I love to cook. For me, being in the kitchen is a sort of therapy. I find the perfect recipe, which for me usually means not to many steps, go to the grocery store for the ingredients, and then I cook. I'm pretty good at following directions, which makes recipes great for me. I have, though, honed the craft of adding little bits of this or that to see how it tastes (no complaints yet).
I think that the process of cutting, boiling, or baking is what I enjoy. It's just me, the words on the paper (and more commonly now, the computer) and the ingredients on the counter. I don't have to think about much more, except making sure that whatever I am doing comes out right. That is the therapy part. And, we eat.
Then, it is on to making my table look beautiful. When I travel, I love to buy tablecloths and the matching napkins. They are not only a cool souvenir, they are useful, too. I use cloth napkins because they are pretty, and because I am not putting more stuff in landfills. Naturally, after a dinner, I throw everything into the washing machine, the dryer, and then I iron them. Yeah, I'm anal...
This morning I came across this blog titled "5 Things That Will Make Your Kitchen More Parisian", and I was intrigued. Would I pass the test? Do I have it, the Parisian kitchen?
Almost. I got #1, there is an almost empty bottle of #2, but I'm going to have to do the lentils, which is an awesome idea. The finishing salt will have to wait a little bit, but I'm all over the cloth napkins. Now, for a new butter bell...
How about you? What's in your kitchen? And if you have any finishing salt (fleur de sel), where did you get it?
http://food52.com/blog/10278-5-things-that-will-make-your-kitchen-more-parisian
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| My table - the cloths are French from Provence and Basque (in background). I made the bread, too. |
