Milk lids

A majority of dairy products here in Sweden are sold in TetraBrik-containers from TetraPak (not surprising given that TetraPak is indeed a Swedish invention).

Initially we were a little disappointed with the most commonly used carton here: it is not possible to close it again after opening it. While this annoyed me on a practical level because it meant I couldn't shake my favourite breakfast fermented dairy products before pouring them without spray-painting the kitchen, it was more a question of principle for my significant other: more specifically a question of germ control.


As it turns out, there exists a small, cheaply available unitasker to solve the problem. As the picture indicates, the makers (or sellers, anyway) of the product seem to be thinking more in line with Mrs. Throat-Erator.

Setting up a kitchen

As I've mentioned in a few posts over the past couple of months, the apartment I got was with an empty kitchen (as is the norm around here). Well... I guess I should not say empty: there was a tall cupboard, a sink, and a few dirty shelves above the sink - but apart from that it was empty. With a little planning ahead we made sure to buy a fridge that was ready to be installed and turned on from day 1.

Then the planning started. I've never before had the option of designing my kitchen, so I tried to think about what I would have like to change about the past kitchens I've had (if anything). Apart from such issues, the planning was strongly influenced by the shape of the room: A longish, rather narrow room. Putting both an ordinary dining table (even a small one) AND a stove and a table for working would transform the room into some sort of weird obstacle course. Instead, we decided to put in a bar along one of the long walls: this would go well with a couple of stools (which can handily stand under the bar when not in use) and leave room for manoeuvring while working at the sink, the stove, and the counter top.

This meant putting the fridge near the entrance to the kitchen, but that works quite well - the kitchen is not that long after all - and even seem logical right across from the tall cupboard where we store the rest of our stuff.

The rest was details: we put up a small shelve for spices above the stove and a magnet for knives next to it.