Welcome To My Kingdom!

Posted by tiff in Our freeplaylife | Comments Off

Or, at least, to the room I call my kitchen. All good things come from the kitchen, it’s not called the heart of the home for nothing! Actually, has anyone called it that? Did I just make that up? It’s true, regardless. People mingle in the kitchen, naturally. When my kids are upset they gravitate towards the kitchen to absentmindedly munch on something. Want to celebrate? To the kitchen!!! Want to play with stuff when you’re bored? To the kitchen! Bubbles in the sink and food mushed together and different liquids all mixed up…sometimes all at the same time. Holiday’s wouldn’t be the same without the kitchen camaraderie that goes on with the baking/snacking/cleaning dishes. Ahhhh, kitchen. I love you!

The kitchen I had in Colorado was my all time favorite. Favorite! It had two ovens, a big stove, a nice microwave (that I had to replace after accidentally starting a fire on the stove right below it…oops…), a huuuuge refrigerator, a walk in pantry, the best dishwasher ever, and enough cabinet space that we all could have brought our pillows and blankets and had a sleepover in them. Here’s a shot–it’s not the prettiest picture of the kitchen area, I took it 5 days in to packing everything up and giving it away, so there’s stuff everywhere. And maybe that’s the point. Big kitchens means lots of stuff. Like, lots and lots and lots of stuff. It took a lot of effort and money to fill those cabinets and drawers!

The RV kitchen was less kitchen, more hallway that happened to have a drawer. No oven…the microwave was both convection and conventional, two burners they called a ‘stove’, two cabinets, and no pantry.

I might have cried from the massive downsizing and pitiful conditions I was expected to cook in, but I was too busy looking out the window at the million dollar ocean view.

Don’t cry for me, Argentina!

The West Hollywood condo we’re in is right in the middle. More cabinets than the RV, and a real oven, and a side by side freezer/fridge! Using the incredibooth app for my iphone 4, I’ll give you a photobooth tour of my kitchen right now. I have a few aprons that I kept, because they make me happy and I have so many good memories of cooking up soap for the business I use to run with my best friend. I added a pan, so now I have two pans! I find that if I have a big, deep skillet, I don’t need a sauce pan or anything like that. This from the girl who used to have 2 pans in every size! But the more pans you have, the more you have to clean, and I don’t miss that at ALL. If I use 2 pans, I clean 2 pans, and that’s it!

I don’t really have lots of plates/cutlery/cups. It’s all very reduse, reuse, recycle chic. For instance, for cups we use old glass bottles of Trader Joes slightly carbonated drinks or old glass salad dressing bottles. I like to think that in 50 years, this will be like using mason jars today…quaint and old timey and cute. Not miserly, cheap, or tacky.

Even though we have cabinet space, I haven’t filled it up much. I seemed to have broken the consumer part of me that drove me so much in Colorado. All that giving away/selling/purging kind of took the spring out of my consumer step. For instance, Target and Michaels used to be my kryptonite. All that seasonal crap that was cute and perfect and made me feel so good….well, it’s all fine until you have to move it or get rid of it. Then it’s just a pain in the neck. Worse. It’s like a millstone around my neck, dragging me down. All the things that made me feel so good buying made me want to vomit as I was trying to get rid of them. I still get that vomit feeling when I walk into the stores, like my psyche is still reacting to staying uncomplicated and untethered.

So, that’s it. My kitchen. Not fancy, no cool things scattered about. I used to cook fancy 10 course meals (well, sometimes, but I had enough stuff to do it all the time if I wanted!) and now my cooking is simple one pot meals. It’s a nice switch, especially with everything in flux still. Less time making the meal, more time enjoying the company and food. It’s been a nice trade off!