Drawer Seven: Can you identify these utensils?

Our organized utensil drawer. 

This morning I tackled the kitchen utensil drawer where I keep our occasionally used utensils.  The frequently used ones I keep in containers on the counter near the stove.

The frequently used utensils I keep close at hand on the counter.

This drawer was rather cluttered to say the least.  I emptied everything out and put all through a good washing in hot soapy water and then drained them before I dried and sorted them.

Everything out of the drawer, washed and rinsed.

I had read that cork drawer liners are great for utensils because the utensils don't slide around as easily when you open the drawer.  They tend to more or less stay put.  So this drawer I lined with cork.

Roll of cork liner.

There were some things that I stored elsewhere.  The vintage pastry blender I put in the drawer with the pastry cloth and rolling pin.

The vintage pastry blender was moved to the drawer with the rolling pin and pastry cloth.

All the cookie cutters I stored with the other cookie cutters in the pantry.

Cookie cutters went to the pantry.

I'm going to give you a little quiz to see if you can identify the use for the following utensils that live in this drawer. (Answers at end of blog.)


Question 1.  Please identify this utensil.

???

Question 2.  Do you know what this is used for?

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Question 3.  How about this one?

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Question 4.  I really like this one.  Do you know what it is?

???

 Question 5.  I bet you don't know this one, but if you ever use one you will like it.

???

Question 6.  What are these little steel-wool looking things?  Not the teaspoon.

What are these?

With the cork liner keeping everything more or less in place, this drawer looks pretty organized now.

Kitchen utensil drawer lined with cork and organized.

I'm having a bit of fun with this year's New Year's Resolution. On to drawer eight.  Only four more days to go.  I think I can make it. 

Answers to above questions:  1.  zester for citrus fruits  2.  fish server  3.  Gadget to remove the hulls from strawberries  4.  Spaghetti tongs.  Great for serving spaghetti noodles.  5.  Garlic cloves peeler.  Just put the garlic clove in and roll around and it comes out smooth as can be and your hands are free of garlic odor.   6.  I hope you might know, because I have no idea, and please let me know if you recognize them.  They look like they might be some kind of filter for something.  Anyway I have saved them in case I discover their use later on.

Drawer Six,"A Piece of Cake" and a Beef Brisket Recipe

Drawer six with the foils and wraps and plastic bags nicely organized.

Drawer six where we keep our foil and wraps was "a piece of cake" to organize, because it wasn't that cluttered.  I did have some kitchen twine that belonged elsewhere.  I took everything out of the drawer and cleaned the drawer liner.

Drawer six before.

I decided to arrange the rolls along the depth of the drawer rather than across the width as before.   I discovered that gave me a little more room, and I can see all the rolls when I open the drawer.

Oven bags.

I had forgotten about these oven bags that were in the back of the drawer.   I bought them when I cooked a beef brisket using a favorite recipe from my cousin Joan.  We haven't had a brisket for some time, so I think I will prepare one this week.

I'll share the recipe with you.

Beef Brisket in an Oven Bag
1 3 to 4 lb. brisket without bone
salt/pepper
1 Tbs flour
3 medium carrots chopped
3 medium onions chopped
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes (or pureed tomatoes)
1/2 cup port wine or water
1 envelope onion soup mix (or part of one)
1 tsp dried basil
2 bay leaves

Trim fat from brisket and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place flour in large oven cooking bag and shake.  Add brisket, place in roasting pan.  Combine remaining ingredients and pour over brisket.  Cut slits in top of bag, close bag and seal.

Cook in a 325 degree preheated oven for 2.5 to 3 hours.   Let rest for 15 minutes before slicing brisket. Slice brisket against the grain into thin slices. Serve with vegetables and natural gravy from the bag.

This recipe is easy, and the meat is so tender.  I'll serve this with mashed potatoes. 

Drawer Six organized.

Two in One Day

I had plenty of time today to work on the kitchen cabinet drawers that I am decluttering to keep my New Year's Resolution.  So I did two drawers, one for the 4th and one for the 5th.  I can have a day off on Monday. 

I'm working on the smaller drawers to the left of the oven. 

Drawer 4 ( the top small left) was a rather big mess, but it didn't take long to straighten it out.  This drawer is where we keep our napkin rings and butter pats.   There were things here that didn't belong. 

Drawer four cluttered. 

Napkins, pot holders, hot pads belong elsewhere.

Two napkins, two pot holders, and more hot pads were moved to where they belong.  I found that I had so many cork hot pads that I decided to put some in the box for the Thrift Shop.  

There was also some fabric that I plan to use to make dish towels.  This reminds me to get this done. 

Dish towel fabric.

Drawer four organized.

I organized the napkin rings in plastic bags.  The butter pats are in a small box, and the large oven mitts fit better here than in the drawer where I keep most of the pot holders.

What do candles and candy have in common at our house?  They share the same drawer  (Drawer five the middle left drawer) in our kitchen.

Candles, candy and chewing gum in the before photo. 

