Do You Wear an Apron?

In Canada and the U.S. we call it an "apron." In the U.K., you might hear it referred to as a "pinny." And in Germany, I believe the word is "Schürze." (I hope Herr Mago will correct me if I'm mistaken.)





Do you Bitches wear an apron while cooking or baking or barbecuing?

If so, do you prefer a full frontal coverage apron (as pictured in photo #1) or a half apron (as pictured in photo #2)?

Do you prefer a utilitarian, no-nonsense style or something frilly to flounce about the kitchen?

And finally, do you have any novelty aprons (i.e. aprons with funny images or sayings)?...



Tell us about your aprons, Bitches.

Vintage Kitchen Accessory du Jour

When was the last time you saw one of these?...



Attach this kitchen wrap dispenser to the wall, and stock the designated compartments with a roll of aluminum foil, wax paper and paper towels. Then simply lift the lid and use the serrated edges, pictured below, to tear off a sheet, as needed...



A popular kitchen accessory back in the mid-20th century, one wonders why you don't see them these days. Wouldn't it be handier than rummaging through your drawers? (insert joke here.)

The dispenser above is available through Etsy for around $200, if you find you can't live without one. The ad (1950s?) below, shows  a Kromex "Triple Tier Towel Dispenser" (above the bread boxes) for $6.95....

Which reminds me.... when was the last time you saw a bread box?

And is that a CAKE tin?

Oops...distracted. Where were we?

The kitchen wrap dispensers were available in a range of colours...

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This one has a compartment for Saran Wrap too...

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Perhaps it was owned by Marabel Morgan, author of "The Total Woman," who proposed that women rekindle their marriages by greeting their husbands at the door dressed in nothing but Saran Wrap.

 So, when was the last time you saw one of these Foil Wrap/Wax Paper/Paper Towel Wall Dispensers?

And how do you store these items?

Dishwasher Fungus

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How do you wash your dishes? Choose one of the following answers:

1. Dishwasher.
2. By hand.
3. I throw them out the window when they're dirty; a trick I learned from Lisa Douglas on Green Acres...



If you answered "#1. Dishwasher," be warned. Your dishwasher may be trying to kill you.

This is old news to those of you who read "Fungal Biology" but for the rest of you, be aware that studies have found that dishwashers are the perfect host for extremotolerant fungi, which includes black yeast, a type of yeast potentially dangerous to human health. The fungi are tolerant to heat, detergents and salt, allowing them to thrive and grow in the dishwasher environment -- especially on the rubber band of dishwasher doors.

Black yeast can cause disease in both healthy and compromised immune systems. If inhaled, these fungi can colonize the lungs and cause infections that can be difficult to treat. People who are taking antibiotics and those with poor immune systems, diabetes, and cystic fibrosis are at greater risk of lung and skin infections caused by the fungi.

What can you do to banish fungi from your dishwasher?

Follow these steps, as found here:

Baking soda, vinegar, and bleach may help to kill mold, mildew, and fungi growing on the inside surfaces of your dishwasher. This cleaning regimen should be done once per month to prevent fungi from taking hold.

Start by removing all racks and washing them by hand in hot soapy water. Use a soapy sponge to wipe down the dishwasher's interior surfaces and around the rubber door seal. Let everything air dry thoroughly.

Combine a half cup of white vinegar with 2 cups of hot water in a spray bottle. Spray all surfaces thoroughly and scrub with an old toothbrush around the crevices and seal. Use a scrub brush for large surfaces.

Put the racks back into the dishwasher. Fill a small glass bowl with vinegar and place it on the top rack. Run the washer on the hottest setting. Sprinkle 1 cup of baking soda on the dishwasher floor and run the machine a second time on high heat.

Finish by running the washer with a commercial dishwasher cleaner, followed by hand cleaning all surfaces with a four-to-one mixture of hot water and bleach.


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This all seems like rather a lot of bother, doesn't it?

Mistress MJ advises you to give this task to your houseboys.

