Whenever I come home from school, one of the things I most look forward to (other than seeing my adorable nugget of a dog) is the opportunity of eating a home cooked meal. Some of my favorites include any sort of pasta dish, homemade crabcakes, and a good breakfast. So after tiring of the meal plan that I have been living off for the past nine months in my sorority house, it is only natural that I was excited to come home and enjoy some of my favorite meals, right? WRONG.
What really happened is…I came back to a house with no kitchen.
As I was finishing exams in the beginning of May, my kitchen at home in Richmond, VA was in the process of being totally demolished. Everything was gutted and we have since started from scratch building a brand new kitchen. For my family, this is a very exciting process and something that needed to be done, as our old kitchen was pretty outdated. But on a personal level and thinking in the short term, this renovation could not have come at a worse time.
However, living without a kitchen for the past month has forced me to become pretty creative when it comes to meals, and I think it has actually prepared me well for when I return to Athens and live in my own house next year for the first time.
On a day-to-day basis, I usually start my morning off with a bowl of cereal or a piece of fruit and some peanut butter. Therefore, my breakfast choices haven't been too shaken up by this whole process as long as I eat before workers show up at 8:30 a.m. So that we can store things like cereal and other snacks, we set up a makeshift pantry in a cleared out coat closet that has been covered by plastic (you know, to avoid the copious amounts of dust coming from sanding the floors, installing the cabinets, etc.)
As my routine for the month has gone, at around 12:30 p.m. I begin to work my creative juices and let them flow so I can come up with something to make for lunch. There are two main issues that have arisen during this process. 1. Sometimes it is impossible to get to the fridge (the one working appliance we have) or to our makeshift pantry through the maze of installations and workers. 2. Everything I prepare has to be made in the dining room and with limited plates/silverware, which means it can get a bit messy. I have been eating a lot of wraps this month. The best part about a wrap is that there are truly endless possibilities, and all I have to do is throw a bunch of ingredients onto a tortilla blanket of goodness. They require minimal preparation and thought, and therefore have been kitchen-less approved!
Dinner has by far been the most difficult meal to prepare. Unfortunately, my delicious wraps will not suffice for this meal. While we may not have a working stovetop, oven, or even toaster, we do have a grill. We are luckily a family that loves to grill. We grill a lot of meat, fish, and vegetables. Although I am tempted to slap some pasta noodles on there and see what happens, I don't think that meal would turn out as well.
All in all my summer without a kitchen has not been as dreadful as I expected. I went into this with the intention of trying to eat as many home-cooked meals as possible and I have actually been pretty successful. I definitely miss some of the foods that the luxuries of a simple kitchen provide (even some Tollhouse slice n' bake cookies would be nice), but being kitchen-less does not mean that all of the joys of home cooking have been completely lost! I can't say I would want to put up with this for much longer, the hammering and banging waking me up in the early hours of the morning is a separate issue in itself, but luckily I will be moving back to Athens for the summer next week. The next time I am home, our new kitchen will be complete and a freshly cooked plate of pasta will be waiting upon my arrival.
