Tiny Toes and Tiny Kitchen Memories.

This is one of my very favorite pictures.  I took it when my oldest was not even two years old.  The sun was streaming through the window into the kitchen of our 2nd floor apartment in the NYC suburbs.  She was enjoying breakfast, if I remember correctly.  Probably oatmeal with blueberries.

The crazy chair is one that I inherited from my husband’s aunt.  One of an identical pair, she picked it up at a church tag sale.  It used to be bright yellow.  When I ripped off the tacked down, cheesy, 70’s fabric from the seat, I discovered lovely red leather underneath.  (The other one didn’t have anything underneath.)  It was then that I decided I needed to spray paint the chairs black–my first DIY project.

It didn’t work as well as I planned.  The paint chipped.  The color from the leather seat rubbed off on our pants and turned them red.  The chairs were too small for our adult-sized rear ends.  However, that chair was great for a booster seat–the perfect size.

Today the pair of chairs resides in my basement storage room, 2000 miles away from that little kitchen.  And my daughter is now 7 1/2 years old.

She still has those darling toes.

I was thinking about that tiny, miniscule 2nd floor apartment.  That was where I really got serious with my cooking hobby.  I had my three babies while I lived in that tiny apartment.  I started my blog while I lived there.  I have really good memories of the joy I felt making new recipes and taking them outside to eat on our balcony during those hot, humid NY summers.  (I’m only missing them a little bit.)  My little girl sat in her booster seat strapped onto that funny little chair and she watched me cook.

I love this blog.  I’m so happy it’s here.  I’m so happy I can look back on those years with fondness.

I mentioned that I’ve been going through my archives.  It has been so much fun.  It all came back to me.  I remember where I bought the ingredients.  I remember trying to fiddle with my camera and figure out how to get better light.  (I’m still learning that stuff.)  I felt proud of how far I’ve come in my cooking hobby since the early days.  Also, those recipes really are fantastic.  I’ve forgotten about some of the things I used to make on a regular basis.  Time to revisit them!

I guess I’m just feeling extra nostalgic today.  I’ve watched my little tiny kids grow up into bigger kids that aren’t so little anymore.  Everyone said those days would go quickly, and surprise!  They did.  Too quickly.