It’s been over eight years of kitchen adventures here on Joy the Baker. Eight years! That’s as long as I’ve done anything consistently professional, ever. I think at this point it’s safe to call it a compulsion.
In these eight years that we’ve been together I’ve called a lot of kitchens home. I’ve worked in tiny ovens. I’ve shared ovens with roommates. I’ve made cookbooks with three feet of kitchen counter. I’ve painted my floor and done a lot of dishes. None of the kitchens have been perfect by any stretch of the imagination. They all have their quirks and limitations, and they’re all part of the story, and in hindsight, infinite in their possibilities.
The kitchen road:
This blog started in a unairconditioned (that can’t be a word) apartment kitchen in scenic North Hollywood. It was my first apartment on my own and golly it was glorious! The oven ran too hot, but that’s where I made palmiers and seasoned my cast iron skillet. The tile counters were dingy on a sunny day and the fluorescent lighting was unforgiving (and rather condescending) every single day of the week. It’s where, with a camera I didn’t fully know how to use, and a 100mm macro lens (that I also didn’t fully understand), I began this blog because I just really really wanted to. See? Compulsion.
My mom and dad lived a few-good 30 minutes from my steamy kitchen and on the hottest days of the summer I’d escape to their modestly air conditioned, remodeled kitchen. Theirs is one of those phew-our-kids-left-the-house, gorgeous kitchen remodels and boy do they deserve it… and boy did I have no idea where they kept the measuring cups since everything had been remodeled. Every drawer used to be a junk drawer now there’s some sort of system going on that I still can’t quite compute. Dad taught me how to bake pies, so it was only fitting that I made one of my favorites of all time Peach and Blueberry Pie in their fine kitchen space.
I lived for a very short while in a concrete and metal loft in downtown Los Angeles where I shared the kitchen with two other women: a life coach and a makeup artist. How do you make a living off your blog? Take your expenses down to very very little by living with a bunch of roommates as a grown adult. As with any roommate situation, we devolved to silently loathing one another and each having our own rolls of toilet paper tucked away in our bedrooms because somehow we also silently refused to buy a community supply. If you don’t know what I’m talking about… you’ve never lived and I don’t envy you a bit. I painted my concrete floor a matte navy blue (which I’m still obviously proud of), made these Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes, and got dumped by a boy over the phone when I thought he was calling to discuss our lunch plans that afternoon. I mention that because I was blindsided (and yes I’m still watching a lot of Survivor). It all worked out. I’m still pretty proud of that floor painting decision.
In Venice (pictures above), my heart exploded and I had the kitchen of my dreams… all three feet of it. The oven was, I think it’s called ‘small boat sized’, and the refrigerator could hold little more than three bottles of ketchup and a kombucha. I lived a block away from the most insufferable most wonderful Whole Foods on earth where I spent 85% of my income between 2012 and 2014. I wrote and photographed two cookbooks in this tiny kitchen. I welcomed friends in and we’d stand butt to butt making pasta and doing dishes. Not for one single second did I think that kitchen was too small or not capable because it was a dream come true and I miss it with my heart.
There’s a loft in Asheville where the kitchen is oh-so close to the bed and the light is just right and I had very good dreams and made very good toast. I also made Apple Pie Biscuits right next to the bed which makes it a very fine place.
There’s a kitchen in Vermont that I’ve made my home, with a good handful of you. We made so many pies. That kitchen belongs to King Arthur Flour, but more than once we’ve baked together in it.
Ps. I’ll be teaching again at King Arthur Flour in late June if you wanna play.
The French Quarter kitchen was… there’s a long pause here because it’s hard to know. It was crooked and electric. The windows were tall and the walls steeped with stories, but the kitchen had no magic, and three drawers, and not enough cupboards. But it was home for a while and beautiful things were made and shared. A sense of new adventure filled my head and my kitchen. And then I burnt my life to the ground (not literally but kinda literally) and left that place to build anew.
