A Realist Kitchen

 My mini condo kitchen is my favorite place in my place other than my lady lair computer station. Yes, I have the whitish  marble counter tops and back splash, black cabinets and lots of stainless steel, a glass topped stove (pooey on messy gas) and a black stone farm sink. My floor is fake wood with a door mat cut in half, to catch garbage drips before flying into the garbage bin underneath. My counter tops are laden happily, with condiments in antique cut crystaljars and bowls (what else to do with Aunt Elsie's crystal collection) and a coffee  machine, two airfryers, a tiny vacuum, mini deep fryer, blessed stand mixer, and glass covered butter dish ( never keep in the fridge), bread under glass and a small microwave oven. Above  my smart stove is a shelf laden with dried herbs and a chef's thermometer stuck on the stove hood. Any cook who stows everything inside and has a pristine empty counter top is under suspicion of using prepared food cheats. The best cook I ever knew was someone who ran down to the specialty store and bought everything for her guest her table. I always wondered if she'd flown to a desert island just before dinner. Realists don't mess around, but they are messy. I keep such as Romaine on hand always ( I do not favour eating salad leaves like a cow) for soups or to fry up. The nutrition in Romaine is stunning. I have on hand constantly tins of milk, pork and beans, tomato soup, salmon and crab. When the grocery order is delivered, I prep all the veggies so they are ready to go to war when I need them. I am a mood cook. About an hour before I have to (food is not my first love), I decide then what I want to eat. Yesterday out came the crepe maker and while it heated up, I put some cream, butter and flour into a little lovely skillet and made a sauce with herbs of the mood. Adding left over chicken and frozen stand by, peas. I adore crepes.  Always, I add clips of green onion that reside  beside my waiting black tap like a swan neck and the antique black iron lacy holder for my real sponge. Inside the sink in the corner, resides a small steel bowl with water a detergent filled brush ready to go. I have learned to keep in the fridge, done up bacon (a whole package be-micro-ed on paper), a tin of P and Beans to scoop out and a glistening jar of chopped sweet onion. They are ready for action. I mix my own herbs using the dried kind to my taste. A salt shaker filler with baking powder sits on the marble cruet ready for oil herbed chicken going into the airfryer. Makes it crispy and doesn't tell. I am never without cream, the heavy stuff I can water down to call milk if I have to. Honey and maple syrup are standbys.  I can't stand anything called Lite, MSG, substitute anything, sweeteners and the like. To  me, they are poison. Sorry, gotta go, eggs are ready; my little boiler machine I use for steaming as well,  is beeping.