Its a hard truth that I make a MESS in the kitchen! I'm not one of those neatnik, sensible kind of cooks who washes up her dishes as she goes along. I'm more like the out of control drummer who starts riffing in the middle of a song and just can't be stopped for anything. The picture above is the result of a quiche I made for dinner last night. What you don't see is the egg that cracked up on the counter, the flour on the floor, and the cheese and milk still waiting to be put back into the fridge.While it hasn't always been the case, I have come to love cleaning up in the kitchen. I feel a comfortable satisfaction at taking a scene like the one above and taming it back to clean. As a kid, my four siblings and I were responsible for washing the dishes after supper. We grumbled and argued, but we also had some great fun. I became the world's best towel snapper in those years. I could raise a welt! And Mom, remember how we used to lock the door behind you when you would go out into the freezing winter weather to take out the trash? We were hilarious!
Now, in my more mature years (yeah, that's a laugh), I mostly enjoy just dipping my arthritic old hands into the hot, soapy water. But I also love looking out the window that you see below, often steamed up just as it is in the picture. The sill is covered with little found and precious items including the amazing bones that seem to appear on the forest floor everytime we go mushroom hunting. Outside the window are some of the hundreds of trees that Kurt has planted on our property in the 16 years that we've lived here.
And that quiche? That's something that you can make with almost anything you have in the house. Find a good recipe, but don't be bound by it. My crust was made with a local hard wheat flour that gave it some tooth. I didn't have the classic Swiss or Gruyere, but I did have cheddar and feta. Four eggs, 2 cups of milk, pepper, some thin-sliced tomatoes on top, and a finish with smoked black sea salt; baked about 40 minutes at 375. It was delicious.
And Mom, when you and Dad come to visit next month, I think I'm going to need some help with taking out the trash. . . !
