The Kitchen Competition

If I stop and put my mind to it, I can feel one step better than a pioneer woman with a pot swinging from a hook over an open fireplace. Somehow what I had to cook with never mattered as much as what I could cook and that was what satisfied hungry men: hot bread, real meat, potatoes or rice, and dessert. Granted, I can vary and have expanded a little, but gourmet was never my middle name. I felt I had taken a step forward in the 1970’s with a matched set, some of which I still use, of green Club aluminum wear. and there was always an iron skillet, well-seasoned, and its study larger cousin, the Dutch oven.

I realized I was falling behind when the variety of colorful sets came out. I tried lifting one and dumb bells would have been lighter. Now, I do have a Crock Pot. All jokes aside, it served a teaching mother well enough that I still have it stored on a shelf, in case. Gadgets came and went. A good paring knife replaced an apple corer and a strawberry huller. I tried three salad spinners and always ended up blotting with a towel. Don’t even mention options in coffee pots and many of my friends have a variety of Insta-Pots near an unused plug and open space on their counter tops. However, it is amazing how useful a set of funnels turned out to be from measuring and mixing powdered milk to filling the hummingbird feeder.

At the end of the day, two things matter the most. First, I guess, is that we really are fed. Food is available and we are provided for. Second, though it may be the most important, is having someone to share with. These days I cook with what I have and I mostly eat alone. No children tumbling in, no adult to say, “Smells good in here!”, or only sometimes a friend to sit at the table and review happenings. Elijah stories are among my favorites and when he arrives hungry and needs to be fed, the widow says she has only a little oil in a flask and a handful of flour. I don’t know what utensils she used, but what she made, simple or not, was enough.

¹⁵ She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 

I Kings 17:5