Getting organamized
As I understand a number of people have done, I'm applying the principles of simplification at home. Bought a whole bunch of plastic totes of various sizes and shapes, plus labels to help identify what's gonna be in them.
So far I've hauled ane-and-a-half garbage cans' worth of crap out of the basement. Washed three shelves of a plastic shelf unit. Washed and stored down in the basement the electric roaster, ice bucket, breadmaking pot, some cute mugs we never use except when entertaining. Washed the entire top of the kitchen island/table. Stored small appliances in cupboards. Moved the cereals over to the cabinet above the fridge, where they are easier to reach than what used to be there. Took the two spice racks off the ledge of the "window" between the kitchen and living room and placed them on the now-clean island, along with my knife block and the jar of commonly-used utensils. Left Ray's coffee on the island, because he makes his with a Melita setup and water he boils on the stove. My coffee now goes on the counter next to - gasp - the espresso maker I use.
I brought the holy seed box in from the greenhouse and put it in the studio area, which I will work on in the days ahead. The kitchen I think is almost done. I need to get some more wire-baskets-on-tracks, such as I already have in many of the cupboards, to finish organizing the cabinets' contents. I feel like I've "found" acres of counterspace and the whole area makes a lot more sense. It's silly things like locating the can opener near the sink, because much of the time, the food in cans needs to be drained, and why walk all across the kitchen to do so? Since I do most of my chopping on the island, it makes sense to put the knife block there, and since I use utensils like spoons and spatulas mostly at the stove, putting them on the island gets them closer to the stove yet not so close that they will get dirty from spatters and such.
It will be fun trying out the new setup tonight. I'm doing Alaskan Keta salmon, kinda from a recipe in my New York Restaurant Cookbook. I say kinda because I'm using all the same ingredients, just changing the methods a tad. It calls for steaming the fish wrapped in Swiss chard, inside plastic bags. I don't like cooking in plastic if I can help it, and the whole wrapping bit sounds like a pain in the ass, so I'm going with steaming the fish in my new bamboo steamer. This should be interesting.
So far I've hauled ane-and-a-half garbage cans' worth of crap out of the basement. Washed three shelves of a plastic shelf unit. Washed and stored down in the basement the electric roaster, ice bucket, breadmaking pot, some cute mugs we never use except when entertaining. Washed the entire top of the kitchen island/table. Stored small appliances in cupboards. Moved the cereals over to the cabinet above the fridge, where they are easier to reach than what used to be there. Took the two spice racks off the ledge of the "window" between the kitchen and living room and placed them on the now-clean island, along with my knife block and the jar of commonly-used utensils. Left Ray's coffee on the island, because he makes his with a Melita setup and water he boils on the stove. My coffee now goes on the counter next to - gasp - the espresso maker I use.
I brought the holy seed box in from the greenhouse and put it in the studio area, which I will work on in the days ahead. The kitchen I think is almost done. I need to get some more wire-baskets-on-tracks, such as I already have in many of the cupboards, to finish organizing the cabinets' contents. I feel like I've "found" acres of counterspace and the whole area makes a lot more sense. It's silly things like locating the can opener near the sink, because much of the time, the food in cans needs to be drained, and why walk all across the kitchen to do so? Since I do most of my chopping on the island, it makes sense to put the knife block there, and since I use utensils like spoons and spatulas mostly at the stove, putting them on the island gets them closer to the stove yet not so close that they will get dirty from spatters and such.
It will be fun trying out the new setup tonight. I'm doing Alaskan Keta salmon, kinda from a recipe in my New York Restaurant Cookbook. I say kinda because I'm using all the same ingredients, just changing the methods a tad. It calls for steaming the fish wrapped in Swiss chard, inside plastic bags. I don't like cooking in plastic if I can help it, and the whole wrapping bit sounds like a pain in the ass, so I'm going with steaming the fish in my new bamboo steamer. This should be interesting.