The weather here has been very hot indeed and so, today, when finding it too hot , I followed Harry S. Truman’s maxim and got out of the kitchen. At that moment, it occurred to me how wonderful it would be to have a summer kitchen. A very short time later it occurred to me that the idea was infinitely preferable to the fact. For a simple man the act of conception is too diverting to allow for thoughts of consequence but, clearly I had not had enough to drink, as I quickly saw the flaws in the dream. The structure, however rudimentary, would take up a large part of our very small garden and, being purpose built, would be unsuitable for anything but cooking so would stand empty for most of the year save for Molly and his prey. Much as Molly enjoys a roast chicken, I don’t think he’s up to cooking his own yet. However, whilst the dream held sway, I got as far as carrying, to the proposed site, a selection of ingredients that I planned to use today and tomorrow. I photographed them and carried them back into the kitchen where it was very much cooler than I remembered.
Food, Photography & France 
My friend in Barcelona has a plumbed in, outdoor sink on his roof, next to the barbecue and a small drinks fridge in the roof cupboard. When he runs out of coal there’s a little electric griddle that can be plugged in to the socket in the cupboard and used outside. It’s bloody marvelous 😉
I keep thinking of doing it …one day:)
If you build a bar too, that will give you some incentive 😉
Wherever I lay my hat, that’s my bar:)
Ha ha 🙂
Lots of folk have them in Spain – I just use my bbq in the shade and carry my wine around the garden with me!
..best not to let it out of one’s sight:)
benit soit la contenance. cin-cin!
that could be translated as “Benny’s incontinent” ..:)
All that carrying to and fro can make a fella hot you know.. c
too right, Celi:)
Had a good chuckle over this one, so true, so true. We do, however, enjoy our outside grill especially in the summer to cook fish and steaks and even vegetables. It doesn’t take up much space and does keep the excess heat out of the house. And last night, in the dead of winter, the fillet roast my husband cooked tasted of summer, which was also very nice.
Funnily enough, I like the idea of the having the outside kitchen in the winter…probably for grilling sardines or cooking kippers:)
Look at that gorgeous artichoke. Lovely.
>
I ate the heart in a most wonderful salad from an old Elizabeth David book…fantastic:)
Bliss.
🙂
In the heat of the kitchen in summer I always found it helpful to wear only a Tshirt & knickers with a floor fan blowing on my lower half while labouring over the stove/oven (I assume you’ve already tried this?).
I have….and have the burns to prove it:)
Although it may be a small space it is incredibly charming. What a gorgeous photograph.
Thanks for that…it is a lovely little garden:)
My apologies Roger – ere I sign off and get back to bed to recuperate . . . just to say I did put a comment in about 5-6 hours ago . . it came up as normal and has since disappeared . . .I just wondered whether you knew about such anomalies . . . love Eha
I’m never surprised by the vagaries of the internet and WordPress…thanks any way. Hope the tour is going better than England v Australia at the Oval…they (Oz) have us on the ropes:)
[laughing] And then the wrong name was printed!! Am not into rugby [oops: hope I am right?] but my apologies if the Aussies have trounced you people: home ground and all that you know 🙂 ! The Tour magnificent in every way: especially geographically – last night actually in the Tarn Gorges in the Massif Central: what glorious beauty so well filmed by the French TV . . .
No, wrong…it’s cricket. The Aussies rugby guys were playing S.Africa. I know the Tarn gorge well…it is fabulouas.
OK! OK! Soccer; the real footie!! Did not know we were that good! Hometown advantage, Roger!! This is Australia: half the guys who are groundsmen etc in this gated community actually drove down the 800 + kms to Melbourne on Friday!! Oh boy, are they going to come to work [or not!] with sore heads tomorrow morning!!
Wrong,,,I hate soccer with a passion…but I do like rugby and we’ll be seeing the Aussies in London this October in the World Cup:)
Triple check!! [don’t like mistakes, tho’ it is not important to me or you in this case 🙂 !] Melbourne, Saturday 18, soccer, England 1: Australia 3 . . . . and, if I have to have a code, this is it ’cause it is the only kind played in my birth country!! Must have been kind’of important ’cause spectators came together from all up and down the E Coast 🙂 !
🙂
Love this beautiful composition…..has me wanting to run out into the garden, fire up the camping stove and start cooking al fresco
Too hot for that here…It’s going to be raw food, that’s for sure:)
Well, I no longer have Gaz for the stove, so it’s not going to happen !
🙂
Roger,
I am sweltering in the shade, a couple of hundred k south of you. It is far cooler in the house. My solution is to go into the house, cool down, get another beer and go back outside. Repeat until comatose.
It’s the same here, Conor…I’m working the same system as you:)
What a beautiful scene, I love this picture!
Cheers:)
I would love an outdoor kitchen if we didn’t have to contend with the blasted humidity. The temps are cooler than France at the moment (just) but I am wishing for the 100F/40C we had because there wasn’t any humidity! And there is better wine there. 🙂
You’re right, we don’t suffer too badly from humidity…where do you live?
We live in New Hampshire. The east coast of the states suffers from humidity. Just sticky and suffocating.
Never knew this…I always believed the East Coast was wooden boats, white beaches and cool weather…as I say, worst travelled man in the world:)
We have wooden boats. White beaches further south. More light brown up here with seaweed. Cool weather? Wait for autumn. It can be “cool” like this morning at 18C but it was very sticky walking the dogs. We have the A/C running round the clock now.
We have a portable AC in our bedroom that I turn on about 5 times a year….it makes so much noise that sleep is still impossible on those particular nights:)
Jealous! We did ok with a fan the first week we were there and it got to 40 during the day.
too hot…
😊. Cold cocktails helped
When don’t they?
M. Parret has an outdoor kitchen with a small dining room that I covet. Lovely looking artichoke.
..I’m going to blog about the artichoke…it was fantastic..
Lovely picture! 🙂
cheers, Martina, thanks for the visit and the good words:)