A perfect kitchen.- First add the
Aga--a Neels essential. No respectable half-Dutch cook would be caught dead whipping up fairy cakes on anything less.
- Second, two large, wing-backed chairs flanking the fire--that's right. Not only do we have an oven, there's also a fire place--with a seating area too.
- Third, a well-scrubbed kitchen table--to lean against in the case of laconic proposal, to sit at in the event of measles epidemics, to ente
rtain parties of loud and unruly children. A large table is a must.
- Fourth, a kitchen cat. We shall call him Eclair or Toffee or Butter. He will not shed and no pet dander will dare waft from his twitching and well-mannered tail into the not-from-a-tin soup.
- Add to that, cunningly hidden modern conveniences, spacious pantries and (most ideally) a devoted married pair happy to toil their lives away stirring up culinary goodness at the drop of a Dutch shoe.
What have I missed?
You left off the Windsor chairs - and there probably ought to be a dog - for verisimilitude.
ReplyDeleteOh, and Mittens / Kipper / Butch never ever jumps up on the counters. (In other words, is not a real cat.)
ReplyDeleteI love how Mittens/Kipper and Harvey/Harley/Othello always are curled up in their baskets (you forgot the basket I think)- never drooling on the floor or sitting around being flatulent.
ReplyDeleteThe pictures and descriptions of the ideal Neels kitchen are wonderful. However, I believe Betty Debbie is correct - Windsor chairs have pride of place either side of the Aga, while the Wing-backs typically flank the roaring fire in the drawing room. Suzanne II from Victoria BC.
ReplyDeleteI wish my kitchen was big enough for a Windsor chair or two...
ReplyDeleteI think you're right, Betty Suzanne II. Can't think where I went wrong. Probably channeled my own desire to have wing-backs in the kitchen...;0)
ReplyDeleteAgas are really interesting stoves. I actually met a lady who has one in her house a couple years ago. It stays on all the time in the winter, and acts as a secondary heat source. In the summer, she uses a hot plate so as not to heat up the house. Now, this lady/family could rival Doctor Van der Hooven Rijkchen for lolly, and this is NOT a bargain stove. WHY would you choose a stove you can't turn off? Old technology!
ReplyDeleteThe Aga is a true cook's stove. (Notice I did not say "chef".) That constant source of ready-to-cook heat is marvelous. One the burner and you're sauteing. Of the burner and you're not. And of course, a cup of tea is only moments away.
ReplyDeleteI've dreamed of an Aga for years - probably since I read about them first in a Betty Neels' book! :)
Also, remember, Cyndi, none of these homes have central heating, so a stove that is on all the time, generating lovely, constant heat, would be most welcome.
me<><
(AKA, Betty Cindy)
Betty Cyndi -- We're somewhere in between. We have a wood stove in "the keeping room" -- a Colonial designation for a room that's much smaller but function as a modern-day "great room." (Basically, it's a large room with the kitchen at one end, a huge fireplace along one side with seating facing that, and an alcove for a breakfast table.) The wood stove is burning wood non-stop from November through mid-March (unless we're away).
ReplyDeleteGiven that we're doing that anyway, it wouldn't be hard to imagine it was both a wood stove and a stove stove ... except for all those nasty questions of how to regulate temperature. So, instead, we have a cooktop & oven in the kitchen like normal folk.
And Betty Cindy (I have to say, I'm glad y'all spell your names differently, even if they're anagrams of each other) is right -- it's lovely having a constant source of heat. Our basement (i.e., TV room, laundry, and our offices) has conventional central heating, but the top two floors are heated pretty much exclusively with wood. Wood that Betty Ross fells, bucks, splits, stacks and transports to the house all himself.
Betty Magdalen,
ReplyDeleteI know from wood and coal - the house I was raised in had a big ol' monster of a coal and wood furnace with octopus pipes coming out of its top to send heat through the house. Regulating temperature was always dicey. Dad could keep it best but he was home the least. :) We used to wash up and brush our teeth in the kitchen sink in front of the open oven door. (Which was electric, btw.) It was just too cold in winter to wash in the bathroom first thing in the morning!
I love a wood fire, and I'm happy that we have a wood stove in our back room (its use hasn't been designated yet so it's just "the back room," as it's in process of being closed in to a real room.) But I'd hate to have it be my sole source of heat! Brrrrr!
Betty Magdalen, on your blog I saw a discussion about nicknames. I have a hundred - amazing what people can do with a simple name like Cindy! I have a great-niece whose name is Magaly. They planned before she was born to call her Maggie. She answers to just about anything. One of her many nicknames is Golly Goo, or Goo Girl.
She's only 6 so she hasn't yet figured out that she can take control of this situation. ;-)
me<><
I guess there would be a jar of Gentleman’s Relish in the pantry. I believe it’s some sort of anchovy paste. Sounds quite Ick.
ReplyDelete