My First Meme!
I was reading the posts on my blog and almost fainted when I saw that I got tagged for a Meme. It's my very first one and I am just like SoCalFoodie when I say I was giggling like a kid. I have read others but to be included well, I feel like it's a right of passage! Too wonderful.

1) Show us your kitchen ( a picture) and tell us what is it about this place that reflects your own personality.
This is the most used corner of the kitchen in my house. The appliance garage houses, the immersion blender, mini chopper, a Kitchen Aid mixer, toaster and a hand held beater. That door gets a work out. The food scale is always out to remind me to weight my food so I can continue to lose weight and remember what a "normal" portion size is. I like things out and handy to reach so there is a lot of organized clutter.

2) Open a cupboard (the one you feel to open), take a picture and tell us what we see.

These are items that get stored and used on a regular basis. I try not to keep to many canned items but sometimes you just can't be without them. I bought Tupperware back in the mid to late 80s and have used it ever since. It is square and modular so it stacks and stores nicely. They are pretty much see through so if you lose the sticky label you can guess what's on the inside (except for sugars).
These are the two shelves down from the last photo. I love my Splenda since I don't digest real sugar. I use the regular Splenda for my daily pots of tea and the baking Splenda blend for everything else. My pantry isn't very interesting, just cluttered!

3) Present us your favorite kitchen-based household appliance.
You would think that since I am a working chef I would pick some fancy piece of machinery but I love my toaster. I just open up the appliance garage and pull it out and plug it in. I use it 7 days a week. I wanted to put a second piece so see below.

This is the only other piece of kitchen equipment that I use every single day. I usually have two or more pots a day. This was purchased for a good price and it sure gets a work out!

4) Take out the ingredients you like the most, the ones you always keep stored. I love the fact that I can digest the Splenda. It has saved my coffee and tea habits. I changed my salt from table salt to Kosher and have never looked back. I keep a huge box of it both for my business and personal use. The black tin in the middle is my Harney and Sons tea. I love the Sun Dried tomatoes and my dried plums. Then there are the staples of Canola oil, Olive oil and Balsamic vinegar.

5) My little steel friend: present us to your favorite cooking/baking recipient.

I don't have a lot of these things but I think who ever invented silicon baking anything is a genius. I hate scratched, rusted and dented baking pans. As soon as I can, there will be a round cake pan added to this. I already have 2 sizes of the silicon baking pan liners. I love them. So I think that's it for the Meme.