LBH Eyes On Design: Butler Pantries

A friend of mine is building his dream house.  It will, of course, have a showstopping kitchen.  I underscore "showstopping" as the kitchen will be "for show."  There will be a secret, second kitchen tucked behind the "show kitchen" where the real cooking and all the messiness that that entails will take place.  I am doubtful that this concept of an enfilade of kitchens will ever become a trend (or will it?) but I have noticed the advent of "butler's pantries" infiltrating the home design world.  It seems it is not enough now to have a walk-in pantry for storing all of one's sundry foodstuffs.  The walk-in pantry, once a must have for a family home, has been superseded by a pantry that has a sink, a second dishwasher, possibly an oven and other appliances where one's butler, should one be so lucky to have one, can do all manner of kitchen related menial tasks in privacy.  In this recently renovated condominium, you can see the butler's pantry tucked away to the right of the kitchen.

Image Source: Channel Nine

Pantries aren't just for extra storage anymore!

Image Source:  Channel Nine

This one has an espresso machine and another sink.

I am not sure what to make of this trend.  On the one hand, I am swooning at the thought of all of that extra storage and the ability to tuck away any bulky, unsightly appliances that might not get a lot of daily use.  On the other hand, in this era of open plan living where cooking has entered the arena  of entertainment and has become a commonplace component of socializing, hiding away somewhere to do the prep work seems contradictory.   What do you think?  Yea or nay?

A Monstrous Cookie Halloween

In my continuing quest to slow down, I have temporarily put aside learning how to bake a decent loaf of bread due to Monsieur's increasingly frequent comments regarding a passing gluten intolerance. Strangely, this intolerance tends to disappear when cookies and cakes are on the menu.  Hmmm, I think I will have to try my hand at baking cookies.  I am very fond of ginger and molasses cookies and, as I had unearthed a long forgotten carton of molasses in the kitchen cupboard, I set about attempting to bake them.  I used a recipe from epicurious.com which I won't copy here for various reasons to be explained later.  I have never used molasses in cooking before and so had no idea how hard it was to get out of the carton.  I wonder what Monsieur thought when he came home and saw this.

Note that I do not have a mixer.  In this house, mixing is done a la Little House On The Prairie style, with elbow grease and a wooden spoon.  The molasses is so viscous that I am unable to mix it consistently throughout the cookie dough.  I am sure that extreme minimalists everywhere would applaud my exhaustive and exhausting efforts with a wooden spoon.  However, all I can think of is the time Monsieur came home with a steam vacuum cleaner instead of a mixer.  Honestly, a steam vac!  In despair, I give up and throw the batch of "cookies" into the oven and hope for the best.

Suffice to say, the cookies are a failure.  They don't rise or spread out and develop strange crevasses all over. In fact, with the strange spotted colouring, they almost look like chocolate chip cookies.  In fact, they look like Frankenstein monster cookies!

Gloomily, I eat a breakfast cereal bar wrapped in a non-recyclable wrapper.  Yes, I know.  Fortified with mass-produced food, I am determined to try again.  Forget faffing with molasses, also known as edible road tar (although if you have experience cooking or baking with molasses please send along any tips or suggestions!).  This time I will try that old standby, chocolate chip cookies.  I have a bag of peanut butter chips so I decide to switch out the chocolate chips.  Obviously, my rebellious spirit is still alive and kicking.  I use a recipe from Martha Stewart's website.  Thank heavens, the Queen of All Things Good doesn't disappoint.

Strangely, though, the cookies nearest the heating element stayed smallish (the row at the top) while the cookies on the tray further away from the heating element in the oven spread out more (the row on the bottom).  Baking is an exact science and to me a mysterious one.  Still, whatever their size, they taste scrumptious.

  Perfect for a Hootin' Halloween.

Or, for would-be Dragons and Dragonettes, a Roarin' Halloween.
Wherever you are, I hope you have a Spooktacular Halloween!

