Kitchen Wrap-Up

Well it's been a quiet week here in Lake Wobegon, my hometown.
Wait a minute, that's somebody else's opening line.
It's actually been a delightful week here at the castle.
While seeking out homemaking inspiration, I discovered some lovely new blogs , including Jeannine's Grace and Peace, where she writes about her family's Epiphany celebration (a holiday I now have a hankering to celebrate).   She is also a fan of Queen of the Castle, which of course makes her my new best friend. :)
(What?  You haven't read Queen of the Castle?  Click here to see what you're missing.)

With the zeal for decluttering that seems to hit me this time of year, I spent a bit of time cleaning out and organizing one of my kitchen drawers, discovering some napkins, napkin rings, and other assorted treasures I'd completely forgotten about.  I even put down new shelf paper, seeing as the old stuff had been in there since my two manly sons were in diapers . . . Yeah.  That was quite some time ago.

I made some interesting pumpkin-studded bread.
Let's just leave it at "interesting," shall we?

And I discovered this wonderful book, The Kitchen Counter Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn, which I think would make a perfect housewarming gift for young people moving into their first apartments, or newlyweds, or anyone, really, who is even a little bit interested in food and who never got the chance to go to cooking school.  I've been playing in my kitchen for decades now, and I still have soooo much to learn.  In this book, I'm learning about different methods for cooking meat, and different ideas for vegetable cookery. Whether you're a novice or somewhat experienced in the kitchen, there's something in this entertaining book for you.

So I leave you today not with a recipe, but with these inspiring words from author Kathleen Flinn:

"So who says you can't cook?  Not every meal has to be from scratch, nor does everything you consume have to be organic, locally sourced, and pasture raised.  Try to find a comfortable place somewhere between Tuna Helper and Top Chef.  If you burn, scorch, drop, overcook, undercook, underseason, or otherwise put a meal together that's less than a success, in the end it doesn't matter.  It's just one meal.  You'll make another one tomorrow."

So bon appetit.  Enjoy your warm, homey kitchens, wherever they may be.