About Kitchen Stuff
I love to cook.
Me, on a good day
I have a picture of myself at 3 years old, helping my mother to roll out biscuits.
In 4th grade, I was making dinner for the family. Not elaborate 3 course dinners or anything like that, but I baked a mean pasta casserole. Still do.
In 7th grade, I took cake and candy decorating classes and starting baking cakes professionally. (Or as professional as you can be in junior high.) Alas, my hands are too warm to have a career in cake design – I melt the frosting – so I bounced around for a few years after college before settling on a career in design of another sort – websites, brochures, etc. That’s my day job, and what currently pays the bills.
But my first love – outside of my husband and my dog – has always been cooking. And over the last decade, entertaining. We have game parties more than dinner parties, but I regularly cook for 4-10 people on weekends, and 50 or so at my annual Christmas party.
Our dog - isn't she sweet?
Course, I get so excited about cooking that I usually make enough food for twice as many people as actually attend. But that just means friends go home with goody bags!
Over the years, I’ve collected (and discarded) a ton of kitchen stuff – gadgets, knives, cutting boards, small appliances, you name it. I have a weakness for cookbooks, pretty dishes, teapots, and a good mixing bowl. At last count, I own 10 different whisks and 8 identical half sheet pans. But I only keep (and use) what works for me.
My idea for this blog is a place that I can share the tools and information that have worked for me over the years. I’m taking pictures of my own kitchen gadgets and gizmos, unglamorous and well-worn as many of them are, and telling you what I love about them.
And what I wish was different about them.
And, if possible, where you can get them.
These are not paid reviews. I’m working with stuff I already have and love. I do get money from affiliate links, but I’m not reviewing a gadget just so I can link to it, and not every site I link to has an affiliate program. If someone gives me an item and asks me to review it, I’ll disclose that up front.
If you’d like to send me something to review, please try to make sure it fits with the philosophy of this site, and me. I don’t eat a lot of processed food, think Splenda should be outlawed, and don’t like the smell, much less the taste, of coffee. I love local farm markets, Certified SC grown products, and a pot of tea. I’m concerned about the environment and my impact on it, BPA in my canned food, pesticides on my produce, and the recycled paper content of my packaging.
If you have a gadget or cookbook or ingredient in your kitchen that you love, please let me know about it! I love to experiment and try new stuff. And sharing that info is the whole point of this site. What’s worked for you?
Hi there Steph,
Great blog. I enjoy cooking as well so I’m glad to know of your site! I’m following and will look forward to your future posts!!
Sarah
Glad you could join us, Sarah! I shall have to check out your blog as well. I’m always looking for home ideas! Thanks!
I am the most unhandy person around the kitchen. It’s sad really.
But I have a love for kitchen gadgets. I have always wanted a nice kitchen for someone else to cook in.
Can’t wait to read your blog more.
Jen
Hey Jen, thanks for stopping by, and for the comment! As I seem to hurt myself at least once a week in the kitchen, I get the unhandiness. All I can say is practice, and I compensate with enthusiasm!
I have always wanted a nice kitchen for me to cook in, personally. Ours is so limited in cabinet and counter space it frustrates me on an almost daily basis. But I’m living with it for now. Sigh. Someday, right?
Hopefully I’ll have more for you to read soon!
I can ruin meals that make no sense. I ruined chicken pot pies when the handle of my pot(fill with soapy water) broke and all the water went into the stove burners, falling into the oven onto supper. Lets just say I ordered out 🙂
OMG, that’s too funny! But not an indication of your cooking skills, just that you need new pots! I bet those chicken pot pies would’ve tasting outstanding. Or they would if I liked chicken pot pies. They are evil to me. Too many 25 cent frozen pot pies as a kid while my mom was out trying to make ends meet. I don’t even like homemade now!
I once ruined a huge pot of leftover Thanksgiving turkey chili because I used Pinot Grigio (also left over from Thanksgiving) instead of beer. It wasn’t awful, just…wrong. We ordered out, too, and my friends use the memory to keep me humble in the kitchen. Happens to everyone!
My family has tons of stories of my horrible cooking skills. From me burning Mr.Noodles in the microwave(it smelled for weeks), to not knowing how to make coffee. I always burn things too.
Thankfully my boyfriend is a great cook and so is my Dad. I won’t starve that’s for sure.
Hey, if the men will cook, and cook well, let ’em! I’d much rather cook than clean, so I married a man who does dishes. (His mama trained him well!) I think he can cook, too, but I enjoy it and don’t share the kitchen well, so he gets to deal with the mess afterward instead.
I’m hopeless at microwaving popcorn. From popping to burnt like that. The bag usually goes out the back door for the birds, but even they won’t touch it!