Kitchens With Sarah Lonsdale
One of the best things about having friends who cook (apart from the obvious benefit of the great meals they whip up) is that you can learn so much from them. I have managed to add to my culinary skills over the years just from watching, or better still, cooking alongside such friends. When I received a copy of Heidi Swanson's latest cookbook, Near & Far: Recipes Inspired by Home and Travel, I was taken with the way she had divided the book into recipes from different areas of the world. Each chapter begins with a pantry list of relevant ingredients, and it got me wanting to know more about her batterie de cuisine and what little tidbits I could learn from her kitchen. Although she has shared plenty of her ideas over the years on her website 101 Cookbooks, I was angling more for a behind-the-scenes look. With that in mind, I swung by the San Francisco home she shares with her partner, Wayne Bremser. Not so surprisingly, there were some good takeaways.
N.B.: Win a copy of Near & Far by entering our Gardenista Giveaway contest.
Photography by Heidi Swanson.
Remodelista: Your kitchen is pretty simple and spacious. You don't have a lot of things in it, do you?
Heidi Swanson: Yeah, I like the kitchen as a blank slate; a place that evolves over time. I keep it as a neutral space that changes personality according to what's in season.
Above: A simple white space decorated with bunches of oregano, fennel in a vase, and a sprig of drying peppercorns over the window.
RM: Do you always have herbs on hand?
HS: I'll keep whatever herbs I pick up at the market out on the counter, and they change a lot throughout the year. A friend just brought me some fennel, which I'll use for cooking, and those are peppercorns hanging from the window. Sometimes there are four or five different bouquets around.
RM: Let's talk about your marble countertops. I think you launched the whole white-marble-as backdrop look that's so prevalent on cooking sites.
HS: The thing I get the most questions about is the marble. People are obsessed with the marble, and they seem really preoccupied with it being perfect. I don't do any sealing, as I like to have it as clean and chemical-free as possible. I do pastry here, and if I do get some lemon juice on the counters they'll get some etching but I don't beat myself up about it. There are two things I'm careful with, and that's saffron and turmeric. Even with micro-drops, you'll end up with yellow freckles. That's really the only thing that I'm careful with—and maybe red wine, but we don't really drink that much red. It's not the end of the world if there are some etching marks. I cook in here a couple of times a day and I like a kitchen that is being used—it's not meant to be a show kitchen.
Above: Heidi's preferred pots include copper saucepans (L) and a clay bean pot (R).
RM: Go-to pots and pans?
HS: Generally speaking, I am more of a fan of individual pots versus sets, and I try and buy individual pieces. I have a clay pot for beans that I picked up at Rancho Gordo (for something similar, see our post on Bram Clay Pots in Sonoma), and I love that it goes from the stovetop to the table. I mostly cook with de Buyer copper pans—they're super responsive and beautiful and I love cooking in them, but I'm not obsessive about polishing them; I like the patinas they develop over time.
RM: Do you like your Viking oven?
HS: I'm not an appliance geek; the Viking came with the house and it's been great. I expect appliances to do their job; I just want them to perform and work. I need it to be accurate and on point, which is really important when I am making recipes and testing. I do use a thermometer in the oven to double check the temperature to make sure it's consistent.
Above: Heidi's go-to culinary add-ins at the ready.
RM: You refer to this corner in the kitchen as "the neighborhood of tasty bits and treats."
HS: I have a few things around that allow me to throw together a quick-ish meal on a day-to-day basis. We are here in our kitchen a lot, but I also spend a lot of time in the Quitokeeto studio, so it's nice to pack a lunch and then have something left over for that night or the weekend. These are things that I can just add to a bowl of grains or a salad. I like these crispy shallots that I just made that I can throw on a salad or say, if it were spring and I brought some nice asparagus home from the market, I can quickly saute them, then flare them out with some toasted almonds and add a spice blend. I try to keep things around so I am not completely cooking from zero.
Above: Heidi stores her spices in glass jars with pink washi tape labels.
RM: Any spice wrangling tips?
HS: I like to store my spices in glass containers. It's better than a thousand spice baggies crammed in a drawer, but I do lose my battle with the spice situation. I pick up spices one at a time, so I've always got a bit of spice creep going on; bags of poppy seeds and sesame seeds, just whatever I've come across.
Above: Heidi keeps her knives out in the open, stored on magnetic knife racks that Wayne made. She likes the rack so much that she commissioned the Jacob May Bleached Maple Knife Strip, available on Quitokeeto.
RM: Knife obsession?
