Kitchen Confidential – Part II

January 22nd, 2012

After helping food and fashion blogger Emily Schuman of CupcakesandCashmere.com, tackle her kitchen chaos, and reading all her followers comments, Heather and I thought we should share some of our most valuable tips and tricks for keeping our kitchens under control. Enjoy!

Keep like with like! Knowing how much of an ingredient you have left in your kitchen pantry prevents overbuying. So group the following items together… (and for gods sake, keep all the labels pointing forward!)

canned goods – beans, soups, sauces, canned veggies and fruits

baking goods – flour, sugar, chocolate chips, extracts

condiments – ketchup, mustard, hot sauce, etc.

carbs – pastas, grains and rice, and breakfast items (oatmeal and cereals)

OXOBuy matching containers: Airtight containers made of plastic or glass keep bugs and moisture out, while allowing easy visibility when cooking or baking. Matching containers, whether on your counters or inside cabinets, provides a uniform look which creates an even greater sense of organization.

Label everything! From your see-thru containers, pantry shelves, to the insides of your drawers. Not only does labeling prevent you from using the semisweet chocolate chips over the bittersweet, but it also allows everyone in your home to stay on the same page, while keeping you honest during those lazy moments when you just want to put something back on the closet shelf.

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Divide and conquer: Divide baking items (cookie cutters, cupcake holders, cake sprinkles) in clear plastic bins within your drawers or shelf

Measure your drawers: When buying utensil holders for your kitchen drawers, make sure you have the exact dimensions of your drawers with you. If a static utensil holder is pretty but doesn’t fit, don’t buy it. Instead, go for the expandable kind which will keep things from getting lost or moving around.

Make it pretty: If you have aspirations of being like Martha Stewart, and those ugly drawer liners make you cringe, get creative. Buy and cut your favorite wrapping paper to fit your drawers or shelves and layer a clear plastic liner over it.

lined-drawer

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Cardboard boxes and Companies that Care

December 1st, 2011

KORbox-life

Boxes are shipped to my home on a pretty frequent basis …thanks Amazon Prime! And when I receive these poor cardboard carcasses, I do my best to try and give them one more go at life before sentencing them to the blue recycle bins. However when I opened my door yesterday to find my KOR water bottle box waiting, I was pleasantly surprised by the packaging.

The box was labeled with a green sticker that said “Keep it Going!” with a QR code for tracking. And upon further inspection, I discovered a really cool website called aboxlife.com where you can leave a story about your box (where it came from, it’s name and favorite color) as well as track the travel of your box in the future – once you decide to reuse it and send it on it’s merry way. How cool is that?!

Many large companies are using them, like KOR, Columbia, and Sorel. But that’s not enough when you think about how many companies ship products out there. So if you or someone you know has a small business that ships packages, please tell them about these environmentally conscious cardboard boxes. Thaaaaanks!

<3 Brooke

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Gift Closet Organization

November 19th, 2011

sheet-music-wrap

The holidays are here and shopping season has officially begun. And if you’re fortunate enough to have a big family (or a lot of friends), you’ve got a lot of presents to buy. But what do you do with all those gifts until Santa makes his rounds? Well, just as there is a science to buying the perfect gift, so too is there an organized method for storing them. Unlike my mother, who hid gifts so well, she couldn’t find them come Christmas. Something I can laugh about now, but not at the tender age of 7. I digress.

We’ve all heard of the gift closet. The magical wardrobe that houses the presents-to-be and gift wrap until the time is ready. But if you’re the type of person who likes to shop for friends and family all year long, even this sacred place can become overwhelming. So this year I thought to take it to the next level. And for the record, no, I do not have an organizing OCD. What I do have, is a beautifully organized and detailed list of my gift closet.

Two lists actually. The first, for all the gifts that were bought with specific people in mind, and the second, for all the stragglers – the items that I bought because I knew they would make great gifts one day, and the re-gifts. But I didn’t stop there. Because my second list is quite large, I decided to make subcategories, just like those websites that feature search options such as “gifts for her,” “gifts for kids,” “gifts for cooks,” etc. etc. It’s bloody fantastic. Now, when I need a gift, I know exactly what I have, and where to go. Take that Mr. Grinch!

PS. For those rare re-gift items, it’s highly recommended to note who originally gave the gift.

<3 Brooke

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Fashion for a cause

October 5th, 2011

FallingWhistles

Last night heather|brookes attended Alternative Apparel’s Falling Whistles event. Of which 100% of the proceeds of all whistle sales went to helping the women and children affected by war in the Congo. Please buy your whistle and wear it in protest with us.

