Mission accomplished!

It was a mission too. I know I have blogged about my larder before, and some of you may think it is strange, but my home centres around my kitchen and the larder is part of it. It gives me great pleasure to see its shelves filled with labelled containers and lots more besides. Basically it is the usual narrow, walk in space for food storage, and mine has a double tower of dexion shelving along one side. It is a huge asset to have a larder and here it is essential as I have a very small kitchen with very, very, little cupboard space, so the larder not only houses our food, but also much of my bake-ware, utensils and larger pans. It was very nearly a disaster zone as I noticed recently that the shelving was starting to lean away from the wall at the top. This was rapidly getting worse, and I don't think it would have been long before the whole thing tipped over, and what a mess that would have made!

So my mission today was to take everything, and I do mean everything, out of there, so that my long-suffering husband could do some urgent repair work. The first job was to clear the kitchen as much as possible, and to create a little more surface we pulled out both the end extensions to the table. That meant that I couldn't close the door but it was warm enough to leave it open. My kitchen hasn't looked so tidy for ages. Note the teapot and mugs and are still out. I can't work without a cuppa and my mp3 playing on continuous shuffle through my speakers.

For many years I have kept a well-stocked larder. When I lived in Cyprus for a while, the RAF warned us to always have everything in store that we might need for at least three days, and preferably for a week, and when the troubles broke out in 1974 we were very glad that we had followed this directive. Later, I had a couple of years as a single mum with two small children, and living on benefits I wasn't always too sure where the next meal was coming from, so I took every opportunity I could to buy up special bargain offers and keep something in store, and the habit has stayed with me. But even so, it is hard to belive that all of this came out of my little larder today! There was this,

and this,





oh, and this as well!

My boys would be amazed, and proud of me, to hear that I didn't find anything out of date enough to throw it away! When it was all out Chris disconnected the two sets of shelves and moved one into the kitchen, while he assessed the situation, and that is when I decided to make lunch! It was a challenge, but not deterred I found the rest of a chicken I roasted yesterday, and I used the shelves in the kitchen as a table to make some coleslaw while my electric fryer (on the floor of the empty larder) was cooking chips.

Duly refreshed, Chris set about fixing the shelves which are now as firm as the Rock of Gibraltar, and I started to put everything back. So now I have a sparkling clean and tidy larder again, and I know where everything is. I rearranged some of the shelves so some of the heavier items are lower down, and put things I use most often into more accessible positions. Mission accomplished!!

On a lighter note, for those of you who haven't seen this already, here is a link to my son Ben's latest recording. It is not one he wrote himself this time. It is a shortened version of The Anthem from the show Chess. It is such a beautiful song with a range of big notes in it, and I think he sings it really well. I know I am biased, and am his number one fan, but it is worth a listen. Just click here if you would like to hear it.