A Day Inside the Tyson Kitchen

Monday's are busy around these parts, especially every other Monday when my fairy Godmother (aka my cleaning lady) quietly descends upon our disheveled and cluttered house to make everything fresh, new and clean again. I love her; I love her dearly. I hope we never part.

But often I must take things into my own hands. Things like the disinfecting of the Crate & Barrell butcher block cutting board we received as a wedding gift. After almost 12 years it's in need of constant cleaning and disinfecting.

To clean, I sprinkle one side liberally with kosher salt, about one tablespoon.


Then I cut a lemon in half and squeeze a small amount of the juice over the cutting board. You want just enough juice to combine with the salt and make a paste while keeping the lemon firm.


Place the cut side down on the board and scrub, scrub, scrub.


Repeat on the other side of the board and rinse well with water. Allow to dry completely before storing.

And speaking of cleaning, it's sad when I do something like this to the Tyson Kitchen.


But that mess means I made the taste buds of others sing with joy by giving them chocolate buttermilk cupcakes with caramel creme frosting and Martha Stewart's mint-filled brownie cupcakes. I can resist all of those, but for some reason, I just can't say no to these.