Big News!!!

This past weekend, I moved out of the apartment I've been staying at since the end of January, the one with the kosher vegetarian kitchen. It was a resting place I am so enormously grateful for that I cannot fully express it!!! And it will be wonderful to have my snowbirding friend back in town soon, so I can give her a huge hug to thank her for her generosity and hospitality when I was so desperately in need of a sanctuary at which to regroup from some significant chaos in my personal life.

I had the past two days' posts ready to go beforehand, such that the hauling and schlepping in my real life wasn't apparent in cyberspace. But I'm still settling in, and have a special event to attend tonight at which a good friend is being honored (thus taking away typing time). So I'm going to take the rest of the week off from ye olde blog. I'll be back on Monday, or at least that's my plan.

The new place is a summer sublet, so there's still not a full sense of "home" but it will be more mine than anything I've had for the past 6 months. And just look at the beautiful, thoughtful hand-picked floral arrangement that my new landlady, Carol, and her daughter Tatiana left at my doorstep to greet me! Here's a close-up of the very sweet message on the notecard:


Now, since this is MY kitchen, it's neither vegetarian nor kosher; it's not raw, it's not gluten- or dairy-free ... it has no political, religious or dietary agenda. I'll be able to cook anything I want to!!!

So look forward to a fabulous Cajun sausage and rice recipe adapted from the late, great Justin Wilson ... some sort of dish prepared with handmade traditional chorizo, available at a Latin market near the new homestead ... a notion I had for a pasta dish with shrimp and fennel ... a possible attempt at a Reuben pierogi, per Jeremy's suggestion ... a Vietnamese caramelized pork dish ... budget-defying meals made with sale items and Manager's Specials (those items on the verge of passing their "sell by" date which are still good but are deeply discounted) ... and even still some traditional Jewish/kosher foods and some vegetarian options. Remember -- I'm not just a carnivore, I'm an omnivore!!!

My New Kitchen

I have a new kitchen! It's not as big as my old one, and definitely not as colorful -- the old one was blue, and I had painted confetti (streaming swirls and polka dots) on one wall. There is an electric stove rather than a gas one. The countertops and storage space are both significantly limited, though I pride myself on being fairly adaptable so I'm doing my best to accommodate. All of my spices fit on the freezer door (took both shelves, but they fit!), so it's working out okay.

No, I didn't remodel anything just to set these limits -- that would have been a contrary thing to do, now, wouldn't it??? And who has the money for that kind of work anyway?

So, I'm sure you're asking why I have a new kitchen, and why I would downsize this way since I do so love to cook and bake. Well, here's where the big announcement I've been promising for a week (which had to be delayed by my untimely computer problems) comes in:

My new kitchen comes with something far more valuable than work space, more important than a gas stove, more precious than storage capacity. My new kitchen comes with a new house ... and with my sweetie.

I moved in with Tom last week ... :)