This is my kitchen. My tiny little haven of a kitchen is 3'x5’ and counter space is a whopping 2x3, if there’s nothing else on it. The pan on the stove is step two of making a double batch of Sour Orange Marmalade--one with sugar and one with stevia (for the diabetic hubby). Just because it's small, doesn't mean I can't crank out some awesome wicked food. It's diminutive size hasn't hindered my cooking, nor slow me down in creating new and fantastic dishes. I LOVE cooking and creating new recipes, and it'll take more than downsizing to rip it out of my soul! There has been no end to the delicious, nutritious, and gourmet dishes that have come out of this Lilliputian laboratory--and which I will be sharing with you.
In this day of HGTV and Food Network, with everyone insisting that without granite counter tops, stainless steel professional equipment, farmhouse sinks, and islands complete with cook tops, sinks, & cookbook shelves, I am the odd person out. It seems no one believes they can make a descent meal without every new gadget known to man. It all comes down to one thing people….knowing how to cook and having the passion no matter what the size of your kitchen or number of gadgets you spend your hard earned money on purchasing!
You can cook anywhere. Our forefathers and mothers cooked over open flames. No Kitchen Aid mixers, no stove faucets, no Wolf stoves, no microwaves, and no computer generated recipes. They dug pits in the earth, filled them with wood and fired it, then wrapped meat in burlap sacks, put it in the coals, and covered it with dirt. Low and behold, one of the best foods on earth…bbq!! They were innovative, and didn’t let lack of convenience stop them. Of course there weren't any conveniences, and you were pretty filthy most of the time, but all that aside, most of the recipes that have kept us alive for generations were created under less than optimal circumstances.
I know, you’re saying “yeah, but…..” Yeah BUT!! They didn’t leave home at 6:30 a.m. to work outside the home, work all day, fight commute traffic, and come home to have to feed husbands, children, etc., do pilates, answer emails, twitter and facebook, etc. etc. etc. Yeah, but….they scrubbed clothes in the river on a scrub board, hung them out to dry, ground wheat into flour before they were ever able to make the bread, and no little packets of yeast…they had to make sure the sour dough starter passed down from their mothers was fed and kept at the right temperature in order to make the bread rise. They had to haul water and wood, sweep dirt floors until hard and clean, swill the hogs, feed the chickens, butcher the chickens, gather the eggs and pray they didn’t get attacked by roosters with 5” long spurs, or in the west, Indians that were a bit ticked off. Their days were a heck of a lot longer and harder than ours. That’s why they died young….just to get away from all the work. And they hardly ever got help from hubbies like women of today. But we’ve gone way too far the other way in my humble opinion.
Cooking good food, healthy food, storing and preserving food, and making food as gifts for others is not difficult and does not take an acre of floor space and a kitchen island the size of Maui. It takes common sense, a bit of organization, some skills easily learned, some imagination, and a mind set that this is fun and contributes to the well being of the family. Above all it takes joie de vie--a zest for life and living it to the fullest. And all of this will also save you money. Making fantastic food is SOOO much cheaper than going out to eat, and so much for satisfying when you set down the food in front of your family & friends and hear the oohs and aaahs.
So to that end, I am going to write about things made in my mini kitchen. As I continually amaze my husband, family, and friends, I figure maybe more people out there need to see what can be done in a small space. Stay tuned for the recipes!!
There will also be other chapters on living in an 8’x31’ 5th wheel RV, which we have been doing for two years now. Yup…sold our 1880 sq. ft. 2 story home on an acre of land, and now live in our “caravan” as our cousins from Sweden call it. There are up sides, and there are sacrifices, but so far we haven’t killed each other, we seem to still have our senses of humor, we love each other as much if not more than ever, and we are truly none the worse for wear. And most of the sacrifices are no longer considered such, but not just part of how we live. Less "stuff" means spending a lot less money on things that don't really matter or bring more joy to our life. It means putting more money into savings; it means having the money to take care of those inevitible unforseeables that pop up; and it means being able to do the things that are truly important and fill our lives with joy. The notion of “bigger is better” has caused a lot of strife in this country—mainly uncontrolled debt and spending unprecedented in history, along with a real lack of fulfillment in most people. Debt ratios up, foreclosures up, crime up, family togetherness down, simple pleasures being appreciated down. I can go on, but won’t. You get the picture.
So Smaller is Better should be the mantra of this blog, and while not the name of this blog, is the basic premise!!
SOUR ORANGE (SEVILLE) MARMALADE
Measure the liquid and add a cup of sugar for every cup of liquid—if short a full cup, still use equal amount of sugar. Now cook until it's reduced and thick enough to jell. You may want to watch the pot, sugar water if it over boils makes a bit of a mess. As it begins to darken and thicken, start skimming foam from top of pot. There will be places where the rolling boil is not so intense, and that’s where the foam, and the seeds you missed, will come together. Be diligent—keep stirring vigorously so the now darkened seeds will rise to the top and separate from the orange slices, thus making it easy to extract.
