I miss my kitchen, and other thoughts on cooking

I miss my kitchen. Or maybe it's better to say that I miss having my own kitchen with my own cookware and my own cupboards. It's my haven. Or it was my haven. Some people stress out over having to cook dinner. I, for the most part, look forward to it. It was my stress-reliever, my hobby, my sanctuary of sorts.

If you know me, you know I love to spend time in the kitchen. Sometimes I pour over cookbooks,  soaking them up and trying my best to recreate the treasures within or use them as inspiration for my own creations. Other times I like to just jump right in, getting my hands dirty while I try to figure out how to make something good out of virtually nothing. (I sort of like it when the cupboards are bare. I (usually) see it as an opportunity to stretch my cooking muscles, to prove my salt, to make something amazing out of what someone else would see as nothing.

But I digress. Today I miss my kitchen a lot, so I'm daydreaming about the things I used to make and even the things I used to hate to make in the kitchen. 

Some things that I like to make:

- Pesto, especially if I grew the basil myself.

- Homemade croutons. They're so much better than store bought--and so easy and inexpensive.

- Cheese plates. They're so beautiful and so delicious, and they make me feel fancy.

- Homemade bread. I'm still refining the skill, but it's a battle I will win. I love the feeling when the bread   rises--it's such a feeling of success! And the smell of a freshly baked loaf cooling in the kitchen? So worth the effort.

- Homemade jam. Again, so much better than its store bought counterparts. 

- Heirloom recipes. Not recipes with heirloom produce (although those are absolutely wonderful too), but recipes passed down to me from my grandmothers. Few things are more comforting than that.

Things I DON'T like to make:

- Anything out of a box. Unless it's cake, but even that's debatable.

- Stir fry. It's messy, and it's a lot of chopping. And mine rarely turns out very good. But alas, it is one of our staple meals. Perhaps I should try to perfect this one soon?

- Curry. Don't get me wrong--I love to eat curry, but I definitely don't like to make it. Well, an authentic curry, at least. The spices are so pungent that they stay in my kitchen for weeks. I'd rather do takeout on this one.

- Things that involve me cutting up a raw chicken. I'll roast a whole chicken, but cutting it up makes me want to be a vegetarian. Sometimes I think I'd make a good vegetarian, actually.