Lynn O’Rourke: ‘We’re covered on the Bloody Mary front’

Published on 17/02/2013 15:31

HAVING spent a great day out at Colstoun Cookery School near Haddington, I have since felt compelled to overhaul my approach to cooking and eating, which, unfortunately, extends to better organising our compact kitchen – a job I have been putting off for a very long time.

I start with a small under-utilised cupboard housing all sorts of weird and wonderful herbs, many of which appear to have a use-by date of 2007. (Pre-second child, we must have been finding some time to cook around then). Out they went and, as if by magic, I have a couple of shelves to fill up. Out went the mouli (well, off to the halfway-house garage, to be taken to the charity shop as soon as I find time to do it) as it had only been used once in a vain bid to puree something so completely first child might have been coaxed into eating it. Clearly, since failing spectacularly in that particular task, it has been hidden away in a cupboard ever since.

I discovered a fantastic array of out-of-date flour – obviously left over from my short-lived bread-making fixation. There were three bottles of tabasco sauce, which at least means we’re covered on the Bloody Mary front. The lemon juice in the little lemon-shaped bottle that the kids love is out of date – does that matter? I keep it in case not. There’s room now that all those stale flours have gone. It’s great this clearing-out lark – leaves plenty of room for new stuff I can ignore for the next five years.