one and is traveled enough and marked so you know where you’re going.
Tim pretending every run is like this..
Stop #5: Sunwapta Pass & Nigel Creek View
It’s hard to describe what a huge glacially carved valley looks like, but they say a picture is worth 1,000 words!
Also on the drive was my favorite little creek/waterfall view–Nigel Creek. This was literally on the side of the road looking down (there is no actual viewpoint), but I happened to be looking out the window at the right time.
Stop #6: Athabasca Glacier
Once you cross over the pass, you are entering Jasper National Park, which lies adjacent and north to Banff. Our first stop in Jasper was the Athabasca Glacier. There is a parking lot at the foot of the glacier, and after a quick and very steep hike, you are at the glacial field! You can’t actually walk on it unless you take the bus tour from the Icefield Center, but we just did the little loop at the top.
Hiking up to the glacier in a very lunar-type of landscape
Looking down at the parking lot and the start of the Athabasca River
Stop #7: Jasper and the Jasper Brewing Company
At this point, it was getting pretty late, and so we forewent the last few stops we wanted to go to (we planned to see them on the way back), and drove straight to the town of Jasper. It is a very small town that has about two main roads and then small avenues criss-crossing. We stopped at the fairly packed Jasper Brewing Company for a bite to eat that was nice after a day of snacking (not too many places to stop to eat at on the Icefields Parkway).
After dinner, we drove another 45 minutes to Hinton (right outside the northeastern border of Jasper), and packed it up for the night.
Stop #8: Maligne Canyon
Maligne Canyon is a really easy hike (if you start at the top) and can be quite brutal if you do the entire hike. It consists of a picturesque canyon that has six bridges crossing over it at different points. If you begin at the top, there is a large parking lot with ample space, and it is a very short hike to Bridges 1 and 2, a little bit further for Bridge 3 and 4, and then a much longer hike to Bridges 5 and 6. We parked at the top parking lot, went to Bridges 1 – 4, then returned to the car, drove to Bridge 5, and then drove again to Bridge 6. I can see how it’d be a very nice hike to do the entire canyon, but we were on a time crunch (and I also didn’t really want to hike the entire thing).
Possibly Bridge 3? As you can see, the canyon is quite deep.
View of the Maligne River as if travels through the canyon
More views of the canyon
Bridge 5
Bridge 6
On the drive over to Maligne Canyon, we saw a bunch of people pulled over on the side of the road. On any trip where wildlife is possibility, when many people are pulled over, it means that there is something to be seen! We saw a herd of elk relaxing on the river–it was a bunch of females and one large male elk.
Stop #9: Horseshoe Lake
This was our first stop on the way back to Banff from Jasper. It was a small lake that at first, we were very unsure what was so exciting, but then after walking a little bit further, you are met with the glassiest deep turquoise lake ever with cliffs that you can just imagine people jumping from in warmer weather.
Where’s the lake?
There it is!
Tim inspecting the bridge handiwork
Stop #10: Athabasca Falls
Next stop was Athabasca Falls, one of the stops that we missed on the way in. It was probably one of my more favorite stops just because of the rushing water and the canyon. It was the whole picture!
Can you just say, wow!!!
Stop #11: Goats and Glaciers Lookout
This stop is called such because you can see both glaciers and goats (they come down the mountain to eat the salty bits leftover from the glacial mineral runoff). While we didn’t see any goats, it was quite a spectacular view.
Stop #12: Sunwapta Falls
We did stop briefly at Sunwapta Falls, but after seeing the previous two lookouts, this one was not quite as exciting. But something fun that DID happen was on our way back to Banff, we were forced to stop by a herd of bighorn sheep in the road! You know they are big horn sheep by their white butts with a small black tail. These all appeared to be female, as there were no large-horned sheep among them.
Lake Louise: Attempt #2
We eventually made it to Lake Louise around the golden hour time when the lighting was just right (maybe a little bit after), and so we decided to make our second attempt in hopes that we brought clear skies with us. This time, we were in luck! Parking wasn’t too bad due to the late hour (5 PM-ish), and so we parked and had a quick walk to the lake.
I had to retake this! The iconic binocular shot!
Another strong Christmas card contender
Moraine Lake: Attempt #1 (and only attempt)
After we finished up at Lake Louise, as we were driving out, we happened to notice that the Moraine Lake Parking Lot Sign no longer had a big FULL posted on it, so we decided to chance it! We drove over the Moraine Lake (which has significantly less parking), and then walked the short walk to the lake. This lake is much smaller than Lake Louise, but has a very quiet and graceful feel. It was still pretty crowded even at that time, but it comes off as a quieter place than Lake Louise, which feels quite commercial with its gigantic hotel and hundreds of tourists.