NOTE: Mistress MJ is in the habit of cleaning her dishwasher on a monthly basis as a matter of hygiene and to keep it smelling fresh. However, I had no idea there is an actual FUNGUS capable of thriving in the dishwasher! Nonetheless, dishwasher fungus is the least of my worries at the moment so unless I see THIS winking at me...


dishwasher fungus "Exophiala dermatitidis"...also found in washing machines

...I'll be on the fainting chaise with a cocktail.

Filthy Friday

Wasn't it just yesterday when we mentioned what to do if life gives you lemons?


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Kitchen Glamour

Glamourize your kitchen.

With these...

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Or this...

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YOUR KITCHEN WINDOW VIEWS

At last! We peek into the views from your kitchen windows!

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And remember that in many cases, clicking the photos enlarges them.

Let’s start with Mr. Cookie. Is it just a coincidence that there are cookies on his kitchen counter?

COOKIE…
Here is our kitchen window, the least interesting window in the house. Bleak, actually. Because our house is old, and brick, when we redid the kitchen we could either remove the window and hope to match the brick, or just run the counter right in front of it. Since we never open it, we went with option number 2. In fact, we keep it window behind curtains so we get light, but don't have to look at the house next door, which we hope to buy and rehab.

WALLY…
This is my garden in New York City. The best thing about it is that if you are in any room of my apartment and look out any window, this is what you see, not buildings, cars, trains and people. Many different flowers, spring, summer & fall, If you are feeling peckish grab a nectarine or a fig or a bunch of grapes, savory herbs grow all around. I walk barefoot around this, my home, and my little dog Mickey has never worn a leash; he runs free.

BOXER…
My house was remodeled in the mid-60's and the kitchen was bumped out to make another room. Other houses on my block are the same style as mine so I know there was once a window over the kitchen sink and I missed not having it. So, I found an old window and hung it over the sink and this is my view; into my craft area.

NURSEMYRA…
My kitchen window looks out into a small indoor courtyard. It's full of plants and an aviary with three birds - this is one of them. His name is Woody, he's a Crimson Rosella with a broken wing and gender issues. When I'm home, he's allowed out of the aviary to wander around the courtyard. He can only fly down, not up, so he climbed this potted tree using his beak and claws.

MITZI…
The Polish builders did an excellent job of doing my "downstairs" after it was flooded in 2007. But when it came to painting the kitchen walls, I wasn't impressed. I asked for a "Duck egg " blue, but what I got was an "Egg Yolk" yellow instead. Carmen was thrilled with the colour, so I kept it. The view from the kitchen window looks like a cemetery in a Hammer horror film.

LX…
Since my Austin home doesn't have a kitchen window, I am submitting the kitchen window of my flat in Berlin.

LA DIVA CUCINA…
My view from the sixth floor of our new condo we just bought, our first home! Moving in Oct. 1st. The sliding door opens up next to my stove and looks out over the park and north Biscayne Bay and high rises, down below, tennis courts and houseboys!

THOMBEAU…
Here's the view from our kitchen. It's my primrose path, aka the Highway to Hell.

NORMADESMOND…
what did you expect i'd see, platypuses?

PRINCESS…
Here is the view from one of my windows. Sadly, I don’t have a window in my kitchenette. I live in a tin shed that has limited window opportunity. Yes it is a lemon tree outside my window and when the wind blows the lemons bang on my roof and walls making an awful clatter! (Did I mention that I live in a tin shed?) However, the Empress does have a lovely view of the patio area and garden at the side of the house from her kitchen through the French Doors. I cannot imagine what pleasure having a window in my very own kitchen might bring. Not having a window is not all that much of a bother as much of the time I am working in my garden getting up close and personal with its inhabitants, thus I become a part of the view.

CHRIS…

MRS. EDWIN (MARTHA) SMITH-STANDISH…
Please accept this photograph of what I look out upon from my kitchen sink window. The house is owned by Eileen and Malcolm Carruthers, a lovely couple with a 21 year old daughter who's name is Trouble, with a capital "T". Honestly, I don't think that they believed me when I said that Cecilia was gallivanting about exhibiting her body in an unseemly fashion. Fortunately, my husband, Edwin Smith Standish snapped this picture with his smart phone from my sink window. Cecelia is now away at a real college, Vanderbilt, and under medical supervision. As for their horrid landscape, I can only hope that they hire someone to come fix it because it offers us no winter color what so ever.

