Step into my dirty kitchen

I wasn't planning to participate in the Show Us Your Kitchen event. My kitchen is perfectly lovely but unlike most of the other participants I don't have any expensive or fancy kitchen equipment or fixtures to show off. I live on a modest income in a very expensive area, I live alone, and I don't own my home so I have very little creative control over it. I had to beg my landlady to even let me paint the walls. It's not an impressive kitchen, just a very functional and well-loved one. Just for the heck of it, I figured I'd show it to you anyway. I took these pictures after I'd cooked up a storm and done only minimal cleanup. After all, cluttered counters and a sink full of dirty dishes will give you a more accurate sense of what my kitchen really looks like most of the time.


That slug-like creature above is, in fact, a massive garnet yam (ahem... sweet potato) sitting on top of some other produce. It dwarfs a poor, neglected butternut squash that I'm ashamed to say is about a month old.


To the left, behind a wire cookbook stand, you will see my prized possession, a Cuisinart given to me a number of years ago by an ex-girlfriend who still gets to occasionally reap its benefits in the form of latkes (a sort of Chanukah tithe to my Cuisinart benefactor).


I've lived in over half a dozen apartments in the last 6 years. When apartment-hunting, my main requirements are a big sink, enough room for two people to cook together, and a gas range. An electric stove is an absolute dealbreaker for me. My cottage meets all these requirements, and has plenty of other perks like counter space and numerous electrical outlets. I love the granite countertops. I find them aesthetically very unattractive (I am into a 1940s farmhouse aesthetic), but quite useful from a practical perspective. I really do love my kitchen. I feel blessed to have such a great space to create my (food) art.

One day I'd like to own my own home, with an eat-in kitchen featuring a butcher-block island, a cast iron pot rack hanging from the ceiling, and a big old-fashioned Wedgewood stove.