# 333: Carpenter Kate
Where she picks up a hammer and learns to build and a recipe for Ginger Cemetary Cookies to make gluten-free or gluten-full.
In Conversation with Rachel Ciordas and Kate McDermott
In honor of Celiac Awareness Month join me for a chat with Rachel Ciordas of Next Level Gluten Free! Rachel is an inspiring gluten free baker and food writer. We will be in conversation about how a celiac disease diagnosis changed our lives, and how we’ve both adapted and grown as bakers and people in the years since. We’ll get together LIVE on Substack on Thursday May 22nd at Noon Pacific, 3 PM Eastern, 8 PM BST, 9pm CEST. I’ll send the link you’ll use to join this in a separate email on Tuesday May 20th. Then bring a mug of coffee or a cup of tea and get ready to join us on Thursday May 22!
Now on to Carpenter Kate…
The little two-hundred square foot house at the back of my property has been many things since I moved here twenty-six years ago. The previous owner built it to be a woodworking studio so it didn’t need a bathroom. I’ve used it for storage, my son’s bedroom when he was in high school, my piano studio for a while, the Covid isolation room, and the guest room, but from day one I always thought adding a bathroom would make it perfect. I remember back in 1999 the figure bounced around to be about 10k which I could never seem to come up with. Now a relative has gifted me with 10k of seed money to start the project. I really think they just got weary of traipsing up and the back path in the middle of the night to use the potty in the house when they visit!
I would love to have my highly skilled son Duncan build the addition for me but he already has projects going and, aside from lending a hand here or there plus tools, he simply can’t fit it in. So, with the help of a friend I have strapped on my carpenter’s belt favorite apron, picked up a hammer, and am learning to build it myself! Adding a 100 square foot addition seems like it wouldn’t be all that difficult or expensive but hey, what do I know. Right?
First I need plans to present to the city in order to get a permit. I call another old friend who has drawn up plans for many others I know if he might come over to chat about my little project. He says “sure” and joins my son and friend at the table for a few brainstorming sessions. A few weeks and freshly-baked pies later I have preliminary plans and now go looking for a contractor.
Of all the ones I contact, only one makes it to the table to look them over and give me a bid. When it arrives by email my mouth just about hits the floor. The bottom line reads 56k which does not include foundation or roof! I email back to let him know this is outside of my budget. I do offer a homemade pie as a thank you but he doesn’t take me up on that. And that’s when my good friend says that he would like to build it…with me! He knows my building skills are, shall we say, minimal as in “pick the phone up and call for help” minimal, but this man is one of the kindest and patient people I know so I say, “OK, let’s do it.”
I get the permit which costs a pretty penny, and excavation and foundation are up next. My friend knows just the guy who he had hired for other projects. It starts with relocating an old lilac tree which you can see below. My son helps that day.
Then the area for the addition is dug up, the sewer line hooked up…
…and then buried.
Forms are set up for the concrete pour…
which includes a little patio and step to the front side, too.
Everything looks good and a few days later the cement truck comes!
When the forms are removed, here’s what I see.
Next a first load of lumber is delivered…
And we begin.
I learn that the sill plate sits on top of the foundation and how to set it. Big square washers are set in and in some cases the space where they go must be chiseled out so the washer can be tightened down on top of them.
Mr B’s new job is official inspector!
The process, so far, is teaching me how to wield a chisel, hammer and wrench plus it is a wonderful opportunity to practice communication skills as in ‘when you say “put it over there, exactly where is there?’” I hope that my dear and patient friend of over 40 years and I are still speaking to each other when the project is completed!
I have no idea if this 100 square foot bathroom addition might be finished by the end of the year and, with an untrained newbie on the job, it’s anyone’s guess. But, I will keep you posted with occasional updates about how it’s going.
I’ve often joked that “in my next life I’m coming back with tools and skills.” I seem to be getting a jumpstart on that now.
What I’m Baking
Ginger Cemetery Cookies (Kate’s GF Adaption)
As mentioned last week, I would be sharing some recipes I have adapted to be gluten-free. Here is my GF version of the Ginger Cemetery Cookies in Anne Byrn’s new book Baking in the American South. I served these with scoops of vanilla ice cream recently at Sunday Supper and everyone asked for the recipe!
See notes below to make them gluten-full as per the original recipe.