K is for Kitchens

L at the Kitchen table, crafting.

K is for Kitchens. So mundane and practical a topic but still.... Our various kitchens have been so important in the life of my family, as they probably are in any family.

The kitchen at our long time residence used to be more the "heart" of our home. Though, until recently, it was pretty much a hodge-podge, it used to be full of family activities like food preparation, bread making, cooking, baking, and even meal eating, because we had only a tiny eating area for the first 6 years here. Six of us sat around the kitchen table. DH made two 6x10 chunks of wood into booster seats for the little twins.

When the twins were born, shortly after we moved here, DH and I knew we needed more room, and another bathtub! So, after much economy and 6 years later, we remodeled to get just that. There was not enough money for the kitchen but the Great Room took on a new dining room table with eight chairs. It had three leaves and eight chairs! Now, company could come over and we could have dinner parties, and, on the holidays, we could have both sides of the family, too! Yay! Our little kitchen table became smaller, to serve for breakfasts, and as a pie crust rolling, bread kneading, kid's craft, all round workhorse of a table, and still in the kitchen.

In that small area we had a chrome and melamine table and chairs that we bought for $5 from our former landlord, a very kind lady. I wish I still had it! But alas, many years later, it went the way of all things for which there is no room, Off to the Salvation Army to be replaced by something half it's size, which was round.

As the family grew up, "Many hands made light the work" as we made bigger and bigger pans of food to feed our growing girls and ourselves. We made pans of egg rolls, huge stir fries of vegetables and beef or chicken, fried rice, or pizza, tortillas, tacos by the dozen, chili, corn bread, Syrian kibby, hummus, tabooli, and even a few times, delicious time consuming baklava and pastries. My goodness, all this food we have made for our own little army! We even grew mung bean sprouts under the sink, and made cheese with buttermilk - an Indian recipe from Sunset Magazine, and yogurt from another Sunset recipe. It was just brilliant fun!

Kitchens are the best rooms of the house for family gatherings. One bit of family lore is that my mother in law had..has... an incredibly tiny kitchen but somehow all the women would all manage to stuff ourselves into it to talk, laugh and trade stories, while the kids all hung around our feet.


In the old kitchen cupboard, I printed out a poem that I found in a Family Circle Magazine, and it was said to date back to the Great Depression, here it is:

"Thank God for dirty dishes;
They have a tale to tell.
While others may go hungry,
We're eating very well
With home, health, and happiness,
I shouldn't want to fuss;
By the stack of evidence,
God's been very good to us."

K is for Kitchens. Oh how I love this room, in all it's modern beauty, it still remains a kitchen full of memories.

May you enjoy your kitchens as much as I have enjoyed all mine, only one of which I tell you about in this little tale from the way back machine.