HS: This Nakiri Knife is a beauty, and I use it a lot. It's a Japanese hand-forged knife and I use it for vegetables. It's quite thin so I can't do a winter squash, and I steer clear of anything that may crack it, but it's great for so much. I'll wipe it clean as soon as it's done and put it aside. If I go somewhere, say to someone's cabin, I'll use the box it came in.
RM: You have quite a pile of chopping boards.
HS: Yeah, I use them for cutting boards and as serving boards, and I've accumulated a few over the years. There are some Jacob May boards and one from Nikole Herriott and some others I've picked up. I love all of them and use them in different ways depending on what I am doing.
RM: Do you have a specific board for garlic and onions?
HS: Ha, no way—that would never work here. I cook a lot with friends in this kitchen and I don't see communicating that vision to whoever is here. People just grab what they need.
Above: A pile of mismatched linens, fresh from the dryer.
RM: Do you have any preferred linens?
HS: It's a mixed bag. I'll pick some vintage linens up at the Alameda Flea Market, and my friend Chanda gave me some. I don't do matchy, and we use them, so they stain. If we sit down for lunch, I'll literally pull the linens out of the dryer and I'll fold them and put them right on the table; I'm definitely not ironing my linens.
Above: Less is more when it comes to dinnerware.
RM: What about plates and dishes?
HS: I keep a collection of hand-thrown bowls and market finds, but I don't have a lot of one thing. I do have enough to have people over. I am not into matchy-matchy, and I keep things for a long time. It's not about accumulating things—I only add it if makes sense. A lot of things come from people I know, people I have a relationship with, like the ceramics and boards and some of the ingredients. It's comfortable to be surrounded by these things and inspiring to work with them.
Above: A collection of beans and grains stored in jars, with one jar devoted to remainders.
RM: How do you typically store your food?
HS: For beans and grains, I try to buy in bulk and I will put each different one in a jar—I use mostly leftover jars that I save for this use. Sometimes I have some stragglers left in a jar, so I started dumping my leftover beans and grains into a single jar. When it gets full, I throw together a soup. In a perfect world, I would cook the different beans individually, but say it's a Sunday night, I just throw them all in together and cook until the one that takes the longest is done.
RM: What's in your fridge right now?
HS: Really? What's in my fridge? Well, there's some ancho chile relish and some orange tahini salad dressing. I always keep a salad dressing in the fridge that I can chuck on a quinoa bowl, or at this time of year I will roast some cherry tomatoes down that I can then throw on anything from a frittata to a grain bowl. They're just good flavor additions. There's some nuts I had out on the counter, but since I am not going to go through them I popped them in the fridge. I'll do the same with grains. Yesterday I made some coconut rice. Since there's only two of us, I'll cook extra then freeze it and thaw out for lunch later. I'll do the same with beans. If I have vegetables that I am not using immediately, I'll prep them, then put them in a bag and use within a couple of days.
Above: Notes for an upcoming recipe lie beside a Nakiri knife next to the stovetop. The waffles are breakfast leftovers (made for Heidi's nephew, Jack) waiting to be turned into croutons.
RM: Do you always take notes?
HS: If I think I am going to develop a recipe, I do my best to make notes as I'm cooking. I never wait until after and try and reconstruct the process on paper. I also jot down things that resonate, like the great beet salad we just had, so I don't forget. I'll add little photos, too. Right now I'm developing a recipe for whipped green chile goat cheese, so I'm taking notes on that.
Above: A copper pan doubles as a sound amplifier for Heidi's iPhone.
RM: Any other kitchen tips?
HS: This might not be be very Remodelista, but if I'm here by myself I'll listen to a podcast. Kitchens can be loud, so I'll throw the phone into a copper pan and it acts like a speaker. When I'm at the studio, I'll use a ceramic bowl.
Above: Near & Far: Recipes Inspired by Home and Travel is the latest cookbook from Heidi Swanson and is available from Amazon for $16.49. We're giving away one copy to a reader; enter the contest on Gardenista here.
For more on Heidi, see our post on her prior book, Super Natural Every Day. To read about another food blogger/photographer, see our post on Beth Kirby's Kitchen Remodel.
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Kitchens With Margot Guralnick
For the high-style campfire or kitchen: classic, no-nonsense enamelware, now in coal black from Falcon in the UK.
Above: The Falcon Enamelware six-piece Prep Set comes with five nesting mixing bowls and a colander. It's £64.99 ($100.24), and, like all designs in the line, is also available in gray, red, and white with blue trim. Unison sells the Prep Set for $120 in black and $99 in white with blue trim.
