Kitchen
Quotes - The place I like best in this world is the kitchen
“There
are times when wisdom cannot be found in the chambers of parliament or the
halls of academia but at the unpretentious setting of the kitchen table.”
―
E.A. Bucchianeri
“The
place I like best in this world is the kitchen. No matter where it is, no
matter what kind, if it’s a kitchen, if it’s a place where they make food, it’s
fine with me. Ideally it should be well broken in. Lots of tea towels, dry and
immaculate. Where tile catching the light (ting! Ting!)”
―
Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen
“It's
the smell of him in the bathroom, all I need to get ready for the day. Watching
him get dressed, and the sound in the kitchen; a slow hum of a song and his
movements, picking things to eat. The way I could observe him, for hours, just
go on with his day – or as he sleeps – simply breathing in and out, in and out,
and it's like the hymn that sings me to peace.
I
know the world is still out there and I know I'm not yet friendly to its pace,
but as long as I know him with me, here, there, somewhere – us – I know I have
a chance.”
―
Charlotte Eriksson
“I
was also sick of my neighbors, as most Parisians are. I now knew every second
of the morning routine of the family upstairs. At 7:00 am alarm goes off, boom,
Madame gets out of bed, puts on her deep-sea divers’ boots, and stomps across
my ceiling to megaphone the kids awake. The kids drop bags of cannonballs onto
the floor, then, apparently dragging several sledgehammers each, stampede into
the kitchen. They grab their chunks of baguette and go and sit in front of the
TV, which is always showing a cartoon about people who do nothing but scream at
each other and explode. Every minute, one of the kids cartwheels (while
bouncing cannonballs) back into the kitchen for seconds, then returns (bringing
with it a family of excitable kangaroos) to the TV. Meanwhile the toilet is
flushed, on average, fifty times per drop of urine expelled. Finally, there is
a ten-minute period of intensive yelling, and at 8:15 on the dot they all howl
and crash their way out of the apartment to school.” (p.137)”
―
Stephen Clarke, A Year in the Merde
“We
quickly became friends with other art faculty members such as the ceramist Jim
Leedy and his wife Jean and art historian/artist Bill Kortlander and his wife
Betty. I also began taking classes in Southeast Asian history with John Cady,
who had resigned from his position at the U.S.[CB4] [mo5] State Department because he thought it would
be a huge mistake to get involved in a “land war in Southeast Asia.” In 1966,
his warnings were starting to become all too obvious as the Vietnam war grew
and protests against it emerged. Dr. Cady was in the thick of the protests and
was even being shadowed by the F.B.I. After I finished my BFA in art in 1966, I
began work on a master’s degree in history at Dr. Cady’s urging. He and his
wife became frequent guests at our parties”
―
Mallory M. O'Connor, The Kitchen and the Studio: A Memoir of Food and Art
“This
is terrific. What a gorgeous kitchen. You’ve decorated it so beautifully. Now
you’re going to have to clear all the counters. Vases. Books. Knickknacks. Get
rid of all that stuff. I mean, it is just beautiful. Beautiful. I love what
you’ve done with this house. Make sure you put it all away.” ~Real estate agent
(p.76)”
―
Dominique Browning, Slow Love: How I Lost My Job, Put on My Pajamas, and Found
Happiness
“My
mom absolutely LOVED all things English, so it’s not too surprising that she
loved English tea parties. When she and I traveled—which was frequently—we
often found ourselves in locations (Vancouver, Ottawa, London, Bath, Cardiff,
to name a few) where we could take advantage of that lovely English custom of
“taking tea.” So, for a special surprise party, I invited a dozen of Mom’s
Gainesville friends to “take tea” with us. Even though it was December, it was
warm enough to use the screen porch and the deck. That’s the “Florida
advantage!”
―
Mallory M. O'Connor, The Kitchen and the Studio: A Memoir of Food and Art
“Almost
every family has their own Christmas traditions (if, indeed, they celebrate
Christmas) and we certainly had several. First, the house was thoroughly
cleaned and decorated with wreaths and paper chains and, of course, the
Christmas tree with all its sparkling lights and ornaments. The cardboard
nativity scene had to be carefully assembled and placed on the mantle. And
there was the advent wreath with its little windows to be opened each morning.
And then there were the Christmas cookies. About a week before the holiday, Mom
would bake several batches of the cookies and I invited all my friends to come
and help decorate them. It was an “all-afternoon” event. We gathered around our
big round dining table with bowls of colored icing and assorted additions—red
hot candies, coconut flakes, sugar “glitter,” chocolate chips, and any other
little bits we could think of. Then, the decorating began!”
―
Mallory M. O'Connor, The Kitchen and the Studio: A Memoir of Food and Art
“I
asked Bill what career path he thought I should take, and he replied, “Live the
artist’s life.” For years I pondered over his advice. What did it mean to “live
the artist’s life?” I finally came to realize that there were no written codes,
no hard and fast rules. You didn’t have to starve in a garret or drink yourself
to death or cut off your ear. You didn’t even have to literally “make art”
physically. The art was your life—your values, your outlook, your passions,
your point of view. It was the things you cherished, whether they were people
or places or ideas.”
―
Mallory M. O'Connor, The Kitchen and the Studio: A Memoir of Food and Art
“Living
the artist’s life, it turns out, is full of surprises. Yes, it is about being
sensitive to beauty, about creating exquisite objects and developing a critical
eye and drawing inspiration from the rich tapestry of the surrounding world. In
some intriguing and evocative way, it is also about delving into the very
depths of human perception, into the wellspring of consciousness itself, and
living to tell about it. And for John and me, it has also always been about the
planning, preparation, and enjoyment of good food. Sixty years later, we’re
still following that path.”
―
Mallory M. O'Connor
“Despite
a few exceptions, I have found that Americans are now far more willing to learn
new names, just as they're far more willing to try new ethnic foods... It's
like adding a few new spices to the kitchen pantry.”
―
Firoozeh Dumas, Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America
“Lucy
settled into August's kitchen as if they were a family.”
―
Susan Richards Shreve, You Are the Love of My Life
“In
pickleball, you're supposed to stay out of the kitchen. I guess it's not a
sport for women.”
―
Jarod Kintz, Eggs, they’re not just for breakfast
“From
farm to table, that’s my goal. Of course, I want to get there cheaply, by
cutting out the greedy middleman carrying all my groceries from the trees to my
kitchen.”
―
Jarod Kintz, Eggs, they’re not just for breakfast
“But
despite heavy clouds, a feeling of contentment hangs in the air, coming from
the kitchen's ability to be two things at once: to be an enclosed space that
effectively opens up the world through taste and flavor and imagination. Nature
comes in here. Pomegranate seeds on rice dishes, a strip of orange peel for a
negroni, or a ribbon of lemon skin for a martini. A lime wedge for gin. A bowl
of ripening pears. A jar of dates. Peaches roasted in rose water and stuffed
with marzipan. Blackberries scattered on pancakes. Apricots cinched in chutney.
Memories of melons, and the vine pergolas and fruit trees of summer, of prized
Uzbek cherries carried in boxes across borders. The kitchen is an orchard.”
―
Caroline Eden, Cold Kitchen: A Year of Culinary Travels
