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?

In the Kitchen and Garden

Over the weekend I spend a few hours in the kitchen whipping up some tasty treats.

I made some sourdough sweet chilli scrolls using my standard bread mix and adding sweet chilli sauce and grated cheese.

I also made some coriander and macadamia nut pesto.  We have coriander growing like mad in the garden and it was a great way to use a whole lot up before it all goes to seed.

I will let some go to seed to attract the good bugs to the garden but there will be plenty to do that even if I harvest all of what is in the veggie garden.  Last year my coriander went to seed and I left it so that I could harvest all the dry seed for cooking.
But just as the seeds were ready to harvest we got rain and they got washed off the bush and all through the garden.  Now we have coriander popping up everywhere.  Oh well not really an issue just more to let go to seed  for next year.

Coriander growing in the wood mulch paths around the raised beds

Coriander in the driveway

And growing in the garden edging

Do you have any self seeded herbs of veggies popping up in strange places at your place?