Spring in the Kitchen

Although I am agog with excitement and impatience for the arrival of my new cooker, I am in a strange way rather enjoying the challenge of turning out not just 'make-do' meals, but the kind of dishes I'd be producing had I several burners, an oven, and a properly functioning kitchen. So we aren't going without, by any means!

 Meatball prep: minced beef, chopped coriander and chorizo, and breadcrumbs, chopped onion and      garlic, cumin, salt and pepper and an egg.


However, the actual production of meals is curiously hesitant; I'll tell you what I mean, if you'll bear with me.

Meatballs browned, a sauce of grilled red peppers (from a jar!), tinned tomatoes, basil, some passata, salt and a pinch of brown sugar.


When I'm cooking up a storm, I think of myself as engaging in a dance. When you move between the various store - prep - cook areas (even in the smallest of kitchens) naturally and repeatedly, it becomes almost choreographed, a dance.

                                              Meatballs gently simmering in the sauce.

At the moment, with no cooker as such, being short of a permanent place for my herbs, spices and condiments, and my utensils being parked where they wouldn't normally be, I'm constantly checking myself, going to the wrong place, having to retrace my steps to find an item which wasn't where I'd expected it to be!

                                     Giant (Israeli) couscous and chopped pak-choi bubbling away.

I love being in my kitchen. I find it simultaneously comforting, calming and stimulating. I'm so pleased to have even this make-shift arrangement to work in after the four days of culinary chaos while the Rayburn was removed, and new pipes and boiler installed. We aren't there yet, though, and my time in the kitchen is governed by a temporary new, and awkward, rhythm; I am dancing to a different tune, a little discordant and unfamiliar.

                                  The finished dish - lunch for two and lots for left-overs!


The important thing is - I am still dancing!

I hope you are thrilling to the rhythm of your own dance as you go about the things you love to do! Catch you next time!

Kitchen Re-Furb (1)

Another even more photo-heavy post! Three years ago we had new kitchen units installed. This was the first time we've ever had a "proper" kitchen, as until then Jim had built all our units - and very good they were too! However, I'd been desperate to have a pantry, despite the kitchen being too small to make room for one, so we decided to push the boat out and buy some units from a well-known DIY store. I've spent many happy hours creating meals here, but lately the Rayburn has not been cutting the mustard for me - when the wind is in the wrong quarter it frequently blew out leaving us not only without a cooker but no heating as well. Also, I was really missing having a gas hob. The Rayburn was 20 years old, time for it to go.

Getting it out of the kitchen after the gas man had disconnected and drained it, was a major undertaking. We are eternally grateful to my niece Dena, her husband Stephen and their son Jack who all worked like Trojans to get the Behemoth out of the kitchen and into the garage.

The living room took on the look of a junk shop! I kept forgetting where I had temporally put things I urgently needed!

    The single induction hob came in very handy for keeping the meals coming!

Jim and I cleared the kitchen- mostly into the living/dining room - and set to work moving units, painting and waxing shelves, painting walls and preparing for the cooker to arrive.

I painted the shelves and plate rack pale blue, as I've got a colour mix going on in the kitchen, greeny/stone units, green and pink and blue bits and pieces… kind of a miss-mash really, but I like it!

We moved the unit (which Jim made years ago) from the left to the right hand side of where the cooker will be and I'm waiting for a trolley to go in its place. While we wait, I've got a work top balanced upon two (washed!) "workmates" which Jim brought up from the garage.

All my spices and dried herbs will be going on a big spice rack which (ahem) I'm designing and Jim will build for me. It will be placed on the little window-sill which looks into the dining room. Until then, this worktop is a trifle cluttered. The jugs containing utensils will be going on a shelf behind the cooker.

So, I have a functioning kitchen - sans cooker - which is amazing compared to how we've managed the last four days! You will have to wait for Part Two, as the cooker is made to order, apparently, and will take 4 weeks. Ah well, good things come to those prepared to wait!  See you next time!