Lemoncello Cookies

I made some really yummy cookies the other day. Here they are cooling on the meat block. I guess I need to tell you about the meat block, don't I? We've had it for almost 40 years and it's really old. It was in our first two kitchens, but it didn't fit into our last two kitchens, so it's just been in storage. Well, when the kids moved out I wanted to use it again so we made the kitchen table smaller and put it against the wall under the window. That made room for the meat block in the center of the room where the table used to be.

Here it is in all it's battered glory. And we are quite pleased with it here. When we had our gourmand dinner the other night, everyone gathered around it for appetizers, but (here's the best part) they couldn't sit down so I could still make my way through the kitchen to work. Used to be, folks would sit around the kitchen table blocking my access to the frige and the dining room with their chairs.

So now, not only do we enjoy looking out the window while we eat, we have a better arrangement for entertaining. It's a win-win situation. Speaking of win-win, those cookies were delicious. Lemon zest in the batter, lemoncello in the frosting. Can't you almost taste them?

Back to School

The Lord of the Manor finished up a little project in the kitchen over the weekend. We'd planned to do this when we finished the kitchen two years ago, but it just didn't get done. Well, it's finally done and we love it!

This window faces West and at certain times of the year the sun glares into the kitchen. We needed something to cut the glare, so we hit upon this solution. So what is it, you ask?

See the box above the window? It holds a map like you had in elementary school, and when it's sunny we pull down the map and it not only blocks the sun, but gives you a geography lesson as well.

One layer has the World, and the other has the United States. I'd like to get Europe and the UK eventually; there's room in the box to add them. As a map lover, I believe one can never have too many maps.

Now with the old slate chalkboard salvaged from the local university and the maps, we feel like we are back at school again here Amongst The Oaks.

Sunday's Task

I keep utensils in this crock near the stove. About a month ago one of the salad tongs somehow jumped out and fell behind the range. Bummer. I kept reaching for the remaining one forgetting its mate was gone. Double bummer. So I threw the remaining one back there too. Silly, I know, but at least they were together. Finally today I pulled out the range to retrieve them. I'm not going to show you what it looked like behind the range that hadn't moved in two years, but suffice it to say, IT WAS GROSS.

So I decided to clean it all out. I wiped down the tiles. I cleaned the sides of the cabinets. Then the Lord of the Manor came in and saw what I was doing. He got involved and...

we took these grease catchers out and cleaned them too. And all up inside the hood. And the fluorescent lights. And then I cleaned the top of the range.

And here is how it looked when we were done. Phew.

And almost two hours later I finally got the salad tongs back where they belonged. And that's how we spent our Sunday here Amongst The Oaks.

Kitchen Art

We spend a lot of time here Amongst The Oaks thinking about food, talking about food, shopping for food, planning food, preparing food, eating food, and photographing food. So what could be better than food as art? I picked up these pre-matted frames at Michaels and have filled them with favorite food photos from our travels. This first one has a roasted beet salad at Greystones in St. Helena, a goat cheese salad at Les Saisons de Giverny, and a raddler and pretzels in Munich.

Working top to bottom, left to right: Teen2 after a mussel frenzy in Vernazza, me checking out a product stand in Florence, Teen1 and a handsome Italian waiter in Siena, The Lord of the Manor with lunch in Pisa, my morning cappuccino in Vernazza, and the Lord of the Manor with a margarita in Ensenada.

I just did this one yesterday: the cutest dumplings in Guilin, hot pot in Shanghai, and prawns at a hutong in Beijing.

The only other art I have in my kitchen is this old Lipton tea tin that I used for recipe cards. Speaking of recipes, look at the appetizer the Lord of the Manor made for dinner last night. Another work of art!

It's called Shrimp Piri Piri and he found it in the Oprah magazine. It was scrummy! The recipe is from chef Marcus Samuelsson and his restaurant Merkato 55. Samuelsson has recently published a cookbook called The Soul of a New Cuisine: A Discovery of the Foods and Flavors of Africa. Oh-oh, looks like we may be buying another book! And more of those picture frames too.

Cooking Corner

Here's another "Corner of my Home".

This is my cooking corner. Here's where you can find me most often when I'm home. It's between the fridge and the stove and kind of out of the way. I've recently added a full spectrum lamp because my old eyes just seem to need more light. It reminds me of a boat because everything I need is right here or within a couple of steps. I'll also let you in on a little secret about this corner; the counters are a bit lower here because the floor in our kitchen is sooooo unlevel. When the Lord of the Manor installed the lower units he made the toe kick in this corner shorter to compensate for that, so I feel taller here, which is great because I am hobbit short.

I've got a window for view and fresh air, and next to it a spice cupboard. On the counter I've got canisters for tea, an old tin full of recipes, a cookbook stand, cutting boards and a tiny rubbish bin.

Just below I've got a cupboard for Grandma's mixer and a food processor and drawers for gadgets. Above are cupboards for bowls, platters, baking pans, and cookie sheets. More drawers on the right hold knives and pots and pans. And then there's the stove with my favorite burner and its ultra-low feature.

With everything I need why would I ever leave this corner? Well believe it or not, sometimes I get tired of cooking and just want to sit down and relax and that's when I move to Comfy Corner. (See below)

Kitchen Favorites

I spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen Saturday cleaning and puttering. We remodeled it about a year ago and I'm still thrilled with it. My favorite thing is the mantel over the range. It hides the exhaust fan, a light and two spice cupboards on the sides. And it just looks sooo English. I changed the plates on it to something more Fallish and I kept the wheat from the Oktoberfest party, but removed the blue bows.

My next favorite thing is my sink. Now why would a girl get excited about a sink? Because it's huge! When we brought it home Teen2 said, "That's not a sink, that's a bath tub!" But seriously I had some dinky thing before and well maybe I went a bit overboard, but I still love it. Here it is with my mop bucket in it. And here's that same mop bucket in a standard size kitchen sink. It is rather large, isn't it?

Here's some other stuff I love about my kitchen;

my doggie doorstop, the old red telephone that came with the house, irregular red tiles.

After all that work I felt like I needed a little lunch, so I made a salad to match my kitchen. Bon appetit!