Farewell, Trusty Kitchen

I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate. --Julia Child

Very exciting stuff happening! Chez Gourmess is moving!

Chris and I are relocating one town away to an awesome new space.  It's an industrial loft in a former watch factory.  Our 2BR/2BTH unit has exposed brick, beams and pipes, a gas fireplace, etc. and is really unique and cool.  The kitchen has a huge fridge, new stainless steel Frigidaire appliances and a five-burner gas stove.

But, the kitchen is also about 1/3 of the size of the one I have now...the one that I taught myself the FCI textbook in...the one with the 33 cupboards, a six-foot-long island, bread drawer and built-in pantry...the one where everyone always seems to gather even though we have more comfortable rooms to hang out in...




Sure, the bread drawer is a joke, I hate the floors, and the fridge is miniature, but I feel like that room spent a lot of time with me and my mess -- especially for six months in 2010. (Oh boy, if the walls could talk!)

I've cooked in smaller kitchens before -- back in 2004, I cooked a 12-course Thanksgiving dinner for eight people in a galley kitchen with a temperamental oven that cooked everything unevenly, so I had to keep rotating everything every 10 minutes or so. Our first apartment had a teeny kitchen, but I remember loving the bright, orange flowered walls that made me think of the lick-able wallpaper in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the original Gene Wilder movie version).  It also had great slate floors, which were a breeze to clean.

Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about my new kitchen -- and I hope I can find room for all of the lovely gadgets I've accumulated over the past year or so...but I'm sad to leave my current one. It feels like I'm leaving behind a good friend.



Adieu, old friend...bonjour, new friend!

xoxoxo