In My Kitchen ~ April 2014

Every month there is a community of bloggers who open their home, or more specifically, their kitchen and share what’s new. It is a series hosted by Celia over at Fig Lime and Cordial .  You can head over there to check out who else is sharing.  It’s a fun way to link up with people around the world who talk about what interests them.  This month I thought I would join in and say hello to everyone.  As my kitchen is new to everyone I have lots to share with you but, for this month at least, I’ll keep it to a brief 5 but favorite things.

In my kitchen I have a Salt Box that I adore.  It was crafted in Portugal and I purchased it in the US from Williams Sonoma.  I keep it right by the stove so salt is on hand whenever I need it.  I love that it has a lid that flips up with a wide opening to access the salt.  Other salt boxes and salt pigs have such a smaller opening which, for me, are clumsy and annoying.  Besides being functional, this box adds a “pretty” element to my kitchen.SaltBoxIMK

In my kitchen I have a garlic keeper that I searched high and low for!  Go figure!  I didn’t think that it was going to be so difficult to find a simple terra cotta keeper but alas I was wrong (again).  Garlic keepers can be found online and at a variety of stores.  However, most of what I found in the market were glazed pottery and not what I was after.  My sister and I finally found one at a random kitchen shop in Durham NC.  Garlic keepers keep cloves dry and prolong the life of your garlic.  Keeping them dry and dark will prevent sprouting.  When I get my heads of garlic home from the market I break them apart into individual cloves and dump them in.  When it is time to cook I can just grab a few cloves, peel them and then chop, dice, mince, or slice it up.  I love my new garlic keeper and I’m glad I kept searching for it.Garlic Keeper

In my kitchen I have this basket gifted to my by my sister.  I absolutely love it.  I keep onions and shallots in it for the most part.  It’s a solid rock with cork feet and a hole drilled for the wire basket to fit on top.  It is very bottom heavy and sturdy.  Just a really unique piece to have and a lovely addition to my kitchen.WireBasketIMK2

WireBasketIMKIn my kitchen I have a sponge holder gifted to me by my mom and dad.  A sponge holder you say?  Why would you need something like that?  I’ll tell you, when I first received this I never used it and it sat under my sink tucked away for awhile.  After a spring cleaning I found it and decided to give it a go.  The idea is the sponge  fits vertically in it and up off the base slightly.  It elevates it up out of any water and allows it to dry more quickly.  The more quickly it dries the less chance bacteria and mold have to grow keeping the sponge a cleaning device rather than a bacteria and mold spreader.  I want to say this was purchased at the Philadelphia Home and Garden Show but I could be wrong.  In any case, they can be found at craft fairs and artisan potters.  I bet Etsy would be a good place to find one.  It’s so nice to support small businesses isn’t it?SpongeHolderIMK

The final item in my kitchen I will share this month is my kitchen scale.  I love this digital one we have.  It makes my life so easy.  You see, I use recipes from all over the world so the measurements could be in grams, ounces, milliliters etc.  Having a digital scale that can handle all of those measurements is a must.  For example, if I want to make US Nestle Tollhouse Cookies I know I need two sticks of butter.  However, we don’t have sticks here in Australia and if we did they likely wouldn’t be the same size.  I know in the US when I buy a box of butter it is one pound (16 ounces) and has four sticks in it.  So if a recipe calls for two sticks I’m looking for 8 ounces of butter.  Easy done!  Cut it off the block and weigh it.  The scale is a must in my kitchen!KitchenScaleIMK

Thanks for visiting!  I hope to see you again next month for another look inside my kitchen and thanks again to Celia for hosting!

18 Comments

Leave a Reply to Lauren Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *