Cooking in Foreign Kitchens

Since leaving our lovely apartment in Tiong Bahru just over eighteen months ago, I have cooked meals in twenty different kitchens. Be they crowded but convivial, rustic but scenic, or cosy and homely, I loved them all. But none were entirely mine, as they required some concessions to the way I like to cook. 

Thankfully, loyal reader, patience is a virtue, though not one normally associated with me. In this rare instance however, I am basking in that sense of righteousness patient people feel when their waiting, their trials and their tribulations (in this case culinary) truly pay off. 

My recompense for all the blunt knives I have had to suffer, recipes I have had to change, cakes I have baked in casserole dishes and cheap pans I have had to endure, is this kitchen which once belonged to Sarah Bernhardt. I’m not sure if she was a huge fan of cooking and I doubt she had anything to do with its current design, but I’m grateful to her anyway. I’m also grateful to my aunt who is renting this incredible house in the Burgundy region of France, and to the very kind owner of the house, who left her beautiful abode for a few weeks and agreed to rent it to to my aunt. Basically I’m incredibly grateful for the chance to cook in this amazing kitchen, so much so that I extended my stay here in Nicey for two more weeks. 

Even Simon The Starter loves this kitchen

It’s the Frenchiest French country kitchen I could ever imagine, with the classic blue and white tiles behind the stove, a centre workstation directly under a light and with plenty of storage, a blue and white paper lined cabinet with all manner of crockery, and quality pans of every size imaginable. It also has a huge range and oven in which I was able to simultaneously roast two chickens (a considerably larger oven than the trusty toaster we used to bake, toast and roast everything in Parma).  

So excited am I to be in this kitchen, I even rehydrated Simon and have started baking some incredible bread — the joys of a proper oven! Alas the bread baked so far was eaten too quickly, so I don't have any photographic evidence. Instead, please enjoy these pictures of apple pie, made from the abundance of apples falling off the tree in the front yard.

The perfect kitchen includes big workbenches you can get dirty and clean easilyThe perfect kitchen includes apple pie, of courseThe house lucky enough to house this kitchen, in which I'm lucky enough to stay.

Comments

[James sowden]

Where's the nearest airport? My bag is packed!

[Liz Fitzgerald]

So sad I missed the apple pie :( But I can vouch for the deliciousness of the roast chicken - and for the amazing kitchen (and house, generally)!

[Lindsay]

Someday, when we all have jobs and (some) money, we are going to go there together and make apple pie. Okay? Okay.

[CupcakeQ]

Liz, we lived off those chickens for several more meals including a spectacular chicken and vegetable soup Jamie made!

Linds and James: Come now! I'm here till the 16th!