Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Things In My Kitchen (And if you click on the pictures you can see them better.)


This is a picture of my beloved started-from-a-special-seed mango tree which was taken from my kitchen which, as you can see, is a fairly cluttered mess of a kitchen but I love my stuff.

I love my funky rooster and the little hanging ristras of vegetables and fruit that I got from Mexico and the small green prism that hangs in front of them that I got at Lemoyne Art Gallery when Lynn was still alive, still able to go do our Ladies To Lemoyne and shop.

I love the Mexican mirror over the stove and the big crazy flowers on the cabinet over it. My son gave me those for Christmas one year. I love the potholder Billy made for me and I love my mermaid which you can't really see, which hangs on the wall going in to the laundry room on the left. Hold on. I'll post a picture:


Isn't she pretty? I got her at River Lily down in Apalachicola once, which is your favorite store although if you haven't ever been there, you don't realize it yet and I recommend you go immediately.

Unless you're a man.

I think River Lily may be deadly for men. They walk in and are hit with a blast of femininity that causes them to feel faint and reach for their wallets to push them farther down into their pockets while the women they are with stand as if paralyzed for a moment with eyes like saucers, hearing the voices of the angels singing hosannas, praising the goddesses of all-things-beautiful.

Luckily, there is a bar right next door. This works out well for both the men and the women with them because while the ladies shop, the fellows can have a few which means they are far more tolerant of the hit their debit cards have taken when the ladies come find them, their ears newly asparkle with earrings, their necks smelling of guava or rose or lavender or mysterious spices from the east.

I love my pots and pans. The skillets I have collected in my lifetime of cooking, starting in Girl Scouts where we used that biggest skillet to cook in over fires while camping. The Revere Ware belonged to my grandparents who probably bought it in the fifties. These are the tools of my trade and I feel quite certain they will last forever. Or at least until I die, which is good enough for me.


I love the aprons on the wall which are too lovely to hide away in a drawer. Some of them were gifts to me, some of them I found at Goodwill or thriftshops. There is nothing so fine as finding a lovely apron, especially one that someone made. I do wear aprons when I cook sometimes, but these are special.


I don't have a window over my sink (bad, bad design flaw) so I have this:


and I can't even start to tell you where everything came from, but they were all gifts and that' a picture of me and Maxine walking on the beach. It's labeled Carefree Florida and doesn't that just say it all?

Miss Maybelle makes art and gives it to me and here's a clock she made:


It doesn't keep time anymore but it still works for me. Isn't it lovely? She cut her poor fingers, cutting out the tin. We should all have to bleed for our art now and then.

And one more thing in my kitchen I love. A kitchen hutch that I bought while still in my first marriage which means it must be at least ten thousand years old. On top of it is a Christmas decoration but she sits up there and protects me 365 days a year. It's funny. I hate Christmas with all my heart but I have Christmas decorations around me all the time because some of those I do love and am loathe to put away at New Year's.


And those are just a few things in one room of my house that make me happy. None of them are worth squat, monetarily speaking but they make me feel rich with their colors and history and the tugs they give to my heart.

What are the things in your kitchen that make you happy? Tell me about them and I will know more about you.

And I would like that.

11 comments:

  1. being a fellow Ebenezer, what is it you despise about Christmas?

    For me there's the crass commercialism, blantant pressure selling from every corner and the insistance that because it is a certain period of the year I should be bleeding happy! Oh and as an atheist the pagan ripped off midwinter festival really fecks me off. We're not in the dark ages any more we should not worship some dead guys birth from a few thousand years ago any more than we would give thanks to Ra that the sun rises each morning.

    However I do love the fact that my rather large family do make the effort to come together for one day of the year...

    Fat Lad

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  2. Let's see, the stuff in the kitchen in my house? uhh...the indoor-beer is in the fridge, bottom shelf. And the openers are across from the fridge, first drawer.
    I'm sure there are other things in their, but...er...where's the bar again?

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  3. I have a cyclist friend who also loves aprons. For a birthday gift one year, a couple of us started with a white apron. We put fabric paint on the treads of some bicycle tires and ran it over the apron in a random way. Then, we took black and whites of her road bicycle and transferred the photos to fabric and sewed them on the apron. We wrote different phrases she likes to say on it as well, to personalize it even more. It turned out really cool and she actually uses it. I have never worn or owned an apron. :(

    My favorite kitchen thang: I love having a bowl of fresh fruit and avocados (my fav!) out at all times on the island.

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  4. I have a very personal relationship with me iced tea maker. I used to have a Bosch hot tea maker too but....I would always drink the whole pot and it lead to problems. One day it was gone and I am still not allowed to ask about it.
    I do love my slate floor and the three sided fire place we put in. It makes me go ahhh when I get home.

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  5. Mr. Lad- everything you said plus the stupid fact that I'm supposed to personally support the damned economy by going out and buying a bunch of crap. I hate it, hate it, hate it! What would Jesus do? He'd say, "Fuck that shit. Go worship a tree."

    Magnum- uh-huh. See? Now I do know more about you. And my beer is in the bottom drawer of my refrigerator. We have outside beer too! It's in the garage.

    Nicol- I have fruit on my island, too. And I just bought three avocados!

    Brother B- what? You have a tea-problem? Well, you are Irish. Your kitchen sounds LOVELY.

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  6. Ooooooo...

    Wow. Thanks for sharing your kitchen with us today. My kitchen is much less interesting because I am merely starting out... being the baby-24-year-old that I am. Pretty much everything I own was a gift to me from someone, somewhere.

    Dishes, silverware, pots & pans, bed, dresser, couch... I have merely collected items labeled "free" or been given things from nice people who knew I needed them.

    I wanted to ask you why you hate Christmas, but someone beat me to it, and I just read your response:

    "What would Jesus do? He'd say, "Fuck that shit. Go worship a tree."

    and I laughed out loud. That was fantastic. I do believe you may be very correct.

    So...in that case, I will get a tiny-Charlie-Brown Christmas tree, and smile as my girlfriend and I enjoy the real gift this year: each other.

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  7. I LOVE Christmas! I'm going to make everyone pinecone art this year. Ha-Ha! Now just forget I told you so you will be surprised.
    Mama forgot the best part about her kitchen: how good it smells. I swear to god she is the best cook ever, anywhere. Whenever she has people over we all end up all crowded in the kitchen, cursing, laughing, and generally getting in her way as we try to stick our fingers in the pots. I remember being wee and putting the leftovers away for the night, eating right from the wooden spoon just a few more tastes before it all went in the fridge. Good god that woman can cook. And love? So much love in that food. So much love in that kitchen.

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  8. Oh, Miss Maybelle. I think maybe you have me beat in the cooking department. You can do everything I can do and you take it a step farther. Plus, I hear- you can make PIES!
    I love the idea of you getting extra bites when you put away the leftovers. That's so great.
    I love you.

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  9. my outside beer is in the small fridge in the workshop (Baby Mama calls it a shed)

    Smells are crucial, I can recall various kitchens in my life when a smell triggers it.

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  10. My favorite Living in Olive Kitchen thing is the four tap refridgerator.Currently - Belgian Honey Wheat, IPA, Porter and Porter on Nitrogen. My favorite thing where I lived when I had children was the Kitchen table. Plots were hatched, stories were told, nerves were soothed and memories created. I loved it!

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  11. Ms. (other) Moon- we are definitely related.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.