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Recommitting to the Kitchen: A Year in Our Kitchen

Greg found leftover pizza on top of the fridge. I unearthed a container of cut apples in the kitchen drawer. There’s yogurt in the freezer, reheated chicken in the stove from yesterday, and breakfast dishes still in the sink at 3:30 p.m.

Obviously my mind is not where it needs to be. I find myself walking aimlessly around the kitchen, wondering what I should get done, avoiding the dishes and the dinner that needs to be made, or blankly searching the cupboards for snacks to stem the rising tide of the kids’ hunger.

Maybe it’s spring fever, maybe it’s busy-ness, maybe it’s laziness, but whatever it was this past week, I was avoiding the kitchen. I wasn’t fully committed to the kitchen and that was what had been causing all this chaos.

This has happened before, and I just don’t like the uneasiness that comes with doing things half-heartedly. I can’t pretend that the call of the kitchen will go away, because if I ignore it, it simply drags on and things never get done.

I find that when I don’t commit to the kitchen, things go downhill quickly. I find myself tempted to swing by the store to pick up dinner on the run. I find that I spend more money on groceries because I haven’t planned a menu. I find my kitchen is messy, and out of order. I find my patience is short, especially when the kids come bounding into the kitchen looking for an afternoon snack, and I’ve nothing to offer them. And, perhaps most frustrating, is that I spend more time in the kitchen trying to figure things out.

When this feeling does happen, I just have to dive back in, and get back into the groove, recommitting myself to kitchen.

I don’t really know how it happened, but this past weekend, after several days of roaming the kitchen, not accomplishing much, I found myself recommitted to my plan. Recommitted to the kitchen. And, once I found myself being more present in what I was doing, what I was preparing, what I was offering the family, that I became more relaxed, I got more done, and it was more enjoyable for both myself and my family.

This past weekend, Greg made his usual two loaves of bread, then decided to try another recipe – Tuscan bread. Me, I made granola, scones, and pizza, hummus and pesto. The kids buzzed in and out of the kitchen, while Greg and I cranked out a bit of weekend fare along with a few extras meals and snacks to get us through the week. I’ve made it through last week’s unpleasant kitchen situation. Now, in order to prevent this from happening again, all I have to do is remember to focus, have a plan, and recommit myself to the kitchen – every day.