A Controversial Kitchen & The Perfect Super Bowl Snack
This Time Last Year

A year later, we still have mixed feelings about this lovely, if overly pristine, kitchen. Revisit it for yourself after the jump, plus a recipe for Super Bowl brownie bars that have everything but the kitchen sink, tip from Alton Brown on making delicious smoothies, and a round-up of fresh and easy snacks to pack for lunch.

The images above are in bold below.

• This kitchen stirred up a lot of debate when it was featured in House Beautiful. What do you think about it a year later?

• A bowl of piping hot vegetarian pho with chewy noodles sounds like the perfect mid-winter soup.

• Some thoughts on cooking with kids.

• These Emile Henry dishes are still on our wish list!

• Alton Brown has some excellent tips on making smoothies that you'll crave day after day.

• This robin's egg blue kitchen has several little details that any of us can add to our kitchen.

• A simmer plate is super handy for letting soups and braises bubble away on the back burner.

• Rose Levy Beranbaum's Lemon Butter Bars? Yes, please.

• Save your empty oatmeal tins and use them all around the house.

• Macaroni and cheese with brie and mushrooms is a grown-up version of our favorite comfort food.

• And to make up for the indulgence, check out these fresh and easy snacks to eat the next day.

• Chili 3000 blend from Penzeys is our go-to chili powder even a year later.

• A round-up of stools and chairs to put in the corner of any kitchen.

• We make this beef and barley stew all winter long.

• For people who have started baking their own bread, here's how tell when it's finished baking.

• The inside scoop on Amore, our favorite brand of tomato paste.

• Everything but the...These sugar-loaded bar cookies will definitely hit the spot at your Super Bowl Party!

A Year Ago and a Week: Reducing Exposure to BPA & Homemade English Muffins

Comments (4)

Emma,
Thanks for mentioning my "controversial" kitchen again! I love that design, especially kitchen design, evokes such passion, both positive and negative.

For me, I can only view it as all positive, because it causes us all to consider what we like and why we like it.

If anyone is checking out "the kitchn" post from 2010, please know that my link from those original comments to view the rest of my kitchen was reset when my cookbook (Beyond the Pasta: Recipes, Language & Life with an Italian Family") was published last fall. Here is the new revised link to view the rest of the kitchen: http://www.beyondthepasta.com/2009/10/22/to-refrigerate-or-not-to-refrigerate/
(you may have to cut and paste it).

For anyone who thinks that it isn't a practical working kitchen, here is a link to some cooking videos I made in that kitchen: http://www.beyondthepasta.com/italian-pantry/cooking-lesson-videos/ (Again, you may have to cut and paste.)

Thanks for the continued interest and discussion. It was named one of House Beautiful's 10 Best Kitchens of 2010 ... and given all the discussion, I am sure some people wouldn't put it on that list. Thoughts a year later?

Buon Appetito~
Mark

It's a gorgeous kitchen. I'd cook in there any day!

"A Year Ago and a Week: Reducing Exposure to BPA & Homemade English Muffins"

Wow, here I thought I was the only one working to reduce my exposure to homemade English muffins...

@Mark - You're very welcome! And I agree with martingny; I'd cook in your kitchen any day. Still love those mirrors...

@eeka - Ha!