Lake Agnes Teahouse Hike
Our final big hike was the Lake Agnes Teahouse, which began at the Fairmont Hotel at Lake Louise and meandered up the mountain. The path itself is quite nice and paved most of the way, and by the end of our trip, much of the snow had melted (though not all of it). The hike is about 3.6 km or 2.2 miles one-way from the lakeshore up to the teahouse at the top right near the Big Beehive.
The hike itself goes uphill for almost the entire way, but you do get glimpses of Lake Louise here and there and the turquoise is so incredibly blue that it doesn’t even look real, especially with the sun shining right on it. After about 1.5 miles, you reach Mirror Lake and get a good view of the Big Beehive.
Mirror Lake and Big Beehive
A little bit further up the trail leads to Lake Agnes and the Lake Agnes Teahouse, a small wooden cabin-like teahouse that is packed with people trying to get out of the cold and have something warm to drink. If you’re lucky to snag one of the 15 (maybe even less) seats inside the cabin, then you might be able to warm up just a bit. The prices are a little outrageous for what you get, but don’t forget you ARE on a mountain and these poor servers have to hike up all the supplies (as well as hike down all the trash). We order a hot chocolate (Swiss Miss?) and a tasty vegetable stew that warmed us right up. We sat for a bit and enjoyed the atmosphere and the view before heading back down the mountain.
View of Lake Agnes
Lake Agnes Teahouse. Guess where they get the water for tea?
View of the valley from the teahouse summit
View of Lake Louise on the way back down
We hiked back down, headed back to our car, and then drove back into Calgary for our final night. It was my choice for dinner, and by this time, I was starved for noodles or rice… So, of course, I chose pho. After our last dinner, we relaxed at the hotel and had one last night before flying home at 6 AM the next day!
Our church was considering purchasing two tables for their new filming studio, but there was not really an affordable option that fit the dimension requirements that we needed. I volunteered my woodshop for the project and designed two tables that would fit the bill. A few requirements I had to consider when designing were:
66” long x 18” wide x 30” tall
Table apron/overhang that extended past the knee on the side facing the camera to not distract from the film subject
Weight is light enough for a single person to move easily
I wanted to work with a hardwood for the legs and rails, but I knew a solid hardwood top would be too heavy, so I figured I could create a grid structure out of pine and then laminate ¼” sheets of plywood to either side. Then I could trim the top with hardwood to conceal any unsightly plywood and pine that was showing. This top would be strong and light, but the idea of a cheap plywood top paired with a beautiful hardwood base would look a little mismatched. After a lot of consideration on the type of material I would use for the top, I settled on painting the plywood portion of the top black. The apron would also be painted black to match.
I purchased 37 board feet (BF) of 6/4 Cherry for the legs, rails, and trim. The hardwood store’s selection of wood suitable for the legs was unsatisfactory—mostly on account of its price ($4.66/BF for 6/4 Cherry vs. $25.00/BF for Cherry leg blanks). It was more cost effective to laminate the 6/4 Cherry for the legs.
37 board feet of cherry wood
The hardwood sat in my garage for a couple months before I actually got around to the project.
Charlie giving moral support
I milled all the lumber required for the legs first. Once all the legs were laminated, they were cut to final length.
Milled legs
A taper was applied to the inside leg faces with my table saw using a custom shop-made jig.
Base joinery was mortise in tenon. I cut a dado in the legs and rails that would accept the panels forming the apron. The mortises were cut on my makeshift router table using a ¼” straight bit and the dados were cut on the table saw using a single blade from my dado stack. I squared and cleaned up the mortises with a 1/2” chisel. Tenons were cut on table saw using a shop made jig. Fortunately, the height of the garage allowed me to cut the rails vertically on the table saw using the jig.
Dados in legs and rail pieces
A dry fit of all the components was done to plan for a successful glue up.
The grid for the top was formed with some pine purchased from the local Home Depot, and I milled the pine down to ensure it would form a perfectly flat grid once assembled. Pocket holes were used to create the grid skeleton.
Pine grid for table top
The frame was lightly sanded before laminating the ¼” plywood to the top.
