My Kitchen and other thoughts...

                                               Humble crooked house....

           MY KITCHEN...AND OTHER THOUGHTS....
    "For the food we are about to receive, we are truly thankful..."   

I live in a humble crooked house. It is tiny by modern standards, it is old, not centenarian, or from the civil war era, but old.  I have to admit that the weekend when the mega zillion dollar lottery was up for grabs, I bought a ticket. The store clerk asked me if I wanted to pay another dollar and take a chance at “doubling” the amount. I laughed ... if I was to win the many billions, I would not have enough lives to spend it, let alone doubled the amount!!! Dreams danced in front of me for the hours prior to the drawing ... what would I do, sure, the usual.  I would pay all my bills, would see what my kids' needs are, and after all was taken care of, I would remodel my kitchen. Now, I don't want a modern kitchen, although I would like modern conveniences, like a dishwasher, and a nice refrigerator... perhaps a garbage disposal...but I want it to look vintage, with lots of wood and a bar or a very old, heavy, weathered, wooden table, where my guests would sit and have treats while I cook. My kitchen is usually the busiest place in the house when we have a gathering. Friends walk around the kitchen or sit at the dining room table while meals are being prepared. I like them to come and feel at home. That is the most important thing I like to convey, to make my visitors comfortable and free to serve themselves to treats, tea or soda. As non-drinkers, in here guests will have to bring their own libations. That is allowed.

In my kitchen there is a pantry that husband built for me. A whole side of the door shelves is devoted to tea of all kinds.

 I also have a lovely collection of mugs, china  and other tea cups. Tea is an important part of my life. It implies comfort, healing, elegance and inspiration. When I am ill, I drink tea. When I sew or create, I drink tea. When I paint, I drink tea. If I spin, weave or knit, it is very likely that I have a cup of tea as well. And I like to chose special cups for different reasons. Some are very large, others very fine.  It depends on my mood at the moment.

A year ago I discovered the delicious flavor of Maple tea....it is the most soothing and soft of teas...."The d'erable", is called in Canada....it has that je ne se quois sound....so French! The d'erable joins my other favorite, Peach tea and Christmas Eve tea.....  gifts from one of my daughters. She gave me Christmas Eve, Christmas Morning and Christmas Day teas....

Also, in my kitchen, the one that will be remodeled when I win the lottery, I have a collection of cook books of all flavors. And inside each, you are most likely to find special cards, letters, little drawings and pictures of my children and grandchildren and other family members. Years of life between those pages surprise me when I look for a special recipe.

 On the shelves I have gadgets from my travels.

 A mortar and pestle made its way to my kitchen directly  from Chile in my daughter's backpack!! I have kitchen towels, cutting boards and oven mitts that family and friends have collected for me on their own travels .  My rolling pin is vintage, of course, from Chile.

Chilean miniature pottery

A Chilean ox cart carved from wood

Spices put together by a friend and her family

A guardian mouse

                                               THE EMPANADAS

In this family we have special food traditions. Each Christmas, for example, I cook empanadas, a pastry filled with seasoned ground beef, onions, olives, a slice of hard-boiled egg,  raisins, salt, pepper, paprika and cumin, then baked in the oven. I also make some that are pure cheese, and when you bite into them, the hot cheese goes further than your arm can extend.... These empanadas are made the day before as I do all the foods for Christmas. Then, on the big day, the family can enjoy food and I can rest...

Gluten free upside down apple and cherry cake

Gluten free foccacia

"Regular" and gluten free apple pies...hard to tell the difference!

A must have...Lemon-sugar cookies...corn free

 Since husband has a series of allergies and food intolerances, and one daughter is allergic to EVERYTHING that has corn, I carefully chose my menus so everyone is happy and well fed. 

At one time, oldest daughter became a vegan, now she is a vegetarian...thank God...cooking vegan was harder than adjusting to all the food intolerances in the family! And of course my son, now that he is a serious competing cyclist, has troubles keeping his weight up and eats very healthy...up to 5000 calories daily during racing season! So there must be nutritious caloric energizing foods on the table as well.  The following foods usually will do the trick....

Nutritious chicken stew....

Cranberries

Fruit

"The usual suspect"...

 I have a lovely collection of pottery, most of it made by my friend Cherie. I use it daily.... 

 
I love to cook, when I want to, and when I am in the mood. There are times when I simply don't care to enter my kitchen and would rather put a lock in it and eat out every meal. It goes in cycles.

My kitchen is a combination Tuscany, Chile and early garage sale style. The walls are brick color and on the arch above the sink I painted a scene from my childhood, Melipilla where my ancestors lived. Home of orchards and famous wines.... and the little church where paternal grandfather used to play his violin and cello. 

When one of the big quakes happened about 20 years ago, all that remained of that church was the wall that held the organ pipes. Dad said that you could still see the organ above. It had to be destroyed as the wall was torn down. On my recent trip to Chile I saw the “rebuilt” church, this time with a “keep out” sign. The quake two years ago did much damage again.

Near my kitchen I have a little hutch. Tiny memories fill the top....miniature  Coke bottles, pottery trinkets, tea cups....

Look how tiny and perfect this kettle is!

Stored in the hutch, is the china that my mother in law gave me. Reminds me of the china my Mother used to have. The one that I only saw on special occasions, with tiny flowers. Mother also had a set of crystal wine goblets. My brother found one that he sent me about a year ago, with a note attached...the last remains of my childhood memories.....

And when grandma Kitty, my maternal grandmother died, my aunt sent me a set of champagne glasses that were used at her wedding. I have used these on special occasions for a toast...

  

Grandma Kitty's champagne glass... must be at least 100 years old

There is something about a kitchen. It brings people together It "gathers".  I like my kitchen, but someday I will remodel it and will  love it. My life revolves around it when family and friends are here, when holidays arrive. It exudes warmth and friendship. It fills the senses. It evokes and makes memories. It feeds the body and soul...


And on other news...


I went to the bank on Friday, the teller wished me a happy mother's day and gave me a carnation... what a lovely surprise!

 I had to wait at the gas line, but had something to keep me busy...

I went to lunch with a friend and she surprised me with a rose....

I warped my little loom...

Made balls out of the lovely wool daughter Paula and her family gave me sometime ago...

A tangled mess!!

Untangling...

To the swift...

Made three lovely, good size balls of wool!

Selecting my colors to start a little Andean tapestry...

Sketching and Andean theme

And I started some ideas to design a 4x6 ft wall quilt for Paula and her family. A marine theme, of course, ... it will go from light to deep dark at the bottom of the ocean....

And at work...I had the opportunity to say "Thank you for your service" to a Marine. He came to have some patches made and applied to a vest to be sent to the Vietnam Wall to honor a fallen comrade.  When his friend perished,  the Marine was sent to retrieve the dead and wounded. The plane was full and they were unable to bring him back. So, fighting back tears, he asked if  I would embroider the patches. I did...and when he asked for the cost, I said it's free, and shook his hand..... and thanked him....I was so happy to have this opportunity.... it did my heart good....

Designed and digitized on my computer

Transferred to my embroidery machine....

It is Mother's day weekend. I have been blessed to experience motherhood........Hope your day is lovely....
 
Maria