Simply Balisha

Simply Balisha

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Favorite Kitchens

We women spend a lot of time in our kitchens. I have had a few kitchens in my lifetime. Some I have liked and some that I would rather forget. I have always leaned toward old fashioned kitchens. I loved seeing the kitchens on TV programs. The Walton's comes to mind. I used to scan the picture on TV quickly...and see what was hanging on the walls....what was on the shelves....what kind of pots and pans did they use....etc. I collected kitchen items back in those days. Yellow ware bowls, wooden bowls, crocks, enamel ware, rag rugs to name a few things. I could imagine a big family table like the one on the Walton's. 

When I was looking for pictures of TV kitchens this morning, I was surprised to find that there was never a kitchen shown on the Little House series except in the show..."The Handyman." I couldn't find a picture to show, but I can imagine how primitive it must have been. An old stove in the corner, maybe a table made by "Pa" A crock full of pickles that "Ma" had just made. Homemade rag rugs on the floor. The table would have had to do double duty. For food prep and studying by the kids....and a place to sit and drink coffee or tea and just talk with each other.  
 Then there was another kitchen that was so famous. It was Julia's kitchen...that is now in the Smithsonian. She did many programs from her own kitchen. I just watched the movie "Julie and Julia" the other day for the 3rd time. I loved it....and I loved Julia Child. I had a 1st edition of her cookbook and foolish me....I gave it away never thinking that it would be highly collectible in  later years.
She had a peg board on her walls with outlines for her pots and pans. I believe that her husband, Paul, did that. She had everything out and handy. She used to say, "If it's hidden away...you'll never use it." 

I had cast iron pans on shelves on one whole wall in my kitchen. The wall on the opposite end of the narrow room had shelving (that I put up myself) with my collections of bowls, cookbooks, and a n antique chicken coop sort of thing.....where I had excelsior beds for my calico chickens. Everything chicken was collected by me back then. Little kids loved to play with the coop holding the chickens. When my late husband came home from a fishing trip....he told me that he wanted to make a dining room out of our attached garage and build another garage on the other side of the house. Oh, I wanted a dining room so badly....we needed the space for our growing family to eat, but I would have to give up my wall. My beautiful wall. The building began and we had a nice new dining room with a fireplace.....but I still missed my wall. 

I still love primitive kitchens. Not a big fan of sleek shiny kitchens of today with their granite tops. My kitchen here is really nice and handy for someone my age. It only takes a couple of steps to go from one side to the other. Pull out shelves for my pantry, shelves that slide out, adequate cupboards, new appliances, most everything I could want. But still, when I visit other kitchens and see how tidy they are..... I come home and put things away on my counters... to make them neater. Then I hear Julia in the back of my mind saying, "If you hide it away....you'll never use it." I listen to her and bring everything back out :)

Would you, who used to love these old kitchens...go back and live the way they did in the earlier years? Having to bake your family's bread, do the canning and preserving, raise the chickens, tend your kitchen gardens, cook the meals on an old wood stove, and then all the cleaning and caring for children? I'm so glad for progress...but in the back of my mind, I still long for the old days...maybe just one day :)
Balisha

Later:
I just read Vicki's post  http://lifeinmyemptynest.blogspot.com/ and found the quickest recipe for something very tasty. I made them in about 10 min. Go over and check this recipe out....delicious!

10 comments:

  1. YES!!! My favorite kitchen was in my Grandma's house, where I raised my children. Nice and big and lots of counter space and--let me count--10 upper tall and deep cupboards--with, near the ceiling above the cupboards, 5 small and deep cupboards where I kept the canning stuff, the big roaster--things I might only use once or twice a year. Drawers under the counter, below that, 8 lower deep cupboards, a lazy susan in the corner AND a nice big tall, closet sort of that today would probably be a pantry, but when I had it, it held my cleaning supplies, vacuum, brooms, etc. Big tall east facing windows. Room for a round table where we ate our meals. Oh yeah!!! I miss that kitchen!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sounds like a wonderful kitchen. You mentioned deep cupboards....the cupboards of today are so narrow and hold almost nothing.

      Delete
  2. I like my little cottage kitchen. When we took down the wall between utility room and kitchen to make the space larger it was a dream come true. We put a double cast iron porcelain sink facing north with a bump out window over the sink. Now I can see what's happening in the secret garden, watch butterflies and birds, see flowers and sky.

    I have collections too, cookbooks, bowls, some rolling pins, tea pots, but I've not added to those in quite some time now. At this age, I don't need anything else. My kitchen is cozy and colorful. Tiny by today's standards, but it is warmed by love.

    Nice post and I loved the movie 'Julie and Julia', only saw it once. That would be fun to see again.

    Love and hugs ~ FlowerLady

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I got the movie from my daughter for a gift....I only have things that I use out in my little kitchen. The collections are on top of my cabinets. I always dread washing everything up there. My kitchen is just enough for me as I grow older.

      Delete
  3. Just copied zuchinni recipe
    and will beso easy and tasty for this one.
    My favorite kitchen
    was at my old farm house.
    Huge and was able to hang much on walls.
    I miss not having an area to display a lot.
    My kitchen and great room are all together
    in this cottage but just what I need at this time of life...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was eating lunch alone today and went to her blog and copied the recipe. I used a t of salsa and a bit of Muenster cheese on top. I didn't have marinara sauce in the cupboard. They were so tasty. Just a small plate full with some cottage cheese and some thin rye wafers.. and a glass of iced tea.....good lunch.
      Hope you enjoy them too.
      Balisha

      Delete
  4. My late mom and I always loved the Walton's tv show. I don't bake much these days with just the 2 of us. Family live far away so even on holidays, we usually eat out. My current kitchen is small and plain but I enjoy the view out the window.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I don't bake much either. Sometimes muffins, or chocolate chip cookies. I love pies...but seldom bake one or we'd eat the whole thing. The Walton's was a regular TV program for us. I loved those old shows with family values.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I like my cozy non-modern kitchen, though I wish my oak cabinets were white. No, I don't want to take on the job of painting them myself. ;-) My kitchen is large - it's an eat-in kitchen, but I don't have a separate dining room.

    ReplyDelete
  7. So much of the Walton's show took place in the kitchen! What a great place. I remember bits of the Little House Kitchen. First they cooked in the fireplace a lot and had the other stuff along the wall. Then Pa built on a kitchen room and it had a water pump! They really advanced. You could see the stove through the doorway and there was a back door out the opposite corner. I remember Albert exploding potatoes in the oven and lots of serving the food onto plates from the stove. I'm going to have to watch some reruns and see if I can see it again.
    Kitchens really do tell the family story a lot don't they. Thanks for sharing about yours. Ours is on the remodel list. It will be the last room in the house we do. It has had a lot of alterations over the years done by not too handy of people and we inherited the goof ups.

    ReplyDelete