The rails and legs were sanded with 150 grit and then 220 grit. All the edges got an 1/8” round over on the router table.
I prefinished all the components with three coats of General Finishes Arm-R-Seal, and I was careful not to apply finish to the mortises or tenons, as these glue surfaces would be ineffective if covered with Arm-R-Seal.
After 3rd coat of prefinish on legs and rails
I glued the base together carefully to get the orientation of each piece exactly right. Pocket holes had been predrilled prior to finishing and assembly, and these holes were used to fasten the top to the base.
Base glue-up with aprons
The final step was to create the mitered trim and finish the top. I didn’t have the right size stock left over for the cherry trim so I had to pick up an extra board to finish the project, and ended up trimming the top to the right length at the miter saw. This eventually made the corners have really tight miters.
The top was finished with four coats of Arm-R-Seal and a final buffing.
The final product was a simply designed, very light yet durable table suitable for a film studio.
I have been on the quest for the ultimate waffle fry cutting apparatus, and I think I finally found it!! I had been doing research for a while on waffle fry cutting machines/mandolines, and I decided to give this Swissmar Borner waffle cutter mandoline a try. I wanted something that wasn’t going to take a lot of space (especially since I own a mandoline already), and it was within my price range ($20).
For the actually slicing, I lowered the mandoline level to the second click (there are three total so you can achieve different heights of slicing), and cut the potatoes as if using a normal mandoline, but with every slice, rotating the potato 90 degrees so you get the criss-cross pattern.
The mandoline I bought did not come with a hand guard, so you need to be careful as you get to the second half of the potato. I ended up poking the last bit of potato with a fork and using that to slide the potato, but I do think they sell the hand guard separately.
The air fryer that I have been using for the last 8 months is the Avalon Bay 3.7 quart air fryer. This air fryer has been through some serious paces and has kept chugging along. If you haven’t invested in an air fryer, I highly recommend one. This one is no frills–one knob for temperature, one for time, and a drawer with basket–but I have found it to be excellent for all my air frying purposes.
If the spice mixture seems too spicy for your taste, you can never go wrong with a sprinkle of garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and cracked black pepper. That is my go-to for any french fries when I don’t feel like making a spice mixture.
Instructions:
Wash and peel the potatoes (I used russet, but really, you can use whatever you have on hand). The biggest factor is size of the potato, since you’ll want larger waffle slices.
Slice the potatoes carefully using the waffle cutter mandoline, rotating the potato 90 degrees after each cut.
Soak the potatoes in a bowl of water (fill until the slices are submerged) for about 10 minutes. This helps to remove extra starch and make your fries extra crispy.
While the potatoes are soaking, combine all the spices to make a Cajun-style spice mixture.
Turn your air fryer on to 375 degrees so it can preheat.
Drain the water, pat the potatoes dry with a lint-free towel or a few paper towels.
Drizzle the olive oil on the fries, tossing in the bowl or by hand until all the fries are coated.
Sprinkle the spice mixture over the fries until coated evenly to your preference.
Layer about half the fries in the air fryer so none are interlocked (if the criss-cross cuts happen to overlap, it will slow down your frying time).
Air fry for 15 minutes on one side. Flip the fries with tongs and air fry for an additional 15 minutes. Because all air fryers are a little different in heat distribution, continue checking the fries every couple minutes after the 30 minutes until desired crispiness and color.
Wash and peel the potatoes (I used russet, but really, you can use whatever you have on hand). The biggest factor is size of the potato, since you'll want larger waffle slices.
Slice the potatoes carefully using the waffle cutter mandoline, rotating the potato 90 degrees after each cut.
Soak the potatoes in a bowl of water (fill until they are submerged) for about 10 minutes. This helps to remove extra starch and make your fries extra crispy.
While the potatoes are soaking, combine all the spices to make a Cajun-style spice mixture.
Turn your air fryer on to 375 degrees so it can preheat.
Drain the water, pat the potatoes dry with a lint-free towel or a few paper towels.
Drizzle the olive oil on the fries, tossing in the bowl or by hand until all the fries are coated.
Sprinkle the spice mixture over the fries and toss until coated evenly (to your preference).
Layer about half the fries in the air fryer so none are interlocked (if the criss-cross cuts happen to overlap, it will slow down your frying time).
Air fry for 15 minutes on one side. Flip the fries with tongs and air fry for an additional 15 minutes. Because all air fryers are a little different in heat distribution, continue checking the fries every couple minutes after the 30 minutes until desired crispiness and color.
