Pleasantly scented products make cleaning more enjoyable. Photo courtesy Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day.
Today is the first day of spring. It officially begins at 7:21 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time.
So it’s time for a little spring cleaning.
Here are some kitchen spring cleaning tips from Chef Geoffrey Zakarian of The National restaurant in New York City.
Throw away your spices and buy a fresh supply. Salt and pepper can stay.
Send knives to be professionally sharpened. They will last longer; plus, dull knives slip more easily.
Check if your freezer needs to be defrosted and throw away anything that has freezer burn (or has been there for more than a year).
Check expiration dates on condiments in the refrigerator, and throw away anything that’s expired.
Empty all cupboards and clean out the dust and crumbs that have gathered, then deep clean cabinets and shelves to remove grease that has filtered in from cooking.
Organize your cookbooks and put the ones that you have not been using front and center, in order to mix up your repertoire. If you’re not going to use particular cookbooks, give them away—perhaps have a cookbook exchange with friends.
Have your floors and kitchen rug or carpet professionally deep cleaned to extract bacteria and germs.
Clean all garbage cans inside and out with bleach.
If you have granite or marble countertops, have them professionally polished.
Cut up a lemon and run it through your garbage disposal to eliminate odor.
Before you start, treat yourself to some great-smelling cleaning products. We like lavender, and have stocked up on lavender countertop cleaner, scrubbing powder and all purpose cleaner from Mrs. Meyers Clean Day. The company also has products in Apple, Baby Blossom, Basil, Geranium, Honeysuckle and Lemon Verbena scents.
Historically, different beers have been drunk from differently-shaped glasses. For example, Germans created the tall pilsner and the handled stein. The British prefer the pint glass. Belgians favor a globe glass.
It turns out that the Belgian glass may be the best for enhancing the flavor of beer.
The globe shape captures and directs the beer’s aromas toward your nose.
The tapered opening harnesses the foam and enhances the beer’s bouquet.
The stem keeps your hand from warming the beer.
Like a Champagne glass, a good globe beer glass has etched lines at the bottom of the bowl that help to create a continuous stream of bubbles.
Wine glass expert Riedel—which makes a different-shaped glass to enhance the unique qualities of each type of wine—sells a modified globe glass for beer.
If you’re in the market for new drinking glasses, check out the globes.
March 18, 2011 at 11:24 am
· Filed under Recipes, Videos
Some things that look hard are actually really easy.
Take Spring Salad In A Cucumber Vase. The “vase” is actually a cucumber wrap filled with a multicolor spring lettuce mix.
What’s a spring lettuce mix? It varies by producer, but can include arugula, baby spinach, endive, frisée, green and red oak leaf, mustard greens, red and green romaine, lolla rossa (a fully curled red lettuce), radicchio and Swiss chard.
Take a look at how to turn a cucumber and a bag of spring lettuce mix into a work of art:
The fine chocolate discs used for baking and making chocolates can also be used for snacking.
Also called baking wafers or couverture wafers, the discs, which are made by premium chocolate producers, come in one-pound boxes (and larger sizes for professionals). Guittard, for example, offers:
When you feel the need for a bite of chocolate, one or two small wafers can satisfy.
Or enjoy a triple treat: one disc each of milk, semisweet and bittersweet chocolate.
And the price is right: One-pound boxes of this fine chocolate cost around $10.00, and there’s no tax on baking chocolate. When you compare the prices of fine chocolate bars, $10.00 for 16 ounces of chocolate discs is a good deal!
Find our favorite chocolates, recipes and many pounds of chocolate information in our Gourmet Chocolate Section.
Matcha, the tea revered in the ancient Japanese tea ceremony (cha no yu), was brought from China to Japan by Zen Buddhist monks in the 12th century.
Unlike other green teas, matcha is made from leaves that are shielded from direct sunlight. The tea plant is covered with reed screens three weeks before harvest, resulting in a high concentration of chlorophyll and a deep dark green leaf. This gives matcha ten times as many antioxidants as regular green tea (it also has about half the amount of caffeine found in a comparably sized cup of coffee).
What makes matcha different is that no leaves are steeped (brewed). Instead, tea powder is frothed.
The dried leaves are deveined and destemmed, then ground into a fine powder — almost the consistency of talc. A spoonful of tea is then whisked into hot water with a bamboo tea whisk (chasen). The result is a foamy green drink with a fresh, vegetal sweetness.
It’s easy to make matcha at home. Photo courtesy Republic Of Tea.
Making Matcha Is Easy
1. Heat fresh water just short of boiling (filtered water or spring water is ideal).
2. Add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of matcha powder to the bowl or cup.
3. Pour in 6 ounces hot water.
4. Using a tea whisk, whisk briskly for a minute or two until the matcha forms a nice green colored foam. If you don’t have a tea whisk, use a small kitchen whisk or a battery-operated frother. It isn’t “official,” but it works.
There’s no need to strain; just take a moment from your day and enjoy the calming drink.
