Summer’s Must Haves — Kitchen

A friend of mine heard I was going to write about Summer must-haves and challenged me to come up with 4-5 Summer must-haves for the kitchen. I drew a complete blank. As an insanely pragmatic Classic, I feel the need to have EVERYTHING in my kitchen. Isn’t this why Williams-Sonoma exists? I finally had the brilliant idea to brainstorm with my sister — Chief Vision Dreamer and brainstormer extraordinaire. She had a few good ideas that I co-opted, refined and generally made mine.

Two good knives: A sharp chef’s knife and a bread knife. The first cuts anything and the second cuts tomatoes like nobody’s business. Oh yeah, and bread too.

Salad dressing container: Nothing makes a meal more authentic and delicious than a salad with homemade dressing. It’s beyond easy to make a vinagrette so there’s really no excuse for using store bought dressing. Williams-Sonoma actually has a cool container that helps you make dressing, stir it, and store it. It’s called the Chef’N Salad Dressng Emulsifier and my friend Wren swears by it.

Plastic cutting boards: I used to have one all purpose cutting board but I knew it wasn’t the most brilliant idea to cut raw chicken on the same surface as I cut crudites. So, I bought a set of 4 super thin cutting boards with images of what you’re supposed to cut on them — ensuring even my husband would know which board to use. Now I no longer worry about giving myself or guests Salmonella poisoning.

Lemon reamer and a pitcher: Doesn’t everybody own a lemon reamer? They make creating juice for recipes and drinks really easy. I don’t know a soul who turns down freshly squeezed lemonade. All summer long I keep a large bunch of lemons on hand and make lemonade at will. The trick is to muddle the sugar with one sliced lemon.

And last but not least, Burn Jel. I feel like it makes any burn go away but great to have on hand near your stove or the grill all summer long.