The Kitchen

Let me introduce my favorite dining kitchen.

It is located at the north-east corner of my small house. The first beam of the morning sun makes the kitchen very bright. Although the kitchen faces to the north, I am happy that I don't feel bleak thanks to the sun shine. When I sit down by the table, I can enjoy a lovely scenery of the rustling bamboo bushes under the blue sky spreading beyond the window. I often open the lace curtain and the window wide to listen to the chirping of birds.

When the house was built 22 years ago, I made the greatest efforts in designing the kitchen arrangement. It is true that each room has its important roll, but what I intended then was that the kitchen should be such a place where the homemaker could spend most of her time comfortably, where any member of the family could come together at any time, where the mother could keep eyes on the children during cooking, where the homemaker could do some housework. As the result, the kitchen was built comfortably with a small pantry, which is very convenient to do the kitchen works. Eight years ago, the house was reformed. I had once tried to relocate the kitchen in order to change the feeling, but it was located at the old place after all.

My kitchen counter's base color is pink. There is a big microwave combined oven, a dish dryer, big built-in large cabinets that can store large sized cooking pans. All of them are just what I have wanted. I had been looking for them for a long time. Finally, the kitchen became wonderful place indeed. In harmony with the counter, I designed kitchen wall as pink gray, prepared quiet pink curtains, and a sober pink colored roll screen in front of the counter. When I pull down the roll, the kitchen instantaneously turns into a cozy chatting room accommodating close friends.

I often bake cookies and cake just like a bakery. Since all the materials and utensils are in the pantry, I can take them out pretty easily. A couple of years ago, I used to sell cookies to my friend's tearoom, but today I make them to present to my friends or to bring for the bazaar of The Group of Friends. It is really pleasant to make cookies dreaming such scenes like enjoying them together with close friends, or having a good time on my husband's birthday.

There is a backdoor in this small kitchen. It is very useful. When my son was small, he used to plunge into his room next to the kitchen and dashed out for play through the door. In the supper time, a lovely dog called "Koro" was sitting small and quiet at the door floor. During his master's meal, he was watching at the master with his neck slightly tilted and waited patiently. But he sometimes tried to lift the paw asking for food. Whenever his master shouted "Wait!", he sat back again with his mouth watering. He was really lovely and clever dog.

The small master, my son, has grown up and started a new home recently. Even today, the sound of my small son's feet running around the backyard and Koro's lovely whining seem to cross my ears when I am in the kitchen.

My casual life : January, 1998 : Where is Oita?