My Kitchen

(Backdated from Sunday night.)

It has been a long and arduous process, but I have finally wrestled my kitchen into submission and turned it from sticky, greasy, dusty, and inhospitable to a workable - if still imperfect - space.  Remember the blueprint?

The kitchen is in the upper left corner.  Now, remember that this was the kitchen in which Mom spent hours cleaning the floor with pure ammonia because nothing else would get off the wax so she could get to the dirt underneath, among various other horror stories.  Well, now it looks like this:

Plush and swanky it is not, despite my champagne tastes, but it's approaching pleasant.  I must, however, give credit for the rug to my friends from the university (K and R, the wife and husband pair who have made my time in Washington far more enjoyable than it would have been alone).  They got a pair of them in Morocco, and have one in their own kitchen, but didn't need the other because the rest of their apartment is carpeted.  They very kindly lent me the other rug of the pair until I get something of my own for the kitchen floor, which will probably be a while, since it's not a very high priority.  If I get rugs, it'll be for the living room first, because I've got to do something to kill that echo.

Anyhow, as you can see, I've got a nice pot rack, a full sized oven (hooray!), an ancient refrigerator/freezer (but they still work!), a dishwasher (which I don't use) and a built-in microwave, which I was a bit leery of, but have grown to appreciate.  I don't have to press start unless I'm using "time cook" - otherwise I can just press "2" and off it goes for two minutes, which is enough to steam frozen vegetables for my dinner.  I've also got a funky turquoise folding chair (its mate is currently on desk duty - as in, it's my desk chair), the granite-topped kitchen cart I mentioned way back (at least, I think I mentioned it), and a spice rack of my own construction to the left of the oven.  When one has limited space and limited funds, one is forced to become creative.

Here's a close-up of the part where I spend most of my time:

It's definitely a one-person kitchen, and what's perhaps most displeasing about the whole thing is that vast swathe of counter space in front of the toaster, which because of its location isn't really usable, except as a home for the dish drainer when I have dishes to be dried.  Underneath it is, of course, the Black Hole of Calcutta, which is another vast region of unusable space, and not simple because it's inconveniently located, but because I can't physically reach it.  I'm thin, but not that thin.

Along the wall under the cabinets are old cork mats (too small for place mats, but not really thick enough to be trivets) with paintings of various London landmarks on them.  And is that a fish?

Why yes, yes it is.  I got it in Williamsburg (at the Pottery) and intend to drink it sometime - with friends - when I have a good reason.  I hope the wine is good, but even if it isn't, I'm keeping the bottle.