Kitchen Porn: Chicken Soup for the Sick Edition

Doesn't this look like the kind of kitchen you want to make chicken soup in!? via I Want That Kitchen

So last week I took a poultry butchering class at Hill’s Kitchen. I’m a firm believer in fate. My life is also a string of ironic turns and twists in which I throw ingredients away thinking I don’t need them or they’ve passed their prime…and then need them not even a day later. Yeah.

I’m sick. I have the early stages of whatever that bronchitis/chest congestion thing that’s going around is.

So you know, when one is sick they generally think, “Wouldn’t it be nice if I had some, say, chicken soup?!” Well. That would be SO possible if I had, after my poultry butchering class, actually MADE the damn chicken stock I had planned to make. Even better, if instead of not making it maybe I wrapped and froze all the bits that would make the stock. Oh but no. I tossed the bag of stock bits. Two days ago.

Then, there was no hint of the cough now plaguing me that feels like someone took a zester to my bronchial tubes. Nor the scratch of a sore throat that now burns.

So all this is to say, who’s coming over and making me some soup!? What do you like to eat when you’re sick?

Kitchen Porn: Red Wine Rush

via i want that kitchen via Country Home

Something about freakishly warm weather in February makes me panic for red wine. I can’t get enough of it lately. Ironically, I’ve been drinking white wine almost all winter. As if to give cold weather the finger. “Screw you…it’s cold and I’m drinking Torrontes! You’ll be around forever…you and your icy breath. I don’t need no stinkin’ cabernet. ”

Today it’s going to be somewhere between 70 and 75 in Washington, DC and all I can think is, “Oh god. Drinking that Malbec when it’s 95 degrees out is going to feel so…heavy.”

It’s still February though and Spring still far off. So on Sunday, when the weather returns to an icy chill I’d like to pull a stool up to this rustic wooden island and drink a nice red. Preferably with someone else cooking me dinner. Maybe some spaghetti squash with a Copper Pot Food Company tomato sauce?

Things I Wish I Were Making, Places I Wish I Was Waking Up In

via HomeSweetHome, via goldenrailwaytrain

I wish I’d woken up here this morning. With just about that much light filtering through the curtains. Mondays could be made better if, say, they didn’t start until noon. Just sayin’.

I baked this weekend – more than I’ve baked the last few months. For once, the thought of busting out the hand mixer didn’t make me want to sink further into my very shmooshy couch. I felt inspired, and comforted by the process once again. It was nice.

Because there’s never enough time, here are some things I’ve flagged as “things I’d like to make but may very well never get around to…”

• Tropical Fruit, Gluten-Free Scones (via Baking Banter)
• Gruyère Gougeres (via Design*Sponge)
• Grown Up Birthday Cake (via Food52)
• Lemon Yogurt Muffins (via Macheesmo)

Someone get me a latte in a giant Ikat bowl and lets call a redeux on the weekend, shall we?

Kitchen Porn: It’s 70 Degrees Here

I know I should be enjoying this warm Arizona weather (70s during the day)…a reprieve from the freezing weather DC seems to be getting right now. But I’m a sucker for snow. Even if it does mean dealing with my neighbors who NEVER SALT THEIR SIDEWALK!!!!

Clean and fresh! With a window in front of the sink! (From The Kitchn)

Mostly I’m enjoying copious amounts of puppy love from our two dogs who love nothing more than to sit on your lap. Even if one is 95 pounds. 

I imagine myself making croissants on these countertops. (From The Kitchn)

And even more time with my parents and my friends. I haven’t cooked for anyone yet because I’m sick. And as Shaw Girl put it – I should probably refrain from active tasks until I no longer sound like James Earl Jones. Yep. I sound like a man, baby!

We all know I have an obssession with large tables by now. (From The Kitchn)

Until then I rest. I lay. I watch a lot of “I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant!” What? Don’t judge!

I hope everyone is getting some rest and relaxation…or at least slowing down some!

Kitchen Porn: Dark & Stormy Edition

I think I have seasonal affect disorder. But opposite. I’m tired of sun and heat. Here in DC it’s chilly and crisp one day then the next it’s warm and I have swamp ass (mostly because I’m inappropriately dressed for the weather which is a common thing for me…as if wearing a sweater wills Fall to come faster).

 

I guess if you have a dishwasher you don't need a real sink? (via The Kitchn)

 

I’m feeling a little moody right now. I’d love to have some cuddle up on my couch with some tea, it’s too cold and cloudy to even bother going outside type of weather. (Pretend I hyphenated all that, please.)

