Home is Where the Hearth is

But we don’t do fireplaces here in the tropics, so the nearest thing we’ve got to a hearth is the stove. And why not? Heartwarming memories often include images of mum baking pineapple tarts in the oven, or grandma squatting by the charcoal stove, patiently fanning it. A home isn’t truly complete without a kitchen.

Which is why I’m really glad to finally be done with the final piece of the puzzle that is my apartment. Yup, my kitchen’s done up and now my house is a lot more of a home.

The timing was rather tight but thankfully it was completed before Chinese New Year with (barely) enough time to clean up the mess from the renovations. And then I got to cooking and cleaning and cooking and cleaning and cooking and cleaning again over the last two weeks, ushering in both the new year and the new kitchen. It was rather hectic but really nice to have friends over for some “kitchen-warming” sessions. Even scored myself a take-home chef – none other than noted food blogger, a lil’ fat monkey!

Oh did I mention being awarded a runner-up prize from friedchillies.com and Discovery for their fcxmas twitter contest? My thanks to them for actually considering my obscure tweet worthy (something about baking cookies for Santa that tasted nice but looked awful so he’d give me a kitchen makeover). And the prize, Kylie Kwong’s Heart and Soul, arrived just when my kitchen was completed! Talk about perfect timing.

Mum’s arriving (with dad, of course) in a few day’s time, and you can bet she’ll be making some of my childhood favourites right here in the new kitchen. More heartwarming moments then.

Life is good, even if it is fattening.