Cooking in small spaces

 Cooking in my small kitchen requires good organization! I have the space under the sink to keep the heavy bottles of soy sauce, vinegar, oils, etc. I also keep my frying pans and pots under there and of course there is the handy knife holder on the door! My little cart with wheels is really good to set things on it while cooking. When I am done cooking I just wheel it away into a little corner to keep it out of the way since the hallway is small.

 Here is the container that I keep all the heavy bottles in. It has little wheels on the back end so it is easy to pull out and grab different bottles.

 Here is my chicken pre-cooking, post marinading! Let's do some cooking! (^-^) /

 I love this grill! I've been cooking fish on it and it really keeps the fish smell from sticking around in my apartment. I decided to do something a little different and cooked the chicken in here. It turned out fabulous! In other words, I inhaled the chicken and barely had room to breathe.

 My little rice cooker that I brought all the way from the US. No real reason other than I already had a rice cooker and it didn't seem worth it to buy a new one when I had a perfectly good rice cooker. It's not like it changed the weight of my boxes much. Luckily, in Nagoya I don't have to worry about buying a converter, I can just plug in my rice cooker and go!

My spring salad! It has cabbage, carrots and fried tofu. I also made the dressing, which is a soy and miso base, but it also has some mustard in it for a little kick.

Cooking in my little kitchen isn't bad. I just need to plan ahead and cook easy things that can be kept in the fridge early. Then I can just cook the main entree when it is almost time for dinner. This way I also don't have to worry about space too much. My fridge is tiny, but if it is close enough to dinner time I can just start setting things on the table. I have to clean as I go so my sink doesn't start over flowing with dishes, but since I make some of the dishes beforehand I can do some washing in between.Good luck to those who have to cook in small spaces like I do, but with some good organization it can be done!