 

Splinters, anyone? (via The Kitchn via The Savannah Cabinet Shop)

So instead of showing you the usual “bright and airy” kitchens I love I thought I’d share some that have liberally applied the colors black and brown in them. I love the dark, rustic feeling in these.

Plus, the first one has a dishwasher and that alone makes me swoon.

Which reminds me, The Kitchn is doing their Fall 2010 Kitchen Cure. So if you’re tired of opening drawers and seeing a tragic mess, or your pots and pans are falling over themselves, or you don’t want to make muffins because your tin is at the bottom of a pile of stuff…it’s time to admit you have a problem and clean. I like the Kitchen Cure because it breaks up what can feel like a daunting all day activity into small tasks over four weeks. One task a week, and a month later you have a kitchen you can actually cook in. Check it out!

Enjoy! :)

 

Kitchen Porn: Phoenix Rising Edition

I’m home in good ‘ol Phoenix, AZ this week/weekend. My best friend of 23 years is holding her 10/10/10 wedding reception and I’m here to help with things like center pieces and ironing napkins and such.

Look! His and her sinks! For his and her dishes! :) (From Elle Decor)

If you’ve been following me on Twitter you’ll know that I’ve been traveling quite a bit…and I’m  nowhere near done. Last week I was in Orlando, FL for six days for work. Then back in DC for two days (barely). This week I’m in Phoenix and next week I’m in Vegas. Then finally back home to DC where I will comfortably place my bum bum on my couch and not move for at least two weeks.

I love organized chaos...makes a place feel more homey. (Everything Fabulous/Ikea)

To say I am exhausted is to not do my tired, weary eyes justice. I need a massage. A sauna. A cabana boy. A personal chef to make me a healthy dinner. (Ugh! I’ve been eating out so much!) But most of all I’d like two days of baking. It’s Fall…and that means turning on the oven seems slightly less…masochistic.

I'll take a set of copper pots and an iron bar from which to hang them for Christmas, please. (The Kitchen)

Until I can do that…I’m admiring these kitchen beauties.

Kitchen Porn: If This Is Your Home I’d Like To Cook In It

Yeah see. If you have a kitchen with a range that looks anything like this:

From Lonny Mag

And you know, counter space and a table like this:

From Lonny Mag

Then you can tooooootally invite me over and I will cook and cook and  cook for you :)

Enjoy!

Kitchen Porn – Stop and Smell the Roses Edition

Ruth Reichl recently posted a New York Times article about her Sunday morning routine. After I read the piece, I tweeted “If only my every day was a little more like @RuthReichl’s Sunday.”

When I’m having a bad day I’ll often say I want my life to look and feel exactly the way her Sundays actually are. But I reserve enjoying the special, little things and/or “smelling the roses” for weekends, days off, weekends at the beach and special occasions. I look forward to cappuccino muffins, hot, steaming cups of coffee, Eartha Kitt playing in the background and the crinkle of a Sunday New York Times at my friend Cecelia’s house.

Sorry - Don't know where I got this one. Probs The Kitchn.

But I rarely, if ever, take the time to make myself a real, healthy breakfast and some Cafe Bustello espresso in the stovetop coffee maker on a Tuesday morning. Or play Eartha Kitt while I’m cooking dinner on a Thursday. Or get myself a market muffin, a French press full of coffee and read the paper on a Sunday in my own apartment.

Why? Two reasons, I think. One is, like a sandwich, it’s always better when someone else sets the scene or makes the breakfast/dinner. I loved the ritual of riding the metro to Cecelia’s house, buying the muffins, greeting her pup at the door and sitting down to coffee she made and reading the paper she laid out. It was special…it is special!

Sunday at Cecelia's.

The other reason is that we (read: me) let life make us tired…lazy even. I’ve had a long day, I’ve worked out…I’m tired. I don’t want to make dinner. I want someone else to make dinner.  It seems like a pain to find new, loungy/jazzy music, buy some flowers for the coffee table and set the scene. In reality, it takes an iota of effort to do these things but still, I don’t.

via Elements of Style (Look at all those knives!!!)

Simply put: I’ve gotta stop putting up silly barriers to genuinely enjoying moments and stopping to smell the proverbial roses. I (we) deserve a beautiful life, whatever that might look like. It’s worth the time, the little bit of extra energy and maybe even the extra couple dollars. I (we) forget that making things a little extra special is an investment in ourselves (and often those around us). And we’re worth it. Our mental and emotional health is worth it.

I’m going to work on doing little things differently – playing the music, buying the flowers, reading the paper or anything else that strikes my fancy. I get up at 5:45am. I have time to make breakfast. I have time to channel my inner Ruth Reichl and make life a little more beautiful and special.