Tuesday, October 19, 2010

A Visual- I Mean Virtual- Pantry





My thoughts have been turning to the pantry as of late. First, I was asked to provide House Beautiful with a list of pantry staples to have on hand for last-minute cocktail entertaining. (See the November issue for the list, but it does include my fave Mamie's Cheese Wafers, William Poll potato thins, and Hubs peanuts.) Then, I was reading True Prep: It's a Whole New Old World and read the section titled "The Preppy Pantry". The Southern pantry is a little different from the preppy pantry, but Triscuits do seem to be the common denominator. And finally, I was browsing my review copy of Suzanne Rheinstein's upcoming book, At Home: A Style for Today with Things from the Past (GREAT book, by the way), and was totally inspired by photos of beautiful pantries. So I was thinking, why not come up with a fantasy pantry? OK, so I chose most of these items for their packaging- no surprise there. But I can vouch for the taste of a few of them, and they're really good!


A few things you might find in my virtual pantry...and the real one too.






Fauchon mustard- a classic.






Cipriani Pasta. Truth be told, I'd have this in my pantry just because I love that logo.




Fortnum & Mason Rose Biscuits- "a sweet butter biscuit studded with almonds and scattered with French crystallized rose petals." I bet they taste pretty, too.



Fortnum's Relish- just because I adore Fortnum & Mason's signature shade of eau de nil.




Petrossian Caviar. Kevin Sharkey collects caviar tins. I understand why.




Meinl Coffee. When I visited Vienna a few years ago, I returned with paper napkins and coffee containers with that classic little coffee boy logo. The content of the can is actually tasty too.






Demel Chocolates are wrapped in the most beautiful packaging. I saved my wrapper from the Hazelnut bar, shown above. I haven't a clue what to do with it, though. It was too charming to throw away.





Duke's Mayonnaise. Because not everything has to be fancy. Bar none, the world's best prepared mayonnaise.



(Image at top from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten, Melanie Acevedo photographer.)

18 comments:

  1. Clint9:11 AM

    can we go shopping together?

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  2. If only there was one shop here in Atlanta that carried all of these items!

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  3. and if you live up north, like i do, you have to make do with helman's mayo.

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  4. I just love pantries (don't know if you saw my old butler's pantry last week) and all the accoutrements. The Demel packaging is amazing. And speaking of mayonnaise, have you ever tried The Ojai Cook Lemonaise? Delicious all natural alternative.

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  5. Take the Demel's wrapper and other wrappers and labels, and have them mounted all in one frame. A friend did this with vintage wine and spirits labels purchased in Paris and it made a fun collection to hang on a kitchen wall.

    Allow me to recommend confitures (jams and jellies) from Bertillion of Paris, located on the Ile St. Louis.

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  6. Hi!
    I just reorganized my entire pantry yesterday and today. It was big job. I'll post about it tomorrow and have lots of pretty pictures too.
    You can never have enough Dukes!

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  7. Can I borrow your pantry? Mine has some really boring things in it. The packaging on these is just lovely too!

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  8. Hub's Peanuts and Duke's! You're my kinda gal Peak.

    Throw in the Petrossian and a few bottles of fizz and Mrs. E. and I are coming to visit.

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  9. My real pantry has plenty of mundane things like Vanity Fair napkins, Life cereal, and Quaker grits. Not very glam :)

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  10. E&E- You and the Missus are welcome at my place anytime!

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  11. When I redo my kitchen, it's going to be all open shelving on chrome Metros. I happen the think of food labels as art. Love the Barefoot Contessa's stock! I have never heard of Duke's mayo and I will have to search this out. Did you ever think that we would be a nation ordering mayo off the internet. Boggles my brain!

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  12. Duke's mayo is the best!!!!

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  13. Now that would be the pantry perfection! Yummmm...

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  14. I have a Demel's wrapper, too! I think it's living in a dessert cookbook for want of a better home.

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  15. Ms. Wis- Mine lives in a drawer which is a shame. It should be displayed!

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  16. This is a great list! I bet this Cipriani pasta is delicious! I always try and have diced tomatoes, pasta, Parmesan, and Prosecco in my pantry!

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  17. I have been so busy I've not been reading as loyally as I should. I love this pantry piece. Lot's of great information here. I wonder where I can find Duke's mayo..I'm on the hunt.

    Yes -- I think frame the wrappers -- pretty art for the perfect pantry!

    Love all of this -- thank you!

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  18. There's some lovely looking condiments here. I can only imagine how great they must all taste. Very nice.

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