a happy kitchen

our collection of tea etc. tins atop the fridge

Slowly but surely we're making this little hobbit hole into a home. Getting pictures printed for the walls that have been stored on hard drives, putting some of our many books in a bookshelf, and finally setting up my kitchen with all my own appliances and dishes. 

I love to be in the kitchen so creating a space for creativity, inspiration, and easily accessible was pretty high on my list. After storing most of my pantry supplies on the floor and under the table, we finally got a stand alone pantry. The kitchen in our hobbit hole was not designed for hobbits (since we all know that hobbits love to eat and need no excuse to put on the kettle), it has several drawbacks but we make do with what we have. It's a little on the small side and the storage is lacking somewhat but we've made it our own and think it's quite nice, actually.

At a recent garage sale, I was able to get a lot of glass jars which I had been waiting for so that I could organize my pantry the way I wanted too. 

I emptied out plastic bags into the glass jars, my preferred method of storage for several reasons. One of them being that everything looks so much better in glass and also glass is a really good long-term storage for food items. All the baking supplies have labels on them so I know which white powder is what and which jars I need to refill. The finished product doesn't look as neat and tidy as I would like it too since everything doesn't fit into jars but it's all organized and clean and makes me happy when I open it.  And we all know that if a cook is happy, the food is bound to taste good!

here's a glimpse at one of the shelves

I keep these three items on a shelf beside the fridge since I use them all the time along with my garlic and pepper grinder. They're some of my best friends in the kitchen along with my tins of tea.

What keeps you happy in the kitchen?