I'm linking up with Natasha In Oz.

Adventures In Baking Bread

Simple living in a large metropolitan city has seemed, at times, a near impossibility.  For example, trying to eat organic, local food has been a source of great frustration.  I don't have a backyard so I can't grow my own vegetables.  True farmers markets are few and far between and tend to be at odd hours like between 3 and 7 pm on a Tuesday which makes them inaccessible to anyone holding a full time job.  Even trying to be more frugal with the grocery budget has been a difficult task as I find that groceries are at least 30% higher than out in the suburbs.  However, I persevered and thought to myself, "Why not start this seemingly impossible journey with teaching myself that most basic of life skills, baking bread? After all, every journey starts with one step."  Now, I will never be one of those people who springs out of bed at 4 am every day and bakes a loaf of bread.  But I was willing to get up at 7 am and bake bread once a week.  I used the No Knead recipe which I found on the Down To Earth blog.

The great thing about this recipe is that you prepare the dough the evening before and let it rise over night.   I think the name of the recipe is a bit misleading because there is some kneading involved. Now, you are advised to flour your hands and the board lightly but I can attest that you actually need a lot of flour and to dust the board regularly otherwise you will have a sticky, gluey mess all over your hands.

I did slash the top but I don't think it was deep enough because, somehow, magically, while in the oven, the dough decided to thumb its glutinous nose at me and mend itself back together again.  Monsieur assures me that, for my very first loaf, it was a passable attempt but he is being very, very kind.  There is no doubt that, if used to conk someone on the head, it could be classed as a dangerous weapon.  I am not sure if it was because of the lack of a slash on the top preventing it from rising or the finicky nature of my oven that never gets very hot.  Well, Rome wasn't built in a day so....I tried again, only this time with rye flour.  I mixed the dough and the next morning peeked in the bowl expecting to see a giant mushroom cloud of risen dough.  And...nothing.  It was a soggy lumpy mess.

Ugh!!  Why?? Why?? Is rye, by its very nature, too fibrous to do anything except sink wilfully towards the earth?  In an effort not to waste the dough, I mixed in a cup of white flour and hoped for the best.  Luckily, in 2 hours, it had risen considerably.  I toasted some almonds and added it to the top of the dough ball.  This time, I made sure to make deep slashes to the top.

 Well, this is looking more like a homemade loaf!

I used a toasted slice for my version of a beef brisket sandwich.

The Down To Earth recipe is a variation of a recipe from the New York Times which calls for the dough to rise twice and be kneaded twice.  The rye loaf was still on the heavy side so, next time I will try the New York Times recipe and knead it twice to see if that produces a lighter loaf. I guess this blog post is more of an anti-post that shows all the stumbles and not just picture perfect, Pinterest-worthy triumphs.  My main takeaway from this is to persevere and not give up.  If any of you have any tips or suggestions, this budding baker would love to hear from you!

I am linking up with Natasha in Oz.

Making Room for Another ~ Ham and Lentil Soup

In an earlier post, I admitted that I am a sentimental fool.  I tend to hold on to things for the memories they evoke.  Decluttering, organizing and staying organized require great effort on my part.  But now, I have a reason to turn over a new leaf.  Monsieur and I have decided to combine households.  This is a huge step for the both of us as it is something that we have never done before.  I thought that I would feel stressed about making room for another but, as Monsieur said, there is a sense of liberation in purging and decluttering.  And as the kitchen is the heart of the home, it seemed natural to start my organizing efforts there.  As luck would have it, I picked up a couple of vintage Le Parfait mason jars recently.

It has always been a dream of mine to have a pantry with shelves laden with jars of all sorts of foodstuffs.  The kitchen is small with not a lot of cupboard space but it does my heart good to open a cupboard door and see rows of jars filled with staples like lentils and rice.  And it is so much more organized than having open, half used plastic bags stuffed on top of each other, or worse falling out and spilling their contents all over.