In the Irish Channel I lived in a dorm room-sized apartment that was mostly kitchen. It was the only place people could and wanted to sit and they were welcome. I sat across the counter where I worked and rolled pies and served friends dinner and read books and wrote letters and cried only occasionally. I made crooked cakes because the oven was wonky and could be found very often batting at my kitchen smoke detector located just over the stove. That thing went shouting with anything over a medium heat. Fickle Betty.
Now home in the Bywater. Or… making it home. That’s not to say making it perfect. That would be tedious. Rather, getting to know the quirks of this space. Settling into the light and the rhythm of the drawers. Hanging some tile (do you hand tile or set it or glue it or what?), throwing in some shelves (carefully and with nails), rolling out the pie crust and feeling proud and settled in this space that I’m lucky enough to create in. My goodness. What a journey we’re having together.
These aren’t just kitchens. The memories of things made, shared, people loved, toilet paper hoarded, people unloved, changes, mistakes, lessons, accomplishments. It’s where I do everything. It’s where I learn my lessons. It’s the heart of me that I open up to share with you.
Good grief. I’m gonna go scrub the sink.
In related news: I have too many appliances and one very prominent cat-animal.
91 Responses
I started reading your blog close to seven years ago when I was in the midst of healing from anorexia. While in that time I was often obsessively trolling food blogs as a way of coping with the lack of food going in my tummy, that obsession slowly morphed into a full blown love of cooking and especially baking (I even ended up going to pastry school in Italy!). I have always been enamored with your voice and your recipes, finding solace and inspiration in your food that is so obviously always overflowing with love. This comment might be a little out of left field, but your post just reminded me of the difficult time I was in when I first found you and the journey I have been on over the past seven years, always coming back to your blog to find recipes to share with my family and friends (and maybe whipping up a single-girl molten chocolate cake from your first cookbook for myself as well). This comment is wayyy more sensitive that I set out for it to be… anyways, thanks, girl! ;)
Tavi… girl, we’re in this together… even if we’re far apart. Thank you for this comment. It really touches me.
I donโt know why this post got me so emotional for some reason but it did. Iโve been following you on your journey since you lived in Hollywood, feels like a lot longer than 8 years ago. My best friend and I baked so many of your recipes together throughout high school, and your blog is what got me into baking, cooking, and food photography. Just made your chicken pot pie recipe for the millionth time yesterday! Youโre the reason Iโve fallen in love with cooking over the years, so thank you! Iโve gone through 5 different kitchens over the last 8 years and each one of them defined important chapters in my life, theyโre really not just kitchens!
“These are not just kitchens”. Amen sister! They are *so* much more. I always love the way you write, but this one really got me. Thank you.
Love this!
This was such a wonderful story to read. I had a tiny kitchen once with no drawers and only about 4 sq feet of counter space. A lot of fond memories were made and left in that kitchen. Thank you for sharing your journey. I look forward to seeing where this new kitchen takes you!
With all the kitchens you have the joy of experiencing, what is the 1 feature you can’t live without?
Wow. Fantastic post. Reminds me why you are indeed one of my favorites. Please don’t ever change.
I loved reading this Joy! I love all the kitchens you have created in and how honest you are in the post! Lovely!
I love this post so much! It makes me realise how many years I’ve been following your journey, with all the kitchens you’ve been through. I’m so excited to get to know this new place and see how Tron cat makes it his home. I definitely relate to your toilet paper hoarding incident. I don’t think university students can escape that sort of horrific lifestyle complete with silent (and not-so-silent) loathing.
I think I’m in the back somewhere on that King Arthur picture. Fun times it was! Any chance you’ll do a baking class closer to home in New Orleans? I have never been there and would love to join you for a class!
