November 2, 2018

It’s the Little Things #20

Happy Friday!  Here are my favorites from the week with you – it might be a quote, a print, what I’m reading, a favorite podcast, a playlist, a recipe, a helpful tip, a cleaning product, or something I added to our home. Basically if it’s something little that I feel is shareable or if it’s something I’d bring up to a friend over coffee or on the phone, I’m probably going to share it with you here. Here’s a link to all of the posts in this series.

This week’s little things are all influenced by a little question I posed on Instagram last week – you can see the post/question here.  I was just curious if you used a salt bowl – which I’ve come to discover is really called a salt cellar.  I loved your comments and suggestions – seriously, you guys are the best!  I thought I’d share what I ended up purchasing and talk a little bit about some thoughts I have on kitchen counter clutter. Because that little salt cellar made me go to Williams-Sonoma where I purchased the most expensive small appliance we have ever purchased and I have no regrets and a completely transformed kitchen counter.  It’s a classic ‘give a mouse a cookie’ story 😉

After researching and looking online for options – just a quick search on Amazon and I realized that this is a popular kitchen product.  I decided to head into Williams-Sonoma to see what they had and I love seeing products in my hand first.  They had a few options but you could easily just use a mason jar and a lid for this purpose.  I bought an olivewood salt box with a cute little spoon on the side.  I put fine kosher salt in it.  I use this salt when cooking and baking and then for seasoning we use Himalayan salt (the pink stuff) in a grinder.

Here’s what this little corner looks like – if you are curious as to what this space looked like before, you can head over to this post.  In that post I talk about keeping most-used items by the stove. If you compare the posts you might notice that I moved my knife block and added the salt box but everything else is pretty much the same – (left to right and front to back) grinder with peppercorns, Himalayan pink salt, fresh garlic, salt box, ghee, ground pepper, garlic salt, olive oil, small utensils and holder.  I use this Fiestaware bread tray for the items in the back – I have white Fiestaware dishes and love them.

Let’s back up to the big purchase – this is something my husband and I have been talking about getting for over a year – we bought an espresso machine.  I cannot tell you how much I am loving it – especially that my coffee with unsweetened almond milk actually tastes really good.  I put away our coffee machine and coffee grinder for when we have company and the counter space is working really well for me.  I put the machine in the corner which has always felt awkward and empty and I’m loving it.  Sorry, Starbucks, no more coffee runs.

My next realization this week?  I had pre-ordered Ina Garten’s latest book, Cook Like a Pro when I first saw it was coming out, probably last spring?  You can see it on my cookbook stand.

There’s a full page spread of her kitchen and it was so inspirational to me.  Why?  Because I don’t think people keep things out on the counters anymore for photos – I loved seeing how she has everything set up for cooking.  When you cook and really enjoy it, it’s hard not to have your favorite products and tools out to use.  Moral of the story?  Use what you love and love what you use – don’t be afraid to display those often used tools in your kitchen if it brings you joy and makes cooking a little easier!

What have you been enjoying this week? Any little things to share?

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It’s the Little Things