Quick break from the kitchen storage and food prep series to talk about something that happened, or should I say finished happening today. I don’t bring this up to toot my own horn, but rather to celebrate a personal success in perseverance and planning. I hope it doesn’t come off as purely self congratulatory, as that is not my intention. There were certainly many “learning experiences” and frustrations before achieving this level of “planning zen.” So… it all started in Milton MA in the fall/winter of 2014. When the original window from the 1927 house next door were being replaced, I got my hands on what turned out to be dozens of 6 and 4 pane window. I had a vision of turning them into picture frames for our house. But there were so many questions to answer to get them from crappy old windows to the image I had in my head. Such as… Do they have lead paint on them? How do I test for that? (Answer: home lead test kit and Yes, they do.) How do I get rid of the lead paint safely? Do I need to repair the windows first? (There are about 12 sub-questions about how to do that.) How do I attach the pictures? Do I mount them on the front of the back of the glass? How do I get the paint to look right? Is it worth spending the time taping the windows before painting? How do I secure the pictures to the glass in a non-permanent way? What size pictures should I use? Do I want to frost the glass around the pictures? Once I decide on the size of the pictures, how do I get my digital images to be that size? How to I hang the frame securely without being…

Salad stuff can also be prepped many days in advance. However, now would be a good time to mention how important it is to have a sharp knife. First of all, if it far safer to use a sharp knife. Most people are afraid to use a sharp knife because it seems more dangerous. But, when you use a dull knife you have to exert far more force, which makes it much more likely for your knife to slip and more likely for the knife to be substantially out of control when you do slip. So have a sharp knife! The other reason to have a sharp knife is that it allows you to prep food that will last longer. When cutting vegetables the goal is to have a nice, clean cut which damages as few of the cells as possible. A dull knife rips the cells open, leaves a jagged edge, and spills the cells contents (mostly water) out which dramatically decreases shelf life. With a sharp knife, a fresh pepper will likely last 7-10 days if you place a paper towel underneath them in the container or bag.  There are tons of ways to cut a pepper, I find the following the easiest. I take the top and bottom off, pull the insides out, slice down the side to open it into a flat rectangle, then slice off any extra ribs of “pith.” Then it’s just a matter of slicing or dicing.

I’m a busy guy. I own my own business. My wife works full time, often on nights and weekends too. I have a relatively high maintenance 8 year old and a maniac of a three year old. I own a home… with the accompanying yard and manage a rental property with it’s own set of demands.  Did I mention that I have ADHD too?  Bottom line: I don’t have time to F*** around. I am all about efficiency! I’m also the person in the house who does the cooking every night. Partly because I’m a classically trained chef, partly because I work from home, it makes sense for me to be the chef at La Casa di Reid. But I certainly don’t have to time to make anything epic Monday thru Friday. My goal is always to have a healthy, delicious meal on the table in less than 1/2 hour, while doing the dishes as I go and making my son’s and my wife’s lunches for the next day. Though 30 minutes may be ambitious for the not-former-professional-chef among you. Easy, quick, simple, healthy, delicious is not unreasonable for anyone.  But, the pork & brussel sprouts that are going on the table tonight are do not begin their journey tonight at 5:40 when I get home from picking up my son. They started their path to our table last Friday. That’s when I make the shopping list, often with the help of my wife. (And, actually that list starts as soon as the shopping is done the previous Saturday. If you have a running list on your fridge or on your phone, you can add things throughout the week as the run out or run low.) The next step is food shopping which happens at a more or less predictable day…

I would also suggest thinking outside the box in terms of how to use your vertical space. I’ve used the ‘item’ in the first picture for years. It holds things that I use semi-regularly like spice blends, black pepper, and specialty vinegars. And it fits perfectly on one of our weird small walls between doors in 1920’s kitchen.  As for the mug hooks… that’s one of my favorite out of the box solutions ever… if I do say so myself. I use multiple mugs daily to mix a medicine I have to take for my stomach. Having them right on above the sink hanging from the valance (if that’s even the right word) makes it so easy.  I guess the bottom line is a somewhat complex matrix of what you use most often, the space you have, the layout of the space, and how creative you can get.

I have two pan racks. Thought I’d show you the second one too. This one is over the dishwasher, several paces away from the stove. So it is the home to many things we don’t use every day.  Also, you’ll notice that you can use the top level to store things as well. In this one I have an old “grizwald.” (vintage cast iron pan) In the other picture you can see that I have finally found a home for that one really large bowl that I use 4 times a year that doesn’t fit in any of the cabinets. AND… I hang herb and garlic to dry from the middle of the rack. Can’t find a picture from last year. I’ll take one this summer and post later.

…Then don’t forget about the ceiling! Hanging pot racks are super cool! They get a whole bunch of bulky items, some of which you use regularly, some very infrequently, completely out of your way. And, this is a category of items that do not stack or nest well in your cabinets, they take up a lot of space, and, let’s face it, I like bending over less and less every year. You have to make sure you have enough clearance. Don’t put them over high traffic areas. Make sure everyone who uses the pans can reach them and that the tallest person in your house won’t bang his/her head on them. Other than that, they’re super easy to install. As long as you have a drill and can figure out where the joists or strapping is, you’re good to go.  You may also notice that our go to cleaner is hanging right there so we don’t have to bend over and rummage under the sink every night to clean the stove and table. As always, the things you use most should be most accessible. The three pans that are missing are closest to the stove because we use them almost every day.