I am going to keep my eye out for more of these jars.  I adore the vintage script and the fact that they are French.  Admittedly, I giggle whenever I read the words on the side, "Le Parfait Super (!!!)" Exclamation marks are my own as by no means am I perfect or super in the kitchen. 

Upon decanting all the lentils into one of the jars, I decided to try out the recipe on the back of the packet.  The result, lentil soup, came out surprisingly tasty as, up until now, lentil soup has never been a favourite of mine.

A few slices of crusty ciabatta bread made for a simple, nutritious meal.

Here is the recipe off the back of the packet.  I tweaked it a little as I didn't have any ham on hand.

Ham and Lentil Soup

1 tbsp (15ml) canola oil

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 ribs celery, diced

1 cup (250ml) diced ham (I used 5 strips of bacon)

1 cup (250ml) rinsed green lentils

6 cups (1.5l) chicken stock

1 medium red bell pepper, chopped (I eliminated the red pepper as I am allergic to it)

2 medium tomatoes, chopped 

chopped parsley for garnish

Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat and saute onion, garlic, celery and ham for 5 minutes (I poured off some of the bacon drippings, reserving some of it for sauteing the vegetables).  Add green lentils, chicken stock, bell pepper and tomatoes.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until green lentils are tender.  Makes 8 servings.  I did add ground pepper, a pinch of salt and dried oregano for added flavour.  So here I would add to the original recipe, season to taste.

It was so heartwarmingly satisfying to shop for a meal from a much more organized kitchen cupboard or pantry.  If you have any suggestions to help maintain an orderly kitchen and pantry, please let me know!  There will be many more life changes coming soon and we can't wait to discover and learn new ways of living and being. 

I'm linking up to A Stroll Thru Life, Southern Hospitality, Knick of Time, Ivy and Elephants, Thrifty Groove, My Romantic Home, The Charm of Home, Her Library Adventures.

Spring Fever

Do you find that as Spring begins to unfurl, that an irresistible urge to sweep, clean and organize likewise begins to unfurl within you?  I do and, lately, I have been on a mission.  Now, one thing that has long bothered me was the state of my kitchen drawers.  Cooking, a task that requires a great deal of fortitude on my part, meant a mad scramble for a spoon or a spatula.  Now, it came to me that I would very much like a vintage crock to hold my kitchen utensils.  But I have never seen one whilst out thrifting and the ones in Williams-Sonoma just looked too shiny, too bright, too...new.  Then what do I see in a junk shop?  A vintage crock!  And not just any crock but one that actually says, "Kitchen Utensils" on it!

Then, shortly thereafter, in a completely different thrift shop, in a faraway town, what do I come across but a matching tiny little crock for pork drippings.  The little crock has a more recent birthday than it's larger sibling but I don't mind.  I had heard of grease jars but had never come across a crock for pork drippings until now.   Of course, to get the pork drippings or bacon grease there has to be some cooking with said pork or bacon.  Not only was a kitchen utensil crock on my wish list but a cast iron fry pan.  And what do I spot on a shelf?  A cast iron fry pan all nicely seasoned.

I admit that this cast iron fry pan has been a revelation to me.  It has amazing heat retention and its non-stick qualities means I can avoid the dangerous siren call of Teflon.  Here it is with a pork roast surrounded by parsnips courtesy of Monsieur's culinary prowess.  It was all prepared in the one pan.

I admit that whenever I use this fry pan I want to sing "Home On The Range."  Life slows down, quiets down until all I hear is the soothing sizzle of food cooking and the beating of my heart.

I am linking up with Her Library Adventures, Apron Thrift Girl, Knick of Time, A Stroll Thru Life, Coastal Charm, My Romantic Home,  Thrifty Groove,.