I determined we have too many candles, especially since we now use battery operated candles a lot.  I know real candles give a nicer ambiance, but battery ones are safer and last longer than real candles and you don't have to worry about wax getting on your surfaces. And the battery candles look so real now.  Consequently, I'm adding a bunch of  candles to the box that will be going to the Thrift Store.

Candles that will be donated to the Thrift Store.

With some of the candles out of the way, I have room to add our Bic lighters to this drawer.  It seems the logical place for them.

I've added the Bic lighters to the candles section of this drawer.

In the candy part of the drawer I noticed that we were out of Werther's and low on chewing gum.  So I've replenished them. From the time the grands were very small, they knew where the chewing gum drawer was.  Even now that they are almost grown (Zach is grown) they will occasionally ask "Grandpat, can I have a piece of chewing gum?"  They didn't often have chewing gum at their house, so it was a treat to get some at Grandpat's house. 

Dan and I like to have a bit of chocolate on hand as well as Ricola cough drops and Werther's hard candy. 

The candy, cough drops and chewing gum organized.

 I can take tomorrow off, because I am one day ahead with my New Year's Resolution. 

Day 3 The Linen Drawer

♫On the third day of Christmas----♪♫♪     No. ♪♪♫♫ On the third day of decluttering my true love said to me♫♫  "Wow, you really are keeping your New Year's Resolution!!"   Yes I am!

The top drawer at the left of the oven is where I keep my everyday linens---tablecloths, napkins, pot holders.  There's another place where I keep my fancier linens---white tablecloths, white napkins. 

Panorama of drawer three before.

Everything dumped out.

This drawer didn't take much time to reorganize.

The recipes in the plastic bag don't belong here.  Oh, that reminds me! I need to reorganize my recipes.  Another resolution perhaps?

This one napkin ring doesn't belong here. Neither did the roll of freezer paper.

Tablecloths that we use outdoors.

Tablecloth with ants.  One of my favorites.

The two tablecloths are ones we use outdoors.  I especially like the one with the "ants" crawling all over it.  I saw this piece of oilcloth and had them cut a piece large enough for an outdoor table.  These are the kinds of ants I don't mind having on the table.  Somewhere I found fabric with this same design and I made eight napkins, but they don't seem to be here.  Maybe I will find them as I continue to declutter.  And check out these ant napkin rings.  Wouldn't they be cute to use for a picnic with this tablecloth?


This drawer also holds trivets and cork hot pads.  I seem to have two packs of hot pads that haven't been opened.  Every time I go to IKEA I seem to buy a pack.  They are such a bargain there---3 for $2.99.  Well I can quit buying these since I have a lifetime supply.

Panorama of drawer after organizing. 

This drawer shaped up nicely and quickly.

Tomorrow on to drawer four.  

Day Two of my New Year's Resolution

Here it is January 2, 2015, and so far I have kept my New Year's Resolution.  Today I cleaned out kitchen drawer number two, the drawer to the right of our refrigerator.  I was able to discard a few things from this drawer and others I moved to a more appropriate drawer.

This is the before photo:

Kitchen drawer two before decluttering.

Here is everything from drawer two.

I don't even know what some of these things are nor where I got them. They look as if they were hand craved (even have the name of the maker on them).  I think they were utensils for opening or eating something we had at a restaurant but I can't remember what or where.  Guess I just decided to bring them home because they were pretty.  Anyway I have jettisoned them. 

Unknown utensils from some meal at a restaurant. 

The skewers belong in the drawer that I did yesterday so out they go to that drawer.

These skewers belong in the drawer I organized yesterday.  Over they go.

I tried this egg timer once with poor results and the egg timer made the water smell strongly of the plastic  from which it is made.  This will be thrown away.

Useless egg timer in my opinion.

The cookie cutters for making dog biscuits---some are shaped like bones---will go to the pantry with the rest of the cookie cutters.  One Christmas I made dog biscuits shaped like bones for all the dogs in the family.  They were a great success.  I had forgotten I had these.  See what you might find if you declutter!

Cookie cutters for dog biscuits.

The little cheese board with spreader made in New Zealand was a gift from Joe and Alice after their trip there.  And the little cheese holder (not part of their gift) is great for holding cheese as you cut it.  It is especially helpful for soft cheeses.

This stays in this drawer.  I always know where to find it when I need it.

I use the pastry cloth whenever I make pies.  I decided to move the rolling pin (the one my Mama had) to this drawer since I had room for it and this seemed the logical place.

Vintage rolling pin that I moved to this drawer.  It needs to be with the pastry cloth.

Perhaps my prize possession in this drawer is the Thermapen instant digital thermometer.  I always use it when cooking meat to determine the degree of doneness and it never lets me down. This is a rather expensive thermometer, but I think it is well worth the price.  We've had this one for over five years.

One of my favorite kitchen tools.  The Thermapen thermometer folds up and fits in a little leather case.

They  have produced a backlit Thermapen that would be great if you grill outdoors at night.  Check out this Youtube.

 Here is what drawer number two looks like reorganized.

Drawer two decluttered and organized.

I'm on schedule with reorganizing my kitchen drawers for the New Year.  Looking forward to day three.