#11 My Kitchen

This year, I'm going to spend 31 days writing about places.  In my profession, I talk about place-based writing quite a bit.  I frame it like this when I share:  We believe in the power of including spaces in the process of writing.  Place-based writing is the concept that the place where we write may influence our thinking, impacting the writer’s perspective, engagement, ownership, and/or purpose.  I'm really jazzed up, thinking about where I will spend time as a writer in 31 different spaces this month and how I can use each post to share a little slice of my day. 

Today, my kitchen.

One of my favorite childhood memories is when my mom and I drew an entire kitchen set and fake food on paper.  We colored them and cut them all out.  I would use them to play kitchen while she cooked herself.  In hindsight, this probably 'tells you that I grew up without money without telling you that I grew up without money,' but I like that one of my favorite toys was homemade.  It was very much my own.

Perhaps my childhood kitchen sparked my love of all my future kitchens.  My first apartment had a kitchen with an island.  My cordless phone, answering machine, and fishbowl were all displayed prominently and watched me eat a lot of ramen noodles.  Next, Betty and I shared a kitchen the size of a petri dish but never failed to feed each other amazing meals.  At Bien Venido, I had my first dishwasher.  In Crystal City, I painted my countertops (and my landlord never let me forget it).  The apartment I affectionately refer to as the hobbit hole didn't have even one countertop... a stand alone stove, a stand alone sink, and a stand alone fridge.  Definitely not a pantry!  lol

I've lived and cooked in places with 12 foot ceilings and ones with gorgeous butcher blocks.  I've explored vegetarianism, veganism, home-cooking for dogs, and cooked up just about every type of food there is.  I'm a pretty good cook, really.

My current kitchen (finally a kitchen I own) is pretty rad.  Our house was built in 1905 and has plenty of charm.  We've added even more charm by decorating it with a horror movie theme.  All of my cabinet doors are horror movie posters.  My spoon rest is a splash of blood.  My canisters are Universal monsters.  I like being here.  It's a good place to have a glass of wine and chop some veggies.

Shortly, I'll start dinner.  Tonight I'm cooking up something new to me suggested by a friend, and I can't wait to try it.  I'm going to bake a block of feta, smothered in olive oil, tomatoes, and chickpeas.  I'll make some meatballs for my hubby, the meat eater, and I'm guessing it will all be smashing.  

Kitchens are great places.  Period.  Cheers from mine!