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Accommodating/combating housekeeping differences in the kitchen


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4 hours ago, gfweb said:

I couldn't find my thermometer and a few other small items.

 

When I finally found it...after buying a new thermometer...it was in the bottom of a utensil crock, hiding amongst the ladle handles.

 

I was told..."Oh, I was just straightening up" as though that's an acceptable explanation for gross stupidity.

I keep my most-used thermometer in a utensil crock next to the cooktop.  There's not enough room for it to lie horizontally on the bottom but even there were, It does seem odd to place a long, narrow object on its side where it's surely both out of sight and out of reach. On the other hand, I manage to hide many tools from myself with even less effort!

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Just last week I received a ThermoWorks extra large storage case for holding much of my thermometry equipment in one location.

 

Other than that I have two Thermapens in a drawer by the stove, plus three other thermometers in the kitchen.  A surface Thermapen lives by my bed in a drawer devoted to culinary power cords.  Why, I am not sure.  Probably for historical reasons.  And it needs a new battery.

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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interrestin . . .

 

having not found a commercial knife block that accommodated my 'stable' - and as the Boardsmith declined to do customs blocks . . . -

i did my own.  and enroute I decided to make accommodations for stuff I have zero tolerance to dig thru the junk drawer....

 

holds the knifes, the hone, measuring spoons, kitchen shears, analog and insta-read thermometers.;

since added blank fillers for the empty holes - so I can at-a-glance see if anything is 'missing'

DSC_4652s.thumb.jpg.c06f12c56895d01c50370ccc8fd738f6.jpg

 

Edited by AlaMoi (log)
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3 hours ago, AlaMoi said:

interrestin . . .

 

having not found a commercial knife block that accommodated my 'stable' - and as the Boardsmith declined to do customs blocks . . . -

i did my own.  and enroute I decided to make accommodations for stuff I have zero tolerance to dig thru the junk drawer....

 

holds the knifes, the hone, measuring spoons, kitchen shears, analog and insta-read thermometers.;

since added blank fillers for the empty holes - so I can at-a-glance see if anything is 'missing'

DSC_4652s.thumb.jpg.c06f12c56895d01c50370ccc8fd738f6.jpg

 

 

Do you take orders?

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This is about more than pens.   It's about kitchen order, as established by the several people who normally cook in that space.    So, IMHO, it has to do with attention and respect for someone else's equipment and order.  

Pay attention to what you find and use.   Where it was.    How it was placed.   If you don't remember when you are cleaning up, and I assume you are cleaning up, don't just stash it somewhere, but leave it out in an obvious place where the main guy can put it away properly.

We've had a weekend place for 40 years, which means a lot of guests have come through. as well as adult son and various dates and eventual wife.   We've had few problems, the occasional phone call re "where it the,,", and mostly clean stuff left out for us to put away.   And in later years when he has used the place almost more that we, some new organization which sometimes has been for the best.

Edited by Margaret Pilgrim (log)
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eGullet member #80.

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On 5/30/2022 at 2:44 PM, AlaMoi said:

interrestin . . .

 

having not found a commercial knife block that accommodated my 'stable' - and as the Boardsmith declined to do customs blocks . . . -

i did my own.  and enroute I decided to make accommodations for stuff I have zero tolerance to dig thru the junk drawer....

 

holds the knifes, the hone, measuring spoons, kitchen shears, analog and insta-read thermometers.;

since added blank fillers for the empty holes - so I can at-a-glance see if anything is 'missing'

DSC_4652s.thumb.jpg.c06f12c56895d01c50370ccc8fd738f6.jpg

 

Very elegant solution. But what I love is the Kutztown utensil holder. I went to camp outside Kutztown for several years!

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I don't understand why you guys have problems finding things.

 

My solution is simple. I have at least three of everything I own. That immediately increases your chance of finding missing things three times faster.

 

dcarch

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we've attended the Kutztown FolkFest since the early 1980's - it's always a fun trip!

funny story about the crock . . . I have a collection of black cherry wood stuff from cpbasils.com - he's a regular at Kutztown.

