in which i report from the kitchen

The benefits of my hard work are starting to materialize in meaningful ways in my life, currently as some remodeling in my house that we've wanted to do for years but haven't been able to afford. At the moment, we're having drywall hung the house, and the ceilings in three rooms are being skim coated, to make them all smooth and shiny, so that when we have visitors over, they oolMost gets blind.

One of these rooms is where I usually do my work, so I've been temporarily relocated to my kitchen table, in what is probably the most uncomfortable chair in the entire house. This is just slightly less fun than it sounds, but comes with the added bonus of my dogs sleeping at my feet for the entire day, because their beds have also been temporarily moved to the kitchen.

However, the creeping pain in my neck and shoulders is easily offset by the glorious aroma of chili, which is currently cooking in the crockpot on the counter, just ten feet away from me.

I'm sure there are people in the world who work next door to a bakery or some other place which prepares delicious-smelling food . . . man, I don't know how they do it; I've been salivating all day long.

Comments

[Zee]

I work from home too and I almost can't cook food in the crock pot anymore - I usually can handle the good smells but it sends the dog into a tizzy. She's a wee little thing so can't possibly get up on the counter, so instead she stands in the kitchen and barks until I come in there and physically remove her. I am very productive on those days. :-P

[starshine_diva]

What's worse is when you're super hungry but super busy, and all you've got in the cupboards is junk food. Then you gain 10 pounds. And not ten Tyra Banks pounds.

[cosleia]

I freelance for a restaurant delivery service designing advertisements and menus, and boy is it hard to deal with looking at all those glorious food shots all day.

[jamenta]

I used to keep my computer in my back room with only one window. But a few months ago I decided to try out my wood kitchen table (half of it) - since from where I sit, I have 3 windows looking out on Santa Cruz redwoods, to my right is my kitchen, and a little off to my right is my widescreen TV that I can keep on in the background - keep muted, but unmute if something interesting comes on.

Much more satisfying. Strange to set up on the kitchen table - but whatever works. Who's the famous writer that wrote on his refrigerator all day long?

[Spartica]

I myself like homemade bread, so I bought one of those bread making machines that does all the work and it smells so good when it's baking. A few years ago, I renovated this house I live in that was built just prior to the civil war with all hand sawn timbers. It is a really nice house(a mansion for it's time) but they used much different building practices back then, so I took it down to the frame and added firewalls, electricity, an added on for an indoor bathroom and so on. Probably my least favorite part was the drywall, all that dust messed my head up for weeks. It's between that and the time I installed a paver walkway and all of the concrete dust. I am a major fuzzy mind. Currently, I am working on my masonry skills and this machine I just got called a Legacy Woodworking Machine it makes really cool spiral columns and carved pieces with a router, it's really nice, ya might just wanna check that out sometime they have a website. I'm sure I will probably die like Da Vinci with regret that I didn't get to do all the fine things this world has to offer. Da Vinci died with the regret of not getting his giant bronze horse sculpture done, I wonder what I will regret not completing. I know one thing I will finish though and that is this loaf of homemade butter bread, ummmm... Tasty.

[jamenta]

When Michelangelo was painting the Sistine Chapel people kept asking him when he would be done. His reply was "It will never be done. I'll just stop at some point."

[Belina]

My office at home, where I do most of my writing, is far enough removed from the kitchen that I can't even hear the timer. Smells only carry this far if they are spicy. My office at the university is below the cafeteria and commons area. Mixed scents of the burnt offerings of the day travel down the stairs and straight to my desk. No inspiration there, I'm afraid.

[simbeau]

Try managing a restaurant that has the worlds best burgers while on a diet. Your life becomes an oxymoron of Diet Coke and xtra crispy fires.

[timewalker2099]

When I first started for this company, the office was right across the street from the Colonial bakery, so I had to deal with fresh bread smells every morning. I thought that was over when I transferred up the street to the main office. That first morning was bread free. But when I left I was bombarded with the heavenly smell of barbecue from The Rendezvous just a block away. Ugh. Torture right before along drive home.

[CHV]

I honestly never thought about how food impacts creativity. Although I curiously seem to do my best work right after lunch.

[hunahpu]

I have not posted in a while. However, the talk about kitchen aromas got me thinking about my favorite one. I'm a homebrewer, and when I brew beer, the entire house smells like grape nuts for the day. It is a wonderful thing.

[Steve]

I spent 3 years working in a computer repair shop that was next door to a local pizza shop. After a few months I usually couldn't smell it anymore. But at about 6pm, when I'm hungry that pizza smell was torture. The most annoying part was the constant question "How do you stand that pizza smell?" I swear I got asked that every day for 3 years.

So, if you're ever looking for great pizza in the Twin Cities area, Paradise Pizza in Edina is fantastic.

[CHV]

Recently, I read that home brewing was illegal nationwide until 1979.

Sounds like one of those holdover laws from prohibition that lingered on the books until someone finally realized how stupid it was.

[hunahpu]

CHV wrote:
|
| Recently, I read that home brewing was illegal nationwide until 1979.
|

That was the best thing Jimmy Carter ever did.

[MrRobotAnger]

Hi Wil, it's my first comment. Weee! Me too, music is so important to my creativity. I've met people who say they couldn't care less what music is on, and I just don't understand them!

[BonzoGal]

The biotech I work for has a doughnut factory across the street. It smells like maple bars a few times a week. You think I'd be sick of it after 10 years, but I think it's wonderful. And I've never ever had one of their doughnuts! (They're not open to the public.)

One of the best, most seductive smells to me is onions sauteing in olive oil. OMG, it makes me salivate just to think of it...