Saturday, October 27, 2007

Olivia!

Just to prove that Olivia (the "Happy Luau" hostess, and someone I find to be such a sweet, gentle, open-hearted lady that I visit her little corner of the blog world regularly--you can never have enough sweet, gentle, open-hearted energy in your life!) is not the only one with a really cool pantry, I decided to shoot ours and post it.

Now, you organize a diagonal pantry a bit differently than you would the spacious place Olivia is blessed with. Since neither my spouse nor I are all that fond of going up and down the stairs, our organization is based around the things we need most often--or, most instantaneously--being closer to the top of the stairs, which is where our kitchen and den are situated.

So, the top stair has a fire extinguisher which is there to grab in the case of a kitchen fire. It is about four steps from the stove top to the fire extinguisher...two, if you are in a big-ass hurry with flames kissing your backside.

Items Julia regularly needs are also close to the top, as she sometimes needs something while I am at work.

The further down the stairs one treads, the more obscure the items. The video below actually starts at the bottom, so you can catch a glimpse of such vital items as two paperbacks of Julia's which she has not referenced in the entire time we have lived in this house...now, just over eight years.

But, the higher you climb, the closer you come to nirvana! There is a jar of sliced jalapeƱos which are vital for Mexican chicken, a dish I love so much I have learned how to prepare it myself. In fact, when Julia travels to speaking and teaching engagements, I miss her...and make up for it by cooking some Mexican chicken.

Almost as special is a little jar of capers. If I cannot have Mexican chicken (anyone interested in what that is, specifically, feel free to email me and I'll be happy to elucidate), then, please God, give me some kind of chicken which allows for the inclusion of capers.

The large white tub is Julia's coconut oil supply.

Julia is a devout consumer of coconut oil as a balancing agent for her hormones. We are both of a certain age, where concerns about such things are a focus of our daily lives--you cannot fully enjoy your life if you are busy suffering from the exigencies one in their 50's experiences. So, we fix those as best we can so we can get back to acting as if we are not all that old.

Enough intro...on to the video! Please, no chitchat during the movie...

7 comments:

Lynn Cohen said...

Rick your diagonal pantry is hysterical. I just hope no one trips over any of the obviously important items IN the pantry! Or should I say ON the pantry? Which ever, be careful.

Thanks for visiting my blog today. Nice to have a new face and the second male! Syl was the first!
Happy Saturday!

Rick Hamrick said...

Lynn--my wife was somewhat...uh...horrified that I posted this, but she is willing to allow me this artistic freedom. Mostly.

What I did not mention in the post or the video is that I actually use those stairs in the middle of the night for the necessary middle-of-the-night activities, and I do so without turning on any lights.

It really works fine as long as we are religious about only putting stuff on ONE SIDE of the diagonal pantry! So far, so good!

I'm glad to hear that Syl has stopped by your place. It is my pleasure to follow his lead. He and Kelly are two of my favorite people!

Anonymous said...

Coconut oil? Really? I must look into that. My hormones surely do need balancing.

Anonymous said...

Rick, you just made my day with this post! I had such a good giggle...I totally understand the logic of this pantry and it would be something that I would do if I didn't have my handy dandy garage 'pantry'. My garage pantry share's space with Bob's kyack and the MG that he's restoring as well as all the other garagey type things that end up there because we don't know where else to put them. Doesn't everyone have a pantry like this?

Olivia said...

Oh, Rick, this is HYSTERICAL!! I love your "diagonal pantry"! It is indeed "cool"! You have a great sense of humor.

Please tell Julia that I have 3 large white tubs in my pantry from Tropical Traditions too, two with coconut oil and one with flakes. I too use it to stay healthy, since I too am of a certain age. She probably read Mary Enig and Sally Fallon's "Eat Fat Lose Fat", right? It is a miracle oil, that's for sure. And Kelly should try it too (even though she's so young, it's never too early to start), but it's good to read the book first to find out how to best use it.

Thank you for all of the kind words about me and my blog and videos.

I actually talked about you today. I was in the car with my husband on a road trip (to buy groceries a ways away) and we were discussing criticism. He maintained that there must be criticism to have honest feedback, and by its very nature it must be negative to be worthwhile. I used your very constructive feedback on my "wall" that I was knocking down, as an example of so-called "criticism" that was actually positive and supportive, delivered in a loving instead of a critical way. He got it! Really, reading what you wrote was an epiphany for me that I hope I will never forget (and I don't expect to).

PS (I've never had a post named after me before---thanks!)

Love, blessings, and peace,

Olivia

The Dream said...

HAHAHAHAHAHA!
OK, you're my super hero for the day, Rick! This is an absolute riot!!!

At least you can see everything in your diagonal pantry. In ours, when you want something, it's an all-out hunt. It's a two person job: "I know we have sugar in here somewhere ... here, hold this ... and this ... oh yeah, and this ... Aha, here it is!"

One day I'll be a grown-up ... but not today!

patti said...

This was quite a chuckle! I kept trying to imagine what a diagonal pantry would look like - and now I see! At least you can clearly see when you run out of something. I have trouble finding things stored right in the back of mine and actually forget they exist!