The house was well designed and outfitted with all the right stuff…the kitchen was as pristine as they day they moved in – could have appeared on a home tour – a sure sign that this fulcrum of the home was barely used – certainly not with the passion of the Italian heritage that the owner had formerly displayed when creating and presenting her robust lasagna made from scratch or hearty big and beefy meatballs…surely they could not have been masterfully assembled in this attractive , yet evidently unused environment! And the truth was – this kitchen had yet to be broken-in by her capable renditions of her ancestral culinary specialties.
How to begin? I asked her about basic condiments – close at hand where you see them, reach for them, use them with facility and the fact that they add character and life to your working scene. There were none. Also, the utensils that are your favorite to hold, grab for the various sauces, sautés and variety of tasks performed during the course of creating the dishes that should emanate from such a fabulous kitchen. They were not in evidence.
I often see it – kitchens in houses that are so spectacular, so well appointed yet barely has water been boiled on the massive commercial gas ranges! Sure, it’s important to construct the proper, expected kitchen in such a showcase of a home – yet it seems criminal not to use such a wonderfully designed and full-featured laboratory!
Maybe some intend to have every meal prepared by a catering crew that will love the opportunity to work in such a magnificent environment – but, really…really?
So, I love the feel of a familiar wooden spoon and at the expense of being a tad bit (others would argue) cluttered in the kitchen, I like having my tools and ingredients, at the ready – in full view of my workspace. She, the aforementioned, listened to my passion, opened her drawers, extracted the well worn and lovingly used wooden utensils that she felt were too common for her new kitchen. I begged to differ and we found a lovely container of Portuguese pottery hidden in her pantry in which to collect them by the stove. A quiche dish served as the perfect tray upon which to place her olive oil, balsamic, and a few other choice potions within easy reach and full view of her imagination as she approached the twilight hour and the spontaneous task of tossing together the evening meal.
Admittedly, today she called and reported that everything was as we had left it that day and that she was genuinely enjoying her favorite wooden spoons right there by the cook top and the condiments which not only added a decorative element, were truly a visual aid to prompting pleasantly unstructured meals on the spur-of the moment.
So find the wonderfully hand-crafted wooden spoons that are just right and feel so good as you stir the chowders, mix the batters, meld the ingredients of the perfect confections, gently fold the soufflés, sauté the savories and outfit your kitchen with the tools, condiments, accessories and utensils that serve to facilitate and decorate your culinary studio.
