Flowers in the Kitchen

A very Happy New Year to you all!

As a New Year’s resolution let’s all try to decorate our kitchen with flowers. I spend a lot of my time in the kitchen and I’m sure you all do too. Why not add some fresh flowers to create a happy, relaxing, and motivating atmosphere. Adding flowers don't have to be fancy. I even pick the small flowers from my garden when available, but just having the colors makes our kitchen brighter and cheerful. Since we are going to be in our kitchens, we might as well enjoy the time. This is a tip I give my students in my cooking lessons, to make the kitchen more than just a working space.

Here is an idea for a New Year’s arrangement that I want to share with you. This is a small Japanese lacquer vase that I always have hanging in my kitchen. This one is from Japan but you can find similar vase in Japanese or Asian shop or any pottery shop. It doesn’t have to be a hanging vase if you don’t have a place to put one. You can use a small standing vase on a shelf, window, or the counter. To make a Japanese style flower arrangement for New Years, I arrange the colors of red, white and green. These colors represent Japanese New Year’s celebration. I used the chrysanthemum (Fuji mum) for the green, winterberries for the red, and some small white mums to complete that Japanese New Year’s look.

It is always nice to have flowers in the place we spend a lot of our time. Let’s keep adding flowers to our kitchen and enjoy our cooking time!