Kitchen Organization

By -
A long time ago I read about Julia Childs's kitchen organization ideas. She kept everything out in the open and quickly accessible.
 I love this philosophy, and since I read about I have thought that having tools at the ready is just as important as having things already chopped up before one starts cooking. It is all part of the mise en place. I have followed this model in a few different ways.

Utensils at the ready in canisters:

Glasses on racks:

Hooks for aprons and pot holders:
And that leaves us with my project for today. One of my friends once said to me when we first got engaged not to put things on our wedding registry we didn't have space to store. Well, we have already received more gifts than we really have space to store. And sure there are some great options for dining room/kitchen storage (that cost a fortune), and maybe one day we may even be able to afford one of these beautiful storage solutions. But in the meantime, I got a cheap bookshelf from Staples, and moving objects over to these opened up the space in a lot of our cabinets. I put our dish towels, napkins, and tableclothes in baskets. I brought all the beautiful Le Crueset pieces and I think their primary colors really add to the decor of the dining room.
We have room for cookbooks and magazines with recipes in them. We have room for vases and candleholders, which I think are attractive enough to be on display even when they are not being used. And besides if one day we get one of those nicer pieces of dining room, the bookcase can be used for its intended purpose to actually store books. I would just love to get one of those ceiling racks for the pots though. Ah, a girl can dream. In the meantime, Bon Appetit!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

TWD, Baking with Julia: Pizza Rustica

By -
Image
I'm thrilled to be one of the people chosen to write out the recipe for this week with Tuesdays with Dorie using the book Baking with Julia . If you check out what other people are saying about this recipe , they've summed it up pretty well - it is a sweet crust with a savory filling with the salty bite of prosciutto. Could it use some vegetables? Possibly some nutmeg? All the other bloggers who said that may be right. I do think though that the ricotta filling (I did buy ricotta made with skim) mixed with eggs is probably lower in fat than a quiche filling made with heavy cream - so that is a bonus. Overall, we liked it and my husband even immediately got up for seconds. It is a nice hearty dish that seems ideal cut up in slices and served at room temperature for a dinner party. It would probably be good for a brunch dish with a nice green salad. The other bloggers are right to point out that the fillings can easily be changed up. One problem I had: I read in Thomas Keller
Read more

French food at Chez Nous, Schenectady

By -
Image
This past spring I went to Germany for the first time on a work trip. It felt good to see some world, the arts people we were working with were incredibly hospitable, and I left with a warm impression of the German people in general (despite pretty much constant reminders of certain grim parts of their history in the forms of monuments and memorials all around the city, which I wasn't sure how to deal with). I also don't know a lick of German, which was fine because the German people often know English, but the Turkish people only know German so at some Turkish restaurants and second hand shops I had to resort to awkward gestures, which was all in all makes one appreciate what it is to be a foreigner in any land - a foreigner in this country for instance. It's certainly not easy. Anyways, on the way back I unexpectedly got stuck in Paris for a night. It's hard to explain what a natural and easy connection I have with French culture/food/language. Part of it might be t
Read more

Boca Bistro Bachelorette Party

By -
Image
My friend Jessica's Bachelorette Party was this weekend in Saratoga. It was a fabulous time. I couldn't believe how many really nice ladies she's friends with. I really love the movie "13 going on 30", and I watched it recently while out in North Adams dogsitting. I've probably seen it more repeat times than any other movie the last few years. I really love the pitch she gives on how to change the magazine. While her rival character gives the pitch to make the magazine more cynical, darker, more anorexic, the Jennifer Garner character says she wants to feature real women who are smart and pretty and happy to be who they are. Everytime I see that movie, I just love that scene so much. And so what a pleasure it was last night to meet so many interesting, accomplished ladies all in the mood to have a great time. We started out at Boca Bistro . Our friend Tiffany did a fabulous job organizing it for such a large party, and $30 per person for three courses was
Read more