My Kitchen

 This little "cutie" greets me when I walk into my dining room to open the draperies!

 She brings me flowers every morning and always makes me smile?

I had planned to be headed towards a new hiking trail this morning, but a 6 a.m. conversation with my hiking bud got it postponed until tomorrow.  Our choices were leftover rainshowers, muddy trail, cloudy and windy (today) or drier, sunny, but VERY cold (tomorrow).  She chose tomorrow.

As a result of having a bit of extra time this morning, I'm going to introduce you to my kitchen!  Doesn't that sound like fun?  First, a tiny bit of history.  We purchased our home in May, 1999 and it was a dream come true for me.  The house is next door to Mr. B's first cousin and we'd had our eye on it for years.  It was a gorgeous Cape Cod still occupied by its ORIGINAL owner.  The lady was already old and we certainly didn't want her to die, but we sure wanted her house!!  As it turned out, she made the decision to move into an assisted living facility and with one look inside the house, we said YES!  The home in which we were living sold pretty quickly giving us just the right amount of time to do some minor updating before moving in.  

The house was built in 1940 and even beyond the fact that it was a Cape Cod design which I'd always wanted, what totally sold me was that the builders had filled this house all the way around with HUGE windows.  There are windows EVERYWHERE!!  The moment I first walked into the den, I was hooked.  There were so many windows, it felt like you were outside.  But here's the interesting thing about my house and specifically, my kitchen.  Yes, my home was built in 1940, but many of the characteristics found in typical homes of that era are not present in mine.  You see, Mrs. Guinn was a Home Ec teacher.  Her home and specifically, her kitchen, were HER domain.  Her pride and joy!  She thought out of the box and way beyond her time!

So although my kitchen isn't huge by most standards, it is considerably larger than most found in homes built in the 40's!  I have lots of LARGE cabinets, plenty of counter space, two HUGE windows over the sink and (prepare to be envious) not one, but TWO giant pantry's.  It is wide, long and easily accessed by both the den and the formal living/dining room.  We can entertain large groups of people by using the kitchen as a "buffet" line as it flows beautifully into the larger rooms.  She was a genius in her designing, but then what do you expect from a Home Ec teacher?  Such a shame they don't even call it that anymore.  Mrs. Guinn would be SHOCKED!   BTW,  Mrs. Guinn has since died, but not before we were able to have her back into her old home for "tea," and to show her the updating we had done.  We received her hearty approval!  

Nothing can replace a picture, so without further words, allow me to show you my kitchen:

Coming into our house from the garage, you walk through the den and the breakfast nook into this picture.   Remember, I'm no photographer!!   It isn't as WHITE as it looks.  The countertops (original) are tan and the walls are a seafoam green.  She had layer upon layer of wallpaper which took us forever to remove.  Note the 36" stove which at the time of her purchase was a top of the line model.  And yes, those are double ovens, BOTH of which work.  I've had no problems with the stove in the 12 years we've lived here, but am well aware that when it goes, it'll be a major expense as these are no longer made and have to be special ordered!!

Standing in the dining room door looking back in the direction from which the first picture was taken.  Note my pink water pitcher beside the sink (have to drink all of that and more EVERY day) and my brand new, but very old and outdated dedicated kitchen computer back by the coffee pot.  Becca was afraid I'd spill something in my computer so that's to put her mind at ease.  I'd thought of that, so it's way back in a corner out of harm's way, but still very easy to view and follow recipes.

 A wider shot from the same vantage point back through the breakfast nook and den. 

From the breakfast nook.  One of my large pantry's is behind the door you see on the left.  The other is just out of sight to the left of the fridge.  That is also the hallway leading to the remainder of the house. Not sure what was cooking in the crockpot.  I think it was black beans for soup I was going to prepare.

Unfortunately, no matter how much I love my kitchen, it is not immune to an epic fail and I had my first one this week.  It looked like this:

 It was my first adventure into using almond flour and was a Pumpkin Bread recipe from ComfyBelly.com.  I added a few fresh cranberries I had on hand, but otherwise made the recipe as directed.  I had trouble getting it done despite having read all I could about almond flour and then it totally stuck to the bottom of the baking dish coming out in chunks.  It is edible, but not all that good.  I'm eating it in chunks topped with yogurt or applesauce.

Not to be outdone, I also had an epic keeper this week.

This is Whole Wheat Oat Banana Bread and is delicious!!

Mr. B left early this morning for an event he was asked to participate in well over a year ago.  It was quite an honor to be asked and needless to say, I am extremely proud of him and what he has accomplished in his work.  He is one of those fortunate few who still loves his work and can't wait to get to school every day.  But what is most important to me (and to him) is that he is loved and respected by his students and peers.  And what opportunities he has every day to impact the life of others.  If interested, here's a link to what he's doing.  Should be pretty easy to pick which one is Mr. B.

So I'm single until Saturday evening.  What should I do???  What should I do??

SHOW US YOUR KITCHEN!

I realized when drafting this post that I'd love to see YOUR kitchen almost as much as I enjoyed showing you mine!  If interested, please do a post showing us your kitchen.  And for sure, let me now in a comment that you've done so or are planning to do so along with a link back to that post so we can ALL see your kitchens.   Ooohhhh, what fun!  Please, show us your kitchen!