<3 Brooke

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Pinterest Anonymous

July 30th, 2011

ESinteriors

While perusing through my favorite blog cupcakes and cashmere, I came across a post dedicated to Pinterest. Instantly I was captivated by all the beautiful imagery neatly organized into categories such as wedding, interior design, and food. After what seemed like hours of staring at picturesque parties and immaculate homes, I had to leave for work and forgot all about it. Less then a month later however, a client sent me an invitation to follow her on Pinterest, and I took it as a sign and joined.

And what did I find? Crack. Optical Crack. What I didn’t realize is that Pinterest is not just a great way to kill time, it’s actually a really helpful tool for saving images, ideas, and websites in a visually stimulating way. No more tearing out magazine pages that lay in piles or stuffed in folders. No more website bookmarks that are forgotten with time, or photos saved in virtual files that clutter your computer’s desktop. Pinterest does this and so much more! It’s genius really, absolute genius.

To see what I’ve been obsessively pinning, please follow my boards HERE

<3 Brooke

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Keep calm and carry what?

July 20th, 2011

I’m sure you’ve seen it. It’s everywhere. On posters and mugs, pillow and rugs … even Band-aids. But where did it come from and what exactly does the phrase “keep calm and carry on” really mean?

keep-calm-and-carry-on-message

keepcalm

Sorry, I’m an anglophile who has a thing for Googling.

<3 Brooke

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TINI to the rescue

July 13th, 2011

TINI

To my utter dismay, I was unable to make it out to the Pasadena Rose Bowl flea market this past Sunday. Tears. But because I’m a junkie for vintage and second hand goods, I just had to get my fix. Thank goodness TINI was there to help me avoid withdrawals.

TINI which stands for This is Not Ikea, is an online store with an actual storefront on Fairfax, (just south of The Grove) that’s filled with vintage treasures like old suitcases, signs, typewriters, lamps, pop art posters, along with industrial style furniture from mid century modern to pre 19oo’s. But because everything is one of a kind, don’t think it’s going to be there next week. If you find something on the internet that you have to have, like perhaps the 1970’s Mickey Mouse telephone, then I suggest you call the store and make sure it’s still there before making a bad dash to swoop it up.

PS. Did I mention that shopping at stores like TINI is good for the environment? Tehe.

<3 Brooke

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The war on plastic bags has begun!

June 29th, 2011

la-me-plastic-bags

As of Friday, July 1st, 2011, all “unincorporated areas” of Los Angeles County will be banning the use of plastic grocery bags. Environmental advocate Mark Gold, president of the Santa Monica environmental group Heal the Bay, said previous county efforts to promote recycling of plastic bags at grocery stores was a failure, and that “You cannot recycle your way out of the plastic bag problem.”  To those businesses who were against the ban, Gold said “The cost of convenience can no longer be at the expense of the environment.” Touche Gold! Touche!

So how do plastic bags affect the environment you ask? Well, that’s kind of a long story. So if you’re like me and just want the information to fall into your lap, please check out the following Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times series called Altered Oceans. Don’t worry, there’s lots of photos and videos if you don’t like to read.

Lastly, for those of you who haven’t jumped on the reusable bag band wagon, now is the time. The rest of L.A. county will follow suit shortly. So unless you don’t mind paying your local grocer 10 cents for every paper bag you take home, you might want to invest in your own reusable bags.

<3 Brooke

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Books for Peeps

June 22nd, 2011

RBbooks

Last year Heather and I organized a client’s home library. We purged the few books she didn’t want, then carefully placed those that she did into distinct categories on the shelves – such as fiction, non-fiction, photography, art, etc. It was both beautiful and functional. A year later the client decided it was time to repaint the library. After all the books were removed from the shelves, we then decided it would be a great opportunity to revisit them, figuring there might be a few she could let go of. Miraculously, a few turned into a few hundred.

Wanting these beloved books to go to a special home, (and not wanting to break our backs making multiple trips to our cars) we did a quick search and found Books For People. This amazing non-profit organization not only offers complimentary donation pick ups, but all the proceeds from your discarded books go to benefit homeless children, local libraries, and other charities needing items for their fundraisers. Can we say winning!

<3 Brooke

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Come rain or shine

June 17th, 2011

It’s June 17th, some might call this time of year “summer.” But to the weather gods, well, they obviously have other plans. Which for us mortals is quite rude. So how do you stay on top of the weather without waking up at 6am to watch the news? Try Umbrella Today?

No more sneaky wet weather when you’re expecting sunshine. Just enter your zip code, select e-mail, text, or iphone app notification and voila! Instant rain reports at your fingertips. Thank you technology!

<3 Brooke

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