Spices are weird. They are things that you absolutely need for certain things but usually aren’t things you use every day. In fact you may use a specific spice once or twice a year. Plus, they are strangely expensive, so you don’t want to just throw them out… even though they do lose potency after time. They are also a pretty awkward size/shape if you think about the standard shelf size and depth in most kitchens. Basically they are an organizational nightmare. Here are some thoughts/tips about organizing spices.  Try not to buy a spice for a recipe that you know you’ll only make once. See if a friend or neighbor can “lend” you a tablespoon.  Consider getting rid of older spices. The conventional wisdom is that spices last about year. I would argue with that. They definitely lose potency but it’s not like they are good one day and bad the next. Just be aware that you may need to adjust and use a bit more in certain applications. Though most ground spices are candidates to be tossed without worry between 3 & 6 years. For applicable spices, consider buying the whole spice instead of the ground spice. You will radically extend the shelf life when you store whole spices. Particularly nutmeg should be kept whole. It starts to loose its “oompf” very quickly. A whole nutmeg will last a very long time and it always at your fingertips with a quick grate on the microplane.* For other spices, like fennel seeds, a cheap coffee grinder will usually do the trick. I really like having all my spices visible so I don’t have to rifle through them and make a mess. Plus as a “lazy” ADHDer, not having to go in and out of a drawer or cabinet is nice.…

Conceptually, I don’t love knife blocks. I always wonder how sanitary it is down at the bottom of that slot that you put your knife in. All it takes is one or two times of not getting the knife totally clean… But that’s speculation on my part.  Knife bars are my joint. I love seeing them all out and displayed for easy use. Plus, we have almost no counter space. So, again, using the walls is the way to go.  The knife rack is at an angle because otherwise it wouldn’t fit on the wall anywhere near the cutting board. 

Really this one is partially a continuation of the first tip, keeping things that you use a lot handy. But since there is only so much counter space near where you need to work in a kitchen, use the walls! You could see in the last post that I have two mason jars next to the stove. Great, but that doesn’t hold all my spatulas, ladles, and large spoons. A simple tool bar with S hooks solves that problem for just a couple buck and with a few screws.

I’ve decided to do a series of entries of the late spring & summer about kitchen organization and food/meal planning. Both are right in my wheelhouse as a former chef and not so intense for summer reading (and writing.) We’ll start with kitchen organization. Let’s start with kitchen organization. I have a much different perspective from the average “civilian” on how a kitchen should run. And, it actually works really well for me as an ADHDer. The first rule of my kitchen if you use it everyday, don’t pack it up and put it in a cabinet. For example, my cutting board, knives, salt, pepper, olive oil, etc. are never away where it would be a pain to get them and use them.

So, it’s clearly been a while since I posted, though I honestly hadn’t realized how long it had been. Thus is the life of a business owner and a parent of an 8 year old and a 3 year old. So let’s consider this my post for April. April is… was… TriPod month Scratch that. It was actually March that was TryPod month. Where have I been? The point is that most people still haven’t tried listening to a podcast and many don’t even know what they are and how to get them. I am a huge fan of podcasts. But, you may be asking yourself at this point, why is this relevant to ADHD? An understandable question, which I will not answer by asking you a question. Do you ever have a hard time doing those boring, repetitive, tedious, day to day tasks like laundry, driving the kids around, cooking dinner, doing the dishes, etc.? Well, there are many ways to make those tasks more enjoyable. Music is one. That’s been around a while, if you haven’t noticed. The radio works too. But there is often only so much NPR or sports talk one can take. Audio books can be good too, but sometimes they take too much attention and it’s hard to get other stuff done. So, try a podcast, silly! I can almost guarantee that you can find a handful of podcasts to subscribe to that will fit the bill. Here are some that I love: 1. RISK (It’s racy and edgy. Not for everyone. But very funny and often super poignant.) A storytelling podcast that usually features about 3 stories per episode. 2. The Moth. The standard bearer for story-telling podcasts. Consistently excellent and more “main stream” than RISK. 3. Stuff You Should Know.…

A quick follow up to last week’s post. It occurs to me that a neurotypical person might wonder why I don’t just hang up the clothes in the closet or put them back in the drawer at the end of the day. That’s what my neurotypical wife does… which still amazes me on some level after 13 years of marriage and 15 years of living together. Well the answer is hard to articulate but really gets to the heart of what ADHD really is. When we think “focus,” we generally think about sitting still in a lecture or something of that type. But one of the most under-appreciated and least recognized ways that a lack of focus affects us is the ability to do simple but routine and boring tasks. As ADHDers, because of our brain chemistry, we experience boredom in a way that a neurotypical person would have a hard time understanding. (I think I’ll do a post on just the boredom issue soon.) And, there is very little that is more boring for us than routine tasks like doing dishes, dealing with the mail, folding and putting away laundry, etc. This deficit is often attributed to motivation… or lack thereof. Personally I think lack of initiation is closer to the truth, but really, it’s just attention. It takes so much attention for us to focus on boring and routine tasks that it is far easier to not do them. The longer term consequences of having a messy room or a cluttered house just aren’t as compelling in the moment as the desire to avoid the excruciating boredom of engaging in the behaviors necessary to avoid that messy room. Standard Disclaimer:  In an effort to foil my own perfectionist tendencies, I do not edit my posts much… if at…