How much NUTMEG do you need?

That is the very difficult question I had to answer this weekend as I tackled my pantry. Before I get to the Nutmeg conundrum, let me recap on my challenges and the road that led to me discovering a hoarder's stash of nutmeg.

1) I've got to fix one area in my house so I am happy and content with it, and it gives me pleasure to be in that specific room.2)  I also have to de-clutter one space in my house, as well as 3) organise something so it makes my life easier.

The pantry offered me the perfect opportunity to do all 3 of the above.

Now when I talk about my pantry, it is not a build-in cupboard, it is not a little corner-turned-pantry, it is a fully-fledged room with sturdy shelves and lots and lots of space. (And because I am me, I love to fill all available space with something, anything, obviously Nutmeg). An empty shelf is almost like an empty loo-roll - enough to send me into a mild panic.

So with the help of a lovely Sunday morning, my miracle worker Sandra, and a blissful ignorance of the amount of work it is going to take, this was my mission on Sunday.

I am not going to bore you with all the things I did, (as I found it very boring myself after the first few minutes of unpacking, cleaning, repacking.....), but the end result was definitely worth it.

It is now a happy place where clean Chutney and Tomato Sauce bottles go (all sticky-necks gone).

It is a place where all my heaters snuggle together until needed again.

It is a place where 7-year old oats and ancient mystery herbs in unmarked holders are no longer welcome.

It is a place where my collection of mixers sit all clean and proud and ready to whisk into action. (and a place where all their different bits and bobs and weird attachments are in one place instead of scattered over the kitchen world like a dysfunctional family)

It is a place of happiness for all the different ingredients, snug and satisfied in their clearly marked recycled ice-cream or whiskey containers. (my hubby used to drink a lot of whiskey, so I have a lot of whiskey bottle tins!!) And let me confess, I used to eat a lot of ice-cream so I also have a lot of empty ice-cream containers.

Weird Sugars include all the dark, mysterious, browny, sticky stuff

I put a happiness painting as well as a vintage table in the pantry, and although it does not look like Martha Steward's pantry - for me it is just perfect.

Blurry after pic - due to low energy and horrible phone

I organised not only the pantry, but also all my baking equipment. I just love baking and seeing other people eat it. It is so nice to follow a recipe (I do not have to think - just do!). There is no pressure at all, since I did not invent the recipe, I am just following instructions and the outcome does not reflect on my capabilities, but on the recipe's creator's abilities. It truly is a win-win activity which relaxes me, makes other people happy and allows me to blame someone else if things go wrong.

Third goal was to declutter - and declutter I did. All went well and was a nice mindless activity, getting rid of the following clutter:
- bottles with the bare minimum of ingredients stuck at the bottom (other people would call them empty bottles)
- little bits of unrecognisable foodstuff
- "Verimark-type" gadgets that looks so promising but ends up being useless
- hundreds of little salt, tomato sauce, vinegar sachets that I was saving from take-away meals for the day we could use them
- quite a few honey and golden syrup containers with some crystallised sweetness (and a few dead ants)

And then there was the Nutmeg.

I found 4 full bottle of Nutmeg between all the dusty spices. I cannot even remember ever using Nutmeg in a recipe? I know it goes into Eggnog, and that is as far as my Nutmeg knowledge goes. Why did I have so much Nutmeg? Did I subconsciously buy it to prepare for a international Nutmeg shortage? Is someone trying to sabotage me by slipping in bottles of Nutmeg when I am not looking? Did I interrupt a local Nutmeg convention? Are the Nutmeg's actually camouflaged Cinnamon (of which I had 3 bottles but at least I know what to do with Cinnamon)

Please could you let em know how many bottle of Nutmeg you can find in your house/pantry/dark corners of spice cupboards ot sticky spice racks? I just do not want to be the only Nutmeg hoarder in the world.

So far the record, I have completed 7 of my 30 challenges, and hope to have at least another 5 done before the weekend.

Thank you for joining me on this adventure, and talk to you later this week

Lovies
Lizette