January 2018 – In My Kitchen

At the moment I have three kitchens, which is at least one too many. The kitchen of our Oakland house is mostly empty, the floors are being replaced and stained. It goes on the market on January 28, my Mom’s birthday. I hope it is an auspicious day.

I will be sad to leave the back splash of hand painted tiles. Chris painted them for us when I discovered that similar painted ones at the tile store were $50 each. There is no way to remove them without ruining the wall.

Our second kitchen is in Swan’s Marketplace co-housing. We were lucky to find a fully furnished apartment that we could rent for a few months. Even better, it is across the courtyard from a friend’s apartment. I have always wanted to experience co-housing and it is lovely!

And kitchen number three is at our Fort Bragg home, my refuge with the dogs. I was fortunate to have a friend and her dogs visit over the Christmas holiday, so we had a “pack” and a delightfully furry time.

They like to hang out with me in the kitchen.

What else is in my kitchen this month? This red typewriter case is a family heirloom, rediscovered in the back of the garage when we were clearing it. For many years it was the family picnic case, always at the ready for an impromptu meal on the road. I think at one time it actually held my mother’s manual typewriter, the ones she typed for her cooking classes. But mostly I remember it as containing “the essentials” if we were renting an ill-equipped cabin or needed to stop for lunch on a long drive or road trip.

In my temporary kitchen I have a soda stream. This is an amazing gadget that turns ordinary tap water into soda water. This is very environmentally wise if you consider all the plastic or glass bottles used for fizzy water.

In my kitchen I have a new book by Nigel Slater “The Christmas Chronicles”. This is for next Christmas, because of the move we didn’t have time for much of one this year. I have plans and high hopes for Christmas 2018.

I think all the new foods at the market are fascinating, fancy chickpea crumbs to replace panko.

Here is another gem, freeze-dried blueberries. I will use them to flavor my overnight sous vide oatmeal. They also have freeze-dried strawberries and pineapple.

In my kitchen I have harvested Meyer lemons from the backyard tree in Oakland.

And avocados and fruit from the store.

And lastly, new in my kitchen is this lovely bowl from Heath Ceramics. It matches the salad bowl I received for my birthday and was a very considerate Christmas gift.

You can go to Sherry’s Pickings for the monthly glimpse into kitchens around the world. Happy New Year everyone!