The Kitchen is the Heart of the Home.

This mornings blog prompt asks me:
What is you're most vivid memory of the kitchen table as a child?

This question takes me back years to a large oval oak dinner table that stood proud place in the middle of our kitchen and held many a Christmas dinner and far too many slightly offensive jokes for me to recount all of. It wasn't just a table. It was a beacon, it was a hub. It was a place to throw my schoolbag while I shucked off my uniform and it was home to hundreds of marks of homework and craft projects; it was home to coffee rings as a central gathering point for family discussions and arguments about inane things.

The kitchen itself bordered a large pale yellow room. Our kitchens where yellow because yellow is happy and bright and it just felt right. We had so much counter space even if half of it would be taken by countless appliances and kitchen gadgets that we managed to acquire over years and some of which we still have.

There is, in existence, years worth of pictures of my relatives gathered around this table. Cousins in nappies and nieces with toy lawn mowers and an incredible amount of love. The dinner table is my most vivid memory of out kitchen as a child. Piling things onto the dinner table where we'd have day long baking sessions and effortlessly moving around my mum and my sister in an endeavour to help, watch, learn, everything.

When we moved (downsized) We had to leave our table behind. We had to leave the memories of everything that happened there with another family. For another family to add to. Our kitchen table (that also had sections to make it even bigger) was like those door frames where you'd measure your height from a young age, we had one of those to and I took several picture before we left. It's the marks you make on things that hold the most sentiment.

I think this is funny because it's ground into you that to write or draw on something is to destroy its worth but with things like tables and door frames is makes them special. The marks of things made them home.

Out kitchen now is about the size of our downstairs toilet at the house but we make it work. We still own some of those wicked appliances that let us make our own sausages and bake until we can't bake anymore. I still adore the moments where Me and Mumma are moving around each other, even in a significantly smaller space. And that always gets me waxing poetic about my family and how much I love them and how different things might have been if one tiny thing had changed, if we'd never moved back from Spain or if dad had stuck around.

That's a conversation for another day.

If found some really great quotes by some really cool people about the kitchen and I thought I'd throw them in here.

I got all my boyhood in vanilla winter waves around the kitchen stove - Jack Kerouac

In examining the potential of individuals, we must focus on their strengths and not just their mistakes. We cannot be limited by what we spill in the kitchen. - William Pollard

I really liked that one.

I started at 5 years old at the kitchen table with my family supporting me. I know where I'm from and I known exactly where I'm going. - Celine Dion

This next one sounds like something I'd do. 

If there's something in the kitchen I like, it must be eaten. I try not to leave any snack I wouldn't want to eat on a daily basis in the cupboard. - Jenna Ushkowitz

This I can relate to on a very deep level.

I've been my mom's kitchen helper since I was a kid. - Taylor Swift.

Since my kitchen is the most important part of my home, I want to be creative and innovative, not only in its aesthetic but also in the tools I'm using. - Blake Lively.

As usual It's time to turn it back onto you marvellous people.
What's your most vivid memory of the kitchen as a child?

Cheers