Making Space

While Brett has been busy with all his barn and property projects, I've been busy unpacking the boxes piled in every room and outside on the porch.  Being an obsessively organized control freak, living a midst piles of boxes is not a comfortable thing for me.  I have slowly, but surely, been carving out box free, "finished" rooms.  The guest bathroom was first followed by the computer/TV room.  We've started calling it Brett's Room because if he is in the house, he is in his recliner in "his" room watching golf or football.  He's even spending quite a bit of time on the computer and negotiating Windows 8 quite well.

The downstairs half bathroom was finished last weekend and we eliminated all the boxes from our bedroom, closets and bathroom as well.  We hung pictures which made the rooms feel finished and complete -- even if they aren't.  I unpacked most of the kitchen boxes and fit as much as I could into the cupboards.  The rest went onto the counters and dining room table.  We are planning to have the cupboards re-done so I didn't want to unpack more than the bare essentials but of course there was no box marked "bare essentials."  Everything was jumbled up together: pots, pans, and crystal.

Yesterday, I repacked the non-essential kitchen items.  Some will be stored in the dining room and some were taken by Brett out to the barn store room.  I have been cooking in a very small space, about the size of a notebook, on the counter next to the sink.  Not a happy thing.  I finally have a work space cleared on the counter between the kitchen and the great room.  I have informed Brett that he cannot put mail or paint brushes or screwdrivers in that space.

It's sacred cooking space.  I tried it out last night; salad with cherry tomatoes, ground cherries (they look like tiny tomatillos with a papery skin that reveals small yellow berries, sweet - almost a guava flavor), red onion, cucumber and blue cheese.  (of course, Brett did not have any onion or cucumber on his salad, but he did eat his tomatoes).

Brett grilled rib eye steaks.

I boiled some small potatoes and gave them a thorough bath in butter, salt and pepper.

We feasted.