real life (in my kitchen)

I texted these photos to a friend today and then realized they were perfect for the blog too.  I want to remember these days.  And this crowded kitchen.

The caption I sent with the texted photos read "counter space is an issue"

My oven is not working (it's an issue we've had previously, the repair guy already ordered a new part but it might be a week, or more) so I borrowed a friend's little mini-oven as a stand in.  It takes up a too-big chunk of space. 

Then there are last night's dinner dishes (still unwashed).   The dish rack (with both dishes and tomatoes, all clean).  The overflow has ended up on the floor - Luke's high chair tray (post lunch), a bowl of still steaming chic peas (straight from the pressure cooker), two oven mitts perched on the stool (where else?) and a bag of apples needing to be washed. 

A closer look towards the stove top - just cooked bread (3 loaves every Wednesday), the stand mixer bowl (dirty, of course), the blue-lidded tupperware is ready for the sliced bread.  Unfortunately, slicing bread isn't an option right this minute (even though the cutting board is, mercifully, clean - there's just no room for it on the counter!)

The tomatoes in the dish rack are for tonight's supper (BLTs).  The pressure cooker did last night's refried beans (my first attempt and they were delicious) and today's chic peas (still on floor, planning to make hummus for dinner and freeze the remainder for future batches).  The stand mixer (minus dirty bowl) and the flour (perched on top - remnants of the bread making).

And, one last little secret (in the interest of full disclosure) -

I have a bucket of dirty dishes under the sink.  It's my version of loading a dish washer.  Dishes out of sight, waiting to be washed.  You can't tell from the pic but it's a nice deep basin ;) Last night we hosted six (plus our seven) so there are plenty of dirty plates and bowls, and the deepest recesses are full of silverware.  

But wait, there's good news.  My house helper arrived within the hour.  She's got nerves of steel and doesn't even flinch.  Kitchen has been better than this, but it's also been worse.  She spent probably half of her 4 hour shift right in this kitchen - even got the bread sliced just in time for dinner :)