What's Cooking?

Today I thought I’d start to introduce you to my house, and since I just finished cleaning the kitchen (thank you, Enjo), it seems like a natural place to begin.



The kitchen is my favourite room in this house; it might be my favourite room in any house. They seem to take on the personality and character of their owners. For me, kitchens are the perfect place for having a heart to heart with an old friend, or for cooking or reading, or just being, alone. Perhaps it has something to do with the offering of food, or seeing a couple of dishes in the sink and a kettle on the stove that attract me. Mismatched tea towels, colourful napkins, a bowl of fruit and giant mugs you can wrap your hands around, all of these things together create warmth and invitingness.

Good kitchens are unpretentious: no worries about which fork to use or where to put your knife after you butter your bread (and did you butter the whole slice or just the bite you were about to eat?). When you’re sitting the kitchen with a friend, you can talk about as many things as you can make in them. From a bowl of cereal to braised quails with ginger plum gravy, from family finances and world politics to what your best friend should wear to her ex’s wedding, or how you both really loved the movie you saw last week, in the kitchen, anything goes. This is true for clothing, also. Want to stay in your pyjamas until noon? Wear a pantsuit or a sundress? In the kitchen, you never feel out of place.

Back to my kitchen, where I am working on my second German lesson whilst making cream of leek soup: Why do I love it? First of all, this kitchen is HUGE! My kitchen in Madrid was modern, I had great storage space and my fridge was a decent size, but it was long and narrow with no place for a table. My German kitchen has high ceilings and a window that opens to a ledge where I plan to put a potted chrysanthemum. I have some cupboards with glass doors, where I keep tea, coffee, honey, and other foods I enjoy looking at.

The walls are white Venetian plaster, the cupboard doors are white, the table is grey and white... it’s a very light room. It’s also a very warm room... there is no “off” switch on the radiator, so it’s always hot, even when nothing is cooking. It’s nice to wake up on a cool morning and step into a warm kitchen, and it’s nice to be able to leave the window open to get fresh air but not get cold.


It’s quirky – the fridge is a bar fridge (thanks for the mini-box of peace magnets, Mom, there is space for all of them), there aren’t any drawers and there is no washing machine, which, for the Spanish, is sacrilege, the tiles are dated and the chairs are black. Like the Bears’ cottage, there are three of most things – three forks, three plates, three teacups and saucers, but five soup spoons and tea spoons.

All in all, it’s a very multipurpose, friendly, welcoming and useful room. I love kitchens, and I hope you enjoy your visit to mine!