I have very few metal utensils for cooking, so one year I bought the Kutztown crock, chiding him that he really needs and Chester P Basil crock.

and next year,,,, they appeared! 

 

the crocks are from a local potter - check out the ears on the Hirschfelder crock (from Germany) and the Kutztown design . . .

the heritage continues....

 

his wood wares are superb - my first are easily 20 years old - no cracking/splintering . . . excellent form to function.

IMG_2385.thumb.JPG.d7b9323e1b845a26b5eb4e9838fcab5e.JPG

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If you have a cat he's likely to decide that your precious favorite ever vegetable peeler that you left on the counter while you left the kitchen for a minute  belongs under the fridge. So, being the thoughtful that cats are,he'll put it away for you and you won't find it until you buy a new fridge. And,despite its filthy disgusting condition, you''ll give it a good cleaning and put it in the drawer where you've been looking for it for the past several years.

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"A fool", he said, "would have swallowed it". Samuel Johnson

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On 5/30/2022 at 1:29 PM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Other than that I have two Thermapens in a drawer by the stove ...

 

My Thermapen lives in a drawer next to stove, along with some alcohol prep pads for cleaning it after each use while cooking.

 

I do the dishes so everything gets put away where I want it. A couple of decades ago my younger daughter didn't really care where I wanted the various bowls, casserole dishes, etc. My solution was to put pictures on the inside of the 3 related cabinet drawers, It was a major fail, but because of other things going on I didn't do anything more than mention it once in a while. That was a "pick your battles" decision.

 

I am most anal about my knife block. every knife has a position, and all the blade edges go to the right. I do this in my wife's knife block also; she doesn't care so long as she has her knives at hand.

 

One thing that did make my wife and adult kids crazy for a while is when I switched what was in 2 drawers. The flatware drawer had been next to the dishwasher at a 90 degree angle, for at least 15 years. When emptying the dishwasher it was grab some flatware, put it in the drawer, then close the drawer to grab more flatware. Repeat until all of the flatware was put away. I moved the flatware drawer to be one position further from the dishwasher. Viole, problem fixed, but I heard about the switch for many months.

 

While I do the majority of the cooking it is our kitchen and we share it.

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Porthos Potwatcher
The Once and Future Cook

;

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55 minutes ago, Arey said:

If you have a cat he's likely to decide that your precious favorite ever vegetable peeler that you left on the counter while you left the kitchen for a minute  belongs under the fridge. So, being the thoughtful that cats are,he'll put it away for you and you won't find it until you buy a new fridge. And,despite its filthy disgusting condition, you''ll give it a good cleaning and put it in the drawer where you've been looking for it for the past several years.

 

And how do you know this?

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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18 minutes ago, Porthos said:

My Thermapen lives in a drawer next to stove, along with some alcohol prep pads for cleaning it after each use while cooking.

 

I do the dishes so everything gets put away where I want it. A couple of decades ago my younger daughter didn't really care where I wanted the various bowls, casserole dishes, etc. My solution was to put pictures on the inside of the 3 related cabinet drawers, It was a major fail, but because of other things going on I didn't do anything more than mention it once in a while. That was a "pick your battles" decision.

 

I am most anal about my knife block. every knife has a position, and all the blade edges go to the right. I do this in my wife's knife block also; she doesn't care so long as she has her knives at hand.

 

One thing that did make my wife and adult kids crazy for a while is when I switched what was in 2 drawers. The flatware drawer had been next to the dishwasher at a 90 degree angle, for at least 15 years. When emptying the dishwasher it was grab some flatware, put it in the drawer, then close the drawer to grab more flatware. Repeat until all of the flatware was put away. I moved the flatware drawer to be one position further from the dishwasher. Viole, problem fixed, but I heard about the switch for many months.

 

While I do the majority of the cooking it is our kitchen and we share it.

 

I had a friend who at the time lived in the same apartment complex as I do.  Once when she was visiting with her small son she explained:  "Yes, the kitchen looks just like ours, except the silverware is in the wrong drawer."

