The Perfect Pantry

Other People's Pantries #57

From Bethany, in Dayton, Ohio:

This is my pantry. My husband built it for me. It has floor to ceiling shelves, about 7 ft wide and 8 inches deep. I wanted it deep enough to fit a Tupperware container, but shallow enough that things wouldn't get lost.

We put the microwave in the pantry on a deeper shelf to save counter space. I'm addicted to Tupperware. It keeps me very organized.

My entire baking/pasta center has been developed using Tupperware. My mother has been a great help in achieving this organization.

On Saturdays, we peek into Other People's Pantries.

Come on -- show us your pantry.

*Other People's Pantries was going to end early in 2009, to make way for a new Saturday feature. However, pantry photos continue to roll in, so I'll keep featuring them on Saturdays, in the order in which I receive them, for a while longer. If you've been thinking about sharing photos of your own pantry, now's the time to send them.

Here's how.

Phyllo dough (Recipe: phyllo nests topped with sorbet)

Baked Desserts Week, Day Three. 

Phyllophobia.

Fee low PHO bee yah.

Do you have it, the fear of phyllo dough, the fear of poking your finger through the paper-thin pastry and making a hole that cannot be repaired, the fear of letting the flaky dough dry out and crack, the fear of shredding the dough with a paintbrush as you add melted butter to each layer?

You are not alone. I used to be phyllophobic, too.

It's irrational, of course, like my fear of heights, or of mice, or of ham. But, unlike those fears, I've overcome my fear of phyllo.

And I'm so glad I did.

Cloves (Recipe: Chocolate spice cookies)

Baked Desserts Week, Day Two. 

Ten things I know about cloves (you'll be glad to know them, too):

Refrigerated pie crust, and a cookbook giveaway (Recipe: rum raisin pear pie)

Dear readers, you know that I'm a bake-o-phobe, and I know how much you love desserts. I'm really trying, all this week, just for you. Welcome to The Perfect Pantry's first-ever Baked Desserts Week, Day One.

When I turned 40, which was oh-so-many years ago, I made my first two-crust pie.

Well, honestly, it was my first any-crust pie.

And it wasn't even my crust. It was refrigerated pie crust, from the supermarket.

I couldn't have been more proud if I'd made the crust from scratch.

Which I never, for a single minute, considered doing.

Other People's Pantries #56

From Michele, in coastal New England:

We were together for more than three decades, two sharing this pantry which he built. When we parted, this was the most difficult room to face.

Memories of preparing and sharing meals together weighed so heavy that I finally threw open the doors and bared the cupboards. All of what he liked best in one pile to give to him, mine in another. Where there were two and even three of an item, I shared. Oh yes, I kept some of the special stuff just for me.

I painted the walls a brilliant white, added an overhead light and then got rid of the plastic baggies he so loved which feel disgusting after six months.

I switched to glass containers and arranged the pantry so it made sense to me, even alphabetizing my spices, I’m embarrassed to say. Reclaiming the pantry as a room of my own gave me hope and faith that I will continue to share food, life and love with others.

On Saturdays, we peek into Other People's Pantries.

Come on -- show us your pantry.

*Other People's Pantries will be ending to make way for a new Saturday feature. However, we'll keep peeking in pantries as long as you keep sending your pantry photos. So, please send your photos as soon as possible.

Here's how.

Walnuts (Recipe: walnut squares)

When I was growing up, my parents hosted lots of bridge parties. 

In the 1950s and '60s, card-playing evenings were all the rage. My parents invited one couple, or sometimes three couples, for bridge, cocktails and snacks. As these parties never started before 8:00, my brother and I were allowed -- no, commanded -- to appear in our pajamas to greet the guests ("Hi, Mr. and Mrs. So-and-So. Yes, it's fun to stay up late. Yes, I'm being good in school.") before we toddled off to bed.

On a tray table, within easy reach of the players, my mother set out bowls of Chex mix that she'd made herself. And whole walnuts, too, with a heavy nutcracker and a dish for the shells.

In the morning, my brother and I descended upon the leftover nuts. We didn't eat them; we looked for wrinkly faces in the wrinkly shells. Sometimes we'd find one that looked like my grandfather, or one of our teachers, or Richard Nixon.

Extra virgin olive oil (Recipe: tangerine and feta salad)

When I think back to how I lost my extra virginity, I have to laugh.

Confronted with so many choices of extra virgin olive oil at my favorite Italian market in Boston, I panicked, grabbed one bottle off the shelf, and fled with my ignorance.

Thirty years later, drafting a program of cooking classes to host in my Rhode Island kitchen, I added "Olive Oil Tasting" to my list. Why not, I thought, sample oils from Spain, Greece, Australia and the United States, as well as from Italy? Why not, I thought, compare color, aroma and viscosity?

Why not, indeed.

Why didn't I think of that years ago?

Eggs, or no eggs (Recipes: Wacky Cake and Poor Man's Cake)

Please welcome Sarah, who with this post joins The Perfect Pantry as guest blogger. A working artist, sculptor, and consultant on public art projects, Sarah's work has won numerous awards and fellowships, and has been featured in exhibits across the country. She is a dedicated urban gardener and coordinates a large multi-cultural community garden in Boston's South End.

Guest post and photos by Sarah in Boston

When I was a kid, my mom created a special scrapbook cookbook especially for my dad.

He was plagued with terrible headaches and swelling in his hands and feet, and assumed that he had food allergies. Through trial-and-error cooking, they concluded he must be allergic to eggs. 

As a traveling salesman, my dad had to eat most of his meals on the road, so when he came home they tried to calm his system with all his favorite comfort foods.

It wasn’t until he was in his late sixties that he was diagnosed with a rare genetic disease, hereditary angioedema -- not food allergies -- and, after treatment, to his great joy he could eat anything. But two of those egg-free desserts, made with ingredients from my mother's pantry, remained his particular favorites: Wacky Cake (in the top photo), which my mother made for family birthdays, and Poor Man’s Cake.

Other People's Pantries #55

From Kristianna (Home Sweet Homestead), in New England:

My pantry doubles as my laundry room and is right off the kitchen. I stock up as much as possible through the summer and fall each year, so I don't have to shop as often in the winter.

The photo is the top half of my metro-style shelf #1. 

I have a small hutch that holds all of my spices on the top shelves closer to the stove. And I have more grains and pasta stored in canning jars in the kitchen cupboards. I cook mostly from scratch and we eat as much organic food as possible, since there are so many growing bodies in our family.

(Read more about Kristianna's pantry and see more photos here.)

On Saturdays, we peek into Other People's Pantries.

Come on -- show us your pantry.

*Other People's Pantries will be ending to make way for a new Saturday feature. However, we'll keep peeking in pantries as long as you keep sending your pantry photos. So, please send your photos as soon as possible.

Here's how.

Kamut (Recipe: warm salad of kamut, cranberries and feta)

Thanks to a recent pantry-shopping challenge from fellow food blogger TW Barritt of Culinary Types, I've fallen in love with Kamut®.

Here are ten things I know about this grain (you'll be glad to know them, too):