first window

I love my new kitchen.  There is so much room and space.  The kids can eat or play in there while I do dishes or cook.  It has more even space than I could ever possibly need.  There are empty drawers and shelves.  I am spoiled rotten.

Michael and I have had some tiny kitchens over the years.  Our very first apartment had a kitchen so tiny that you had to make a choice...  open the oven, open the fridge, have more than one person in there, or sit at our little dining table.  No two of these things could be done at the same time.  

Back then I had had about three meals I could cook.  Spaghetti, shake-n-bake chicken and grilled cheese.  A gifted Betty Crocker cookbook changed it all for me.  Chicken Marsala - the very first recipe I tried and we loved it.  It was  uncomplicated and only had a few special ingredients.  Cooking it made me feel fancy and eating it made us feel fancy - wine, mushrooms, and tarragon. 

And that is how it started.  Realizing that what I could make in that tiny kitchen could turn a normal night into something more than that.  Better than average.  I learned to love my tiny kitchen.  It taught me a lot.

I learned to put a baking sheet over the sink to give me extra counter space.  A few good pans were better than a huge set.  If I didn't use it or really need it - it was gone.

And here we are, 10 years later.  I have a lot more drawers, a ton more counter space, but things really haven't changed that much. Even though I thought it would.  I don't keep my slow cooker in the basement or my boxes of tea tucked in a mixing bowl anymore.  Things have room to breath and I have empty drawers.  Don't get me wrong, the space in amazing.  Being able to have everyone in the kitchen when I cook - I love that.  Love it.  But looking back I don't think I would give up my time in all those tiny kitchens.  

It was good to me.  I learned way more than cooking.  I learned that we love food and I love to cook.  I learned how to make do, make it work, and how I only really need one of something.  That keeping things in the oven is a great storage solution - until your forget to check it before preheating.  I learned that a really sharp knife can replace an entire row of cool gadgets.

There is one thing in my new kitchen that I have never had.  The thing that I may never be able to give up.  A window over the sink.   I get to start my day hearing the birds and seeing the early morning fog burn slowly away as the sun comes up.  Seeing the sky change colors as the morning starts... I love it so much I can barely stand it.