Lovely post Joy! :)
This is so beautiful :)
I refused to ship the boxed-and-stored contents of my adult life to New Orleans until I found a real place to live. After a miserable kitchen uptown, I too found something high-ceilinged and airy in the Bywater. The trade-off is living with a roommate after 30, but she’s great and our kitchen is where we meet for lunch, me ending my day and she about to start. So, just a note to say enjoy the energy in this colorful, tropical neighborhood. I’m still pretty new here but it felt right enough that my cookbooks and cast iron all live here now too.
I enjoy your blog so much, even though I am sure we are ages apart! You forgot the time you went to Oklahoma to Ree Drummond’s humongous kitchen. I think I found a link to your page when reading hers one day.
I really love this post! I’ve always felt like each of the kitchens I’ve lived in has had a hand in shaping my journey towards becoming a better cook – from my tiny Brooklyn kitchen to my other tiny Brooklyn kitchen to my tiny Berlin kitchen… Clearly, all my kitchens are tiny… But I’ve never let that stop me from cooking, or from challenging myself to cook big. Enjoy getting to know and love your new kitchen!
Joy, I remember when you got Tron and I’ve wanted to pat him ever since, and I think I’ve followed your blog since pretty much the beginning.
i appreciate you more than you know!
Great post Joy! I have had three kitchens in my life….well four if you count my college dorm where me and my friends blended drinks and make great meals in the microwave. My first and current kitchen is my family home. I have fond memories of me and my mom cooking together. Later me and my grandma and grandpa when they visited and my brother when we lived here as roommates after my parents moved away. I remember my first apartment after college where with my new stand mixer I was whipping egg whites and they blew out all of the floor, counter top, and the floor. I am still at the family house but now it is full of boxes as I move into my new house with a brand new kitchen that no one has ever cooked in and I can’t wait to see what kind of great messes and wonderful dishes I will make in that new house plus all the fun memories. Can’t wait to rebuild some of your creations in my new digs. Have fun in your new digs!
I think back to all of my kitchens and there’s not one that I love more than the one I’m in now. It’s my first home and it’s the tiniest kitchen I’ve ever had. 90 square ft to be exact, with about 4′ of countertop space and 2 drawers. I feed my family out of it everyday and I could probably cook blindfolded because I know it so well. It’s not the size of the space or how perfect it is, but the life, love and memories it creates. I’m baking another baby in my belly currently (first girl!) and I can’t wait to teach all my kids to cook and bake from their hearts out of our shoebox kitchen.
I’ve lived in the Bywater for the past 8 years, and while my husband and I love our little shotgun house, we’ve totally outgrown the space. As I stalk real estate for a new rental, it always comes down to the kitchen. Has it been upgraded? Is there enough counter space to roll out the pie dough? How’s the lighting? Can the two of us (plus party guests) be in the space at the same time? The kitchen is the heart of the home.
Congratulations on your new space. Maybe we’ll bump into one another sometime.
I totally agree with Sue above, Joy. This would make such a fabulous memoir in the future – which I can’t wait to read already!
Love the kitty on the counter. Supervisor, listener (is this a word? ) to our tails of woe, and ultimately taste tester. What better friend to have in the kitchen while we create.
Joy- This is quite simply the most beautiful essay! I can’t imagine that the Peach and Blueberry Pie could be any better, but I am going to try it today. ps- I agree this topic should find its place in your next book.
joy, I’ve definitely been on this journey with you. I started reading your blog days or weeks after you started it in 2008 right after I graduated college. Your recipes and blog posts have followed me through moves, break ups and career changes. I am so grateful for the time, energy and love that you put into each post, because they have meant a lot to me. Just wanted to express my appreciation for you and your work. Thank you.
Now back to that new drake album.
It’s awesome that you didn’t let the smallest of kitchens stop you. I was pretty good about blogging until I moved into a small apartment with about 2 feet of counter space, and it did stop me. I’m working on picking it back up now. You are an inspiration. Your story reminds me of the cooking school teacher from “Serve the People, a Stir-Fried Journey Through China”. Her home prep station is a low table next to the bed, that she has to squat down to prep on.
