Reality in the Kitchen

If you peruse food blogs at all, you no doubt have seen some gorgeous food photography. Someone has painstakingly captured all the little moments leading up to a glorious edible finale. The kitchen in the background looks clean--or, at the very least, only reveals clutter that may have accumulated during the creation of this particular dish.

And then there's the reality of my kitchen. Ever have a night like this?

"Just a minute, honey. I'll come watch Sound of Music with you as soon as I finish prepping dinner. It's one of my favorite movies!" (said to daughter)

Mommy proceeds to completely change the chicken recipe, switching to something simpler. She plans on swiftly and deftly cutting the bird into 8 pieces, rubbing a spice mixture under the skin, and broiling it. Voila. Uhh.... The darn bird simply refuses to be cut up cleanly, the kitchen shears are dull as a rock, the twin sons of this Momma raid the pantry WHILE her hands are mired in chicken guts, and the bird finally succombs to its destiny: a very ugly mess of 8 semi-recognizable pieces with skin more or less (or not) intact.

Next step: rub the spice mixture under skin, drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. After getting to know the chicken parts rather intimately, Mommy realizes that the band-aid that had been on her ring finger is now... not on her ring finger. (sigh) Mommy hunts through the various bird cavities only to finally discover said band-aid in the sink (relief). Mommy arranges pieces on broiler pan, thankful that the broiler is already preheated and is wicked hot.

Guess what? Her nice, cast iron broiler pan DOESN'T fit in her new oven. Mommy puts broiler pan on stove, moves chicken pieces to old broiler pan, and then proceeds to wash her cast iron pan with soap and water. (sigh) Did you know she just reseasoned that thing last night??? But even a cast iron aficionado who never uses soap on a nicely seasoned pan will now scrub off raw chicken guts.

Oh--in a quick check on the rice that's supposed to be bubbling happily under its lid, Mommy notices that the rice is... um... not bubbling at all. In fact, the water has somehow lost its bubbling mojo and the BROWN rice is very raw looking. So much for it being ready when the chicken is ready--20 minutes from now (brown rice takes a good 45).

To add insult to injury, I dropped one of my favorite ramekins into my enameled cast iron sink and... it shattered.

I don't know if we're going to eat tonight. But, the chicken guts are cleaned off the counter, the cast iron broiler pan is ready for its fresh batch of seasoning oil, and the rice is indeed bubbling once again. The chicken smells great and is starting to crisp up. Mommy is finally headed into Sound of Music land with 5 minutes left on the chicken timer; it's time to think of some of her favorite things.

What's it like in YOUR kitchen on an average day?