New Segment: Thea's Kitchen

Learning to cook in your twenties is challenging. I spent four years in college being served delicious food. I wasn't responsible for meal planning, grocery shopping, food preparation, serving or cleaning up. I was able to go to the dining hall, eat my fill, and leave. Since graduating, I have attempted to learn to how to eat healthy, filling meals on a budget.

Taken at my last Mount Holyoke provided meal. I am terrified to leave.

I will be sharing the delicious recipes and tips for working in the kitchen I have learned over the past two years in a new Thandie segment called...

Thea's Kitchen! 

In this segment I will be exploring how to cook for one and reduce food waste. I will try new recipes and adapt old ones. But if worse comes to worse, I will order from seamless!

As an introduction to Thea's Kitchen, I thought I would start with a quick tour of the space. My apartment is small but the kitchen is gorgeous and far too sophisticated for me. One of the features is a convection oven, the operation of which still confuses me. In fact, when I bake, I often turn off the convection function since I struggle to compensate for the speed of that setting. I also have a high tech refrigerator complete with a drink rack and ice maker. It's a beautiful thing not having to think about refilling an ice cube tray.

Since I find my kitchen intimidating, I like to fill it with personal things that make it feel more cozy. I only have two pot holders, knit by my grandmother, that hang between the stove and the sink. I also find decorative containers in which to display the utensils and cooking oils I use most often. These bursts of color and texture in my modern kitchen give the space a more youthful and organic feel. On the fridge, I have hung various gifts from the girls I nanny. I like to display only positive things on my fridge. At various times in the past, I have also hung save-the-date postcards and Camp AmeriKids magnets. I have even extended my display onto the wall next to the fridge, where I hang my marathon and half marathon medals. They simultaneously remind me of my accomplishments and motivate me to move forward. 

Finally, the best feature of my apartment is the DISHWASHER! I am one of the only young adults I know with a dishwasher. For a long time, I held out and washed all of my dishes by hand. I am only one person and I figured it would be less wasteful to wash by hand. But once I started nannying and doing the children's dishes everyday, my hands could not take all the hot water anymore. I now run the dishwasher every couple days. It has been a game changer!

That concludes our tour! Welcome to Thea's Kitchen!