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Blogtober 11: Kitchen

Loves me a good kitchen. I love cooking and will happily spend all day chopping, boiling, baking, and seasoning. I’ve lived in apartments for the last eight years, so I’ve been stuck with tiny galley kitchens that don’t give counter space to roll out dough much less do anything more than basic cooking.

When I was in junior high and high school I took all the cooking based home ec classes. My junior year of highschool an alumnus of the Culinary Institute of America came to my home ec class to teach us how to make crapes. It was at that point that I seriously started considering becoming a chef. My sister worked in restaurants at the time and was getting her degree in Hotel/Restaurant Management. After some research and thinking, I opted not to train to go professional because for me a large part of why I enjoy cooking is sharing what I make with friends and family. I didn’t want to burn out on cooking as a profession and not want to cook for loved ones.

I opted to go into writing instead and still love to cook.

Another thing I love about cooking is the gadgets. My two favorite wedding gifts are our Kitchen Aid mixer and bread machine. Then I bought a rice cooker and those three are my every-kitchen-must-haves. They are the multi-functional MacGyvers of the kitchen. I am a big fan of any tool I can trust to do its job without me standing over it. It gives me a chance to do a lot more in a small space. I love doing some quick prep, tossing everything into a machine and then moving onto the next step or even the next dish.

With some proper meal planning and my holy trinity of gadgets, I can make a week’s worth of meals for two people in a couple of hours. Less if I cheat and get the pre chopped veggies at the store.

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