Baking Pantry Complete!

Just to remind you of where we began... It was called, a catch-all!

Sure, I needed a place to park my tote bag collection but...

My over-flowing baking supply drawers won over tote bag parking!

Seriously... I needed saving!

So thanks to my darling husband...

A pantry dedicated solely to my baking and cookie decorating supplies was born!

With hardly a labor pain between us!

Last night, after I stocked the shelves and went to bed, this

is what my amazing new baking pantry looked like. However...

Today it got even better after the new doors were installed!

I love them! And, I'm so happy I over-bought on the knobs and bin pulls

at Pottery Barn when we remodeled the kitchen the second time,

because I had exactly what I needed for the new pantry and coat closet!

Spacious, organized and concealed... Everything a girl wants in a pantry!

So what does a girl do to thank the man with the vision and ability to build it?

She cooks one of his favorite meals!

Pork roast cooked low and slow...

In one of my LeCreuset dutch ovens, of course!

And, in the beautiful new KitchenAid gas range I

still cannot believe I won at last year's Mixed Con!

Needless to say...

He was as happy with dinner as I am with my new baking pantry!

Before I close I have to tell you about a little bonus I discovered while

unpacking the storage bench... You see that little California license plate?

I found it in this box of love-letters we exchanged just after we met. We met on a

Thursday night in Kansas. We had our first date the following evening and by very

early Saturday morning, my family was on its way to Monterey, California! After he

phoned, (four days later) to ask if I would be his wife, we began corresponding via

letters. This lasted almost exactly three months until we eloped to Reno to marry!

No internet, no cell phones. Only expensive long distance calls and lots of

letter writing... Gosh! I haven't looked through this box in a million years...

As I began digging through the box, I discovered lots of long-forgotten treasures...

Like this one that my mom brought back to me after my beloved

Oma passed away in 1990. It's the last letter I wrote to her, which

arrived only two days before she died. Mom found it on the table in

her apartment. Mom also brought back this comb, compact and pill

box set I sent my Oma for Christmas just a few short weeks before...

I also found the booklet for the first television we purchased together,

along with one of my high school graduation announcements, the receipt

for my senior prom dress and, this funny saved from my 1986 calendar!

Here's the birth certificate for my 1983 cabbage patch doll and, the

prescription for my first pair of glasses when I was twelve years old!

Written by an Army doctor in Frankfurt Germany,

which is the map on the back of the prescription!

Here is one of my early class (charting) assignments from dental assisting school!

Great letters. Great memories!

All discovered again because he decided to build me a baking pantry!

Stocking the Baking Pantry!

First thing this morning I dashed over to Target for rolls of shelf

liner and cabinet organizers to complete my baking pantry project!

I was so happy to find these OXO turntables! Don't be

fooled into thinking the other ones will rotate as smoothly!

The pegboard filled up a lot quicker than I anticipated!

Across the front, and corner...

To corner...

I filled it! The cut-out shelf below is the perfect spot to hold my precious

Martha by Mail copper cookie cutter sets. They'll be safe back there!

After organizing all of my cookie cutters, my first thought was I better

call USAA tomorrow to take out an extra insurance rider for them!

Because they are all priceless to me! And yes, I alphabetized them by container...

Because I'm only doing this once and I'm doing it right!

As they say... Anything worth doing, is worth doing well!

Hey! Want to know a secret?

These photos are more for me than they are to show you my new baking pantry!

Want to know why?

Because next time I'm shopping for baking and decorating supplies

and I can't remember whether or not I have orange sanding sugar...

I'll be able to refer to this post and see instantly

that I need buy no more orange sanding sugar!

Same goes for so many other things I often

buy without remembering I already have them!

Dear Mom, I love you so very much...

And, I thank you for thinking of me during your visits to Sur la Table

and Williams-Sonoma. But please... There's no need to send more cupcake liners!

Oh! By the way... Remember that fortune cookie message I

found the day I searched for my missing round cake pans?

It was right! I found not only my round cake pan sets but all the cake pans I thought

were gone forever. Where were they? In the cabinet with my cake stands. Of course!

My greatest Christmas wish when I was eight years old was

that St. Nicholas would bring me my very own Kaufladen. For

those who don't know what a Kaufladen is, it is a miniature version

of a grocery store for children to play shopkeeper. Like this one...

Of course, being seven and eight years old, my little brother and I couldn't

wait for Christmas. So we took it upon ourselves to do a bit of snooping in

the room upstairs where we thought presents might be hiding for us. And,

sure enough... There, in that room we were told never to go, was the most

wonderful kaufladen I could have ever hoped to receive. Of course, James

and I were terrible snoops so it did not take very much for mom and dad

to figure out that we had discovered all their secrets. I remember that we

confessed immediately and, while I don't remember what his punishment

was, I'll never forget the agony of being told that I'd have to wait until my

birthday to have my kaufladen. Needless to say... We never snooped again!

As I stocked these shelves today I couldn't help but remember

my sweet little kaufladen and, how much my new baking pantry

looks like a real-life baking and cookie decorating supply store!

To see the completed project, click here!OXO