Relatives have been expressing curiosity about our kitchen arrangement. So, as promised, here are a few photos of where we cook now. We still don’t have warm water outside the cellar, and the spot where we will ultimately install a proper kitchen is still buried under a pile of boxes, and this isn’t likely to change for another few months.
We have to cook somewhere, so we’ve put together a makeshift cooking area in the former Garderobe of the church. We chose that room since it has a stone floor (not carpet), is next door to the toilet block where there’s water, and features firmly installed hat racks on the walls which can serve as shelves. We re-purposed an Ikea sideboard that used to be in our Vienna hallway as dish storage. A newly purchased Ikea glass-topped garden table provides the work surface.
The garden table was the first thing we purchased on the night we moved in to the church. Ikea closed for the night as we walked the trolley with the 50kg garden table to the car. After much heaving and huffing and puffing, we conceded that the box was just a couple of cm too big to fit in the car, no matter the orientation. We were left with not much of a choice: TheHighPriest drove the car home, and I took off on foot down the bike path into the cold dark night with the table and trolley. My long walk was uneventful, save for the rather puzzled look I got from a passing cyclist. (We did return the trolley the next morning). The frosted glass of the table is turning out to be a pretty good work surface – it’s relatively tough and quite easy to clean. We’re even considering something similar for our “real” kitchen in the future.
With the hotchpotch of different furniture and supplies, together with the open shelving, our little temporary kitchen isn’t exactly stylish, or even particularly neat, but it will do. In particular, the hat racks and the stained glass of the windows really clash. I’ve tried to pull the look together by emphasizing colors that match the hat racks. The space isn’t easy to photograph since there’s so much going on, but hopefully these images will give some sense of how we have improvised.
View from the entrance to the "kitchen".
Spice jars.
Coffee is important.
We cook using two cheap induction hot plates. They've got marks for variable size, but alas, those seem to be just decoration. The plates do their induction thing on only a narrow diameter.
Another view of this side of the "kitchen".
The other side of the "kitchen".
The other side of the kitchen, from another vantage point.
What follows are random detail shots of stuff in the kitchen that I took mostly for photography practice.
Vase full of lemon balm clipped from the baskets I planted a few weeks ago.
This lemon balm, she is an attention seeker! A portrait in the style of a fun fair photo booth.
To keep this post classy, here's some beer. The repeating lines caught my eye.
Still life with broccoli I
Still life with broccoli II
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9 comments
cliff1976 says:
May 4, 2011 at 06:45 (UTC 1 )
Is that Neumarkter Lammsbräu I spy? That’s from my neck of the woods (sorta…Neumarkt is about 40 minutes away from Regensburg). I seem to recall that it’s a Bio-Bier brand (right?) and that their Weizen was pretty good.
Nice work on the kitchen improvising!
TheHighPriestess says:
May 4, 2011 at 08:43 (UTC 1 )
It is indeed. They are bio, but what attracted us is that this particular variety is also gluten-free, and not bad for that. Nicely hoppy. (Wouldn’t you know, got a coeliac diagnosis soon before relocating to a land whose cuisine is known for its bread and beer :/ )
Thanks for stopping by
Jakob says:
May 4, 2011 at 11:54 (UTC 1 )
This looks surprisingly neat for a temporary kitchen in a to-be-renovated house…
TheHighPriestess says:
May 4, 2011 at 12:09 (UTC 1 )
Heh. I suppose especially so considering how my work desk usually looked
Richard Elwes says:
May 4, 2011 at 11:54 (UTC 1 )
Off-topic, but my understanding of a garderobe was a medieval open latrine which doubled a clothes closet – a cunning plan because the foul smells emanating from below kept moths away from the clothes.
Is this part of your plan?
TheHighPriestess says:
May 4, 2011 at 12:16 (UTC 1 )
That’s… awesome
Well, the sewage line does in fact run under this room….
I meant the word as it is used in German (and since this is how the room is labelled on the blueprints). The word apparently joined the German vocabulary in the 16th or 17th century, when I think the latrine thing wasn’t so much part of the meaning anymore.
Andrés Villaveces says:
May 5, 2011 at 05:39 (UTC 1 )
Beautiful espresso machine and spice rack! And the kitchen seems like a good space to inspire yourself to cook good things!
TheHighPriestess says:
May 5, 2011 at 07:20 (UTC 1 )
Thanks! That espresso machine is kind of our baby
I always thought that I’m waaaaay too messy for open shelving, but it’s so handy to have those spices out in the open right before my nose as I put stuff together.
Andrés Villaveces says:
May 5, 2011 at 06:18 (UTC 1 )
Beautiful espresso machine and spice rack!