living

I have often thought that a man must have designed my kitchen – apparently the devleopers have been in the business for thirty or forty years and know a thing or two about building family houses.  Or do they?!  My kitchen is  adequate but not spacious – certainly no room for an island.  I have few kitchen implements out on show.  They’re stored in top and bottom cabinets which line the walls leading to the hi-mounted double oven and separate hob.  Nothing wrong there, except they’ve put the hob in the narrowest end with only a tiny worktop either side.  I have to walk across the kitchen with hot dishes from the oven.  If they’d thought, they could have put the hob on a longer wall, allowing a wider expanse of worktop next to the oven & grill.  I get my worktop protectors and non slip oven gloves ready before going near anything hot – bought especially for the task from this fantastic cookware and kitchenalia emporium!

When you first leave home, you have to learn to do all the things that make that life safe, comfortable and hygienic.  If you haven’t been encouraged, or made, to share the domestic chores from toddlerhood, this can be a tremendous shock to the system.  I can’t speak for every family of my generation, but most of those we knew did operate along the same lines.  Mum generally did all the shopping, cooking, and most of the cleaning.  Dad mowed the lawn, did the decorating and looked after the car.  We children had set tasks- was always clearing the table, washing & wiping up and putting away.   We also had to turn back our bedding to air each morning, then make the bed properly after breakfast.  We had to put our dirty laundry in the basket provided too.  There was no escape – it was like breathing.  It was simple and we grew up knowing these tasks had to be done – comforting to know our boundaries!

I know of a young woman who married in the summertime about 5 years ago.  She and her fiance had been very keen on trying out new foods and recipes – in fact they used to get her ’round the world’ cook book down every Tuesday and they’d siply open it at a page – no ifs or buts, and do whatever the dish was on that page.  There was only one limitation, it had to be a meal, not a cake or pudding.  This happy little arrangement continued week in, week out for a year or so.  Then suddenly the chap gets it into his head to order these fancy ‘meal in a box’ ideas that have come on to the market in recent years.  They are a great idea for anyone who does like to experiment with food.  These kits contain all the incregidents for however many meals ordered.  Usually two or four, for two or four persons.  Every single ingredient down to lentils and all the herbs, cream, etc.  With these come full colour recipe cards that have really simple point by point instructions.  Amazing!

At this time of year there are many programmes on tv that aim to inspire our home creativity.  We have a jolly lady who does a great deal of crafting – be it making her own christmas crackers to the miles of festive bunting and laurel swags that adorn her somewhat palacial family home.  Then after we’ve made a few gift tags, named place cards, specially selected hand made christmas cards etc., we can concentrate on other programmes.  Here I reer to the food and comfort section of the lifestyle channels.  Hmmm the smell of home made mincemeat and the look of that christmas pud.  It’s more likely to be a success if you have a chance to attend either an online or physical cookery and home making workshop.  The way the presenters demonstrate their craft is second to none.  You never fail to glean even a tiny modicum of crafting and culinary expertise!

We all get used to our own kitchens and all the familiar things around us.  I know that when I want fast boiling and steaming, it’s the left hand front ring.  For a little gentler simmering, either of the back rings and for just about keeping warm, the little ring front right.  I have a range of cookware tucked away at the back of the peninsular unit – just waiting for the day when I have more than one person to cook for.  A choice of slow cookers – one is over forty  years old, another less than five.  Also, two really old pressure cookers – well past their safety date but clung on to for sentimental reasons.  I am awaiting delivery of a brand new automatic soup maker – my previous two gave up the ghost early in their careers.  Who’d have thought that I could wear out a cooking implement? Ha ha.

As summer has so rudely departed – after taking up a vast amount of our time and causing endless worries about heat stroke and lack of rain, she goes off, leaving us with a tumultuous rainy season to contend with.   This year has really caused us to look log and hard at how we plan our gardens and what we need to get from them.  I for one am going to look at changing some of my plants, to suit more challenging climates.  I have also been trying to do my bit down the high street, using a favourite little shop for my fruit and vegetables.  The giant supermarkets have all but decimated high street shopping but the tide is turning.  I demand only paper bags and to be able to buy just the number of each item that I want, not a whole plastic box load of them.  Shoppers taking back control of what’s on offer is the way forward!

I helped out at a country house that was hosting a national daliah festival at the weekend.  I am pretty used to arriving for duty and finding something utterly remarkable was taking place just in the main courtyard or in the famous walled garden.  This year’s festival included workshops on fruit gathering, pickling and storing fruit and veg.  Jam making sessions also took centre stage.  There was much disappointment amongst the crowds when the supplies of home made jam ran out during the second demonstration.  So popular is the ethos of home made food.  The younger families are not geared up for doing it themselves so revel in the glory of experts who are.  Some websites are fantastic sources of home making equipment.  Cooking vats, pickling gear, jars, et.  You just need a ready supply of the fruit and veg to get pickling and Bob’s  your uncle, as they say.

Having discovered that winter has really gone, spring sprang in and out again quickly, and now summer has definitely come and we are already being bombarded with suggestions for the Christmas festivities.  Even more annoying was seeing a delivery made to a famous high street toiletries store – it included chocolate fondant eggs for their storage rooms!  I know now that’s what all stores do when they want to discount them just before the season actually begins.  Bring out old stock.  Never mind, we won’t even think about that in the winter when the fire is wafting heat and joy through the flames.  We will have forgotten about he searing heat and humidity.  We might just remember this summer though, it has been filled so far with much football – world cup year.  Wonder if we’ll still be cheering a victory in November, when it’s dank, cold and miserable every morning?

We’re thrilled about that summer has arrived – in fact, we are a little bored of summer now.  It’s been blisteringly hot for over two weeks and there appears to be no let up.  How we wish for those thunder storms and that down pouring of rain!   The climate has definitely changed year on year and we are now living in the once projected and feared world that has globall warmed.   One of the things that we must try to do more often is clean our homes and particularly the kitchen and food storage, preparation and serving areas.  We can start with more careful selection of shopping and the handling of our produce.  There seems to be no end to the number of different bugs that can be caught in a kitchen.  Thoroughly cleaning the food prep areas is a must and swapping from dish cloth to sponge that can be microwaved for a couple of minutes after each use.

I have begun using one of those new fangled food delivery services – a young lass came to the door, very cheerful and confident – she more or less bulldozed her way in to my kitchen and wouldn’t take my lame excuses for not being a customer.  Every time I put forward a reason, she would counter it with the opposite.  That is exactly my tactic when faced with someone who is unduly negative or difficult to get on with.  So of course, after half an hour of this door step challenge, I finally caved in and let her demonstrate how easy it is to get logged on with an account and choose three boxed meals.  This young lady was an excellent example of how a really good business promoter can get interest in his subject without really making it obvious.   She was so happy for a start and utterly confident in the product she was marketing.  Win win.