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Spice Kitchens

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Bill Spohn

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Spice Kitchens

by Bill Spohn » Sat Aug 01, 2020 4:22 pm

Before I retired I did work for a rather unique client. It was an international company (origins in the UK) that owns half the mountainside in West Vancouver, the most expensive real estate in Canada. Because we are a Pacific based city, we have had a huge amount of emigration from Asia, much from India and recently (both before and after the 1997 repatriation of Hong Kong) from China.

Our buildings, both residential and commercial pay attention to feng shui, simply because if a Chinese buyer looks at buying something the first thing they do is usually hire a feng shui advisor to say whether it is suitable and having to adjust the angle of an entry to a public building can be costly!

I was involved on the residential side and the formula for building really high end houses had changed over the years. They would no longer build a house that didn't have an elevator, because otherwise it wouldn't appeal to the older clients, or young ones thinking ahead, and they wouldn't build one without two kitchens, a regular one and a spice kitchen. This is ostensibly to keep the aromas from spices from permeating the house (the Indian buyers called them spice kitchens while some Chinese buyers referred to them as the wok kitchen). They are usually connected to the main kitchen with a door between.

If that seems a needless extravagance, it is no more so that the Lubavitcher community having a second kitchen just for Passover food preparation, to maintain dietary law.

To me, it always seemed a needless expense to a developer - they could have simply held a space as available for the installation of a spice kitchen if a buyer had wanted it, but apparently that buyer segment wouldn't want an 'unfinished' house. :roll:

I thought that I'd ask if anyone else had experience with a spice kitchen. I have never been bothered with the aromas of spices; in fact I rather like them. And I'd rather have a larger main kitchen that one chopped into two segments. But maybe that's because my kitchen isn't as big as Jenise's (I've seen medium sized apartments smaller than her kitchen and that doesn't even include the pantry large enough to raise several horses in). :mrgreen:
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Jeff Grossman

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Re: Spice Kitchens

by Jeff Grossman » Sat Aug 01, 2020 5:20 pm

I have never seen or even heard of a spice kitchen.

I have once encountered spices so potent that I might understand the need: Salil once generously gave me a bit of cardamom that his grandmother (still in India) sends him. This stuff was heavenly... and required three nested ziplocs before the fragrance was (mostly) contained. If you had a whole cabinet full of spices of such strength, I can see how that room might intrude on other things.
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Re: Spice Kitchens

by Bill Spohn » Sat Aug 01, 2020 5:25 pm

Strongly suggest that going through customs with anything triple bagged will get you a close up and personal search with The Man! :mrgreen:
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Re: Spice Kitchens

by Jeff Grossman » Sun Aug 02, 2020 1:43 am

No need to inspect me: the dogs would know I'm coming from 100 yards away.
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Re: Spice Kitchens

by Jenise » Sun Aug 02, 2020 2:43 pm

Bill Spohn wrote:I thought that I'd ask if anyone else had experience with a spice kitchen. I have never been bothered with the aromas of spices; in fact I rather like them. And I'd rather have a larger main kitchen that one chopped into two segments. But maybe that's because my kitchen isn't as big as Jenise's (I've seen medium sized apartments smaller than her kitchen and that doesn't even include the pantry large enough to raise several horses in). :mrgreen:


I know two custom builds with these kitchens in my neighborhood, both caucasian owners. In one case, built about 20 years ago, they call it a butlers pantry--they didn't put in a stove but made sure there was space for one should an Asian buyer be involved some day, though so far it's unlikely. Ever since all those butthole loggers drove the local Chinese away in 1907, few have come back. Another home five years newer, specific to the current owner who is Canadian, did the works. The overall kitchen's a 20x8 rectangle facing their fabulous view (they're on the ridgeline above us) and centered in the back of it is a square room about 10x10 with more cabinets and a second range. I have to admit it looks totally f--ed up to me. I've seen them use it but not for the intended reasons. I mean, they're from Burnaby, not Chongqing, and they don't do high heat wok cooking loaded with red chiles.

As for my pantry, absence is making your heart grow fonder. It's only 13 x 6, more like a one-horse stall. :) But entirely neccessary since my rectangular kitchen only has two walls and is open on two sides. Without the storage provided by that pantry, there'd be nowhere to stash dry goods. ALL my unrefrigerated food is in the pantry. Plus a few appliances.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
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Re: Spice Kitchens

by Jeff Grossman » Sun Aug 02, 2020 2:56 pm

Jenise wrote: ALL my unrefrigerated food is in the pantry. Plus a few appliances.

And the horse. :wink:
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Re: Spice Kitchens

by Bill Spohn » Sun Aug 02, 2020 3:16 pm

Jeff Grossman wrote:
Jenise wrote: ALL my unrefrigerated food is in the pantry. Plus a few appliances.

And the horse. :wink:


Here you go:

Swedish Horseballs Recipe
https://honestcooking.com/swedish-horse ... meatballs/

What's that I hear you saying? Neighhhhhhh? No mare for me?

Image
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Jenise

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Re: Spice Kitchens

by Jenise » Sun Aug 02, 2020 3:19 pm

Wait a minute while I corral my thoughts--got a real hitch in my giddy-up when I saw the word "balls"!
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
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Re: Spice Kitchens

by Bill Spohn » Sun Aug 02, 2020 3:21 pm

Made you a little teste, did it....?
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Re: Spice Kitchens

by Jenise » Sun Aug 02, 2020 3:29 pm

You might say it put me off the 'feedbag'.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
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Re: Spice Kitchens

by Bill Spohn » Sun Aug 02, 2020 3:35 pm

Thought I'd just run it up the scrotum pole and see who saluted!
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Re: Spice Kitchens

by Jenise » Sun Aug 02, 2020 3:57 pm

Yippee-yiyo-ky-yay
galloping all the way
here comes Quickdraw McGraw,
the high-fallutin'ist
sharpest shooten'ist
cowboy you ever saw!
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov

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