Magnetic Spice Rack with bonus feature!

Sometimes everything comes together perfectly!

Example: I'd been playing with the idea of doing a magnetic spice rack after being enamored by Alton Brown's on Good Eats. It just seemed like a good way to clear out the spice cabinet. Also, spices aren't supposed to be near the stove - heat and steam are not good for them. I noticed that my cabinet to the right of the stove actually got fairly warm inside when I was making pasta or something that steamed a lot. But, the one thing holding me back was repainting my cabinets. Right now they're what I call "peaches n cream". The previous previous owners loved the color peach and had it everywhere. The previous owners did not like the peach, but only painted the outside of the cabinets a cream color. So, cream outside, peach inside! That's classy! Sanding and repainting have been on my to-do list for quite some time and I didn't want to install a spice rack till I had all that worked out.

Well, then I got a completely different idea for a project. My cutting boards were resting against my backsplash and made the counter looked cluttered. Also, my cookie sheets and cooling racks were laying flat in my cabinets and taking up a lot of room. My cabinets just don't have a place for thin vertical storage. It occured to me that I could buy wall in-box holders and put the boards in that! I went online trying to find some that were sturdy enough for heavy cookie sheets but I really didn't find exactly what I was looking for. I was afraid I'd have to get legal sized in-boxes to hold the larger cutting boards. Well, this is a good example to not rely on just the internet! The moment I walked into Office Max I found exactly what I was looking for (and I can't even find it on their website!) They are metal holders without sides - so it doesn't matter how long the item is! And....since they're metal I can use them as magnetic spice holders!! Awesome! Two ideas in one project. It came out really well.

My pantry is really to the right of the door and in the left corner was previously a thin 5 drawer cabinet that didn't hold anything important. I moved that out and installed seven metal holders. Three on the wall to the left and four on the wall facing the door. They are now holding all of my cooling racks, cutting boards, and cookie sheets. I have opened a lot of space in my cabinets now.

You can see how crappy my door is. I really need to sand all that sticky stuff off and paint it. But, the pic gives you some idea on how my pantry works.

This is a side view so you can see both areas, kinda. They aren't perfectly spaced cause I was going more by what was in them, how I would be taking the items out of the holder, and how short I am. So, there really wasn't any "measuring" involved (my kind of project!). I made a cardboard template of my largest cookie sheet and used that to help gauge where to hang everything. The cardboard was light so it made it easy to hold the metal holder up while I marked the holes. I also cut out some green shelf liner that's the foamy non-stick kind. I already had it on hand and it helps cushion the metal racks against the metal holder (you can see it below). Michael went with me to Lowe's to pick out what type of wall anchors to use, but other than that, I did everything myself.

So, let's talk about the spices! I researched on the internet about this and there are a couple different types of containers out there. I ended up getting mine at Bed Bath & Beyond. The lids have a pour hole and sprinkle holes. The backs have huge magnets on them. There are other containers out there that don't have holes, but I wanted them. At BBB they're $2.99 each, which is actually really expensive. I just found them today at the Container Store in a package for 3 at $4.99 (the exact same kind). But, the reason I went to BBB was I have $25 gift cards from my Discover points and I have the $10 off $30 coupons they print in their fliers, so I used two coupons, saved $20 and used 'free money' gift cards - so I didn't have to outlay any cash for them. In case you didn't know - BBB coupons NEVER expire. They ignore the expiration date and you can use three at a time. I keep mine in the trunk of my car since I never know when I'll be shopping. Anyways, I bought 26 of them which sounds like a lot, but I like buying extra since you never know when one will break or if they stop making the same style. I bought clear labels and printed labels on my computer for them. Yes, I played with the font for awhile - wanted something different but still easy to read. Ended up using 'Civic'. I don't really like how you can see the label since it's not really 'clear', but oh well. It's what I bought and I didn't want to deal with it. I'm getting used to it, and it's not as noticeable as it is in the pictures. I also went to Walmart and bought all new spices. Figured I'd start out fresh!

I also had this great idea - for those spices that may not be permanent items in my pantry - I cut up whiteboard and taped it to the front of the spice tin (see below). These metal inbox holders actually came with little magnets, a picture frame, and a very thin magnetic white board. I just used scissors and cut circles out. It all came together perfectly! I'm very pleased. I'm still working out how I'm going to do liquids like vanilla or almond extract...I already have some ideas....

And one last thing - A VERY BIG THANK YOU goes out to Gil for helping me with yet another 'I can't believe your house hasn't burned down yet' electrical project. This house is just one adventure after another. On the left side of the wall in the pantry was a little halogen light that was somehow wired into the wall. Not plugged...the wire actually went into the wall and the patch job was so bad there was a big crack in the wall next to the wire. It didn't bother me before because I had my plastic bag holder hanging above it, covering it. Well, for this project it was in the way. And as I do for all strange electrical things, I called Gil. He came by, took off the light switch on the wall next to the pantry, and saw where they had used ELECTRICAL TAPE and just taped all the wires together. Lovely. But wait! There's even more craziness. We got a screwdriver and started making the crack bigger next to the wire, trying to figure out how big the hole was and how they had wired it. After getting some dry compound out of the hole, Gil started seeing paper stuck in it. Once we got past the compound he pulled out huge wads of yellow pages paper, sunday comics, and newspaper (dated 2001). Instead of patching the hole correctly they just waded up paper and them slathered compound over it! If those badly connected wires had sparked it probably would've caught the whole thing on fire. So, we disconnected the whole thing, tore the wire out of the wall, went to Lowe's and bought a new switch and drywall patch kit, and did it all up correctly. It looks really good. Gil did a great job with the first layer of drywall compound over the patch. I did the second coat and painted it. With all the holders up now you can't even see the patch. Thanks Gil! I still owe you dinner!

We've started smoking! (In a good way)

One of my favorite things about Texas is that barbeque is taken VERY seriously out here. Michael recently purchased a smoker and it has been AWESOME! It's the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker Smoker. I asked him why he got that one and his response was that there's entire websites devoted to this smoker and what you can do with it. Hmmm...good response. I have completely removed myself from the workings of this smoker. This is Micheal's fun time - I just reap the rewards. He's made a place in my backyard where there aren't too many trees around. Once the smoker's going with the wood and charcoal it really doesn't put off any fire hazhards - it's just getting the charcoal ready that's rather flamey.

Anyways, on his first big run he smoked two kinds of ribs (one with sauce and one dry), handmade sausage that he'd made previously, and a pork shoulder that turned into pulled pork.

When he said what he was making I started inviting people over. Mike/Annette and Jeff/Judy came over to help us eat. It was soooo freaking yummy. We had a ton of pulled pork left over so I gave some to my parents too (and getting some bonus points for Michael in the process).

This is what the pork looked like coming out of the smoker. The blackness is just the smoked meat. It's not burned or anything. It's good stuff.