The Most Important Thing I Learned in Pastry School

Martha Stewart may be pretty messed up in real life, but everyone has to admit she (and by she I mean her staff) has done wonderful things for home care. I used to have hopes of being like this also (the home part, not the messed up part), but I know now it would never happen because I kill plants. Today is not about plants. It's about something else very important that I learned in Pastry School (it's not about cooking either).

Chefs have a little mantra they use called "mis en place" (meeze-on-ploss), which is French for "put in place." It refers to having everything ready and measured out before you ever start cooking or baking, and also has to do with having a well-organized kitchen. I've been GREAT with the first part, but the second I'm just starting....

It all started when part of my countertop looked like this:


Go on, click on that bad boy, so you can see in full size every single detail of the mess!
(That's where I keep all my tea stuff, by the way.)

I found these adorable tins at Ikea for $5 (God bless Ikea!):



And now my counter looks like this!



Well, anyone knows that with organizing once you pop you can't stop. So now I bought more new shelves for my cabinet, and I have lots of space to figure out how to mis en place all my stuff. I went to the best, Martha and Real Simple, for a couple of good articles.

My pantry is going to be the biggest project- I am going to try to get everything in jars, which I have never done before. It will be hard, but the thing is that it makes me want to cook just so I can open my cabinets and see how nice everything looks! And inevitably it will make me happier and then my food will taste better. And then I will start doing other rooms in my house, and then I will have a magazine and be more famous than Martha ever was! Oh wait, I kill plants.