My Kitchen

 As I have mentioned previously, I take breakfast and lunch at Dela's house, so I don't do much in the way of cooking. This weekend is quite young, and I've already cooked twice! By cooking, this time anyway, I mean heating up something to eat.

I took an almost instant dislike to my kitchen. It did not present itself well during my first visit to the house. There was evidence of mice visitors; the countertop was broken on one corner; and under the sink was a breeding spot for mildew: you can feel the moist heat immediately upon opening the door. After living here for four and half months now, I am still not enamored of the room, but I do tolerate it better. After all, I have to go in there at least once a day to get cold water. 

Kitchen before moving in

That is, indeed, my usual purpose on entering: to get water, a soda, or some cookies or crackers to snack on. Consuming those items means that I use dishes, so I am forced to wash dishes every couple of days. The dirty items are few: a couple of plates and glasses, perhaps a spoon or fork, and my water bottle. The process takes a bit longer than you might imagine though.

Step 1:  heat water. Although people here seem not to mind using cold water to wash dishes, I just can't get past the habit of having hot water. So I put a pot of water on the stove. One extra complication:  the air from the living room fan causes the flames on the gas stove to flicker more than I would like. In order to avoid a blow out and potential gas leak, I turn off the fan before I light the stove.

When I visited Burkina Faso back in 2020, I  got reacquainted with gas stoves. I had grown up with one, but the last few houses I've lived in have had electric. I thought it would be an easy re-adjustment--somewhat like riding a bicycle. But I was wrong. There, I only used the stove to boil water for coffee in the morning. Every time I lit it, I went through at least two matches, and I burned my fingers. The stove here  has an electric "igniter," but it works with varying degrees of success on each burner. Since I can't remember which burners work best and, since the power often goes out in the evenings, I just use a lighter to light the stove. Adjusting the flame to the right height is also tricky. Some of the burners have extremely high flames; some have low. 

Once the water is hot, I pour it into the dishpans. Since they are plastic I run a bit of cold water into them before adding the hot. I don't know if it is vitally necessary to do so, but a melting dishpan would not be fun for me. Sometimes the proportion of heated water to cold water is just right and I'm able to wash the dishes right away. Other evenings I have to wait for the water to cool a bit before I can put my hands in it.

The sink. Note the broken counter top in the bottom left corner of the picture. One of the details that bother me about the kitchen. My stove lighter, oven mitt and hot pads, and pans are on hooks across the top. I use the electric kettle to the right of the sink rarely. The circuit in the kitchen can not handle it and the refrigerator both, so I have to plug it into a living room socket. Even then I have to turn off the fan so that I don't trip the circuit.

I'm a big fan of air drying, so I don't dry the clean wet dishes. But one can not leave them out too long or they start to gather dust. The buffet cupboard in the dining room houses the plates, bowls, and glasses. The silverware sits in  a cup on the dining room table and each piece gets wiped before use.

After the dishes are washed, I face the problem of getting rid of the dishwater. Although I had a plumber check under the sink to make sure that the drain pipes do not leak, I am still a bit leary of using them. (My spell-check is marking the word "leary" as incorrect, so I googled the correct spelling of the word. This is what I learned: Leery is an adjective that means wary or suspicious. Leary is a variant spelling that has not been widely used in 100 years. Tell me:  why is it that I spell it that way?) In order to avoid leakage, I take the dishpans outside and pour them out in the planters or down the outside drain.

          

Two important parts of the kitchen:  the refrigerator with the cold water and sodas and the little plastic cart with the canned goods, cookies, oatmeal, coffee, etc. The cupboard to the left of the pantry cart is filled with water bottles. I buy water to drink because it tastes better than the local water.

My frequent use of the kitchen this weekend has me wondering. Is it growing on me? Or was I just especially hungry? Only time will tell!