GEOFF…
This is our magnificent garden from the perspective of the nominated washer-upper. As you can see we have a tree of some description which we planted as a baby when we moved in 14 years ago. It gives welcome shelter from the blazing Kentish sun and refuge for the odd bird or two. You may see our birdbath to the right of the tree. This affords us to give welcome drinking and bathing water for the many small garden birds which come looking for respite from the scorching Kentish sun. It also allows welcome relief for the local pigeons who like nothing more than to empty their heavy bowels into its murky shallows. That, my friends, is our garden.

COREYJO…
I always have the curtains folded up. Otherwise they would be in my way…

When I open the window and set the camera on the sill, this is what you see. See the tree in the middle with the pink bow?

There, now you can see it. This is Maggie’s tree, it’s a Cleveland flowering pear. You remember her from the last project. We planted this on her birthday last year.
She would have been three. When we planted it, we spread some of her ashes in the dirt. Now we get to watch her grow. It’s planted so that you can see it from any window on the back side of the house. We plan to do the same this year. Maybe a bush this time. I don’t recommend planting trees the day before Halloween unless you absolutely have to. It’s bloody cold outside! At least in Michigan it is.

DEEP BLUE (JON)…
First, a wide view of the patio door in the kitchen…

And then the view when standing in the door…

I live in a low-middle class part of the town where all you see are duplex. Duplex, duplex and more duplex. They all look the same. Big boring cubes. Through the years, some owners have tried to make them look a little more attractive.

My neighbour's backyard…

I know it's not part of the assignment but since I missed out on the previous one, I tought you'd still like to see "mon petit jardin de balcon":

Geraniums, gazanias, and... and... how do you say "capucines" in english!!!

Masturbium???

On the balcony in the front we've got some mighty Cosmos!

OK. there are also 4-plexes!

And if I make a 180 degree turn, I get this:

OK! I admit I did zoom in a bit!


STACIA...
Here is the photo out my kitchen window -- really the sliding glass door, but close enough. As you can see from the tiny little jogger, our town's walking lane runs directly through our back yard. This goes a long way toward explaining why we've let the back yard grow up so much, to get a bit of privacy, but I admit laziness has a lot to do with it, too.

MAGO...
Here come three bad pictures from my kitchen, one actually looks out the unlicked window.

MISS JANEY...
Miss Janey wrote a post about her kitchen window view which you can read here.

Mistress MJ has condensed Miss Janey’s post as follows…

Here is the view from Miss J's kitchen window. Note that all the Janey's vases have ended up here because the Janeys are to lazy to get out a step stool and return them to their proper place above the kitchen cabinets. The vintage head-vases were from Mama Janey. Outside, camellia bushes. Beyond that, the peach-colored building is her next door neighbor's house. Miss J is pretty sure her neighbors have seen her naked more than once. Their second story allows them a view of Miss J's kitchen and yes sometimes she strips there because its where the washer & dryer are. Sometimes she even makes breakfast nekkid.

Lookin; out my back door... again, of the kitchen. Same old neighbor's oleander plant...

If you're still awake, the view out one of the bedroom windows. No happy creatures dancing on the lawn- or the laundry. Oh- Miss J rolls old school when it comes to laundry! She's all green and stuff, hanging it to dry with the Sun's magical powers. And that black thing hanging by the garage, that's part of Miss J's Figgy Project, The Hanging Pantrie, their spelling not Miss J's. Five layers of figs, protected by mesh and like the laundry, drying by the Sun's magical powers.

INEXPLICABLE DeVICE...
Mr. DeVice’s kitchen window post can be found here.
Note rainbow in top photo…

MR. PEENEE...
My back window; specifically the office I just repainted in order to hang these red curtains.

Note from Mistress MJ: Click pic to see what sort of filth Peenee has on his computer screen!

MISS SCARLET...
I do have a couple of pictures of the view from my kitchen window, but at the moment my porch is far more exciting. Apologies for the blurring, but the subjects refused to stay still even after I asked them to.

Thanks, everyone, for flinging open your windows upon your worlds!