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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3 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I had a friend who at the time lived in the same apartment complex as I do.  Once when she was visiting with her small son she explained:  "Yes, the kitchen looks just like ours, except the silverware is in the wrong drawer."

 

Exactly!

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The first thing you should do when visiting someone is to go to the cutlery draw and grab all the forks in one hand and all the spoons in the other and swap them round.

Then you find out who has OCD 🤣😜

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Be kind first.

Be nice.

(If you don't know the difference then you need to do some research)

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On 6/3/2022 at 12:31 AM, Bernie said:

The first thing you should do when visiting someone is to go to the cutlery draw and grab all the forks in one hand and all the spoons in the other and swap them round.

Then you find out who has OCD 🤣😜

Years ago we went out of town and my mother and father in law came to house sit.  She decided that my kitchen "wasn't arranged right" and proceeded to move everything around.  Everything.  Then she cut up the rubber mat thing that I had that was amazingly helpful for me to open jars with.  She cut it into strips and stood decorative plates on the strips so they wouldn't slip.

 

That was the last time house sitting from them happened lol.

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6 minutes ago, Shelby said:

proceeded to move everything around

My mother-in-law did that while I was in the hospital with a new baby. I threw a royal hissy fit, made her put it all back and stuck her on the next bus out of town. After that, there was a lot less interference from that quarter.

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Just now, Tropicalsenior said:

My mother-in-law did that while I was in the hospital with a new baby. I threw a royal hissy fit, made her put it all back and stuck her on the next bus out of town. After that, there was a lot less interference from that quarter.

I barely managed to keep my mouth shut.

 

She also had the whole family over for dinner while we were gone.  I  didn't even host huge family dinners.

 

She did, years later,  admit to Ronnie that she probably shouldn't have done all that lol.

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8 minutes ago, Shelby said:

She did, years later,  admit to Ronnie that she probably shouldn't have done all that

Mine just went on to bigger and better atrocities. One of the great joys of divorcing him years later was getting rid of her.

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We have a good system going for a few years. I appreciate he unloads the dishwasher in the morning while making coffee. Then reloads if the sink is a bit full from the night before. Then cleans the sink with BKF. Brings me coffee in bed. Anything not sure where it goes he leaves on a drying cloth above the dishwasher. I still need to check and rearrange some things put away wrong about once a week. Takes 5 min. 

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26 minutes ago, Annie_H said:

We have a good system going for a few years. I appreciate he unloads the dishwasher in the morning while making coffee. Then reloads if the sink is a bit full from the night before. Then cleans the sink with BKF. Brings me coffee in bed. Anything not sure where it goes he leaves on a drying cloth above the dishwasher. I still need to check and rearrange some things put away wrong about once a week. Takes 5 min. 

He's a Gem.

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1 hour ago, Annie_H said:

We have a good system going for a few years. I appreciate he unloads the dishwasher in the morning while making coffee. Then reloads if the sink is a bit full from the night before. Then cleans the sink with BKF. Brings me coffee in bed. Anything not sure where it goes he leaves on a drying cloth above the dishwasher. I still need to check and rearrange some things put away wrong about once a week. Takes 5 min. 

 

John's morning routine is somewhat the same.  Gets up, puts on coffee and water for tea, feeds the cat, lets cat out to get morning treat the neighbor leaves for him (the cat, not John) takes him for a walk down the hall, makes tea.  While that steeps, he unloads the dishes and if needed, puts dishes left from night before into the dishwasher.  With my, um, encouragement he now leaves the "I'm not sure where it goes stuff" on the counter.

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  • 4 weeks later...
12 minutes ago, Kerala said:

Half an onion in the fridge

I have that same problem. Half a tomato, half a cucumber, half of anything. If I put them in the crisper drawer, I forget them. My solution was to buy a plastic drawer the fit in my fridge just for the things that have been cut into and need to be used up first.

20220628_082718.thumb.jpg.011eef9d81b2953bedda642c5619e5c2.jpg

Edited by Tropicalsenior (log)
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