Kitchen's Best Friend

While I love to cook, it can sometimes be a lonely pursuit. If you have a small kitchen it’s too difficult to have any extra bodies in there for help. If you are really trying to concentrate on a new recipe a person helping can be a distraction if you get to chatting off subject, which I tend to do at times!

Our family includes a dog named Callie. She’s a brindled mutt mix who is just the sweetest, loudest and most scared dog you will ever meet. She is also a world class beggar. Jim insists that she not be anywhere near food when it is being prepared and eaten. I understand this reasoning wholeheartedly and try to follow this, but sometimes when I’m making dinner and feeling a little alone, in trots my Callie and plonks right down in the prettiest sit you have ever seen! And if a little chunk of chicken should fall to the floor when I’m moving it from the skillet to the cutting board, accidents happen right?

Callie will never tell me the food tastes bad, or give me the silent treatment when she is upset. Callie will never turn her nose up at anything I serve, even if it something I myself would not eat. Callie is a vacuum I do not have to haul out or turn on to use. If something falls, boom that mess is cleaned up with only a spot where Callie’s tongue licked the ground clean remains. Somehow, my kitchen feels a littler warmer with her sitting by my side, paws neatly crossed, waiting for anything to fall to the ground. I will even admit that at times I do chat with her as one sided conversations are a bit less distracting and since I’m talking to something and not myself, this means I am not losing my mind!!

For me, Callie is a wonderful tool to have in my kitchen. She’s not a skillet or my KitchenAid but I would really miss her presence if she was not there. I think every kitchen needs this and every person who makes a meal needs this too. Someone or something to say “Yes!” , “Yum!”, “You can do it!” , “Can I eat that beef you dropped?” Cooking and food are not supposed to be an isolated experience, they are supposed to be shared with ones we like and love so it is only natural that we want to share the preparation with someone as well. And my Callie fits the bill to a T for me.

I would love to hear and see who and what your “kitchen aid” is! Visit our Facebook, Twitter or Instagram (#lpkaids) and show us your helpers at work, cleaning your spills, listening to your stories and warming your hearts.