Now, I am a Nigella fan, always have been and always will be, a super cook with fabulous recipes. My daughter and I have just made Nigellas chocolate chip cookies to go into our new Wookie Cookie tin and what a success, slightly gooey but with less chocolate than stated and they seemed to be tasty enough. Anyway Nigella is a great adversary for simplicity (a woman after my own heart) but above all she always, always has fantastic pantries or pantry cupboards, even super pantry shelves with the obligatory fairy lights, oh gosh another passion of mine. So for my first journal entry the subject of pantries seems an obvious one to me and as you can tell I think about them often and fondly. I love pantries, yes I love pantries… I love everything about them, the storage opportunities, the organizational skills required to make a pantry work and of course it contains food another passion of mine. Whenever we visit a National Trust property or similar, I always hope they have the kitchens, pantries, cellars and sculleries open, its so exciting, well for me anyway, seeing those spaces.

We moved into our house almost 7 years ago now and one of the most appealing features when walking around viewing was yes you’ve guessed it the pantry, the other was the enormous airing cupboard, but that’s an all together other passion. And I am not alone in this love; pantries have been making a comeback into British and American homes since the late 1990’s; apparently it’s the charm and nostalgia that’s rekindling this love of pantries. I have had neither until moving into this house, well maybe a small airing cupboard above a staircase some moons ago but nothing like we have in this house. Sorry back to my pantry, its pretty simple and small, I’d rather say compact and bijou, it’s had some TLC recently and looking spruced up and tidy.

Now I’d say my pantry is pretty traditional in that it stores all my dry food, some pantries however lean more towards the contemporary and by this I mean they house coffee machines, toasters, beautiful displays of crockery or glassware. So when opening the pantry door on this contemporary approach you have a pleasant surprise and lets face it, add in some fairy lights and well its just complete then isn’t it? Did you know there is a formula for pantry shelving; I didn’t know until I started really looking into what makes a pantry work. The formula is all about shelf heights, shelf depths and where things go. Traditionally the pantry would be on a north facing wall this is due to the north facing wall being cooler than other directions thus keeping your meats and dairy chilled, back in the day before fridges and freezers of course but still even now if I was working on a new build or renovation this would be in my mind to work with for a pantry location.

I love the feeling my pantry evokes in me when I am in the kitchen, either on my own or with my family, it does make me feel cozy, warm and nostalgic. I also love when cooking with my daughter and we pick a recipe, off to the pantry we go with a tray and we get all the dry ingredients out, a bit like going to the supermarket, and back into the kitchen we go to prepare whatever delicious recipe we have chosen. Somehow, I don’t know how, but it seems easier having a pantry, for example when friends or family come to stay they don’t need to ask us where the so and so is, they just go to the pantry, its as simple and as easy as that. See simplicity, Nigella and I have got something in common after all.