Everything At The Kitchen Sink - Link Up

My friend Liz from Eight Acres was visiting the other day and she commented on my kitchen sink set up and suggested it would be a interesting topic for a post and I agreed.  Everyone has their own little set up that works for them, their routine and family make up and I think it gives us a glimpse into the way other people live and maybe we will all pick up some tips along the way so feel free to link back to here at the bottom of the post

In our rental property our sink backs onto the dinning area and has no splash back but quite a wide bit of bench.  We have 2 sinks but only one draining area (2 - one each side would be more practical)
At my kitchen sink you will always find a cotton dish cloth (mostly hand made knitted or crocheted) and these are changed ever 2 or three days to ensure they are not bacteria spreaders.

I like having things at hand  (and not having to dig into a cupboard to get things especially when you have grubby kitchen hands) but not looking too messy so I have a few vintage cups and a long oblong plastic dish that cost me $2 holding all the bits and pieces together in one place and keeping them tidy.
The oblong dish holds home made soap, scrubbing brushes (one for the kitchen and one for veggies). the plug and dishwashing liquid.  I have an vintage milkshake glass with dish brushes and bottle brushes, an old mug with a scourer and steel wool and a vintage coffee glass of pegs.
I try and use mainly timber and natural bristle brushes but I do have one plastic dish brush that I use specifically for greasy dishes and then it goes in the dishwasher.  The pegs get used instead of twist ties as they last much longer when your are in and out of the bag all the time, unlike bread bag ties they do not make holes in the bag, if they get grubby they can be washed  and they can go in the freezer and function from frozen without breaking.

We use our home made soap in the bathrooms and at the kitchen sink.  It is important to be able to wash you hands at the sink between handling different ingredients so you do not cross contaminate your food.  Our soap sits on a home made soap rack that Hubby made.  It is just a piece if timber with some old screws screwed in part of the way so that there is good air circulation and the soap does not turn to mush.

The only other cleaning products that we use in the kitchen are the home made cream cleanser and citrus vinegar.  I use these on the kitchen sink about every second day giving the stainless steel a rub down with the cream cleanser followed by a spray of the citrus vinegar leaving it to fizz a little then a good rinse.

So what does your kitchen sink look like?
What products and systems do you use?

The Weekend Kitchen

The weather was lovely over the weekend and this meant time was spent outside rather than in.
Saturday morning was spent doing a fundraising BBQ outside our local IGA and the afternoon was spend doing outside jobs.

On Sunday I did spend a little time in the kitchen putting down another batch of citrus peel in vinegar for cleaning which I will top up as I have more peel.  I also cleaned the kitchen windows both inside and out.

Now my windows are lovely and clean but it makes me think that more than just the kitchen ones need doing.

What did you get up to in the kitchen over the weekend?

Doing A Stock Take And A Clean Out

For a few months now I have been meaning to clean and do a stock of my pantry.  I have been putting it off.
I even had a good reason to do it a few weeks ago when I knocked over a bottle of balsamic vinegar and poured half the bottle on the shelf below and then onto the floor. But I still didn't do it.  I just cleaned up the vinegar and closed the door.  It was however 5.30 pm and I was in the middle of cooking dinner.  That's my excuse anyway.

It has taken me another 3 weeks to actually get around to emptying the entire pantry doing it properly.
Here in QLD one of the pests that we face on a constant basis are cockroaches.  And because we live in an old house that is not 100% sealed mice can be an issue as well.  This means that all food must be kept inside a well sealed container and even then I have had a hungry rodent try and chew through a plastic container to get to the contents.   Anything left in just the packaging it came in, even if it has not been opened, is at risk.
We have not had any issues with mice this year so one of reasons to clean out the pantry was to get rid of any food that might attract them as the weather cools down and they head indoors.  However once I removed everything from the first shelf the evidence of cockroaches was plain to see.  YUCK!!

Yuck, just look at that mess.  The paper also helps soak up the oil that
seems to find it's way onto the outside of the bottle

My pantry is built into the old cooker recess but the shelves have not been lined or painted so I like to line them with butchers paper or newspaper.  This makes it really easy to just fold up the old paper up wrapping any litter and mess inside to be thrown in the bin.

