Culinary Creativity Abroad: Navigating a Minimalist Kitchen and Blogging Journey in Cape Town
My fiancé and I are currently embarking on an extraordinary adventure, spending nearly a year immersed in the vibrant life of Cape Town, South Africa, while he pursues his master’s degree at the esteemed University of Cape Town. This unique chapter has unfolded into an enriching experience, far exceeding our initial expectations of merely living abroad.
A natural follow-up question often arises: “And what are you doing there?” It’s a valid inquiry, given the traditional expectations associated with relocating. However, my journey here has taken a less conventional path, one focused on personal growth and creative pursuits.
Contrary to common assumptions, I am not working in a formal capacity. Several factors contributed to this decision. South African visa regulations would typically restrict me to a maximum of 20 working hours per week, often requiring navigating complex bureaucratic hurdles. Furthermore, the prospect of securing employment for a tenure of just nine months is generally unappealing to most employers, limiting viable opportunities. Practical considerations, such as reliable commuting options in a new city, also played a role. And frankly, the potential earnings from such part-time work often wouldn’t justify the effort. But the most significant reason, and one I wholeheartedly embrace, is that I simply didn’t want to. The idea of a nine-month hiatus—a precious window dedicated to travel, exploration, and the leisurely pursuit of personal passions, including diving deep into my blog and perhaps indulging in some Pinterest-inspired dreams—sounded like an unparalleled opportunity, almost too good to be true.
While the image of “toiling my life away on Pinterest” might paint a picture of endless scrolling, my time here has been incredibly productive and fulfilling. Yes, a significant portion of my energy is directed towards planning our upcoming wedding, an endeavor that undeniably involves a substantial amount of Pinterest-fueled inspiration. I’m also excitedly anticipating the arrival of my best friend’s first baby, a truly joyous distraction. Beyond these personal milestones, I’ve committed to a more rigorous fitness routine than ever before, relishing the opportunity to explore Cape Town’s breathtaking natural landscapes through hiking and running. And, of course, I’ve dedicated myself to meticulously exploring every inch of this stunning city, from its iconic Table Mountain to its picturesque vineyards and bustling markets.
However, a primary focus of this sabbatical has been to truly see what I could achieve with my blog if I dedicated a concentrated, year-long effort to its development. This journey has been nothing short of a blast. I’ve gained invaluable insights into the immense potential for blog growth, from understanding SEO best practices to honing my content creation skills. It’s allowed me to unleash a pent-up reservoir of creativity, experimenting with new recipes, photography techniques, and storytelling approaches. This dedicated period has transformed my understanding of what a blog can be, and the sheer enjoyment of nurturing this creative outlet has been immense.
Yet, amidst this exciting personal and professional evolution, one significant challenge emerged that I hadn’t fully anticipated when envisioning this plan: the profound limitations I would face in the kitchen. It often feels like a nostalgic, yet somewhat frustrating, echo of my sophomore year of college – moving into my first apartment with minimal counter space, no dishwasher, outdated appliances, and an almost non-existent collection of kitchen tools. While our current flat is thankfully modern and updated, far removed from the orange plastic counters of my student days, the lack of ample counter space and a comprehensive tool collection remains a persistent reality.
Equipping a Blogger Abroad: The Minimalist Toolkit
The overarching objective when embarking on this cross-continental move was to pack as LITTLE as possible. Every item had to justify its inclusion, especially for a blogging endeavor that primarily focuses on food. Therefore, my blogging toolkit, carefully curated for portability and necessity, was remarkably lean:
- My precious camera, a reliable Nikon D200, which has been a faithful companion on many adventures.
- Two versatile lenses, including my absolute favorite, the Nikon 50mm f/1.8, renowned for its beautiful bokeh and low-light performance.
- A trusty tripod, acquired for a bargain price on Amazon, which consistently proves its worth in stabilizing shots and enabling creative angles.
- Photoshop Elements 11, an invaluable Christmas gift from my fiancé several years ago, essential for post-processing my culinary photographs.
- A small collection of placemats, providing versatile backdrops and textures for food styling.
And that was genuinely the extent of it. This sparse collection stands in stark contrast to the fantastically well-stocked kitchen I maintain at home. There, the joy of having a passionate hobby is that friends and family always know precisely what to get me for birthdays, Christmas, graduations, and other gift-giving occasions. Over the years, their incredible generosity has furnished my kitchen with everything I could ever wish for and more. My mom, for instance, passed down her first KitchenAid mixer when I moved into my initial apartment – a beautiful piece of machinery that predates me but continues to operate flawlessly. She also gifted me her beloved small Dutch oven when she upgraded to a larger one. That particular gift sparked a deep obsession with cast iron cookware, leading my amazing future mother-in-law to present me with a gorgeous enameled cast iron skillet. My home kitchen boasts a comprehensive variety of pots and pans, several nonstick skillets, a small barbecue grill, a wide selection of cake and cupcake tins, pie dishes, casserole dishes, silicone baking mats like Silpats, delicate madeleine molds, and mixing bowls of every conceivable size. The crowning glory, however, is my large kitchen island, featuring a beautiful butcher block top and integrated shelving – my pride and joy. Add to this an assortment of other fun gadgets and gizmos, and you have a truly culinary haven. But all of these treasures, sadly, reside in a storage unit back in Portland, Oregon, a mere hop, skip, and 10,000 miles away.
