I usually get so excited about what I am going to cook for the week and test out recipes from other bloggers, or from my monthly subscriptions to Food & Wine and Vegetarian Times, and I am still seeing wonderful recipes, but I just don't feel the motivation to do it.
It doesn't help that we have now been in our new place for a month, yet the kitchen is not fully unpacked...about 75%. It doesn't help that we have ants. And it doesn't help that I am going from my gorgeous new kitchen that I designed to an 80s kitchen that I am now renting. In the kitchen I recently parted with, I felt like the counter tops and floors were so clean and new I could eat off of them. Not so much here. I know it is just a kitchen, and it is only temporary in the grand scheme of things, but it sure makes me miss my old gourmet stomping grounds. And I know it wasn't a kitchen that was about to featured on the cover of Architectural Digest or Dwell, but it was perfect for me.
M tells me I have to move on, that it is only stuff, and I know he is right, so why am I finding it so hard to start creating my favorites dishes? It is true, I miss my house, but I am loving our new city and neighborhood.
I have always been very particular about using fresh fruit and veg in every meal, and going to a farmers market at least once weekly, but I have not even been to one since I have moved here. I have been making meals that are monotonous in color that would make Gillian McKeith wince and probably tell me off with a table full of what I have been eating these last 30 days. Typically I use very minimal processed foods, but I have been relying on them way too heavily.
We all know that eating gluten-free doesn't necessarily mean eating healthy and these past 30 days I seem to really be trying to challenge that fact. Once in a while, I have created the occasional pasta dish or quiche, but for the most part, I have been failing as the chef of the house. I fear I will be fired.
Everyday I keep waking up and telling myself, this will be the day. This will be the day that I get the kitchen fully functioning and make a fabulous meal like I did just weeks ago. I used to make pancakes with fresh fruit weekly...pancakes have not been made yet. The grill has not been used, and half of my plates are still in boxes.
I am hoping that writing this entry will somehow be cathartic to me, and somehow give me the motivation to get to it in the morning.
I would love to hear any wise words or inspiration to give me a jump start.
Bon soir!
I know how you feel. I cook in a tiny, outdated kitchen with a 1970s Hotpoint stove and very little counter space or natural light. I started telling myself I would start the blog and learn to cook when I had a real kitchen. Then 2 years passed living here and I just woke up one day and decided to make do. You will too!
ReplyDeleteThe Peachtree Road Farmers Market every Saturday is the best one, in my opinion.
Thank you Lauren, I will check it out!
ReplyDeleteHi Anne,
ReplyDeleteFirst, thanks for mentioning the tri-tip asada was not on the gf list. I checked it out, and it had dried soy sauce in it. Just poisoned myself, and tried to poison all my blogger friends. :( I redid the post to say not to make until I redo the recipe, which I will because it tasted so good. And I can throw some spices together.
Second, I feel your pain. We have moved 9 times in the 10.5 years we've been together. This last time we went from a brand new, amazing apartment with a total gourmet kitchen. It was a dream. To our current dwelling, which is a rented house. The yard is what sold us. Definitely not the kitchen. It is a 60s galley kitchen. The sink is on one end. The fridge is on the other. Everything is 2 - 5 steps too far. You even have to take 2 steps to put the dishes in the dishwasher from the sink.
But, I spent a couple of months being frustrated and then just started messing around with where I wanted everything. It took a few months of moving things around, but I did it. I put my stuff in sections. I put the baking products, such as flours, agave nectar, baking soda, etc. in the cupboard above my mixer, so I wouldn't have to keep crossing and walking up and down the kitchen to make something. I did that with everything. And it really helped. Now, I use it all of the time.
If only it had good light to take pictures. I have to cart everything out to the living room and beg my son not to take it before I get a shot. :)
You'll get it.
And, get yourself to the farmer's market. It will help, too. I still haven't done it here, and we;ve been through two seasons. Bad me.
xoxo,
Tia
Tia,
ReplyDeleteGood to know about the tri-tip, but so sorry you had to suffer from it. I was about to go to TJs tomorrow and stock up on it, because the recipe sounded so easy and delicious.
Yes, I still mourn my kitchen. And we had to decide too, between a fancy, new apartment or rent a house in a great, cozy neighborhood, with an amazing backyard....and the backyard sold us as well. I know I just have to get in my kitchen and do it...which speaking of....I need to make dinner now =) Pasta alla vodka tonight!