The heart of the home

Ever thought to yourself, that you wished that your kitchen was more organized, so you can find your stuff. I for one believe that the kitchen is the heart of the home. It's where mum's like us, slave over the stove to prepare a decent meal. Meals that nourish our families and meals that we prepare with love and TLC.

I love to cook and chat at the same time. It makes it more enjoyable. Previously, my sis used to come by pretty often when I lived in Sembawang. And preparing meals, normally involved her sitting in the kitchen chatting with me. Now that I have moved, my elder son tends to do that. Much to my delight, he has even joined in to attempt cooking. He has actually made quiet a few dishes already. I am so proud that he feels at ease in the kitchen. This way should he need to study abroad, at least he has one survival skill, checked.

Also now, since the kitchen is bigger in this new place, I have the whole family chipping in on weekends. My hubby and the boys have a great time experimenting and cooking with me. Of course when it comes to clean up, the enthusiasm is lost instantly. Nevertheless, these are precious moments I cherish and am sure when the boys have families of their own they will recall these moments too.

Organization in the kitchen is pretty essential. You will want to have an appropriate place for all your stuff. With better order, your family members will feel at ease in the kitchen and hopefully make lesser mess.

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I give off a dreamy sigh as I look at my dream kitchen. My hubby has promised me that when we renovate the kitchen, it will follow through with the rest of the Vintage-French Inspired house design.

Since I am so into system and organization, I am of course the very person to organize my kitchen.
Here are just some of the crazy stuff I do, but it works.

• start with the electrical stuff near power points
• cookbooks placed in a convenient place for your reference
• the pots and pans go below the stove

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• utnesils arrange according to importance from top to bottom
• a drawer for my storage bags and foils
• a drawer for clean tea towels
• a drawer for wash clothes
• a chic big platter for my onions, garlic, ginger, etc.

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• coffee and beverage ingredients placed near the electric kettle (for quick morning coffee)
• herbs and ground powders stored in a cool dry place
• oils, grains and flours tog, also in a cool dry place
• all the canned food stuff placed together
• all the boxed food stuff placed together
• below the sink are all the cleaners
• closed trash can, beside the sink, for easy asses when cutting ingredients
• some nic nacs just for the pleasure of my eyes

I like to place all my extras together, so that at one glance I will know which are running low on stock. At the same time there is variety when it comes to cookies, cereals and pasta.

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• and containers, containers, containers...

 I spend much on my containers. I prefer the LOCK & LOCK. They are durable and air tight. I buy them similar to shape and size, so I can stack them up, one on top another. Even though, these containers are transparent, the guys in my home still have challenges in finding stuff. So what am I to do?

I label them. There are many ways to do this.

1. I place a little transparent tape and then write over it with a permanent marker. This way when I need it for another purpose, I simply remove the tape.
2. I cut out the labels from the product packaging. (Eg. I cut out the Milo label from the package and paste it onto the container)
3. If you are very particular, you may want to use a label maker.

However you choose to do it, trust me, it will do you wonders. I say this because when everyone in the house can get what they want easily, they will not bother you. Then you can actually get back to that book you have been trying so hard to finish.