kitchen Archives - StyleScoop | South African Life in Style blog, since 2008

Salt Keeper

I’m on a mission! A mission to add some colour and functionality to my kitchen. When hubby bought me a Le Creuset Whistling kettle, I spotted the Salt Croc (or salt pig as some call it) at the boutique store and was like, “no ways this thing will work in Durban”. As it is, my salt already clumps up in the standard plastic bottle. Then, a couple of days later, I saw it again at another store. The shop owner – who also manages his store (don’t you just love that!) told me that he had a Le Creuset Salt Croc in his kitchen. He said that it really worked and that it didn’t make the salt sticky. “Even in Durban” I asked? His response – “not at all”. So, I bought myself one. Not much to lose, since it was under R200. Now that I have used it, I am really impressed! So impressed, that I just had to share! I keep my lil’ pig on my kitchen counter, right next to the stove, and I have a “pinch of salt” an arms-length away. Best of all, the salt doesn’t get all clumpy and for some reason, it really…

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September 20, 2013

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For The Home

Colour Code Your Kitchen

I find myself popping into the Le Creuset boutique store more and more these days! I’ve only bought myself the Rectangular Grill, but next on my lust list, is the beautiful Marmitout Sauce pan! It’s such a cool item, because you can use it as a saucepan with or without a lid, and the lid can also be used on it’s own as a smaller sized frying pan! Genius! The Rectangular Heritage Casserole with Lid, Salt Keeper and a cute little Jam Jar and Honey Pot would make it all complete :). I also really want a Le Creuset traditional stove top kettle (and how fitting, it’s called the Demi Kettle)! My hubz thinks I’m crazy to want a stove top kettle when we live in 2013 with electricity, but nothing beats the sound of a whistling kettle! Am I right? I’m very much into retro and colourful kitchen accessories, but not in an OTT kind of way. I mean, I love pops of colour here and there, but I’d still want the stuff I buy for my kitchen to look stylish forever, especially if I’m spending a good fortune on it – like another Le Creuset investment! I can’t…

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January 29, 2013

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For The Home

Le Creuset Love

I’ve always loved the look of Le Creuset cast iron pots and their saucepans! When we moved into our new place (almost two years ago), I really started to lust for Le Creuset in my kitchen! Being very country/ gourment style, Le Creuset really suits the look of my kitchen. Plus it is awesome to cook with! Last week, I bought my very first piece of this fabulously French brand – A gorgeous Le Creuset Rectangular Grill in cobalt blue. It was a toss up between the grill and the very versatile Marmitout sauce pan, but considering that I make steak like every single day of the week, I went for the grill. It makes the most amazing steak and pork fillets! Yep, I used it twice this weekend :). I love how it gives meat that lovely char-grilled burn, and how you can take it from stove-top to table-top, and enjoy watching your food sizzle before you tuck in! Another thing that sold me on the rectangular grill is that the size and shape is also perfect for fish. I attempted the recipe in that Le Creuset had for this piece, Chargrilled Steak With A Fresh Herb Salsa, Roast Potatoes and Grilled Asparagus, using lean pork fillets instead of beef steak. Sadly I couldn’t find fresh asparagus…

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January 22, 2013

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For The Home

Style your Starches in Apothecary Jars

I have always loved beautiful Apothecary Jars. I don’t know what it is about them, but they are just so pretty. I never knew what to store in them until I watched an episode of Brothers & Sisters that featured Nora’s amazing kitchen and her beautiful display of Apothecary Jars by her window. Since I found a purpose for them, I had been hunting for these jars everywhere and just recently I managed to find two beautiful glass Apothecary Jars. I use one of the jars to store pasta and the smaller one store rice, and they both sit beautifully on my kitchen counter. The only problem is that I have to keep them fairly full to look pretty, but at least I’ll never run out of rice or pasta! These gorgeous jars can be used to store more than just pasta and rice. For example you could store sweets in them too – although this would not work well in my house, and they would most defintely look empty far too quickly! Not to mention, I’d need a whole new wardrobe, a size up! If you have space in your bathroom, Apothecary Jars also make great containers to store your bathroom goodies…

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October 25, 2012

The Retro Kitchen. Fun Stuff to Brighten up Your Kitchen

I love all the bright, funky kitchen goodies out there at the moment, I could go colour crazy! These very retro, yet still modern kitchen pieces give your kitchen an instant mood boost, at least they have mine. I’m quite lucky that the style of my kitchen is very gourment/country/bistro style and all these items fit right in, especially the retro Morphy Richards kettle and toaster, but I’m sure any of these items would brighten up just about every style of kitchen. My obsession with styling my kitchen with colorful retro items started when I bought the Morphy Richards kettle and toaster after my kettle eventually died. I love the old school look of the kettle and huge dials on the toaster. They come in a variety of colours, but for my kitchen, I chose orange for both. I’ve always been a huge fan of Joseph Joseph stuff. I have a few items from this brand, and would love to someday kit out my entire kitchen with more Joseph Joseph gadgets. They really are superior in quality and very, very innovative! I recently bought this super cool stackable utensil set and love it to bits. I love the different coloured…

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October 1, 2012

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StyleScoop

Couture Coffee with Nespresso

I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a coffee snob. So much in fact that I just can’t drink your normal every day instant “stuff” anymore. The thing is, when you’ve been drinking the “real deal” for over a year, you just can’t fool your mind (or taste buds) into thinking that instant coffee tastes good. It’s not that I’m too good to drink it, I just don’t like it. So, when I was given the opportunity to test drive the fancy Schmancy Nespresso coffee machine, I was more than happy to take on the task. I was however, a little worried that I wouldn’t enjoy the taste, seeing as my coffee standards are already set quite high. After using this machine for a week, I can safely say that we had a fantastic relationship together. I was even a little sad to see her go. Besides the absolutely delicious coffee it makes, the machine itself is also very stylish and fits in perfectly with my kitchen. It’s kinda retro chic. I say kinda because its far from being old fashioned, yet has a really solid, trendy look to it that makes is special. Plus the quality is very sturdy, unlike…

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August 12, 2010

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