I have a question: what is the best way to store onions, garlic, and potatoes in a small but bright NYC kitchen?

I ask because these items are constantly going soft and sprouty on me. (I do buy organic, at least the potatoes, so maybe they just don't keep as long.) I've been keeping them in a perforated bowl in the pantry, so that in theory, they're kept dark and cool. But maybe that's just not so.

My kitchen is really bright, so I can't imagine just keeping them on the counter (especially the potatoes)...any advice?

Thanks in advance...

Budino - I had to figure out the same thing in a small but bright Philadelphia kitchen a few years ago. Dark and cool is definitely the right way to go, but the really important thing is to keep the potatoes and onions away from each other. There's a scientific explanation that maybe someone else can expound on, but storing them together makes them both go rotten faster.

My question: when living alone and mostly cooking for one, what do you do about perishables? I love eating a variety of vegetables, but then I find myself with waste that I don't know what to do with. Sometimes I'll just pick out two vegetables and eat them the whole week until they're gone, but that gets boring. Any tips?

When I'm buying produce, I count in my head how many total servings I've collected to keep from over-buying. Also, you know you can take a bunch of broccoli or bananas or whatever apart and only buy what you need? I won't shop where produce is shrink wrapped and they won't let you divide it.

Does anyone know London Urchin from the smallest coolest?

I wish he/she would enter their kitchen into the smallest coolest kitchen contest as well to offer something different to the mix.

Or maybe I just want to see a couple more pictures of the kitchen.

Seriously, it really is a cool kitchen and there isn't much diversity from the current entries. The wall that the oven is in is one of the coolest kitchen designs I've seen in a long time.

RB, thanks for the comments on the onion potato=bad formula. I didn't know! I hadn't been storing them in the same bowl, but I had stored the bowls pretty close together. Who knew? Though I will say that the onions and garlic go bad even when I don't have any potatoes.
As to your situation, I agree with A Nony Mous: try to shop at a market that let's you decide how many mushrooms/beets/potatoes you need. Nothing shrink wrapped. And, if possible, try to shop the european way: daily, or almost daily, and only buy what you need.

RB, along with what's already been said, I'd suggest cooking the vegetables in various ways if you do end up with many servings, Try combining them for dishes such as tabouleh. That way, you won't get as bored as you would with steamed veggies all week. I find that I must shop at least twice a week in order to have fresh fruit and vegetables on hand for every meal. Good luck!

Thanks for the kitchen comments..I have been waiting to post more about my apartment to see if I get into the finals.

[I didn't enter the kitchen contest because the prize was wine and it's too hard to cart it to London!]

If I make it to the next stage I will post more about this place...am crossing my fingers.

RB, cook them and freeze them in single portions. I do this because I don't have time during to cook full meals during the week and I always have little bits of frozen somethings in my freezer -- so if I want to make an omelette or quick stir fry, I already have portions of steamed vegetables ready to go. I always heard this tip but thought it sounded like a lot of work -- but I can't tell you how much time (and probably money) it saves me.

Howdy, all!

Quick question--I'm planning on making a milk-based soup for a vegan this weekend. What's the best milk-substitute to use? I was thinking of rice milk since there's rice (actual grains of) in the soup, but didn't know if it would be too sweet?

Thoughts?

EmmaC: coconut milk might be a great subsitute, depending on the other flavors in the soup.

Unrelated: somewhere, in the back of my brain, I think that someone told me that Coke can take off the sticky residue that's sometimes left on a nonstick pan after years of use. Anyone else heard of this or tried it with any success?

Hi EmmaC! What kind of soup are you making? I don't use rice milk, but if there's an unsweetened version, it should be good! (I'm a big fan of unsweetened soy milk - although I haven't tried it in a soup yet.)

Hmm...I'm planning on making my Minnesota Wild Rice soup that I commented about in an open thread a few threads back. I was in Minnesota this past week and managed to snag a few pounds of authentic Minnesota wild rice! For the veggie version, I'll nix the ham (obviously), and increase the amount of mushrooms. Unsweetened soy milk might work. I wish I had time to do a test run, but what kind of cooks would we be if we didn't take risks every now and again!?! There's always take-out after all...

I just posted pictures of my DIY spice racks. I looked for a long time to find official ones that were the right size to mount on the inside of the paneled door of my pantry closet, but with no luck. So I bought these mesh drawer organizers and mounted them with eye hooks and picture-hanging wire.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/auie/480696883/