A Kitchen Sabbatical

It’s November 13, 2010 and I’m sitting at my kitchen island.  I’m sitting here as opposed to the desk with the nice chair because there isn’t a spot to put my laptop on said desk.  When we bought this house 10 ½ years ago I envisioned doing all sorts of household “stuff” at that desk.  Now as I look at it there are piles of things that need to be dealt with.  There are Halloween decorations waiting to be taken to the basement, an array of glasses, keys, mail, Ipods, cell phones, and electronic chargers, magazines, and hats that now force me to choose another place to sit and type my thoughts.  Maybe I should stop typing and deal with my “stuff.”  That’s an idea.  However, a more compelling and hopefully more interesting one has occurred to me.  For the past couple weeks I have been saying I want to take a sabbatical.  And at first I thought I would look for a retreat center out of town somewhere, make an appointment with a spiritual director, call a life coach, my favorite counselor, buy a couple (more) books to read, or reread my tried and true Sue Monk Kidd favorites.  But today when I returned from an early morning walk I poured myself a cup of coffee and noticed how gross the warmer on the coffeemaker looked with coffee residue.  As I gave it a thorough cleaning I realized the sink could use some caulk and shared that little bit of insight with my husband (who was enjoying his own coffee over the Life of Keith Richards hardback (but I digress.)  Getting no response I moved on to the toaster oven that I determined we have had for at least 20 years.  As I’m scrubbing something burnt from the bottom tray I decide it is definitely time for a new one and share that little nugget with my husband as well.  “Is that one broken” he asked?  “No, its just time” I said.  Hmmm…  Remembering how much I love and appreciate great kitchen equipment I asked another question; “Did you ever think you would see the day when it was time to replace an appliance instead of buying a new one?”  “No” was the only reply. 

As I moved on to scraping dried gunk from the crack between my stovetop and the counter, I started thinking about some of the women I’ve coached over the years who didn’t trust themselves to make some necessary changes.  I considered my own advice to those women:  ”Find something you love to do and do it while you ponder possibilities.”  Hmmm… 

With a sparkling clean stovetop and a clear counter I decided to get my 75^th Anniversary Edition Kitchen Aid stand mixer (complete with my name inscribed on the stainless steel bowl) out in preparation for the upcoming season of cooking.  No surprise at this point that it also had a fair amount of dried gunk requiring my attention.  I got out the Bon Ami and a sponge and thought how much I have loved using it.  It makes my Christmas fudge recipe a breeze to stir.  And I started thinking that I had been dreading the holiday cooking when the truth is I absolutely love to cook, and how great it is to cook with good equipment and tools.  And as I scraped and cleaned I was also reminded of past holidays in my home and how much I appreciated cooking with my older sister Debbie in the kitchen.  Debbie doesn’t enjoy the cooking, but she doesn’t mind keeping things clean.  Cooking with Debbie means every dish, utensil, and appliance is washed, dried, and put away as soon as it hits a surface, whether you’re finished using it or not.  It’s only annoying if you like keeping a “stirring” spoon handy for something on the stove but if someone will wash my dishes, I don’t complain.  I’m guessing that Debbie doesn’t have any gunk in her kitchen.

By now I had spotted the candy canister and couldn’t help noticing the 2009 Hershey Kisses and candy canes, along with the Valentine pez refills, and a few Easter wrappers.  It felt pretty good to send all of it to the trash, wash the canister and put it on a shelf empty, awaiting new treats.  I started thinking about the treats I wanted to put into that container, which sent me to my extensive cookbook collection.  There I made quick order of the books I would keep handy for the upcoming holidays and the ones I would put behind a closed door.  I also made a mental note to take my whole Christmas with Southern Living collection of ideas to Elizabeth’s House next week to inspire the cookie swap participants.  And that’s when it became clear that what I really wanted was to take a kitchen sabbatical.  Taking my own advice, I have decided to do something I love (create in the kitchen) while I ponder possibilities, and because I live in the land of possibilities, I realize that this might take awhile.  I also decided that I’d like to share the journey, which is why instead of my trusty writing journal I grabbed the laptop from my office and brought it into the kitchen with me to record my Kitchen Sabbatical Adventure.  This is going to be interesting.

Peace,

Beth Collins