Ramblings

If it looks like I'm procrastinating and abandoning my blog, fear not. I've been busy sorting out a nightmare which is looking for a new flat. But we've done it and sealed the deal. I think we got a bit spoilt by living in a massive (by London standards) two bedroom place, so moving into a smallish 1 bed with next to no storage was bound to be a shock.

Ok, I'll admit it, I cried a little wondering where I'm going to put all my clothes, baking essentials (9 types of sugar and 4 types of flour anyone? 3 muffin tins?!), shoes (a sea of them) and all the things that we I amassed over the last three years of living here. Wiping tears from my eyes I suddenly realised that I'm silly. It's just stuff. Some of it is nice stuff, but still just STUFF. So I ruthlessly did what some fashion bloggers call wardrobe culling. I was like Julius Ceasar in the arena of tops, skirts, dresses, millions of scarves and more pairs of tights than a centepede could ever dream of wearing. Bin, keep, charity, bin, charity, keep, on and on it went and I ended up lugging three bags of clothes to a charity shop. I cried some more, cursing the London real estate market, Victorian builders who didn't think it necessary to include a walk in wardrobe in a 1 bed flat, landlords who charge extortionate money for what is basically a shoe cupboard. And then, two days later I realised I don't even remember which clothes ended up in a 'charity' pile. Surely this means I won't miss them? All of a sudden I felt better. 

At this stage, dear reader, you may ask (if you're not dozing off yet) why on earth would I be talking about clothes and wardrobe purging when this here is a food blog. Well, guess what? Kitchen cabinet culling is on the agenda. I never paid attention to lists of kitchen essentials listed in the beginning of most cookbooks, but I might start. And while I wish my kitchen looked like that:

source

I accept that I will have to make do with what I've got, be resourceful, get rid of some baking tins (I think one muffin tin is quite sufficient, wouldn't you agree? After all, I'm not running a muffin factory! Yet. Maybe one day) and be organised! By the way, do you know this blog? Amazing stuff for all people obsessed with organising things.

So, while having a kitchen so huge that it requires a GPS to get around would be awesome, a small kitchen won't affect the way I cook. The lovely Rachel Khoo creates amazing dishes in a kitchen the size of a broom cupboard and so does Deb from Smitten Kitchen. By the way, is it true that most New York apartments have teeny tiny kitchens? Hats off to you, NY food bloggers!

Phew, it was nice to share! Let me know what your kitchen essentials are! I hope you enjoyed reading my ramblings, even though the initial bit had nothing to do with cooking!

I've got a recipe to be posted very soon, but for now I'll leave you with a picture of the street I'll be living on from October. Nice and leafy, no?

Now forgive me while I go and grab the last piece of that chocolate brownie cake. It's been a hard day and I still need to decide whether I want two frying pans or one and a wok ;)

Oh, and this is a pretty funny picture. Pigeons travel on the tube too!