Falcon's online store showcases the full collection and offers free international shipping for orders over £125 ($192.85). A number of US retailers also carry select pieces of Falconware in black, among them: Huckberry in SF, Unison in Chicago, and Pigment in San Diego. Go to Falcon for a list of sellers around the world.
Above L: Nine-centimeter-tall (three-and-a-half inch) stacking Tumblers are £5.99 ($9.24) from Falcon, and $32.98 for a Set of Four (marked down from $40) from Huckberry. Above R: Mugs are £7.99 ($12.33) from Falcon and $12.50 from Pigment.
Above: A four-piece Plate Set in white with black, blue, red, or gray trim is £24.99 ($38.55).
Above: A 1,000-milliliter Teapot is £19.99 ($30.84).
Above: All of Falcon's enamelware is oven and dishwasher safe. It's made of enamel-coated steel and if dropped, the outer layer will chip. The five-piece Bake Set—two pie dishes and three baking pans—is £64.99 ($100.27).
We have a weakness for enamelware. Browse our Archive for our favorites, including the Enamel Drinks Dispenser and Barn Light Electric's Colorful Enamelware Made in the USA. Go to New Kitchen Basics from Falcon to see the company's aprons, oven mitts, and other enamelware companions.
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Kitchens With Izabella Simmons
Lyon Porter, owner of Urban Cowboy Bed & Breakfast in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, designed a communal kitchen for his overnight guests featuring open shelving, all-white appliances, and some of our favorite accessories. Here's how to get the look.
Above: The clean white kitchen is airy and open.
Above: A well-stocked kitchen with all the essentials; an enamel tea kettle, Italian espresso makers, a water dispenser, and plenty of vin glasses.
Above: The B&B has four bedrooms in the main house as well as a parlor floor that's open to all guests. The open parlor floor has an operable garage door that opens onto the courtyard, a dining and lounge area, and the all-white kitchen.
Key Elements
Above: The white Viking 36-Inch Pro-Style Gas Range with six VSH Pro Sealed Burners is $7,369 from AJ Madison.
Above: The Aga Wall-Mount Canopy Chimney Range Hood in white is $999 from AJ Madison.
Above: The white Viking 36-Inch, Built-In Bottom-Freezer Refrigerator holds 20.4 cubic feet and costs $9,739 from AJ Madison.
Above: The Rohl Shaws Contemporary Classic Single-Bowl Fireclay Apron Kit Open Sink measures 30 by 18 by 11 inches; $1,035.99 from Home Perfect.
Above: The Danze Opulence Single-Handle Deck-Mount Kitchen Faucet with Spray comes in eight finishes (shown in polished chrome) and starts at $316.99 from Wayfair.
Above: This Pendant Light Fixture with a White Porcelain Enamel Dome Shade is available in five socket colors and you can choose from eight different cord colors; $109 from Olde Brick Lighting via Etsy.
Above: American Black Walnut Butcher Block Kitchen Counter Tops from John Boos come pre-oiled, measure 1.5 inches thick, and are available in several lengths. A top measuring 109 by 25 by 1.5 inches costs $109 from John Boos.
Above: Ikea offers several basic white shelving options. The Ekby Hemnes shelf, 31 1/8 inches wide and 7 1/2 inches deep, is $14.99. Companion brackets also available in several styles.
Above: The Tolix Marais Counter Stool in white costs $305 from DWR. The stool is also available on gunmetal gray and black.
Accessories
Above: The Vintage White Steel Enamel Tea Kettle from Crate & Barrel is currently on sale for $49.99 (down from $60). For more, see our roundup of 10 Classic Tea Kettles.
Above: The industry workhorse: the Bialetti Stovetop Espresso Maker was invented in 1933 in Italy and is made from cast aluminum; $34.95 from Peet's Coffee (for a six-cup coffee maker). For more, check out 10 Easy Pieces: Stovetop Espresso Makers.
Above: The Kilner Clip-Top Jar Beverage Dispenser (smart water supply for a large party) costs $59.99 from Williams-Sonoma. For more, see 10 Easy Pieces: Drinks Dispensers.
Above: The classic Jacob Bromwell Colander in stainless steel starts at $149 from Jacob Bromwell.
Above: This Large Knife Block by David Mellor in birch costs $110 from Heath Ceramics. Here's another 7 Ways to Corral Your Knives.
Above: Ikea's Svalka Red Wine Glass cost 79 cents each (no need to worry if guests break one now and then).
Check out these three Urban Kitchen posts for more inspiration.
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