5 months without a kitchen

All in all, life without a kitchen has gone better than expected. (Disclaimer: we did break down about 10 days post-demo and installed the dishwasher.) It’s sort of like the dorm days, but Easy Mac has now been replaced by Annie’s (or Amy’s) mac’n'cheese and a side salad. Way more refined.

We’re getting by with a make-shift kitchen in our basement, which basically consists of an old drafting table, a microwave, coffee maker, assorted small appliances and shelving below that acts as our pantry and dish storage. Our dining room table/home office is a lopsided card table and 2 chairs.

But back to food. I’ve really tried to resist the frozen entrée route, but we do use the microwave a lot. Who knew you could make pasta in the microwave? It takes a little finessing but it’s totally edible! (Gnocchi is a bit trickier. I’m not sure I’ll try that one again anytime soon.) Speaking of pasta, did I mention that we eat copious amounts of mac’n'cheese?  On this night we dressed it up with cherry tomatoes from the garden and fresh cracked pepper.

We also eat a lot of foods that don’t involve cooking. Sometimes I just put together a plate of crackers, cheese, apple slices, almonds, and whatever else is lying around. It’s easy and it’s fast.

For breakfast we’ve been eating a lot of cereal or granola with yogurt and fruit.

For weekdays, I’ve taken over a shelf in my office’s kitchen for breakfast and lunch items. Fortunately, my office also has a fancy espresso machine. Double shot button – oh we’re good friends.

But don’t kid yourself, we’re definitely eating out more too. We’ve also been known to order pizza from time to time. One of those times may have involved eating pizza in bed while watching old episodes of Arrested Development. It happens.

Now that we’re at the 5-month mark though, I’m done experimenting. If it takes more than 20 minutes, I don’t want to do it. I’m holding out for the real deal. Our new range is just sitting there, under a sheet, taunting me. It’s whispering words like “broil”, “roast” and worst of all…convection.

So what do I miss the most right now? Mostly I miss baked goods and things that can be “fresh out of the oven”. [Oh my gosh I want chocolate chip cookies so bad right now!] I also miss having friends over for meals, making something from a cookbook, and lazy Sunday morning breakfast.

Oh, I also miss lazy Sundays.