As most of you know, cooking for me is a passion; some might even say it is my lifestyle. Since about the age of three, I would be in the kitchen watching my mother and/or our housekeeper at the stove. When I would visit my paternal grandmother, I learned that she used to be a professional cook. On the other hand, my maternal grandfather loved to cook as well. With all that said, I guess you could say cooking is in my genes.
Over these many years, I’ve had the pleasure of eating in some of the best restaurants with renowned Chefs in their kitchens. It might be more accurate to say this has been a privilege as well as pleasure. Having traveled various parts of the world, experiencing gourmet food was a reality for me and I realize others did not have this opportunity. Since I was also a reader and lover of books, I would always buy the cookbook from each of these restaurants or the Chefs whenever it was available. I now have regional cookbooks from all over the United States and the world. Special thanks to those of you who have contributed to this collection!
Needless to say, I have often attempted to replicate many of these great Chef’s meals at home. Quite often I learned to improvise and develop my own unique style of cooking. When the Pandemic shutdown rolled around, I have been able to make some quality meals these past two years and neither Diane nor I missed going out to restaurants that much. (Let me be honest and say I have not gotten Diane’s thoughts on this last sentence LOL!)
An absolute must of cooking for me has always been to have a gas stove. This was much more important to me than having a top-notch stove per se. Not that I would have minded a top of the line stove - but over all these years (and I’ve got a few years on me!) I’ve always managed to get by with much less than great stoves. In fact, I’ve even had to be satisfied with electric stoves in my younger days and many years of renting.
Lucky for me, when we bought our house, it was set up for gas! Then about seven years ago, a friend of ours had a friend who was doing a kitchen remodel and looking to sell her 10-year-old KitchenAid gas stove for a minimal price. I was thrilled - it was an excellent stove that the owner had taken care of extremely well. It served me quite well over these past seven years with only one repair. Without boring you with the details, the stove most certainly performed its life expectancy until recently things started to give out - the final giveaway was when I baked squash the other night for the allotted hour or more and it still came out hard as a rock and luke-warm.
Just in time for Thanksgiving - one of my all-time favorite holidays! For me, it’s the holiday to cook, eat at home, and enjoy leftovers for days with the final production being a homemade turkey soup. Given the recent events, Diane starting talking “take-out” or “going out” to dinner. I was NOT excited at that prospect. Hence, the only way to avoid Diane’s idea was to get busy and research so that I could find my all-time stove. I honestly had no idea there are so many choices. As I narrowed down the list, checking reviews for things such as function and durability, the prices started to soar. I looked online at way too many to name but I managed to narrow it down to Thermador, Wolf or Viking. Interestingly enough, even with limiting the size to 30” which is all I have without doing a kitchen remodel (!) each of these name brands could accommodate the size restriction.
This entire process reminded me of Real Estate, when buyers and sellers have about 15,000 agents in the greater Los Angeles area to choose from, the choice can be vastly narrowed based on reviews, response time and client service.
The delivery is happening on Saturday afternoon, November 12. Stay tuned for the big reveal once I figure it out! 😊
Thank you Debe Maxwell, CRS for inspiring me to write another Grateful Post!
Wishing you a safe and healthy life and I look forward to your comments. If you are looking for a knowledgeable, focused and goal-oriented Realtor in the Beverly Hills area who will help you achieve your Real Estate goals, please reach out to me directly! If you are looking for a pet friendly Beverly Hills Realtor who can handle and sell the most difficult properties that no one else could, please reach out to me directly!! If you are considering buying or selling a home, a luxury home, luxury investment real estate, luxury vacation homes, or luxury beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu, feel free to contact me at 310.486.1002 ( m) homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com I contribute a portion of my commission to local animal rescue organizations. Endre Barath, Jr. Realtor at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties DRE#01238708
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