Your Kitchen is Out to Get You

If you hate to cook, or you don't know how, your kitchen is a desolate place when it comes to cooking equipment. You can practically see the tumbleweeds bouncing off the counters. Oh sure, you've got a set of pots and pans, probably a $20 box from while you were still in college, and you've probably got a set of steak knives. You've got a spatula, some silverware, maybe a wooden spoon. You've got the Magic Potato Chopper that Aunt Magda (and Aunt Magda's QVC habit) gave you for Christmas. Maybe you've got a blender and some Tupperware.

Or maybe you go the other way and you've bought every kitchen gadget on the market, in the hopes that they'll ease your life. Maybe you have two Magic Potato Choppers and their close relative, the Magic Zucchini Peeler.

It doesn't matter: either way, your kitchen is out to get you and make you sad. There is no way you can cook with those tools. You'll burn everything you cook, you'll eviscerate tomatoes instead of slice them, and the Magic Potato Chopper will cut up your knuckles when you try to clean it. This is not your fault. This is the fault of your tools. Don't get me wrong -- lots of kitchen disasters will be your fault. But you can eliminate one major source of frustration, and you can do it without breaking the bank.

So open up those cupboards and dig out the stuff from the back of the silverware drawer, and take a good, honest look at your kitchen equipment. What do you use all the time? What haven't you used in six months? Does Aunt Magda's Magic Potato Chopper really deserve a cubic foot of precious kitchen cabinet space? If you haven't used it in a year, you do not need it. Most kitchen gizmos do one very specific job that can be done almost as well with a knife, and their frequency of use usually doesn't justify the space they take up. There will always be exceptions -- if you eat egg salad three times a week, maybe you want to hang on to your handy-dandy Magic Egg Slicer. But a decluttered kitchen is nicer to work in, because you can actually find the things you use frequently.

Once you've decided what tools you actually do use, it's time to take a look at their quality, and at what you might be missing. In the next few posts, we'll be exploring the basics of pots and pans, knives, utensils, and appliances. But I promise you: I will not be telling you to go to your local Giant Home Goods Store and present your wallet. I will not, under any circumstances, tell you to buy another set of pots and pans, or a big block of knives, half of which you'll never use. Buy what you need, buy only what you need, and don't fall for the hype, that's my motto.

Until next time,
Holly

Why another cooking blog?

If you've spent any time in the blogosphere, you've noticed the incredible number of cooking blogs out there. Why another one? What could I possibly have to say?

Well, here's the thing. Most cooking blogs are written by people who love to cook, and so they're written for people who love to cook. That's why this blog is different. Now, I do love to cook, but I'm writing for people who are cooking-phobic, or who hate it, or who've always meant to learn but just never got around to it. I'm writing for people who get home at 7:00, look despairingly in the refrigerator, and get Thai takeout for the sixteenth time that month. I'm writing for people who have never in their lives washed out a turkey cavity -- and what are giblets, anyway? -- and who are kind of afraid to reach in there. There might be snakes, or something.

That's why this blog was born. I am the snake charmer of the kitchen. I will guide you past the burned casseroles, the flat cakes, the dry chicken, the mushy pasta. I will teach you to feed yourself and your loved ones with a minimum of effort and a maximum of results. Everyone should know how to cook. Even if you can actually afford to eat out every night, what happens when it's snowing and you don't want to leave the house? What about breakfast? What about your waistline? How many landfill-clogging little white takeout containers do you want to be responsible for?

This, my friends, is our journey. We will explore the kitchen, deconstruct some recipes, learn a few tricks, beat back the snakes, impress our friends and dismay our enemies. We will conquer cooking. And we'll have us some fun while we do it.