16 January 2008 re: kitchen tweaks

m-c:

I've been fiddling with my kitchen again. I've cooked in it for almost ten years now, but there are still always little tweaks that make everything better.

mb:

I'm not at the stage of tweaking yet -- J and are I still hammering out some design elements.

m-c:

Oooh, can we see?

mb:

Not this week, too many things are still in the air, and I want to take good photographs to show you.

Why don't you tell us about yours instead?

m-c:

OK, but I don't want you to forget about keeping us up to date on your improvements.

mb:

I promise.

m-c:

Well, first, I was complaining to Mark that I can't skip even one evening of doing dishes without having the kitchen look like a bloody shambles and become impossible to cook in. I like doing dishes -- gets my hands clean -- but I don't necessarily want to do them after every meal without fail.

And he said, in his analytical way, that what I was lacking was counter space to let dirty dishes pile up.

As soon as he said it, I realized that I had at hand a solution to the problem, two little metal carts that I used to use set at right angles for a desk (before I got my walking desk). They had just been sitting around gathering dust -- one of them had a large supply of post-it notes on the bottom shelf, and the other had a bunch of miscellaneous wire inboxes on the top.

So I liberated the carts. With the top and the two shelves, each one holds almost 9 square feet of dirty dishes -- that's 18 square feet of new horizontal surface. And because they're on wheels, I can move them from room to room according to my need for convenience or concealment.

mb:

I personally would rather have a dishwasher, but kitchens are all about individual needs and preferences.

m-c:

Yeah, Mark also thinks it would be better to have a dishwasher, but there's no room for one. I swear to him (publicly, here) that if I'm away or sick all he has to do is stack the dishes up neatly on the carts and I'll do them when I'm back or well.

My second tweak is at last to use the bewitching bottle-stoppers I bought on eBay five years ago. I don't know what I thought I was saving them for, but they're now out of the drawer they were rattling around in and capping four important bottles in my kitchen -- chile oil, red wine vinegar, soy sauce, and fish sauce. (I think the picture makes them look like the usual suspects in a police line-up.)

mb:

Do I recognize that chile oil bottle?

m-c:

You sure do, it's the bottle you gave me for Christmas four -- five? -- years ago, with new chile oil in it, of course, and now a suitably decorative stopper as well. Thank you again for the nice present.

My third tweak is to try yet another new organization for my refrigerator. The picture shows what it looked like three weeks ago. It's a little messier than that now, but the underlying organization is holding pretty strong.

Top shelf is drinks, salad dressings, and items for immediate consumption.

Second shelf and the door are for staples, things that I need always to have on hand, like mustard and jam.

Third shelf on the left is the Boulevard of Broken Dreams -- nonperishables some part of which I've already used, like half a can of tom yum soup mix and half a log of almond paste. Food writers will often tell you that things like this will "last up to a week in the refrigerator." A week? Who are they kidding? I've had some of these guys since Bill Clinton was in office. Eventually the things on this shelf will have to be used up or composted, but for now they're just hanging around. I did make a list of them, posted on the refrigerator door.

mb:

Mom! You've got to let go of that stuff. You're never going to use it. Throw it out before you poison yourself.

m-c:

Stuff like that doesn't get poisonous, it just gets hard. And I've been making good progress on using it up since I made the list. All I needed before was a list. Lists solve 38-42% of the world's problems simply by existing.

mb:

About the goodness of lists I have to agree, but throw most of that stuff out, I'm telling you.

m-c:

Noted.

Third shelf on the right is much cheerier, fruit that has ripened on the counter and then gets chilled to be eaten right away -- I love cold fruit, even in wintertime.

The right crisper is for stuff to be used promptly: salad and braising greens, meat, meat substitutes, and cheese.

Left crisper is for other veggies.

And that's the story of my refrigerator, long may she wave.

mb:

Amen.

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