Switching Kitchens

Because we're moving to a house with a smaller kitchen, we have to think hard about what to take and what to leave behind. Some decisions are obvious—we couldn't cook without our giant nonstick skillet, our Dutch oven, our jelly roll pans, and our mini-whisk. But what about the tortilla maker that's been used only a handful of times because it's so easy to buy good tortillas from the market, or the apple-peeling device that comes in handy perhaps once a year, when we're feeling ambitious enough to make tarte tatin? Or the juicer?

The juicer is tricky because it is, to use the current annoying buzzword, aspirational. We would like to be the kind of people who prefer freshly made organic juices to coffee, who would rather sip a big glass of liquified spinach and carrots than nurse a Liberator. So we keep our Juiceman at the ready, usually dusting it off on New Year's Day to accommodate our latest batch of resolutions. For that reason, we'll be taking it with us to Virginia.

The same impulse that makes us cling to our Juiceman has led us to become fascinated with the controversial raw food movement. Though we know we could never exist on raw diets, we have to admit that the raw foodists have developed some excellent recipes. Take, for example, Dan "the Man" McDonald, whose Life Regenerator YouTube channel offers a bushelful of instructions for making smoothies, salad dressings, and other delicious things. One of our favorites is his take on V-8 juice.

You may not agree with Dan's take on nutrition, but you'll probably be captivated by his attitude—he is so happy to be alive that he's fun to watch.