Let’s Organize the Pantry!

M gets in these weird cleaning fits from time to time. On Saturday I came home from the gym to find the counter full of containers. In these containers are items I bought from the bulk bins. A majority of the stuff are different types of flours, but there is also an assortment of rices, spices, and beans (oh my!).

It didn’t take long (and half a bottle of flat sparkling wine) before these containers were inventoried and put back into the boiler room. M even made a special shelving unit for this, but I’m not allowed to post a picture of it.

Freezer Purge

I don't remember if I wrote about this before, but my freezer is on this fritz... again. I've already thrown out a lot, mostly meat. It pains me to do that, but who knows how long its been thawing and refreezing. The back is completely covered in ice and not properly freezing what little is left in there. I have a bag of salmon fillets, a seafood mix, a roaster, and assorted vegetables and fruit. Not stuffed, but arrrgh. I don't want to throw all that out.

I'm tempted to bring stuff to work and throw it in the freezer there. But I am pretty sure it's full.

Le sigh. First world problems.

Happy Christmas!

We were awoken by a chorus of "Ho ho ho's."

"It's Santa!" M cried. He put on his glasses and ran down the stairs. I decided to sleep in a while longer because well... waking up early really isn't my cup of tea. But I had a lot to do before we headed downstate, so I slowly made my way downstairs, hoping M started a pot of coffee.

No coffee, but there was a package by the fireplace with my name on it. What could it be?

A five quart Kitchen Aid Artisan mixer! So. Stoked.

I have plans. Big, big, big plans for this baby. I took a quick look through the accompanying manual/cook book and made a mental note of all the things that I'd want to try out. Onion mushroom tartlets? Hell yeah! Oh and milk bread... which would put all that milk in the fridge to good use (why I have so much milk in the fridge, I can't tell you... maybe I just knew).

I asked M what we should name it. His response?

"Mark."

Welcome to the family.

New Counter/Storage Space

One of M’s co-workers got a new table for her kitchen, and gave us her old, slightly broken one. With a little tinkering, M got it in tip top shape.

Out With The Old

Trying my best of eat up leftovers in the fridge and cut into the pantry supply. I’ve made progress – most of the vegetables are gone, as is the rotisserie chicken. I used up the rest of the ramen noodles and started on the sweet potato ones. Only one container of soup left!

Haier Microwave/Convection Oven: Part 1

Recently, I was contacted by CSN Stores to partake in a review of one of their products. I thought this would be a great idea, due to certain circumstances (that'll be another post, sorry). Dealing with these folks over at CSN has always been fast and efficient, and this time proved to be no different.

Site design may be off-putting to some, mostly because of a lack of name recognition. Sales might be stepped up more with a newer, sleeker web interface -- but then again, most of my favorite online shopping sites feature a bare-bones interface designed to help find you exactly what you're looking for, as fast as possible. And I have to say, the checkout process was one of the best I've encountered. All pertinent information was easily available and was organized into well thought out categories. Even comparison shopping was a breeze. And what if you did find the item for less at another site? Well, they have an easily accessible form to submit for price matching, so you're always guaranteed the lowest price.

Not that I had to use that feature, though. Many of the items sold are offered with free shipping, and considering the product I ordered (the Haier Microwave/Convection Oven - MWM10100GCSS) was just shy of 50lbs, shipping was a killer from most other sites. Only one site came close when all was said and done, but the difference in overall cost was a mere $.90 -- and not worth bartering over.

The shipping itself was fast. I ordered the item Wednesday evening and received a shipping notification the next morning, as well as a notice telling me that they upgraded my shipping method for Free! If it weren't for some unforeseen circumstances at UPS, the new microwave would have arrived 3 days earlier. Being as such, we received the item on Monday. Since then we've unpacked and are very happy with what we've found. The manual is pretty comprehensive, telling you exactly how to use the different features (microwave vs. convection) of the oven. The only problem now if finding a space where we can utilize it.. but again, that's for another post..!