INDESIGN
*finally...
How to Love Your Barbecue
Brian’s secret recipe for beer-can chicken: Don’t ever say you didn’t
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Open 2 or 3 cans of beer; drink half of each. Take 2 or 3 whole chickens; gently insert half-empty beer can into each fowl’s, er, rear end. Place chickens in undignified position, perched
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upright on barbecue grill. Close lid and wait for about an hour. Open lid, test for doneness, and enjoy juicy, beer-steamed barbecued chicken.
Sorry, that means the drawers too: If the catch-all drawer in your new barbecue gets “too crudded up” and you haven’t done anything in months, Brian has a reminder: “Eventually, it gets pretty hot down there, and you’ll have a raging fire, so that’s why I recommend anyone who barbecues three to seven days a week, like I do, you’ve got to get out there and clean your drawers and the burners, once a month.” Repeat after me... Many barbecues lead long, productive lives: Brian: “I’ve got Webers at home that are 15 years old and you’d never know by looking at the burners. And they’ll go for another 10 years... I’ve also got one that’s 40 years old and it still works fine.” What’s wrong with my $100 barbecue? Nothing. Just be prepared to replace it every few years... You do the math. Stainless steel burners are the Fabios of the barbecue world: beautiful and strong. Many have a 10 year warranty, or even a lifetime. Inexpensive barbecues don’t have stainless steel burners, usually have a 2 to 3-year warranty and often lack a good porcelain grill coating system, says Mike Black, Capital Iron’s manager, and a barbecue expert in his own right. The best of the best? World-class Jackson grills are made right here in Duncan (6-gauge, 304-grade stainless steel burners are warranted for life against corrosion, rust, wear and damage). Napoleon barbecues are Canadian-made, too. Mike Black owns a high-end beauty that comes with high intensity ceramic infrared rear rotisserie and bottom burners for searing and restaurant-style grilling and roasting. “I tell people you have to re-learn to barbecue with the infra-red kind of heat. This is not the ‘Throw it on, go in and crack a beer’ kind of barbecuing. You’re out here and you’re involved in the cooking, and it’s worth it.” When you pick up that lottery cheque: Capital Iron’s most expensive barbecue? A superb Napoleon infra-red, at $6,500. Mike can also order a really sweet highend Weber for you, with a 56-inch grill. Suggested retail is $10,000.
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No, this fellow is not Brian of the now-famous Beer Can Chicken... it’s Al Murphy of T H O M A S S A N TA L A B
a
learn anything from this magazine...
Baby your burner: “Cleaning is totally essential,” says Brian May, in-house barbecue PHd at Victoria’s Capital Iron home store. Best tools? For standard porcelain-over-rolled steel grills, a ShopVac and a medium brush or wood scraper; only stainless steel grills can handle heavy steel brushes. Clean the grills and the burner. All the sauce and dirt filters down and lands on the burner and people never once clean it. Also, propane and natural gas have a lot of water, so when you turn off the barbecue, it’s left with little trickles of water on every one of the burner holes. “So you have a $50 to $79 burner down there that’s rotting away and people say, Why does my burner only last a few years? But if you had only, every three months, just spent one minute taking a steel brush and scrubbing that burner...”
Sher wood Industries with an Enviro barbecue, made by the Saanichton, B.C. company
INDESIGN
design trends Clients are equally torn between zen and traditionalist these days, says Joanne, a showroom consultant with Victoria’s Kitchen and Bath Classics.“The minimalist ‘zen’ look has a European feel that is very popular. Clients are also leaning towards chrome and white, for a crisp, clean look that won’t become outdated.” Kitchen appliances are thus square, minimalist and without detail, to complement the clean, open design of many new homes. In the other camp is “a traditional, vintage style,” says Joanne. Basin vessels set into cabinets, clawfoot tubs, granite sinks and the ‘farmhouse look’ are all consistent sellers right now.
Style, always under close scrutiny, takes a softer line this year. Retro-style images are back in force.
Hot, sunny colours are ‘in’ for beach chairs, patio umbrellas, linens and napkins. But, in the rest of the home, less is still more. Island Home & Style asked Island designers to dish out some advice about ‘hot’ interior design trends. The consensus? Homeowners are getting down to earth.
Natural earth colours are ‘in,’ according to designer Alexis Jennings of Oak Bay Broadloom & Fine Floors in Victoria. “Clients want to bring the outdoors into their homes through natural products.” Floor coverings like cork, bamboo and ‘Marmoleum’ products are hugely popular. ‘Marmoleum,’ a natural linoleum product made from linseed oil, pine rosin, jute and limestone, is hygienic and anti-static. Although it’s available in 400 different colours, Jennings maintains earth tones are best-sellers. “People want cool and calm,” above all, she says.
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Need some colour to liven up that oh-so-trendy-neutral kitchen? Linda Koroscil of Love My Kitchen on Saltspring Island dished out some advice on summer tableware trends... Fiestaware dish sets, funky teapots and deep pasta bowls in hot colours like red, lime and mango are Koroscil’s big sellers. Baby, it’s hot at Created in 1935, Fiestaware has maintained those Willows Beach early art deco shapes and colours and is ‘in’ again, in a big way (*Fiestaware is also carried at Capital Iron & even the in Victoria, and many other Island kitchen stores). beach chairs — M.F. reflect the sun’s glow. Can you take the heat?