Since Sara and I moved into our house in October 2016, we’ve been wanting to upgrade all the bathrooms. Our top priority was remodeling our only downstairs bathroom, a dark forest green half bath eyesore. This picture is from when we were first previewing our house and the decor before we moved in.
Before:
After:
We took to Pinterest for some bathroom design inspiration and eventually settled on a modern-style bathroom with cool grays and a white quartz countertop.
I wanted to minimize the amount of time that the restroom would be out of commission, so I planned on prepping as much as I could before the demolition. To get started, I purchased a remnant piece of Carrera white quartz from a stone fabrication shop in Fullerton, CA, for $150 in February 2018. The piece was too large for transport in my small Ford Ranger, so the shop I was purchasing it from offered to cut the stone down to manageable size for an additional $100.
This was enough countertop to complete the downstairs bathroom and one additional full upstairs bathroom. I secured the quartz upright for transport and it made the 25-mile journey home. With the help of a neighbor, I was able to offload the quartz into my garage. Moving this stuff by myself would not have be possible.
I wasn’t able to fabricate the stone until May 2018, since my woodshop was going through some major upgrades, including a Paulk-style outfeed table, dust collection system, and the addition of a refurbished cabinet saw. In this time, we purchased some items for the bathroom renovation including the sink (KES undermount sink) and the sink hardware, a Delta Lahara faucet, from Amazon.
My father-in-law is a general contractor and was nice enough to lend me his stone fabrication suite of tools. This included a worm drive circular saw with a stone-cutting 7” diamond blade, Dewalt angle grinder with stone cutting disc, a Metabo polisher with 8 grits of polishing pads (50,120, 220, 400, 800, 1200, 3500, 8000), and a waterproof apron. I set up the stone on some sawhorses in my front yard and went to work. I cut the countertop to final dimensions and then made the hole for the undermount sink using the paper template included by the manufacturer. The exposed edges would get a simple round over. This process was tedious—getting into the tight corners of the undermount hole proved to be difficult, but I was pretty happy with the end result.
I went to test fit the sink to the underside of the stone and noticed that stone would overhang the sink by about ¾” all the way around. This seemed like a bit much, but I found that the manufactures template for the sink is the defacto guide for undermount cuts as related to overhang, so I’ll just be sure to seal it well and clean underneath the overhang every so often.
Our goal was to give the stone the appearance of being thicker on the front and sides so I purchased some knife grade polyester resin in order to glue a strip of stone to the front and sides. I experimented a little with the resin before trying it on the workpiece. Once all was glued up, I polished the front and sides.
(In progress view of the strip of stone being glued on)
The holes for the faucet were drilled with a stone cutting drill bit purchased from Amazon as well. I carefully laid out the location of each hole, made a simple drill guide and constantly sprayed the bit with water to keep it cool while I drilled the hole.
Once the stone was done and ready for installation we turned our attention to the existing bathroom. We decided the peel all the paint off the walls since the previous paint job was done rather poor and sloppy, and it ended up being a good decision, because when we started peeling the green, there was a shade of mustard yellow underneath!
After peeling all the paint, we decided on the color pallet for the walls, cabinet and ceiling/baseboard. From the samples at Home Depot, we decided on “Sterling” for the walls, “Lunar Surface” for the cabinet, and “Bit of Sugar” for the ceiling/baseboard. The grade of paint we went with was Behr Ultra. We also need paint supplies so I bought the 8 piece roller tray set from Home Depot (https://www.homedepot.com/p/8-Piece-Roller-Tray-Set-RS-701-SP/100064287), which served its purpose well for the bathroom, and should work for our other bathroom renovations as well.
We weren’t ready to paint quite yet however, since I still needed to demo the existing countertop and patch/clean the walls. We wanted to keep the existing cabinet, but I would create new door and drawer fronts to achieve the “full face” effect, where the front of the cabinet would have no gaps at all.
During the demo I accidentally damaged the drywall just above the cabinet so I had to move a large section and repatch it. The prep work for the countertop took far longer than the actual installation. Also, at this time, I decided to change the light switches to the flat switches and added a timer for the ceiling fan. Ah, yes, the ceiling fan.
The existing ceiling fan was obnoxious and needed replacing. I purchased a quiet Panasonic fan with a built-in light. Installation of this fan was so much harder than I planned for, and honestly, the main takeaway is make sure you read ALL the installation instructions before you start cutting holes in your house. Nonetheless, I got the thing installed and it works great!
