Chef's Kitchen

I suppose if we ever sell our house we could use this description in the come-on. After all it is a chef's kitchen. I have to laugh every time I see this used though in some palatial estate up here. Most chef's kitchens probably look much like mine. I'm not talking about chefs featured in glossy publications. I'm sure they have all the Viking SubZero Aga appliances they want.

My kitchen is a large and basically purposeless room in our house. I have a 4 burner electric Hotpoint stove, an antique toaster oven, a half size Kenmore refrigerator (think dorm room size) and a Kenmore microwave.

Of these appliances the toaster oven gets the greatest workout since most of our "home-cooked meals" are some variant of toast. Replacing the fridge has saved us $30 a month on our electric bill since we were running this huge thing previously that usually had only cream for coffee and some left-over from an Indian meal. The microwave was purchased after my sister-in-law bought me this herbal heat pillow for my neck and we had no way to heat it. So my main use for it is for neck and shoulder aches. I do heat water for tea in it sometimes although the electric stove is faster.

I did however, cook a meal at our house last night. Paneer with Prik Khing Curry, Paratha, Rice and Fried Onions.

This led to a discussion of preference and prejudice. I realized that when eating Indian food I almost always go vegetarian, yet when trying almost any other restaurant I am never attracted to the vegetarian options. I mostly head for pork at Chinese establishments and seafood at Thai or Vietnamese. I'm not sure why.

Comments

[Sam]

that's so weird. me too.
i mentioned it in one of my posts the other day and someone noted that maybe we all started eating indian food in the days we were vegetarians.
I do cook indian food with meat though.
But when I eat out I nearly always go veggie.

[Scott P]

I eat a lot of veg Indian, too. I've always thought that it was because the sauces are so big flavorwise what you serve in it isn't as important as it is in other cuisines.

Maybe Sam's right, too. I didn't eat any red meat for 5 or 6 years and I ate a lot of curry during that time.

[Kudzu]

Okay, shall we get back to that kitchen? I have written more than one story about how the most wonderful food comes out of the simplest kitchens -- but we all know that. I mean, MFK Fisher's little railroad deal with Sears appliances prove it as do countless other minimalist arrangements.....I am esp. concerned about this subject since I'm trying to sell a house with no granite counters or wine refrigerator or disappearing back-draft for the range (which is a fine four-burner affair). But I maintain that it (is Mark Miller listening?) it d-o-e-s-n't affect the taste of my cooking. And sometimes it's Indian.

[haddock]

Kudzu:
You're absolutely right about cooking being what you do with the equipment, not the equipment itself.

Sam & Scott:

I've never been a vegetarian so that account for my preference. However it may be that my two faves on the Indian restaurant menu are aloo gobi and chana masala. When trying a new place I almost invariably get one or the other of these dishes to "rate" the place.