All the right ingredients

I've figured out recently that having a fully stocked kitchen really helps me feel more at home in it.

Currently I'm at odds with the kitchen in this apartment. Its tiny, and modeled irregularly. Its also prone to bugs and mice because its an old building, plus who knows what sort of inviting things the other residents do. Also, the oven is old and was never cleaned before we moved in and I'll be damned if I go in and try now. Forget it.

To compensate, I have a small toaster oven that'll bake up to 450 degrees (as much as the recipes I use calls for) and I keep try to keep it clean, and ALL food hermetically sealed. The mice and bugs stay away that way.

Though naturally, it wasn't a very inviting place.

It also doesn't help that there's only me and Dan. Its hard to justify buying even a pint of egg beaters for a recipe, because 75% of it will go bad. That happens with a number of things in the fridge we can't or won't eat fast enough. I'd make more food in advance and freeze left overs for later. but the freezer is tiny.

So what I've started doing, slowly but surely, is collecting small obscure ingredients that don't spoil. Ponzu sauce, curry powder, uncommonly used spices, different flavor vinegars, Marsala style cooking wine, broth, powders, yeast, extracts, and... when the hell do you use corriander? Oh well, I've got some.

As for the stuff that does go bad, I'm starting to plan out meals I want to make during the week, and pick up only what I need. That way, stuff doesn't go bad because I know I'll use it. Keeping a few zip lock bags of single portion veggies in the freezer doesn't hurt either. So, I feel a little better about cooking. But honestly, when we move (in the next couple months) The state of the kitchen will definitely be a big factor for me when deciding where to go.