(Here is a picture of the fan already installed since I forgot to take one in progress).
We ended up painting the walls, cabinet and ceiling/baseboard with two coats of paint, as recommended by Behr . Once everything looked fresh and clean, we installed the countertop. I cut a ½” plywood board for extra support under the quartz and adhered the countertop with silicone. I intentionally waited until this point to create the backsplash so that my dimensions would be dead on. I polished the backsplash with the same rounded over edges as the countertop. The backsplash was cut 1/8” from the edge of the countertop in order to maintain the 1/8” bevel on the countertop edge. Everything was sealed with white silicone purchased from Home Depot. I was really pleased with the results!
(You can see the large part of drywall cut out)
(Patched drywall)
Next was faucet hardware installation. I wanted to complete this before the sink went in so I’d have more space to work. I followed directions provided by the manufacturer and everything went smoothly. I waited to install the sink drain plug until after the sink was installed.
The sink was installed directly to the quartz bottom using silicone. In addition to the silicone, I created support pieces for the underside of the sink out of ¾” plywood to add some mechanical support. The new sink was in a slightly different location than the old one so I had to extend the drain catch by adding a small piece of drain pipe.
(Drainpipe off slightly – before extension)
We ended up picking out a modern looking light fixture from Home Depot for above the mirror. There were no surprises during installation, as the previous light fixture used a very similar mounting box as the new one.
I was so relieved to be finally finished with all the non-woodworking stuff, since all that was left to do were cabinet doors, drawer fronts, mirror frame, and the floating shelves. I began with the cabinet doors constructed using ¾” MDF in 5 sections.
This was my first experience with overlay hinges. I purchased these Blum hinges off Amazon. I like them because they allow for quite a bit of wiggle room to get your reveal exactly how you want it.
(Painted and installed doors – with penguin dog toy)
The drawer fronts are simply ¾” MDF cut to size. The hardware we used was also from Amazon. We liked the look of these satin nickel pulls, as they matched our faucet hardware really nicely.
Throughout our house, we have a couple of walnut accent pieces, so I wanted to carry that theme into the bathroom. The mirror frame and floating shelves were made out of a single piece of 8/4 walnut. After I had removed the old mirror, I had cut it to size with a glasscutter and created the frame using those dimensions. I splined the corners of mirror frame with hard maple for additional strength, then stained it with boiled linseed oil.
For the floating shelves, I bought some metal rods designed for supporting floating shelves from Amazon. The trick to getting these to work is to drill a perfectly vertical hole in the shelf to accept the rod. I started the hole on the drill press and finished it with a cordless drill.
And finally, just for fun, I also made a tissue box cover out of walnut. All walnut was wiped with 3 coats of boiled linseed oil.
Add some art and we’ve got ourselves a decent looking modern bathroom!
Itemized cost list:
Quartz $250
Sink $80
Faucet $172
Fan $145
Paint $50
Paint supplies $20
Light fixture $70
Cabinet door hinges $16
Drawer pulls $22
Polyester resin $23
Walnut and other wood $60
Fan timer $20
Shelf supports $22
Total = $950
Finished:
Final thoughts:
This bathroom renovation/model was totally worth it to us! It probably would have cost us at least double of what we paid in materials. Hopefully we learned a little about our remodel, what to expect, and what we can do better for the next one. We still have two more bathrooms, so we’ll see what happens!
I had been thinking about starting a blog for quite some time, but I never really went any farther than that. I have lately been inspired to do a little more creative work—drawing, water coloring, and writing—and what better vehicle than to start a blog about the goings-on of the Bear House?
For my first post, there isn’t too much to say, but I just spent the last four hours organizing all of my photos from the past seven months of 2018, adding them to the Costco Photo Center, and printing them. My goal is to start the first of (hopefully many) photo albums to chronicle our lives and adventures. The aim is to keep up with our current events so we (or our future children) have something meaningful to look back on.
Anyways, that’s about all that has been happening us right now. This past weekend, I spent a little time in Palm Springs with Jane for Sabrina’s 30th birthday party, which was, oddly enough, my very first trip to Palm Springs. It was oppressively hot (think 104 degrees at 7:30pm), but the Eichler houses (?) were so quaint that it was hard not to be charmed. I would really like to try my hand at architectural watercolors, but that might be a little advanced for me. We’ll see!
Here are a couple of photos of some of the houses that I particularly liked:
