I’ve been like a crazy woman in the kitchen today, preparing a bunch of food for a bunch of men that I am feeding for the next few days. I love having a reason to spend time in the kitchen so this is super fun for me to be chopping, mixing, sauteing, and baking. I was able to plan the menu myself, and I am doing both the tried and true recipes while also throwing a few new things in there to keep it interesting.

I only have one more batch of muffins to make, so I decided to take a little break and do a little blogging while munching on some pomegranate seeds (super yum, if you’ve never tried).

During all my cooking today, I got to thinking about the endless amount of kitchen gadgets and utensils and appliances that are available. Gadgets are nice, but I’m more on the minimalistic side of things and don’t really appreciate collecting things that aren’t really super useful.

So here are my top five kitchen essentials:

Cast iron skillet. Hands down my favorite item in my kitchen! Ben gifted this to me after our wedding because he knew how much I wanted one…and I use it almost every day. At first, I was a little intimidated by using it and especially cleaning and caring for it. But it’s really simple once you get the hang of it. I love the versatility of being able to use it both on the stove top and in the oven.

Garlic press. I use garlic a lot in my cooking, and the garlic press is a simple tool that I could never do without! It’s worth investing in a good quality press because the cheap ones tend to just not work well or break easily.

Knives. Good quality and sharp knives are essential! I get so frustrated trying to use a dull knife or one that’s just not suited for the job. A serrated knife is really useful, though probably not essential.

Blender/hand blender. I could probably do without a blender, but since I do have one, I find that I use it a lot. It’s helpful for pureeing soups, blending sauces, and of course, making smoothies or tasty treats.

Cheese grater. You can purchase grated cheese, and sometimes it’s just easier to do that, but I’m convinced cheese has more flavor when it’s freshly grated. I buy it in blocks and grate up only what I need, although when the cheese is about to go bad, I will grate it all and put it in the freezer.

What about you: what are your kitchen essentials?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

I’ve been in the house decorating mood lately. I’m not generally that inspired and creative when it comes to home decor…the mood comes and goes. I have some friends and family (like this one!) who can take a room or an entire house and make it look absolutely gorgeous without even thinking about it. Me? I labor and agonize and look for photo ideas and second-guess myself a million times before I even start to try to put something together. And even then I have a hard time putting it all together.

We recently repainted our study/computer room and contrary to the last paint job we did, I love it on the first try! Ben and I had a little lesson in honest communication when we were working on painting the master bedroom before we got married. We sampled a few different colors and decided to go with a Mediterranean gold color, and then thought we were really brilliant because we decided to attempt to mix up our own color (never a good idea) by combining two different shades (one was too bright, one was too dark) to create what we were looking for. It turned out badly, unless you like school-bus yellow. We both thought the other was good with the color, so neither of us said how awful we actually felt it was. Eventually after a few days, the truth came out: we both hated it. So we repainted it, and it turned out much better. I’m still not completely satisfied with it, to be honest, but we are leaving it for now.

It is almost impossible for me to envision how a color or style will look until it is actually there, which is frustrating. Especially with paint, considering both the time and cost it takes to get it on the walls. I suppose this is something you learn more as you go. Thankfully, my color tastes run very simple so I don’t really have to worry about trying to coordinate a lot of colors. I could do my whole house in whites and browns and blacks and be perfectly happy. I like to decorate with contrast, so having a neutral wall is perfect for that.

Now that I have the study painted, I have a big empty wall to fill up. I would like to do a photo collage with black and white photos in black, brown, and white frames, along with posters with quotes and words. Similar to this. I’ve been trying to find a good (and frugal) source for frames, and have managed to collect a few from yard sales and thrift stores. Hopefully my decorating inspiration will last long enough this time to get the wall set up before months go by!

What about you: what is your decorating style? And what tips do you have for selecting paint colors and style for a room? What are your favorite places for inspiration?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!