Kitchen

"With its union of practicality and magic, a kitchen is a portal offering extended range and providing unlikely paths out of the ordinary. Offering opportunities to cook, imagine and create ways back into other times, other lives and other territories. , , , the , , the and . Places that have eased into my marrow over the years shaping my life, writing and thinking. They are here, these lands I return to, in this kitchen."

"The state of your kitchen before you start will make a big difference in how you cook. Starting with a clean work surface, a sink clear of washing up, and an empty dishwasher will help everything run more smoothly. A tidy kitchen leads to much better efficiency and, therefore, better food."

"For the prosperous, the kitchen traditionally dominated the English home during the Middle Ages. Food cooked at an open hearth with a plaster-coated wood surround. Passageways often linked the cooking area to the , , and , as was the case with the , . By the 1300s, stone kitchens had replaced the fire-prone wood structures. At manor houses such as , , the layout accommodated a division of labors: kitchen, pantry, and buttery at the screen end of the great hall and cellar beneath the dais, the elevated seating place of dignitaries and royalty. Thus, presentation of dishes began at the entranceway and concluded with kneeling servant bearing uplifted trays to high-level attendants, who spread the meal before the host and hostess and their honored guests."