The Toaster Oven

I finally broke down and bought a toaster oven. Never thought I needed one. Until I got this job. And there's one there. And now I need one. Who knew that bringing in one small-ish kitchen appliance could cause such a chain of events.

Let me begin by saying I don't have much counter space and what little I do have, was already occupied.

The toaster oven had to live next to the stove - it's the only space big enough. So then I had to move the bowl of snacks/cat treats (we are an equal opportunity snacking family), and measuring cups and super=cool vintage tiered metal shelf.

There is an old ice box in our kitchen that held chips and drink mixes on the bottom and cookbooks on the top. Now the bottom holds liquor bottles and the top holds bags of chips.

The only available counter left, having relocated the liquor bottles, is to the right of the refrigerator. It's narrow. I tried putting the cookbooks in an old wire freezer basket in the space, but that seemed like a waste of space. I mean, let's be honest, how often do I need a cookbook? (giggle*snort!)

So, instead, I moved the drink mixes - currently in a tacky plastic box - and the bowl of people/kitty treats, to that space. It's not a good look.

In the meantime, I wandered around the house looking for a suitable place to put the cookbooks. Not too far away, yet not necessarily in the kitchen. Hmmmmmm, there was a misused shelf in one of the built-ins in the office. Perfect. After removing and relocating the assorted computer papers, outdated adaptors and floppy discs (again - giggle*snort), I found a home for my cookbooks.

Perfect. Except that now I have this small mountain of unfiled-torn-from-a-magazine-copied-from-a-book-printed-off-the-internet pile of recipes to sort through. It's Recipe Reality Check time. Here is the criteria: Sure it looks/sounds good, but will I really make it? Are there 2 columns of ingrediants? Does it require a bunch of spices?

I'm off to sort.

Someday I will cook something in my toaster oven. Maybe I'll find a recipe.....