I’m in a much more settled life & far from the pint-sized galley kitchen with a counter that doubled as the lift-lid cover to the bathtub in a postage stamp NYC apartment (no lie). I have moved eight times in my lifetime. The kitchens were memorable for some not-so-great reasons, and others for fabulous reasons. They all had nuances, and the output and final products were almost always pleasing. I love that you’ve allowed me and my cats to join you and yours on your journey. It has been a wonderful pathway of delight and determination. I think you’re right where you were meant to be and all of those things had to happen precisely as they did to get you there. Love your new home, enjoy your new life and embrace your new kitchen. Be happy, turn up the music while you create (place tile) and dance!
Between NYC and SF, my sisters and I have cooked/baked in a lot of tiny kitchens with wonky ovens and no counter space. I hear you Joy and have been with you all those eight years! You should be proud, so happy you are enjoying your new home!
That was the loveliest bit of writing I’ve read in a long time!
Thank you for a great post! Loved all the emotions, the reality, the cat, the love and the passion! Makes Friday a good day for a wonderful weekend. Thank you!
Joy, both my husband and I enjoy reading your recipes and blog. I may be a little more faithful, lol. Anyway, we loved your kitchen retrospective and noticed that one of your new shelves sags a bit. (darn all those wonderful appliances) Paul, my husband and handyman, said “ask her to measure it and I will cut and send a brace for it!” Let us know if you could use this fix. Your new place looks like a wonderful canvas for you…and Tron.
Joy, I love this post. I got on the JTB bandwagon 6 years ago when I was just 17. I received your first cookbook as a present for my 18th birthday and your second cookbook for my 21st. I feel like I have grown with you in these last 6 years despite the fact that you live so many miles away. Your blog saw me through my first college dorm, and then back to my parents. Then it saw me to my first apartment with roommates who I also hid my toilet paper from by the end. Now I am back at my parents again while I finish college. I’m thinking about the future and the dreams that I have, dreams that you had the courage to pursue. I dream of living in South Carolina, ten hours away from the family I dearly love. I dream of being an art teacher, who doesn’t lose her passion to create. And I dream of cooking through it all with your help to guide me. What I’m trying to say is, while you may have been a hot mess and ‘figurately burnt your life to the ground,’ you are inspiring everyone around you to follow their dreams and not someone else’s plan, and I thank you for that. h&k ~emily.
I loved this post, Joy. And I loved your 3-foot kitchen and boat-sized oven! I learned a lot in that teeny tiny space :) I’m so excited for your latest endeavor and I wish you so much happiness and pie making in your new kitchen. xoxo, Paola
this is one of my favorite posts from you
Such an awesome post! So many wonderful memories are made in kitchens – whether it’s baking alone or sharing with friends – and it’s so fun to see how your kitchens have evolved. And I CANNOT believe that you wrote TWO cookbooks in that tiny kitchen haha!
xx Allison @ alwayseatdessert.com
Wow — cannot believe how many parallels to my 20’s are in that story. I grew up in North Hollywood, then moved to LA and then to Venice! I also had a “burning” incident in which I lost many of my keepsakes and had to start anew. You’re right, though, the memories made and kept in our hearts are what life is about and so many were made in the kitchens I grew up in and grew old in. Now, I have a mini-kitchen in a spare room because I can no longer stand at the worktop, but I am still baking and making memories (with a little help from my online friends ;-) Thank you for sharing your spaces, inside and out! -Michelle G [An American in Derbyshire]
Thank you so much for this! I love the posts that you do like this – your words inspire me endlessly, joy.
I love this. And you. And that prominent cat animal.
It’s no wonder I love your blog, my daughter lived in N.Hollywood, my husband & I love King Arthur and we are
visiting NOLA in November. I’ve copied & pasted all the recommended places to go and especially eat.
wonderful! hope you love it here!
You are just my favorite!
You were meant to be an author. I’m looking forward to shared new adventures in your kitchens and life. You are the favorite of all my bloggy friends.
you’re really kind Cheryl!
