M.A.P.K.E.

I've never NOT lived in furnished housing.*  But "furnished apartment" means someone else is going to decided what you sleep on, where you put your clothes and what you cook with.  And every time you move, you sleep differently, fold your clothes to different sizes and re-consider your recipes.

To minimize the amount of stuff I'm hauling around the country, I restricted myself to two cookbooks - one specifically about cakes (hooray!) and the other a bound year's worth of Cook's Country magazines**.  After a week of eating dinner out (or eating leftovers from dinners out), I sat down with Cook's Country to find a recipe for the weekend.  A few pictures caught my eye, but the recipes were disheartening; first, brown on the stove, then transfer to the oven.

While I have no complaints about the basic equipment in my current kitchen - all major and most minor appliances are provided - it's certainly fair to say the intended lodger is here for short stays and is probably not going to be cooking much.  There is one Teflon frying pan and two pots, one medium, one large.  All with rubber handles.

As I have at least two more temporary residences before I consider obtaining a new permanent address, I stared at the nice photos in the cookbook and asked myself "what comprises the minimum acceptable portable kitchen equipment for one person?"

Frustrated, I went out for pizza and while walking down Main Street I noticed the cookware shop in town had pretty Le Creuset cast iron pans in the window.  For only $160+.  Does my m.a.p.k.e. budget allow for the purchase of a $160 skillet?

No, I decided.  It does not.

But it does allow for a $24 pre-seasoned one.

And now wherever I go I can brown and transfer to my hearts content, even over campfires if I end up living a true hobo life.



*Thanks, Mom and Dad! And Grandma! And College! And all my landlords ever!
**Both gifts.  Thanks to you both!