What makes my kitchen saucy (and often chaotic!)

Instead of posting a recipe today, I though I'd delve deeper into the idea of a "saucy" kitchen, and why mine qualifies.

First of all, I accept the basic definitions of saucy as either covered in loads of delish liquidy-yet-slightly-viscous coating (and I do love a good sauce!), or of being slightly cheeky (which judgement I'll leave up to those who know me).  However, as the image of my blog shows, my kitchen cupboards/floors/counters/appliances are often covered with spatters of my latest creation AND (I'll admit) at too frequent moments, spatters of my own blood. No, I don't love and labour over cooking so much that I sweat blood. However, living in a two bedroom apartment that has a galley kitchen, combined with being pretty clumsy, combined with my impatience when doing dishes...all join forces in adorning my hands with new and lovely scars every so often. :S

So all in all, when cooking (or apparently doing dishes!) my kitchen is usually a pretty chaotic place. I have about 2 square feet of counter space on which to prepare food, and both my six year-old daughter and my cat usually decided to play a game of tag through the kitchen whenever I'm preparing dinner.

Creating in the midst of chaos has always been a bit of a challenge for me. I need to feel relaxed in order to cogitate and (I'll admit to my neurosis) in control in order to cook.

(Check out Figure 1 for an example of an impatient dishwashing experience. Accidentally loaded the dishwasher with actual dishwashing liquid...fun results!)

Figure 1



So here are a couple of my all-time favourite strategies to creating a kitchen with just the right amount of sauciness and the least amount of chaos.

1. Have a CLEAN kitchen. Clean-up any leftover stains, dishes, and dried food before beginning. This may seem basic, but as I said, when you only have 2 square feet of counter space, it's imperative! There's nothing that puts me off cooking dinner more than coming home from work and seeing a filthy kitchen with a mound of crusty dishes waiting for me (and unhappily as our kitchen counter is about 3 feet from the front door, it's the first thing you see when you walk in!) I must give a shout-out to my husband on this regard though--he works from home and is generally pretty good at having the dishes done when I get home.

2. Grab a glass of whatever makes you calm (I'll let you fill in the blanks) and crank some tunes! Whatever pumps you up, gets your creative juices flowing, and makes you excited! For me it's indie rock, 90s grunge, and some wacko songs that either make me laugh or bring back memories of laughter. For some great recommendations in this category, check out my page What I'm listening to in the kitchen...

3. Last but not least, get a ROCKIN' apron! For clumsy me, an apron is essential, but I don't want some Victorian pinafore or 1950s parachute. I want something that says I've got class and sass in kitchen (and that I'm only there cause I want to be! ;) I got mine at Flirty Aprons and love it! Pier 1 also has some great choices in-store.

I even bought my daughter a nifty hand-made reversible apron for when she and I bake together. Our aprons are the first thing we look for before getting started on that batch of pumpkin bread (don't even get me started on my cookie-making experiences....later blog!)