Fri, Dec 28, 2007
Salt Cellar and Spices
Posted to Technology category
After my massage therapy appointment this morning, I went over to the Pearl Street pedestrian mall (Boulder's 'Main Street' shopping area). Many of the locally owned shops that used to be there have been replaced by national chains. Or Nepali and Tibetan importers: I sometimes think someone passed an ordinance that there needs to be a Nepali shop in every block of the mall.
But some of the old shops are still around. Hurdle's, a jeweler, is celebrating its 60th anniversary and had a copy of the two-page spread that announced their Grand Opening in their window, along with a photo of their original store.
The 'Boulder Art Cooperative' is still cooperating. And 'El Loro: Clogs and Jewelry', which hasn't changed much from its roots as a head shop. The Boulder Army Surplus Store is down-playing the 'army' in its signage, but it's still in the Odd Fellows' building.
I spent some time in 'Peppercorn' which sells kitchenware, gourmet ingredients, dinnerware, linens and such. I was really looking for a free-standing pot rack to fit one nook in my kitchen but they didn't have one in the size I wanted and a color I liked.
However, I did find a salt cellar like the one that Alton Brown uses, half-hidden on the back of a shelf. (I was amused to note that the product code on the register receipt was ALTN.) My existing salt cellar was a ceramic thing meant to hold a container of ParKay, but there is a small chip on one edge, and the lid sat down inside the edges of the bowl so that it did not always protect the salt from drips. I was glad to be able to replace it with un-chipped container with an over-hanging lid and a rubber gasket. My salt will be much safer. And more accessible, since the new salt cellar has a fliptop, not a separate lid that needs to be removed and ends up wandering around the kitchen.
My Italian grandmother, Nonna, had two cut-glass sugar bowls in her kitchen. One was clear, pinkish glass, and the other was clear greenish glass. I don't remember, after all these years, which one had the salt. It was kind of tricky to make coffee or tea in that kitchen if you were a stranger.
My own kitchen is a bit dangerous for strangers these days, too. I used to use a sugar bowl and creamer (I keep powdered milk in it) that matched my Corelle dishes, but the lids were very light-weight and the mice got into them along with almost everything else in the kitchen when Dinah Kitty was with me in Boston. Ick. Now I have three 12 ounce canning jars on the counter, with the plastic storage lids that are available for them. Two are Ball jelly jars with quilted sides: one for sugar and one for the powdered milk.
The third canning jar is a Kerr jelly jar with smoother, curved sides. That one has pickling salt in it, for baking and other uses where I want salt that will dissolve more quickly than the large kosher crystals. (I got tired of lifting the salt canister down from the top shelf of the spice cupboard.)
The spice cupboard is getting re-organized, too. I've ordered a bunch of opaque, air-tight tins in various sizes, a grinder, and some bulk whole spices from a place that has the option of selling them in bags, not always in fancy clear jars that are 1) expensive and 2) unable to protect the spices from light. Even the 'chili powder' and 'curry powder' were available as whole spices, so they won't lose strength as quickly, especially sealed in the tins.
When the new spices arrive, I'll toss out the spices in the cupboard and on my spice rack that are very old. The Italian herbs get used and replaced regularly, but I can't remember which year I experimented with Indian cooking, so I'm sure the ground cardamom is thoroughly deceased...
I may replace the rack that holds some of my existing herbs and spices with a Velcro mounting system for the tins: it's in a handy location, but too bright for stuff in the existing clear jars.
And I need to stop at McGuckins or Michael's and get something to label the tins. (I think I'm going to label the tins, not the lids: much safer that way.)