My Kitchen

This table sits in a bay window overlooking an acre of oak, pecan, and walnut trees. If you stand in front of this table and look out, you'll see redbirds, blue birds, yellow finches, woodpeckers, and squirrels at the sunflower seed bird feeder from dawn til dusk.

If you look to your left you'll see an attractive chicken house with windows and a tiny hay barn where we keep straw bales for the chickens. We gather about 3 brown eggs a day on poor days and 7 eggs on good days during the summer. All of our nine chickens have names and several can be called by name.

Now still standing in front of this table look out the bay window on your right. You are looking at our water garden full of colorful koi and all sizes of goldfish. This picture was taken toward late afternoon. It faces due west. This is where I make our morning to-do list (things that absolutely must be done today). We can do more but never less than on the list.

Now turn around. You are now looking into the rest of the kitchen. There are two doorways into the kitchen. My grandchildren can chase each other in circles through the kitchen, living room and our office without slowing down.

I have an antique enamel baking table in the center of the kitchen with all our cast iron skillets and pans hanging from the base of it. The kitchen is small but efficient and I feel like I clean it continually (which I do).

During the warm days, we leave the outside door open because we have a very large screen porch which is an extension of the kitchen all but cold winter days. I can cook a meal for us (just my husband and me) in no time at all but no matter what I cook, I spend 2 hours. Preparing, cooking and cleaning up afterward. Even if it's a pizza because we always want to add more to it.

Leftover Creations

Preparing meals for supper is a creative job. The cook imagines various combinations of foods already prepared and in the refrigerator with a few ingredients added and then creates a new meal from it. This is the sign of a very good cook.


"Cooks" who throw out food left over from previous meals simply lack imagination. One of our favorite creations is made from leftover meatloaf.

We now always make extra meatloaf just to have our newly created meal which is spaghetti with meat loafs balls. Quite simple and very delicious.