When I arrived at my friend’s home in Italy and looked around his kitchen I was surprised that there was no microwave in the kitchen. I did not know how I would survive without a microwave! The freezer was the size of a very small microwave and the refrigerator was small and narrow and in a tall kitchen cabinet.
Space was used well. It is amazing how much a small kitchen can hold! My kitchen is larger and has more cabinets and yet I feel there is never anything I can just cook and throw together a meal while my friend can whip up anything and it was always delicious. He buys food fresh almost daily and I buy for the week. He knows what is in his kitchen and can always find what he needs. Can I say the same?
I shop in bulk and am always prepared for that blizzard that is going to have us snowed in for days, yet there is nothing for me to make when it is time to cook. I don’t think to go to my cabinets and freezer first and start using what I already have.
My counters are lined with coffee makers, since everyone likes a certain coffeemaker, toaster oven, microwave and everything in between. My friend’s counter has some things out but not like I do! My friend’s kitchen has a juicer for the fresh juice he makes daily that for me I would never do at home because it comes out of a carton that is in the refrigerator. Yet watching him make fresh juice daily, it was so simple and matter of fact I had to wonder why I don’t do that! But it would be one more thing on my counter that is already overcrowded!
So what did I learn and did I take the time to do things differently? I probably don’t need two thirds of what is in my kitchen. I should buy what I need and make it fresh! I should find the time to go and reorganize my kitchen! One day!
