Kitchen Supplies - Post-Christmas update

As I have moved forward with the idea of opening a vegan bakery, my friends and family have caught on to my enthusiasm for being in the kitchen, and for kitchen equipment, both functional and novel. Over the past year, I have added many gadgets to my kitchen supplies, including some of those listed in my February 2010 wish list.

My  kitchen now boasts a candy thermometer, a handheld mixer (courtesy of my mom), cupcake stencils (from my sister), a temperamental digital scale, and cake decorating supplies purchased in pursuit of the 4 Wilton Cake Decorating courses (I begin class 4 - Advanced Gum Paste Flowers -  in February).

For Christmas this year, many of my gifts also fell into a kitchen theme, to my delight, and I just wanted to take a moment to share the wonderful things that my awesome friends and family got for me.

My parents got me many utensils for my kitchen. The ones that will be most useful for my baking (and for serving my baked goods to my willing friends and taste testers), are a brownie spatula, a pie server, and a pastry scraper.

Additionally they sent me a set of five nesting bowls, which are actually dry measure cups, each with a smaller amount denoted by a line, and a larger amount encompassed by the whole bowl. They are, from smallest to largest: 1/8 Cup and ¼ Cup ; ¼ Cup and ½ Cup ; ½ Cup and 1 Cup ; ¾ Cup and 1 ½ Cup ; and 1 Cup and 2 Cups measures.

Both my husband and myself received novelty cookie cutters, and we can now enjoy ninja-bread men, and ginger-dead men.

 
My mother-in-law was surprised to see how delighted I was at receiving the set of mixing bowls she gave me. These sleek nesting bowls have a pour spout, a coated grip handle, and a grip-bottom which prevents them from sliding when using a mixer. Also, they are an awesome color palette.

I received a neat set of matryoshka doll designed measuring spoons, in ¼ tsp, ½ tsp, 1 tsp, ½ TBSP, and 1 TBSP measures, each with a different design on the back from a friend. 

 

Finally, my parents also got for me two books, Vegan Pie in the Sky, and The Complete Guide to Vegan Food Substitutions. This has rounded out my collection of vegan baking books nicely. 

 

 I am thrilled with the gifts I received, and cannot wait to share my baked goodies with the friends and family who were so generous with me.