Clean Up Time

                                          When you have a fridge like this:

As you can see it's a mess. Thanks to the plethora of ants, everything, from crackers to honey , from candy to even fruit has to be put inside the fridge. This creates a total mess. The door and the ledge in front of the crisper were so sticky that the door stuck to the ledge . Thankfully there is hydrogen peroxide.

This is the magic elixir that friends recommended.  Hydrogen peroxide is the best bet in cleaning the goo off of fridges and  kitchen sinks .It also disinfects wood cutting boards along with plastic and marble ones too. Should you clean the stove with it? I will say no. Even though the hydrogen peroxide from your drug store is a whopping 97 percent water, it still is hydrogen peroxide. Use  heavily diluted apple cider or white vinegar to get rid of stubborn stains on the burners. Dish soap works well too.

I still have more cleaning to do. There's a floor that has to be scrubbed twice. Plastic bags that have to get sent to a bin at the grocery store. Cooking in a kitchen is hard. Keeping it clean and sparkling is even harder.

Ant Proofing Your Kitchen

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Debugging Your Kitchen

Warm weather brings about bugs. Kitchens become meccas for ants, flies and the occasional roach family. Many home chefs have to deal with this by product of higher temps. It is annoying but luckily can be brought under control with the right products.

The dilemma facing many a home owner is how to humanely get rid of these "visitors." Sure, you can use commercial ant sprays but do you want to? Insecticides have strong and always chemical ingredients. These require gloves because of their strength as well as diluting the powder or liquid with the recommended amount of water. Some leave a powdery white residue that could prove to be harmful to children and animals.Ant bait ,used for lure, is a granular sugar like substance that are filled with poison. A more humane and safer way to go is using natural repellents.Lemon juice works well. The sugar loving insects will be repulsed by the fruit's intense sourness.Another natural cure is cinnamon. You would think the spice's musky sweetness would attract them but that' s quite the opposite. Home chefs scatter it along with ground cloves around doorways and windows. Cinnamon oil can also be used. You can also use freshly picked peppermint leaves along with peppermint oil to repel them.

Roaches are year round and even worse to get rid of than ants.Again you can use roach spray and traps. There is the classic Raid which comes in sprays and foggers, It and similar products have a chemical known as pyrethroids which cause paralysis in bugs.Other chemicals used are carbamates and organophospates which render certain amino acids inactive. These cause the bugs to die.One dosing may be great however home chefs need to be very aware that constant use of these insecticides can cause problems in humans and companion animals.Again the best path is the all natural one.A better idea is putting cedar chips in the corners of your kitchen. A classic that has worked for decades is the bay leaf. You can buy them in your store's spice section and strew the leaves where the walls meet the floor.Flies are not so much in a summer kitchen but they are  a problem at outdoor picnics and barbecues. The easiest is having electronic pest devices on the tables. These emit a high pitch sound that scares the bugs away from the food.

Don't let the bugs of summer bug your cooking. Use all natural  remedies to get rid of these critters.It makes for easier and cleaner work.

A Fresh , Clean Summer Kitchen

The summer sometimes is the hardest season on kitchens. The fridge is stuffed with all sorts of produce. The freezer is packed with every ice and ice cream treat. Ants are crawling all over as is the occasional cockroach  Treat it right with proper disposal and cleaning. It'll make for easy cooking and easy living.

We all know the importance of baking soda Most of us have it year round however it pays to double and even triple (depending on your kitchen's size) the amount. Remember to replace it every three months If you're worried about the powder spilling then go to The Container Store and get their Baking Soda Stay Fresh Container at only $4.99. It can also work in the freezer too. The fridge  should also be cleaned after every spatter and splatter., especially if it involves those raw meat juices.After all it will be barbecue season for the next three to four months, so this will be quite common. Wash the interior of your fridge with a clean sponge and warm soapy water (I like using Dawn dish cleanser for this). Have a clean dry towel to also dry everything off.. Remember to clean the racks and handles. Keep the freezer relatively empty too. Get rid of last year's dried herbs ad ice cream or last season' s leftovers.Also  clean counter tops and cutting boards too. Salmonella thrives in hot weather  and this comes from the usual suspects : eggs  barbecue meats and fish but also all that fresh fruit and veggies you 're getting from the farm and garden..

For the rest of the kitchen , clean up after you spill anything sticky and sweet. Any syrupy drip is an ant magnet. They go after proteins too, so any meat that's left out is a target too.Deter them by using all natural remedies such as lemon juice, vinegar and even powdered chalk. Peppermint leaves or oil of peppermint works too.  As for those other kitchen pests, roaches, the best way is by keeping a very clean kitchen. However this can be impossible if you live in an apartment or condo complex. One of the best deterrents is surprisingly Listerine or any mouth wash;Mix equal parts it with water and a few drops of dishwashing liquid and spray in corners and where floors and walls meet. Of course take advantage of the hot weather to clean your oven. This is the time when it's used the least. You can use those chemical laden cleaners or an all natural cleanser made from baking soda, water and salt. Do it on a rainy day instead of sacrificing a beach day.. Remember to also clean burners to get rid of that burnt coffee or soup smell. Ants will even go for the burnt sweet stuff so keep the oven top scrupulously clean too.

A summer kitchen should be a clean kitchen. It should be free of smells , pests and any other warm weather problems. Keep it fresh during the hot sticky months ahead.