My Cape Town Kitchen: A Study in Minimalism
This stark contrast makes the inventory of tools in my Cape Town kitchen a fascinating exercise in understanding true essentials. Here’s what I have at my disposal:
- 4 cereal/soup bowls
- 4 large plates
- 4 small plates
- 1 large glass mixing bowl
- 1 set of measuring cups
- 1 set of measuring spoons
- 3 pots of varying sizes, each with a lid
- 1 nonstick skillet
- 1 colander
- 1 cake tin
- 1 cookie sheet
- 2 cooling racks
- 1 wooden cutting board
- 1 9×13 inch baking dish
- 6 knives of varying sizes
- A set of 6 essential cooking tools (including a whisk, spatula, and ladle)
- A versatile hand-held motor with whisk, immersion blender, and food processor attachments
- A microwave oven
- A small oven equipped with 4 burners
That list pretty much sums it up. When we first arrived, our furnished flat provided the basic necessities. To supplement these, I personally purchased the glass mixing bowl, measuring spoons, measuring cups, cookie sheet, cooling racks, baking dish, and the incredibly useful hand-held motor. The rest of the items came standard with the rental property.
For a household of two, this selection is quite reasonable, especially for someone who cooks infrequently. However, for an avid cook, and particularly for a food blogger, this inventory represents the absolute minimum. It forces a significant shift in mindset and approach to meal preparation and recipe development.
Creative Solutions for Limited Kitchen Tools
The biggest challenge presented by such a limited selection of tools is managing situations that require duplicates of a particular item. For instance, what do you do when you’re using your only nonstick skillet to cook chicken, but you also want perfectly sautéed vegetables ready at the same time? An easy and surprisingly effective solution is to utilize one of your pots. With a watchful eye and a little extra cooking fat, a pot can double as a frying pan for many tasks. It might not offer the same surface area or rapid heat distribution as a skillet, but it gets the job done.
A more frequent dilemma I encounter is the need for two cookie sheets, especially when baking or preparing multiple items simultaneously. In a kitchen where every piece of equipment is precious and not easily replaceable, buying another cookie sheet that would eventually need to be discarded or left behind felt wasteful. My resourceful solution? I repurposed the lid from my largest pot! It works just as effectively as a conventional cookie sheet, providing a flat, oven-safe surface. This simple hack ensures I don’t have to invest in yet another item for temporary use, aligning perfectly with our minimalist packing philosophy.
Mastering the Small Kitchen: Time and Forethought
Working in a smaller kitchen space with a more limited array of tools is most effectively remedied by embracing two key principles: allotting more time for meal preparation and applying a greater degree of forethought to every culinary step.
You inherently need more time because the scarcity of space and duplicate tools necessitates more frequent cleaning during the cooking process. There’s literally no alternative spot to set down that dirty mixing bowl, or you just used your only measuring cup for milk, but now you urgently need it for flour. I vividly recall my mom’s constant refrain when I was younger and would occasionally dabble in the kitchen: “Clean as you go!” Back then, I often ignored her advice, primarily because our home kitchen was expansive, offering ample room to stash dirty dishes, and cooking felt like a more challenging endeavor, leaving little mental bandwidth for concurrent cleaning. Now, however, the profound value of her wisdom has become undeniably clear. Tackling the mess from one part of the preparation before advancing to the next not only maintains sanity in a compact space but ultimately saves a considerable amount of time. It prevents the accumulation of an overwhelming pile of dishes at the end, making the entire experience less daunting. The limited workspace in my Cape Town kitchen underscores why “cleaning as I go” is not merely a suggestion but an essential practice for efficiency and order:
Giving meals more forethought is equally crucial, as meticulous planning allows you to maximize the utility of your limited tools. For example, with only one cutting board at my disposal, I’ve learned to strategize. If I know that both meat and vegetables are components of that evening’s dinner, I always prioritize prepping the vegetables first. This way, the cutting board merely requires a quick rinse before I proceed to cut the meat, rather than the thorough, sanitizing scrub it would demand if the order were reversed. Similarly, if a recipe calls for the same measuring cup for both milk and flour, a quick glance at the instructions enables me to measure out the flour first. Since flour is dry, the cup won’t require washing before measuring the milk, avoiding an unnecessary cleaning step. Such small, deliberate considerations throughout the cooking process can significantly streamline operations in a minimalist kitchen, turning potential frustrations into efficient flows.
Illuminating Culinary Creations: DIY Photography Solutions
Our flat, despite its compact kitchen, offers surprisingly good conditions for food photography. The living area and kitchen are essentially one open space, featuring large windows that flood the area with natural light. The predominantly white interior also acts as an excellent reflector, bouncing light beautifully and creating a bright ambiance. However, due to the specific layout and the angle of the windows, certain spots can become a little shadowy, presenting a persistent challenge I needed to overcome to achieve consistently well-lit photographs.
Initially, I attempted to use the full-length plastic mirrors present in our furnished apartment as makeshift reflectors. While they offered reflective surfaces, their size and unwieldiness made them difficult to manipulate precisely for food photography. What I truly yearned for was a professional photography reflector, a tool specifically designed to bounce and diffuse light effectively. However, in keeping with our philosophy of not spending unnecessary money or investing in items we wouldn’t need long-term, I decided to craft my own reflector! And I must say, the results have been remarkably effective.