Mom's Kitchen

   Friday is always a hard workout day for me.  I see it as my "last chance" workout of sorts, because I try to use weekends for recovery time.  This morning was no different.  When my husband came upstairs, after his morning run on the treadmill, he asked if I was walking outside today.  I did think about it, but I knew I would get a much more challenging walk on the treadmill.  There, I could incline.  I'll walk outside next week.  The weather is supposed to be nice.  I pushed hard up hill, did extra weight repetitions (5 lb hand weights plus the 15lb kettle bell) and then some extra push ups (50 total).  All in all, I was in the gym from 0745 until just past 0930hrs. I did have other things to do with my day.  After all, I couldn't spend the whole day in the gym.  

   When I finally completed everything, I came back upstairs, drank a large glass of water, then hit the showers.  It is so very quiet in our kitchen when my boys leave...for school and work.  The television is off.  The cat is napping.  All I can really hear are the birds outside fighting for feeder time.  I don't need to think about dinner tonight.  There is plenty in the house and we may even go out.  Last night, we made dinner together.  I love it when we work as a team to make dinner.  Last night was delicious...baked salmon basted lightly with butter and the pampered chef lemon pepper rub I bought at the last party.  We had sauted baby portobello mushrooms and steamed asparagus sprinkled with shredded parmesan cheese on the side.  It was yummy.  I was glad to have a real meal.  When my husband travels, I eat extremely light...usually only vegetables.  Our youngest eats earlier than I do and well, he is a bit more picky about food than I am.  I don't argue.  I fight the battles that are worth fighting.  At least I can get healthy food in him, even if I do have to sneak it in.  His weight is good, and if his scout fitness test is any indication, he is physically fit.  Yesterday, he even demonstrated that he can, with very little effort, lift his old mom.  Hey, I celebrate that on a couple of levels.   

   So, when I am cooking just for me, I tend to eat what makes me feel good...primarily veggie plates.  I can't see making huge meals for one.  Because of this, I tend to lose a couple of pounds when my husband is gone.  He's been gone off and on the last two weeks.  I was getting a little light in the britches.  I needed to eat.  Last night was not only filling, but fun... I guess cooking together falls into that..."romantic things we do as a couple" category...like exercising together.  We exercised a little last night.  After dinner, we went out for a fast pace walk in the neighborhood.  Admittedly, it was fast pace because we had to get back in time to watch Brian Williams on MSNBC 1900hrs news.  We try to never miss our Brian Williams.   

   My mom and dad never cooked together.  She cooked all year.  And every night, she served him at the same time...like he was a king in his little castle.  We pretty much ate when our scheduled allowed.  Typical kids, we were in and out, busy with school or friends.  That drove my mom nuts.  I'm sure she would've have preferred we all sat around the table and had a family meal together, but that wasn't going to happen.  If I close my eyes, I can practically hear her, "You kids better eat.  I ain't stayin' in this hot kitchen all night!"  Imagine a Southern Virginia accent.  She wasn't born to it (she was actually born in Philadelphia), but she sure mastered it when she got angry...bless her heart.  

   Mom's kitchen is small, no more than 3' X 8' in what I would call actual standing room, and no real space to work.  My husband and I have fantasized about doing one of those extreme makeovers in her house, but I don't think she'd go for it.  As she frequently reminds us, she is an old woman who is set in her ways.  Anyway, she doesn't do much cooking there anymore.  I think she actually believes her microwave oven was a gift from God.  

   She certainly doesn't cook like we do.  When my husband and I moved in together, he came with skills and cookbooks.  His mom, an unbelievably wonderful cook, taught her boy everything she knew.  And believe me, I benefit from it every day.  Our kitchen is a focal point in our home.  We are always experimenting with new recipes, creating new dishes.  The kitchen was priority one when we chose the home nearly seven years ago.  And even then, it wasn't good enough.  A few years back, we gutted it and completely renovated it...to make improvements to fit our needs, make it an even more workable space.    

   When I go home to visit, it literally breaks my heart to walk into my mom's kitchen.  Had I been her, I would have slammed that plate right there in front of my father and demanded, "You want to eat, Buddy?  I want a better kitchen now!"  Then again, I am not the patient woman my mom is...and my husband is certainly not anything like my father was.  He is not only the king, he is also the king of the kitchen.  There, I am only his faithful and attentive student.  Our life together is so different from the one in which I was raised.  One thing is for sure.  Neither of us would ever feel we had to tell the kids, "Get out from under my feet.  There ain't room in here for more than one cook."  Our kitchen is made for happy gatherings, for smiles, laughs, and well...lots of experimenting with healthy new dishes.  For creating and learning new things, this mom's (and Dad's) kitchen ...is always open.