P H O T O S : T H O M A S S A N TA L A B . F A N : C O U R T E S Y M C L A R E N L I G H T I N G / F A N I M AT I O N
Neutral tones are the ‘in-thing,’ agrees Tara Walden at Decora Tile. “Homes are more open concept these days, not a web of smaller rooms, so people don’t want to make a big splash of colour, but they still want to make a statement, so glass tiles are a good option, especially for the kitchen.” The aforementiond glass tiles are all the rage for a kitchen back splash or as a flooring accent because of their “shimmery, watery beauty,” says Walden. Her pick? California’s Sonoma glass tiles, which come in 150 colours, from a Moroccan blend to a Puget Sound frosted look in icy green and ocean blue.
THE INDESIGN INDE X 3 Months Victoria-born Rob Dyke will take to swim around Vancouver Island this summer.
91 Number of stages in building a new home
926 Total hours for all on-site jobs in building a home, not including supervisors
352 Palm trees sold in 42 minutes in Oak Bay, Victoria, April 16th, 2005.
1,898 Palm trees counted in Victoria’s annual (2005) flower & palm tree count
35.3 Degrees celsius (95.5°F) on July 23, 2004, hottest day on record in Victoria
50 Percent of Canada’s remaining grizzly bears in Great Bear Rain Forest Reserve, Vancouver Island
660 Total sport fishing revenue in millions per year in BC
13 Homes sold for over $1 million in Victoria, April, 2005
74 Listings for homes worth $1 million & higher, Victoria Real Estate Board MLS, April 2005
457,000 Average price of single family home in Victoria in April 2005, highest in history
400 Approx. number of Gulf Islands, mostly uninhabited and accessible by boat
1 Victoria’s ranking among Canada’s fittest cities Sources: Mattamy Homes study; Gonzales Heights Observatory climate station; Victoria Real Estate Board; Tourism Victoria; BC Sportfishing Institute.
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A L L P H O T O S : T H O M A S S A N TA L A B
251,398 Average price of a single family home in Victoria five years ago
INDESIGN BOOKS WORTH A LOOK NOTE WORTHY RELE ASES BY REGIONAL PUBLISHERS AND AUTHORS
The New American Dream: Living Well in Small Homes By James Gauer, photographs by Catherine Tighe, Monacelli Press, Hardcover, 240 pages, US$45 (*may have to be ordered through local bookstores) Simplicity, modesty, and skillful design are the principles that have guided new Vancouver Island resident, James Gauer, throughout his career as an architect in New York City. This beautifully-written book is about “the emergence of stylish small dwellings as an antidote to McMansion syndrome,” says the author, who will now be living and practicing in Victoria, B.C. Fifteen homes (starting at 475 square feet) are highlighted with crisp, polished photographs by Catherine Tighe, as well as practical how-to’s. From a diminutive New York City apartment to a farmhouse in Pennsylvania, Gauer and Tighe demonstrate that even the smallest of spaces can be comfortable, stylish, cost and energy-efficient residences that provide the foundation for “gracious living.”
Home: Tales of a Heritage Farm By Anny Scoones, Hedgerow Press, Softcover, 185 pages, $19.95 Home is a collection of stories about Anny Scoones’ life on Glamorgan Farm, a heritage property in North Saanich that she rescued from near-destruction, and where she now raises rare breeds of livestock and grows heirloom plants and vegetables. Scoones conveys the challenges, joys and grief involved in preserving her farm. She also tells how a period of solitary imprisonment in Russia led to her farm purchase and influenced her philosophy and her way of life. IHS
In Design Sources
Pg.8 laundry line, from left: Paboom, Victoria; La Cache, Victoria; Shabby Tiques, Victoria (2); La Cache; Bungalow, Victoria (2). Pg. 9 from top, clockwise: Pots & Paraphernalia, Duncan; Cowichan Bay; Fanimation at McLaren Lighting, Victoria; Lloyd/Flanders allweather wicker at Vintage Hot Tubs & Home Leisure, Victoria; Darryl’s dahlia plant; Hornby Island beach; arrangement by Flowers on Top, Victoria; gargoyle, Old Farm Garden & Pottery Centre, Duncan; replica Chinese rice box, Design Source Warehouse, Victoria. Pg. 10 Michael Prescott, hardy Mediterranean palm tree booster & grower, Oak Bay, B.C.(Palm Tree Capital of Canada). Pg.11 from top, clockwise: Sidney; enamel Lodge cast iron, Capital Iron, Victoria; bowls, Bungalow, Victoria boat, Houseboat, Oak Bay; Folk Fest, Duncan; car, InsideOut Home Store, Victoria; Folk Fest, Duncan; trailer birdhouse, Dig This & Capital Iron, Victoria; dragon boat kite, ten Thousand Villages, Victoria.
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