Everything in its place

Jack Deatherage

(8/2019) I don't know how many times I've read the frog (French) expression mise en place in cookbooks, but it's been often enough to know I act in accord with it whether it's a frog idiom or no. Admittedly, I'm no fan of the frogs, but I accept some of their idioms are useful, or at least so widely used as to make them unavoidable. The tattooers I study, or pester- depending on who's telling the story, practice mise en place. Work tray, ink cups, tattoo machines, water rinse cup, ink bottles, design image reference are all en place. Surgeons in operating rooms, factory workers of all types, masons, skilled anglers, painters, sculptors, writers- everyone seriously involved in creating seems to have mise en place firmly in place! Except me.

A Child of Chaos, I'm constantly at war with my various natures, though the laziest of them usually wins when a hankering for some edible stomach filler isn't pushing me into the kitchen- I mean "kitchens". I now have two kitchens to establish mise en place in!

The downstairs' kitchen has two 19 or 20 cu/ft refrigerators and a midsized (13 cu/ft) freezer and a flat top stove with a pizza oven. It also has a dishwasher, an island pantry as well as a walk-in pantry that we can only reach into. There's plenty of counter space, though none of it is accessible for all the nonfood related stuff piled haphazardly. Also often in the kitchen and the rest of the apartment are an endlessly "blooming" female Rottweiler and a neutered mixed breed, short-haired kickmutt (or tripmutt depending on whether it's me or the DW encountering the little barker) and a "climbing on everything" cat. In the ajoining room is my dust covered library- including my cook, baking, wine and mead books.

The upstairs apartment has a larger kitchen/dining area, but few cupboards and work counters. A large dining table (seats eight, comfortably) serves as a work counter as needed. There is an island pantry and some cupboard space in the washer and dryer cubby. The stove is an older coil burner and the oven door doesn't have glass in it which makes it perfect (sort of) for bread baking! Only one fridge (maybe 16 cu/ft) and no room for a stand alone freezer.

Bookshelves, just a bit shorter than me and some actually shorter than the DW, are slowly filling with books from downstairs as I clean off the dust and stumble upstairs with them. Establishing their mise en place will be ongoing as the DW and I struggle to find our places in the extra space now that we haven't a long term guest living there. All the cooking, baking and making books will grace the upstairs as will history, philosophy, geography and art books.

I had hoped to claim the kitchen for my food experiments and the dining area as a meeting place should I ever take on an actual job that requires people to visit me. (Tain't no chance I'd let anyone but kin into the downstairs with the dogs! Even most of the kin will be directed upstairs.) The DW has other plans, of course.

"I want a quiet place where I can sit and read without dogs pawing and snittling me. And now, Jack, Raiza, Luke, Simona, your brothers, sisters and their kids have a place to stay when they visit."

"Well," Says I. "I've offered the kitchen to some of the neighbor kids so they can learn to cook and bake, which a couple or three of them seem interested in doing."

Before the One-eyed DW can fire up her Balor evil-eye I add, "Their moms said they'd pay for any ingredients the kids need!" Once again a scorching is delayed. (If only I could harness that glare and use it to heat the oven for baking!)

"And wouldn't it be nice to have people around the table feasting again?" Might as well push my luck.

The DW ponders that thought. It's been years since we last had a feast.

"Yes." She nods remembering the cakes, cookies, stews, breads, roasted meats, steamed shrimps, egg noodles, gravies, salads, wines, beers and mead. Everthing made by us from scratch, if at all possible. "I miss those days."

"Imagine what we could pile on the table and counters if we have a few more cooks bringing ideas to the effort!" I pile on while the mood is in play!

The evil-eye begins to glow. "Imagine the mess they'll make and we'll have to clean up!" She growls. "Last time we held a feast we were three days preparing the foods and two weeks cleaning up the mess!"

"Ahha!" I counter. "I have a plan-"

"Oh Gods." She groans. "I'm going in the other room and read a book about dragons. Dragons are more likely than any plan of yours becoming reality!"

"Well-" I bite my tongue as she raises her chin, daring me to counter. "Of course I'll clean up after them."

Nodding affirmatively, she leaves the room.

I stand in the upstairs kitchen surveying my baking domain. Mise en place manifests differently where the dogs and cat are not allowed! This kitchen is clean! No animal hair, no downstairs dust. As I build breads, or the DW prepares her evening's salads, we clean up before moving on to the next task. Neither of us wants a repeat of the dogs' domain!

I'm establishing order as I carry flours, pans, salts, fats, rolling pins, scrapers, dough whip, wooden spoons, spatulas, measuring cups and spoons into the apartment. Yes the dining table is piled with books and the shelves are yet to be ordered. Flour and whole grain containers are placed hodge-podge about the great room (kitchen-dining area). The mill, the pasta machine, the food processor and mandoline, when they make it up the steps, will need their own resting places until needed. Whoever needs these things will determine where they end up.

If the neighbor kids (ages 9 to 16) show up, mise en place will have to accommodate them more'n me and the DW, though the DW is about as tall as the 9 year old. Anyhow, none of the lot is near six foot tall and I'm half a foot beyond that! Heavy books, flour buckets and machines will have to be at waist level for the shorties, but only if they will be regularly using such items. Books would also be arranged by category and likihood of anyone actually referring them. (I doubt I need worry about where to place the Western History, Western Philosophy, Western Literature, horticulture and botany tomes. I'll likely be snoozing under any of them while the would be cooks and bakers are about their businesses.)

I'm trying not to get overly hopeful about the possibilities the upstairs kitchen presents me with. Too many times the gods have howled at my plans, though they might well spare me this time around. Feasts, even those held on Xian holy days, are always in my gods' honor.