Reorganizing My Baking Essentials

It’s not easy for me to admit when I’m wrong. Being stubborn as a mule is not something I pride myself on. Whenever I’m going over past scenarios in my head where I know I should have admitted defeat, it’s so simple. But in the moment? No one can tell me I’m wrong. In the moment, I’m one stubborn SOB, and I hate it. It shows strength and self assurance to admit when you’re wrong. It’s juvenile to hold your ground when there’s nothing to stand on. 

So I’m here today to fess up to a major flaw: our kitchen has been badly organized since we moved in. Two and a half years ago. The horror!

It’s just so hard to envision yourself in a new space, what your wants and needs are going to be, you know? I saw myself doing things one way, similar to the way I’d been doing them in my old kitchen. I saw ample counter space and thought, let’s leave all the appliances out for easy access. I saw the large gleaming peninsula as the perfect setting for the fresh cut flowers I would arrange and display every week. That only lasted for the first month we lived here.

Okay, you’re right, it never happened.

In the last few months I’ve made a concerted effort to clear up the countertops and pare down the contents of our cabinets. I love the look of clean, bare surfaces. And I realized that the issue I had with baking at home –the issue being that I never wanted to- was that my baking supplies were such a hot mess. I’m embarrassed to show you the before picture:

You wouldn’t want to bake anything if you had to go through all those plastic bags and start a search party for what you were looking for, either, believe me. 

And then at Bed, Bath and Beyond last weekend I found a container set that changed everything. It was the last one, b/c everyone else had the same resolution to organize their life in 2018, so it was pretty much kismet that I snagged it. The after picture is so pretty I just want to stare at it longingly; it’s almost a problem in that it’s too pretty, I don’t want to get in there and mess anything up. 

I currently have three kinds of cookies cooling on my counters after a marathon cookie dough session earlier in the week. It was so easy and brought me back to the reason that I love baking so much: eating. 

I’m bringing all the cookies to a friends’ house today, since my no added sugar resolution is still going (fairly) strong. Brent will be cheering on the Patriots and I will be using every ounce of self control to not gobble down three dozen cookies. Wish us luck.