Kitchen

I didn't take a "Before" picture today... I think it's a good thing actually, because what happened was that I was partway into the cleaning process before it occurred to me that I'd want pictures for the blog. Which means that I was doing the cleaning without having to gear myself up first. Pretty cool, no?

I got the countertop full of dishes in to soak and decided that today I would actually clean the counters and stuff as well. It bothers me to have a half-clean kitchen and never REALLY get the job Done. (Some day I am going to pull out the refrigerator and clean behind It... but not today. (I hate the phrase "not today"...gack.)) Today I cleaned the stovetop and the counters. (much better)

And I was horrified into awareness of my lack of photographic evidence when I pulled the electric grilltop out and discovered:



Something had spilled... sometime... long ago... it had soaked underneath the grilltop... and now it was colonizing.

EwwwWW!

I don't want to think about it. Any more. It's gone now. (Not just covered up--GONE. Cleaned, scrubbed, sanitized, GONE.)



I took another picture after I got the dishes out of the sink and into the dishwasher:



See, Clean Kitchen!!

For my reward, I thought I'd cook something. 0:)
My mum and dad had sent me some lemons, and all week (I didn't cook with them earlier because my knee hurt and my kitchen wasn't clean enough, and with Bethieee out of town I wasn't going to be able to eat it all by myself...) they'd been a fabulous aromatherapy while I dreamed of what to make...



Meyer lemons.. larger and sweeter than the kind I can usually find in the local produce section...

Lemon Meringue Pie. ... or maybe lemonade syrup... or lemon cookies.. or lemon.... lemonlemonlemon!!! mmmmm...

Over the weekend I noticed they were starting to soften, so I was really looking forward to using them soon. I didn't get a chance to cook on Friday because I didn't have enough eggs. Saturday evening the eggs arrived. I didn't get a chance to cook on Sunday because...well, that's the subject of a different post, actually... suffice to say I didn't get to cook on Sunday. But I was really looking forward to lemon meringue pie! So I set out to cook it tonight.

Notice the absence of a photograph of lemon meringue pie.

Turns out I have plenty of butter, but it was all in the freezer. I need chilled butter, not rock-hard frozen butter! .. Butter's in the fridge now. I'll get the next chance to make lemon meringue pie on Wednesday. (tomorrow's mid-day appointment, plus an evening date with the boyfriend means I don't have the time to cook a pie.)

Still, my reward was going to be cooking something, and I would not be thwarted!!

There is a rumor floating around that says I cannot cook without dirtying every single dish in the kitchen. While this is a gross exaggeration, I must concede that I understand where the misperception originates:



Cooking process barely started, and already you can lose count of the dishes.

I got the lemons juiced and the zest put into the freezer.
I got the cookies finished. (mixed up on Saturday after the eggs arrived and refrigerated for the reccommended 12+ hours until I had the time to run them through the oven)
I got the yams cooked...
and I made a rice-hamburger-cheese casserole which should keep us all in lunches for the week. :)

And the kitchen suffered.

SO... (and here's the good part...) I actually got the kitchen cleaned TWICE today!!



TWICE! (It may be cluttered, but it's Clean!)

See the fruit bowl? Lemons in the morning, no lemons at night!