Playing House in the Interim Kitchen

As I mentioned before, while I wait for my dream kitchen, I have a temporary kitchen. I thought you might like to see it. While I packed the old kitchen, I set aside dishes, cookware, tools and pantry items that I might use during construction. These are now assembled in the "cabinetry" from our old darkroom that's been hanging around since the "flood".

It's a nice little galley kitchen, pretty well-outfitted (no oven though). In the picture above, the refrigerator is mostly out-of-frame on the left. On top of the microwave, you can see my "running"water - a five gallon jug that dispenses into a small basin. My mom likens this to the bucket and ladle of her rural childhood.

In the short term, waste water goes into the big Tupperware bucket. I dump it into the storm drain or upstairs depending on how gunky it is.

Here is my pantry:

The counter surface is my butcher block, the painted board that spans the cube-drawers and a tiny bit of red craft paper. It is remarkably workable and the light is nice.

On weekends, I've been using my campstove on the front porch and the Weber grill out back to do advance work. So far, I've made two batches of pasta salad with roasted red pepper dressing (for gatherings with friends and family), a ton of grilled vegetables, a pot of fragrant chicken soup (below) and a tomato and corn pie (I baked that upstairs).

On weeknights, I can assemble stuff to heat in the microwave (or not). I have also been using the campstove to poach eggs. I made a terrific squash soup by combining grilled veggies with chicken stock and spices in the blender and then heating it in the microwave. I finished it with lemon juice. and cilantro.
Maybe the most remarkable thing about this experience is that I seem to have been reformed - I never leave dirty dishes in my toy kitchen overnight. I even dry everything and put it away.

This camping-in-the-dining-room-thing is really not that bad. But I'm not giving up on the new place.