(no subject)
Alton Brown is just darn sexy. Geeky, lovable, and helpful in the kitchen.* I'm watching through some old copies of his shows that I have lying/laying (your choice, whatever floats your boat) around. Like all day. It was during the pancake show that I remembered somewhere in the back of my pantry there is a bag of buttermilk pancake mix. One that I haven't seen in, maybe a year, or maybe more.
Pantry Raid
You see my pantry is actually a tall skinny cabinet, a scant 12 inches wide and a full 2 feet deep (but 8' tall!). It is a veritable Mary Poppin's bag of food storage.** Plus, the back of my pantry is often blocked from view by such things as: flour. Specifically, All purpose flour, cake flour, bread flour and some whole wheat flour. Add three kinds of sugar (powdered, granulated, brown), thickeners (arrowroot and cornstarch), leaveners***, other grains (corn meal, rice, at least three pastas). And that's just the three shelves. There's another shelf for fats, one for cooking (vinegars, soys (yes two, one wheat and one alfreda safe),), canned goods and glass jarred food (peanut butter). And the top shelves (both above my head, and therefore above my line of sight, they hold mostly dishes. My mom gives me dishes. I like having dishes, but I'm running out of space.)****
Hmm, now that I've gotten to the back of the pantry, I guess I finished the pancake mix. Or it was absorbed. And I have two boxes of kosher salt. One on the top shelf (that I can reach from the ground) and the other on the bottom. Is there some weird significance to that? Nah, I probably just forgot I had one and got the other.
Anyway, I felt compelled to seek out a clean and orderly pantry and thought what I really need is drawers. So I took my Christmas present to the Home Depot and cashed it in for the promise of pull out trays custom cut for my teeny tiny pantry in about a month; custom cut that I still have to assemble and install*****. The Christmas present only covered about half of the three that I ordered, so I really didn't want to lay down any more money for my top shelves... yet.
Yes, boys and girls, 28 day wait on three pull-out shelves. It's a shorter wait for a gun, no?
And now the footnotes:
* If you do not get this references, you are obviously not a girly-girl. Or it's quite possible you are not a random clever phrase from chick flicks memerizer the way that I am. Go ahead. Google it. Don't forget the "and."
** I really have a difficult time not trying to explain my random metaphors. I deleted the sentence: I've been known to stick my head or both arms into the pantry to get at stuff hiding in the back. There if you didn't get it, well, now that should help.
*** Someone mentioned they didn't know what the difference between Baking Soda and Baking Powder was. Alton Brown has answer this several times today so I will send this knowledge on to you: Baking Soda is Alkaline. It is used as a leavener when the thing to be raised is acidic (because the active ingredient needs to be balanced to create CO2, which makes bubbles and then rises stuff). Baking Powder is balanced, so it is used to leaven balanced stuff. And if a recipe calls for both, it's because the mixture is acidic, but it needs more leavening than the amount of Baking Soda needed to balance it is going to offer. What happens if your mixture is basic (or alkaline)? I don't know. Add lemon juice?
And for whomever it was that needed a way to remember the difference? You'd never used Baking Powder to alleviate heartburn, would you? Or use it combined with vinegar to make a volcano? Why? Cuz it wouldn't work! It's not alkaline! Baking Soda is.
**** I was actually planning on picking up some cabinets for the garage with the Christmas present to store my holiday and extra dishes ware. Thus leaving more room in the kitchen cabs which are running low on space, but I guess I'll wait until next Christmas.
***** If I were a lesser woman, this would bother me.
****** Alton Brown says "Oh Bother" a lot. I never noticed until I sat and watched about 6 hours of the show. He associates himself with Charlie Brown, baby. Now that's sexy. Hmm, this was not referenced above. I should remedy that. I wonder if this will cause any buffer overflows: ******
Pantry Raid
You see my pantry is actually a tall skinny cabinet, a scant 12 inches wide and a full 2 feet deep (but 8' tall!). It is a veritable Mary Poppin's bag of food storage.** Plus, the back of my pantry is often blocked from view by such things as: flour. Specifically, All purpose flour, cake flour, bread flour and some whole wheat flour. Add three kinds of sugar (powdered, granulated, brown), thickeners (arrowroot and cornstarch), leaveners***, other grains (corn meal, rice, at least three pastas). And that's just the three shelves. There's another shelf for fats, one for cooking (vinegars, soys (yes two, one wheat and one alfreda safe),), canned goods and glass jarred food (peanut butter). And the top shelves (both above my head, and therefore above my line of sight, they hold mostly dishes. My mom gives me dishes. I like having dishes, but I'm running out of space.)****
Hmm, now that I've gotten to the back of the pantry, I guess I finished the pancake mix. Or it was absorbed. And I have two boxes of kosher salt. One on the top shelf (that I can reach from the ground) and the other on the bottom. Is there some weird significance to that? Nah, I probably just forgot I had one and got the other.
Anyway, I felt compelled to seek out a clean and orderly pantry and thought what I really need is drawers. So I took my Christmas present to the Home Depot and cashed it in for the promise of pull out trays custom cut for my teeny tiny pantry in about a month; custom cut that I still have to assemble and install*****. The Christmas present only covered about half of the three that I ordered, so I really didn't want to lay down any more money for my top shelves... yet.
Yes, boys and girls, 28 day wait on three pull-out shelves. It's a shorter wait for a gun, no?
And now the footnotes:
* If you do not get this references, you are obviously not a girly-girl. Or it's quite possible you are not a random clever phrase from chick flicks memerizer the way that I am. Go ahead. Google it. Don't forget the "and."
** I really have a difficult time not trying to explain my random metaphors. I deleted the sentence: I've been known to stick my head or both arms into the pantry to get at stuff hiding in the back. There if you didn't get it, well, now that should help.
*** Someone mentioned they didn't know what the difference between Baking Soda and Baking Powder was. Alton Brown has answer this several times today so I will send this knowledge on to you: Baking Soda is Alkaline. It is used as a leavener when the thing to be raised is acidic (because the active ingredient needs to be balanced to create CO2, which makes bubbles and then rises stuff). Baking Powder is balanced, so it is used to leaven balanced stuff. And if a recipe calls for both, it's because the mixture is acidic, but it needs more leavening than the amount of Baking Soda needed to balance it is going to offer. What happens if your mixture is basic (or alkaline)? I don't know. Add lemon juice?
And for whomever it was that needed a way to remember the difference? You'd never used Baking Powder to alleviate heartburn, would you? Or use it combined with vinegar to make a volcano? Why? Cuz it wouldn't work! It's not alkaline! Baking Soda is.
**** I was actually planning on picking up some cabinets for the garage with the Christmas present to store my holiday and extra dishes ware. Thus leaving more room in the kitchen cabs which are running low on space, but I guess I'll wait until next Christmas.
***** If I were a lesser woman, this would bother me.
****** Alton Brown says "Oh Bother" a lot. I never noticed until I sat and watched about 6 hours of the show. He associates himself with Charlie Brown, baby. Now that's sexy. Hmm, this was not referenced above. I should remedy that. I wonder if this will cause any buffer overflows: ******