Simply Pretty Vintage Tea Towels & Creamware Mixing Bowls

I think I am on my way to a new collection or possibly a new addiction.  Let me explain.  I am the chief dish washer-upper and dish wiper in my household.  Monsieur bought me a pack of black and white tea towels for drying said dishes.  But I found that they left swathes of black lint all over the dishes which necessitated much more wiping to no avail.  It also meant that I had to rinse the dishes again which obviously made them wet again instead of what I wanted them to be which was dry.  As well, the idea began to germinate in my mind that I would like some really pretty tea towels to make the task of washing up and drying dishes more pleasant.  Sadly, nothing in the shops caught my fancy.  They all looked so banal, so prosaic, so....uninspiring much like the act of wiping dishes.  Thus began the search for vintage tea towels.  Then, while I was out thrifting, what do I see on the racks?  Lovely, pretty in pink vintage tea towels.  And not just one but a matching pair!

Not only were they ever so pretty but they were in unused, pristine condition which is a wonder to me as I very much doubted the likelihood of finding nice tea towels that weren't covered in stains.

I do so adore the look of them hanging casually over a chair or over a rack in the kitchen or just spilling out of a dresser drawer. 

Along with the idea of having pretty tea towels to inspire me while washing and drying, I had begun to think that I would very much like to have a vintage whiteware or creamware mixing bowl.  This new obsession began when I saw the modern reproductions at Williams Sonoma.  Sadly the price tag was quite out of reach for this girl.  Then, what do I see on a shelf while out thrifting?  A glorious creamware mixing bowl!  Truly, I think I stopped breathing for a split second.

 

There is something so very soothing and comforting about this bowl.  It's as if it's saying to me, "Yes, I have done my job for many a year and now I'm going to help you make delicious meals."  I am positive that with the help of this mixing bowl, my floating islands will float, my breads will rise, my cakes will not be leaden in the middle.

  
And after I am done cooking something delicious with my mixing bowl I will gladly and, oh so carefully, wash it and dry it.  The only problem is that my new tea towels are so pretty that I do not want to use them.  I just want to admire them. 

I'm linking up to  French Country Cottage, My Romantic Home, Thrifty Groove, Apron Thrift Girl, Knick of Time, A Stroll Thru Life.

New Year, New Favourites

I adore making discoveries that become new favourites, don't you?  It's like stumbling upon a treasure when you were just ambling along without any thought of being on a treasure hunt.  I've been an appreciative fan of Duchy Originals food products for some time but it's only available here during the holiday season at a high end store in town.  I saw this jar of Damson Preserve whilst out Christmas shopping and decided to try it with only a vague idea of what a damson was.  All I knew was that it had a marvellously Victorian ring to it, so much more romantic than prosaic fruit jam.

Apparently, damsons are a type of plum.  And how wonderfully plummy it is.  Fruity with that right hint of tartness and without that cloying sweetness which is the pitfall of many a jam.  On a snowy day with an icy windy blowing, there is something deeply comforting about toasting up a slice of good bread and topping it off with your favourite whatever.



Did you treat yourself to any Boxing Day goodies?  I picked up this tea cozy at Chapters.  Just perfect for a pot of tea.

I adore the thick wool felt and cheerful simple red stitched stars.  Although, perhaps I just like saying "tea cozy."

What kitchen would be complete without a good knife set?  I was so very fortunate to receive a knife set for Christmas.  I had no idea how having really sharp knives would make such a difference with food preparation.  And, I am fascinated with how they are neatly displayed and organized.  As someone who was not born with the "neat and tidy" gene, something that comes to me inherently organized is a wondrous thing.

And, of course, I must mention my new wooden chopping board which is exceptionally large and exceptionally heavy.  It was a gift and an absolute delight.  Again I had no idea what a difference having a large work surface for food preparation would make in the kitchen.

New favourites, new discoveries.  I think I'm off to a good start.

I'm linking up with A Beach Cottage, A Stroll Thru Life, My Romantic Home, French Country Cottage, Type A Decorating.