Odd Things Start Happening When You Start Cooking…
You are suddenly unhappy with how beat up your spatulas are. I have a few spatulas that I’ve had for a decade that are all melted in weird places because I’ve left them sitting on a pan for too long. (Cheap? Possibly.) I bought one decent one a year or so ago (and by “decent” I mean “stainless steel to prevent melting”) because I was cooking so many meals out of the box I needed one more durable. That one? I’m still very happy with. The melted ones? Anger me because they are a sign of who I was and also? If you’ve made something really yummy that took effort? You want to scoop it out with something that deserves the job…a melted spatula from Dollar General? Just doesn’t cut it. (No pun intended.)
You start researching knives. The knife set is just a block of 5 knives, from Target, that someone gave us when we got married. Not only did it only ever get used by MrZ to cut his carrots for his lunch, but I often thought about getting rid of it because it seemed to take up too much space on my counter for something we rarely used. Now? I find myself irritated because none of the knives cut well. I’m trying to decide if it’s a good enough quality to just sharpen and move on with my life, or if I should invest in new/additional knives.
You donate old/useless kitchen stuff to Goodwill. I have 25 different chip bowls. SERIOUSLY. I donated all but four to Goodwill because they take up a lot of room in the cabinets and I needed the space for new things I’ve had to purchase like bread pans, pie dishes and sifters!
Look! I even have room at the top for more!
You realize how important it is to have a complete set of measuring spoons. And also…what is the point of the cute “smidgen” and “dash” set…which looks complete? Why do I have those? What harm have I done by eyeballing 1/2 tsp measurements?
This is dangerous for someone lacking the ability to successfully approximate.
You will notice you suddenly need an entire shelf for baking/cooking supplies in your pantry. This is weird as you used to only keep sugar and brown sugar on that shelf. For cereal, coffee, and oatmeal. Now you have spices, flour, oils and something you never thought you’d need: CRISCO.
You find yourself taking pictures of weird stuff in your kitchen. I think I’ve already made my point on that one.
Eeee, I love your little spice jars! I can tell they’re Market Pantry brand, aren’t they? [Target geek] I need to get me some!
Could not agree more. It annoys Bryan to no end that now we have entire shelves in the pantry of stuff that “you can’t eat”. Also, you start coveting serveware. And researching stock pots. And mapping the closest Le Cruset store.
The kitchen in our apartment has weirdly set up cabinets and drawers, so I have TWO whole baking drawers. They make me happy, although I don’t make nearly as much as I’d like to because there’s only two of us to eat it all.
You should definitely look into new knives. You don’t need to go all super fancy, but I’d say get at least one, nice knife… probably an 8″ or 10″ knife. It’s good for a lot of things. Also, serrated (bread) knives work really well for cutting tomatoes and chocolate, in case you haven’t discovered that yet… but in my experience, you don’t need to spend a lot of money on that because I’ve never figured out out to sharpen all those ridges in the blade.
Pampered Chef. It turned my life in a whole new direction. I am now fairly competent in the kitchen where before I was all about the frozen prepared food aisle. The products are terrific. The spatulas are heat safe to 500° and don’t come apart. The knives are better than the name-brand we received for our wedding. I used to replace our non-stick cookware every year. I’ve had my PC non-stick cookware for six years now and the finish is still intact. My son was a picky eater before PC. He started helping and then eating. It also pushed me out of my comfort zone and pushed me where I’d never expected to be.
Stuff I learned the hard way….
Buy the best that you can afford and individually if possible. That includes cookware and cooking utensils. Buying the “sets” of cookware and utensils, always gets you more clutter…
Label your spices with the date you bought them. It sounds stupid, but they really do need to be thrown out after a year. (ummm, yeah…I bought a label maker for just that reason)
And the organization thing? Can get hideously out of control.
I’m totally emailing you right now some things in my kitchen that I think are must haves.
It’s fun seeing you get enthusiastic.
I’ve got pumpkin envy from that can on your shelf! I love baking with pumpkin and they don’t sell it in the stores in Germany. They actually expect me to go and make my own pumpkin. That may be easy for someone with YOUR skill, but for me, it sounds so difficult!
To store your knives I highly recommend the magnetic strip you mount to the wall and the blades stick to. Gets things off your counter and you can grab the intended knife the first time.
Definitely invest in a good set of knives. Make sure that you have a chef’s knife and a paring knife and strong set of kitchen shears. Seriously, they will change your life and it’s actually much safer to use a big, sharp knife than smaller, dull ones.
Vote #3 for investing in great knives. Makes all the difference in the world. We also love our magnetic strip…got it at Williams-Sonoma and it looks like a piece of wood instead of just a black magnet.
You found the Wheat Germ! Now make sure you put it in the fridge after you open it or will get rancid. And funny story about spatulas…my MIL always just puts the cookie sheet and the spatula back into the oven when she’s done. One day she turned the oven on to preheat and forget about the spatula and melted the entire thing into a big glob on the cookie sheet. Hilarious!
