8 Betsy Lane Bathroom Renovation

Beautifully designed classic bathroom with brushed nickel accessories, granite counter and undermount sink.

Granite countertops with a brushed nickel classic faucet

Brushed nickel shower fixture


Interior view of the tiled shower

Photography provided by: Alexis Stein Photography

Get Your Fiber

TOMATO CHICKPEA CURRY

Serves 8 to 10

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 tablespoons canola oil

1 1/2 tablespoons black mustard seeds

2 1/2 tablespoons coriander seeds

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon paprika

Dash of turmeric powder

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

1 cup tomato, roughly chopped

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 cup chopped onion

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon minced ginger

2 cans chickpeas (15 oz), drained

1 cup water

1 teaspoon salt

INSTRUCTIONS

1) Heat 1/2 tablespoon of canola oil in a small pot on low heat. Add mustard seeds and cover. Remove from heat when seeds begin to pop. Set aside.

2) Grind coriander seeds, cumin seeds, paprika, turmeric, peppercorns, and cayenne together in a coffee grinder.

3) Heat 2 tablespoons of canola oil in a saute pan on medium heat. Add ground spices and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in tomato and tomato paste. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

4) Add onion, ginger, and garlic. Cook until onion become tender. Stir in mustard seeds.

5) Stir in chickpeas, water, and salt. Cover and cook for 10 to 15 minutes.

Saving Even More Money with a Home Reverse Osmosis System!

Daniel from AB&R Plumbing here again, and I decided that, since I was saving so much money with my new tankless water heater (see the previous blog entitled “Well, I finally did it!”), I decided to save even more on my drinking water.

I broke down and had a new Reverse Osmosis drinking water system installed in my Mission Viejo home.

AB&R plumbing has installed quite a few Reverse Osmosis systems recently, in both homes and offices. We have installed them in Irvine, Aliso Viejo, Trabuco Canyon, Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Mission Viejo and many other cities in Orange County. I decided it was time to “take the plunge” and start saving money on buying bottled water.

A home Reverse Osmosis system basically gives you an endless supply of purified water that you can use for anything. For cooking, giving it to your pets, watering your plants, using it in the steam iron (or my new garment steamer – still not sure what this is!), making coffee or tea, making ice cubes, almost anything that you would want to make sure and use the cleanest water available.

If you are buying bottled water now, you have a few problems to consider.

- The cost – It can cost you more than $6.00 a gallon to buy bottled water. Sure you can pay less than this, but then you get into the next problem.
- Quality – how good is that water you’re buying? There is an internationally sold brand of water that says right on the label that it has 309 ppm of dissolved solids. This is almost as bad as your tap water!
- Convenience – With bottles, you have to go buy them, carry them home, they take up space to store them, and what happens to all of those bottles? Even if you recycle them (and most people don’t), it still is a lot of plastic! This means that a Reverse Osmosis system is “green”!

With a home reverse osmosis system, you will take the TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) of your water down to less than 25 ppm (in Orange County, it usually starts at around 450 ppm). You have the system installed at your kitchen sink by a trained professional, we remind you when your filters need to be replaced (usually once a year), and it can usually be connected to your ice maker to give you purified ice!

My wife and kids love it! I had a line run to my ice maker, so it took an extra 40 minutes, but he was done in under an hour-and-a-half. It is very convenient (and pretty cool) to be able to get a drink of pure, clean water, right at my kitchen sink, anytime I want.

There are all kinds of options and add-ons: you can get an undercounter chiller or heater, you can get custom-finished faucets, there are pumps to increase your pressure (and they don’t use electricity), and more.

Give AB&R Plumbing a call and ask about having a home Reverse Osmosis system installed in your Orange County home today. You’ll save money, save time, and cut down on your use of plastic – which is very “green”.

I guess you could say you will save some green by being “green"!