First job was to empty the pantry.

Spices out for checking a topping up

Second job sort through everything and top things up instead of having half packets inside storage containers.
Check expiry dates and discard anything out of date.  Make a mental note, or list if you prefer, of anything you have a lot of, close to expiring or cannot match it with anything.
In my case I discovered I have 2 packs of sushi paper that I need to use up, a few spices that I am out of and a few things that I had to through out.
I have topped up containers where I could, added to things I am out of to the shopping list and planned to make sushi on the weekend.  I also threw out half a block of compound chocolate that was hiding in the bottom of a container and was well out of date as well as a few other things.  Thankfully there was not a lot to throw out.

Then it was time to vacuum and wipe down the shelves before re lining with paper.

Ahhhh nice and clean

Then it was time to put everything back in.

Placing things that need using up first towards the front and at eye level will remind you to use them up.

Now all I have to do is sit back and and enjoy my nice tidy pantry.  Or bake up a storm, but that might mess up my organisation.  Oh well can't stop cooking.

I feel much better having done this and my next project is the filing cabinet, and that will be another challenge.

Do you have any areas that you are considering clearing out or taking stock of?

Removing Stains on Formica Bench Tops

Can you see that pale pink mark right in the middle of the first photo?
Well that is purple permanent marker.

Right Up Close

I took a frozen meal out of the freezer yesterday and left it on the bench to defrost.  When I moved it a little while later there were 2 bright purple spots on the cream/beige coloured formica bench top.
It had been sitting on top of another container inside the freezer and somehow the label written in permanent  (apparently not) marker had transferred to the bottom of the container on top of it.  Arrrrrr bugger.

Straight away I tried to wipe it off using dishwashing liquid and it did clean it off a little but even from 2 metres away you could see the pink marks.  I really wish I had taken some photos so you could see how bad it was but at the time it is not what I was thinking.         But that is close to what it looked like.

To remove the mark I used glycerine ( glycerine can usually be found in the supermarket near the medicinal things or near the cake decorating things) and poured about 1/2 a teaspoon onto each purple spot.  Then over the next 24 hours the glycerine gradually drew the purple into it and I was able to wipe it away then re spread the remaining glycerine or add a bit more as required.

The faded spot right in the middle of the photo

I am not sure how it works but it does.  I have used it to remove turmeric stains, rust and ink for a pen that leaked.  Turmeric has proven to be the most stubborn but even it's marks can be dramatically diminished.
Glycerine is not expensive so grab some when you are next at the supermarket and then you will have it on hand for next time a stain threatens to ruin your bench top.

So can you see the pink spot now?

Bi- Carb Cream Cleanser

Over the last 12 months we have been working our way through an array of cleaning products using them up but not replacing them.
For some reason the last owner of the house left behind all sorts of cleaning products plus we had the ones we brought with us.  We had  over 20 half bottles of all sorts of things that we would not normally purchase, but did not want to be wasteful and throw out.
I while ago we made the decision to switch to simple green cleaners that are cheap and easy to make at home.
The basis of most of these cleaners is Bi-Carb Soda and for $25 we purchased 25 kg bag that I blogged about way back here.
In the past I used to purchase gumption for use as a cream style cleaner.  I have also used Jiff  in the past but find the smell unpleasant.
So now I make a cream cleanser using 1 cup of Bi-Carb Soda, 1 tablespoon of Glycerine and just enough water to make a smooth paste.  And that's it.

It s slightly abrasive so don't use it on anything that will scratch.  We have a ceramic top stove and that is one of the places we do not use it.
The way I use it is to put some on a cloth and clean the area that I want then give the area a spray with white vinegar.  This activates the layer of Bi-Carb left behind by the paste and helps pick it up.

 

I also keep a shaker of Bi-Carb under the kitchen sink too, great to sprinkle where ever it is needed then spray with vinegar for a quick and easy clean.  The next thing I want to make is some citrus cleaner.
What do you use at your place?