Thursday Themes: Tools of the trade

Okay, so I had a week to think about the Tools of my Trade, but I had no idea what to post about!
Work is work, and while I thought of a few work related "tools" I could post about, at the end of the day my work just doesn't inspire my creativity.

So I looked at home stuff, but that was just confusing.

I'm a "jack of all trades, master of none".
 I do what ever I need to do to make my home happy for me each day. 
I take photos, I blog, I play x-box, I garden (every now and then, until the plants die), I cook....

The most common of these is cooking, so that is what I will post. Sometimes I cook with inspiration and passion, sometimes I cook out of necessity, but I always cook. 

So here are my "tools of the trade" to make my cooking experience the best it can be each day...



We have here, three essential items for creating a great meal.

1. Super sharp knife. The bf sharpened this ages ago, then wiped it on his shorts to get rid of the 'sharpen dust'. he had the angle wrong and now has a pair of shirts with a slice on his upper thigh, that perfectly exposes a 6cm long, 1cm wide scar.  That wasn't a good cooking day, but the knife is still super sharp.

2. Fresh herbs: essential ingredients for every meal. 

3. Champagne



The picture also shows a two other things I love: My beautiful Cat, and my kitchen bookshelf that houses my collection of Recipe books. I rarely cook to a recipe, but they are great for inspiration.

This photo features one "tool" and two important atmospheric conditions to maximise the kitcheny comfortability.

1. Spice Rack.
2. Fresh Flowers (I buy the ones that have been discounted at the supermarket that are on their way out, but for $3 a bunch you still get a good few days of flowery goodness.
3. Open window, with a view into the trees and sound of the birds and crickets coming through.



And finally, my kitchen utensils, represented here by The Wok containing tonights meal "Super vegie-packed Chow Mein" (refer to sub note #1).

The Wok is not my most frequently used, but still a great addition to my pot, pan and "cooking helper" (refer to sub-note #2) collection. It was a gift, from the bf's best friends mum. I think she figured her son eats here more often that he does at home, so she wanted to make sure he was still "looking after himself".

Sub-note #1: Super vegie-packed Chow Mein is another one of my awesome meals that gets great feedback and is highly requested among my frequent house eaters, just like my best-ever chicken pie. Show me some comment love and I just might post the recipe...

Sub-note #2: Said bf's best friend was asked to help me come up with the collective noun for kitchen tools, such as the rice cooker, slow cooker, electric fry pan, jaffle maker etc. His reply was:
"um, a girl friend?"

So join in with your tools of the trade here. Toni is my favourite blogger, and she deserves lots of comment love....