Kitchen Trials: I have acute counter space envy syndrome.

(My kitchen in its entirety!)

A group of us get together every Wednesday to watch a couple of movies after work. We also indulge in various American dishes, thanks to the generosity and cooking ingenuity of someone in the group. I never thought I'd have such good dining experiences centered on the mighty toaster oven! Since Ryan, Ben and I don't get out of work until 11pm, we are usually just on consumption end of things. But this week we have a bunch of cancelled classes because our students have midterm exams for their real schools. I stepped up to the plate and offered to make dessert. Without an oven (or toaster oven) of my own, my options were limited from the start. I decided to make a caramel sauce to go with sauteed apples and ice cream. After two months of being in Korea, this was actually the first time I used a stove for purposes other than heating water for tea.

I piled up tonight's dishes in the sink along with the dishes from the past couple of days (I'm living alone, don't judge me!) and got organized to wash dishes. I started to put the soapy silverware in a bowl on the counter to create more space in the sink. The bowl wasn't deep enough and flipped over with a knife in it. I quickly stepped away from the flying silverware and put my foot down right into the box of strawberries that I had purchased earlier. Smush.

This white sock ruining experience provides another reason why kitchen life is better with more counter space and a normal size refrigerator for the proper storage of fruit or a squishy reminder that I should be more careful. To defend myself a little- strawberries here are delicious and relatively cheap. I've been buying large styrofoam boxes of strawberries and am freezing bags of them for fall and winter. The box won't fit into my refrigerator and when I'm doing dishes I don't have anywhere else to put it but on the floor...

At least the caramel sauce is delicious.