I know the feeling. I want all new expensive cookware every time I go to Pioneer Womans site!
Beware the inevitable trip to the restaurant supply warehouse – public is welcome & the goods are stunning
Take a lesson from Alton Brown and try to avoid the purchase of unitaskers – they will fill your kitchen with stuff you don’t need/use often enough
Knives are tricky – I like the block because that is what the kids use & abuse – also what I use casually. But a really good knife hidden away for only you is like the secret stash of chocolate.
This is starting to happen in my house too.
As far as knives. I always have one or two ‘good’ ones that only I use so that no one messes them up.
Cutco knives. We purchased a set of 5 from our niece’s friend who was selling them for extra $$$ about 5 years ago. Turns out – they are my favorite thing in the kitchen. (I am the “before” version of you. I do not cook.)
Right there w/you! Seems like I get the baking/cooking bug whenever it’s Fall/Winter. So, I need to go thru my pantry and cabinets to clear out some space and buy some goodies!
Everyone has knife suggestions! As do I. I say that you only need two good knives for the vast majority of cooking: a good chopping knife and a good paring knife. I love my Global chopping knife; any good-quality paring knife will do. Then buy a sharpener and keep them sharp.
I’m the same way since I started actually COOKING and not just reheating. I want a really good knife for Christmas, I need to upgrade my measuring cups and spoons (plus I need more than one set, because I cook so much in a day and one set is always in the dishwasher) and I need some prep bowls. Two years ago I didn’t even know what a prep bowl was!
And don’t worry about those dash/pinch spoons…you will want to keep them once you become even more comfortable in the kitchen. PDub actually has some and recommends them. I want some of those too.
(Have you seen her – PW’s – contest today for the food processors? I am totally going to win one….or I’ll just ask Santa for one of those too)
I once wrote on my blog about weird things in my kitchen (capital W kind of weird) so I laughed a lot when I read that last line!
http://thegoriwifelife.blogspot.com/2009/08/weird-things-in-my-kitchen.html
I put a recipe on my blog every Monday and apparently taking photos of dinner is so normal in my house that my 3 year old often asks if I want to take a picture of her snack. LOL
Since I’m experimenting with baking lately I suddenly am not scoffing at those with those big mixers that take up space on the counter…now I am a little envious.
I hate HATE melted spatulas.
I’m so impressed with all the baking stuff you have! I took a cue from Pioneer Woman and took everything out of my cabinets this weekend. I threw away old stuff and rearranged. I now have a huge cabinet dedicated to baking.
I have a great set of knives (4) I got at Sam’s. They are Wolfgang Puck knives–not to expensive and they work great. I also have a few Pampered Chef knives that are amazing but kind of expensive.
Good luck and enjoy cooking!
I am a little jealous of your spice jar. I don’t have one officially and constantly want one
Also, for knives, I got a SWEET deal at Macy’s on some Henkel’s knife set/block for Christmas. At those times with coupons you can really get a good one. Henkel’s or Wusthof is a great brand to consider and I love my spatulas from Williams Sonoma or Crate & Barrel. They are almost unburnable or unbreakable.
It is so cool because you and I both got into cooking at the same time. I had to move my dishes to another piece of furniture because now my cabinets are full of equipment and you know, food, rather than processed crap. But Zoot, Crisco is the devil! (Not the corn oil, just the partially hydrogenated total trans-fat nightmare.) That stuff is only one ingredient off of plastic. Seriously.
I totally recommend Cutco knives. Maybe that’s old school, but they are the best set of knives we have ever owned. You have to hand wash them but very much worth it to have sharp knives available. And a set usually comes with a sharpener. They’re guaranteed for life! Also, how cool is it that you now get to shop for kitchen gadgets! I’m jealous. I love kitchen gadgets almost as much as office supplies.
Wait you have more than one spatula? IS this allowed? It never occurred to me
Wow your cupboards are neat.
Lastly when I was flying home from Canada once I got stooped at security due to my metal measurement spoons, apparently they looked really odd going through the x-ray. They were really good sports and we all had a giggle when it transpired what the weird metal contraption inside my carry one bag was.
OK, very important here: smidgen is a 1/4 tsp. or 1/8 tsp. I can’t remember, so I guess you can strike that part of there that says it’s very important. Anyway, it’s half of the smallest one above that and it is good to have when you have to put cayenne pepper or something else super powerful in. I might throw it in by the handful Emeril style if I didn’t watch out. So the little smidgen helps… if only I can find it.
RE: Spatulas, I absolutely love silicone rubber spatulas. I use them all the time (especially for making eggs in the morning) because they’re completely heat-resistant. If you don’t have any, I recommend that you grab a couple the next time you see them.
embracing the inner kitchen nerd..you rock!!!