Kitchen

One of my most favorite places in the world now has got to be my kitchen.

And it must've been rather obvious; as Simon says, "You really take pride in your kitchen huh." With a chuckle, as he watches me wash up every single equipment and clean out every corner of the countertops - before and after our feast.

It's true. I love my kitchen.

Times when the nighttime social activities seem to intensify a bit, and I don't get to hang out in my lovely apartment or lie in bed and pop in a movie after a long day at work, I start to feel dissociated from my flat.

Recently, for a couple of odd reasons, I've started waking up at six on a couple of mornings so I can prepare lunch from scratch. (Why do you have to wake at six, asks a friend. Because I have to cook rice. Why can't you cook it overnight so you can sleep an extra hour?? I don't know... Because I like to cook it fresh. Inexplicable. Incomprehensible.)

Waking at six probably ranks high up on Mom's list of Top Ten Miracles in the world. I would definitely top that list if she knows I wake at six to cook.

There's nothing quite as peaceful for me these days, as a peaceful morning spent in my kitchen. The first fifteen minutes would be - as per any other usual morning - part groggy, part irritable. But I'd never known I could feel this fresh in the morning, as I start putting the rice into the cooker, make a cup of coffee, sometimes a smoothie, check some web sites on the mac, and then start cooking.

Most mornings I'd put music on in the living room, and dance in the kitchen. I'd open the windows in the kitchen, listen to the morning sounds outside - birds that sing, cars that pass, not too much but just about enough to indicate the springing of life to the world. In summertime, this is also probably the best time of my day, you get a cool breeze passing through your kitchen, and the sun has not yet shone onto my white walls.

For the next hour or so, I'd flit to and fro between mac and kitchen. Maybe make a second cup of coffee. No one's awake online yet. So I check really frivolous web sites. Maybe pop my head into the wardrobe and think about what to wear. Then when I think it's time, I start the real work. I don't really check recipes these days. I cook really simple. And I just know what I want to eat - usually fish, since it's always easier to get chicken or other meat when I eat out. And as long as I have soy sauce, vinegar and mirin these days, all's good to go. Sometimes, I start ransacking the fridge box and see what else I could throw into the lunchbox that day. Mushrooms, spinach, chilli, peppers, eggs are the usual accomplices.

The funny thing is, when all's done (including the obsessive washing up) and I'm all showered and dressed up, I get out of the house and still get to work earlier than usual.

Well, I just get zonked out after lunch.



Maybe I have my continued insomnia to thank for these beautiful, peaceful mornings I'm enjoying these days.