I can’t help but get a little gitty when I see you have a new post. I always enjoy reading your blog and this post in particular strikes a chord with me. The kitchen has always been a favorite room of mine and I now reflect on all the kitchens I’ve lived in and the people I’ve shared them with. A kitchen is so much more than a room with a fridge – it is shared stories and good feelings and experimentation and comfort. Thank you for your inspiring thoughts and words!
A lovely post. I hope this newest kitchen is your best yet. Tron looks happy, and if the feline is happy, well, everyone is happy. As for appliances, if you use them, then you don’t have too many, right?
Dear Joy,
I started reading your blog many years ago (8ish, to be precise) for the recipes, but I stayed for the words, and I’m still here, especially because of the posts like this. Your writing is so beautiful. You always move me. Thank you.
Love love what has been made in each joy the baker kitchen!
Very well explained journey. Hope this article serves as a motivation to all those who love to bake in professional kitchens.
Love this post! It is so true that food (and therefore kitchens) make so many unforgettable memories. Thank you for this!
It’s amazing what you can do in a tiny kitchen when you really just want to make some damn cookies (or cake/pie/etc).
it just takes guts. that’s all! :)
I love this look at your past kitchens. And I want that Venice kitchen. Hello, beautiful.
I loved hearing about your kitchens!
Hopefully, I can get to bake with you again at KAF in June. I absolutely loved the pie class I took with you.
I love your story Joy! Thank you for sharing!
I love your recipes and your words. This was really fun, I love the descriptions of each and every kitchen. And, I love your cat. Why can’t we all be as laissez faire as cats?!
Happy Friday.
Karen
getting ready to move and already feeling nostalgic for my kitchen – this post gives me hope that its all going to work out. thank you for sharing!
Just lovely. Keep it up, Joy The Baker.
Joy, you were the first food blog I ever read back in 2008, and I remember you posting something about your neighborhood and realizing that you lived only two blocks from me! I was too shy to ever contact you, but you’re part of my North Hollywood years. Like you I’ve moved on, but I still read your blog. Your new kitchen looks beautiful!
the world is a small place and i’m so glad you’re still here reading my little blog! really, that means so much!
Reminds me of Julia Child and the kitchens she coped with in Europe before she designed her own kitchens in Boston and France. Looks like you have a beautiful one now to make your magic. PS…loved the line about the seething roommates. You have many gifts.
You certainly have done your fair share of moving kitchens.
Joy, I love posts like this because it gives us, your faithful readers, a little insight into your life. I think you, your recipes & books (and all your kitchens) are fabulous! ?
PS I miss your podcast! Any chance you and Tracy will return? Fingers crossed :)
Joy – Thank you for being so real and honest and tear inducing and funny all at the same time – and for loving a cat and letting him lie in and on your cabinets.
Love this! I always wonder about the kitchens behind the blogs. Kitchens hold so much more than ovens and coffee pots. They hold memories and learning curves and frustrations and they are often the most popular part of a home. Thanks for giving us a glimpse into yours and the beautiful and maybe a little bit heartbreaking stories that go with them.
Tiny as my kitchen is right now, it’s where I really learned to cook and bake and to enjoy the process of it all. And I’ve spent so much time in there cooking with you and a handful of other bloggers that I don’t even know what I’d do with a bigger fancier kitchen.
Such a beautiful story-teller. I usually scroll through food blogs, but yours is one I take the time to read. Thank you.
This was absolutely poetic. And this.. “And then I burnt my life to the ground…” I feel ya, sister.
Joy, a great post, a beautiful tribute to your calling that many of us treasure
sharing with you. You sound delighted with your new “stage” and we
anticipate all the joys of life to accompany you. Bravo!
This is tug-on-the-heartstrings nostalgia. Thanks for inspiring us to look back at our own kitchens we’ve called home; and thanks for sharing your many kitchens with us! I can’t remember how many years ago I found this blog, but it’s become an increasingly special place to visit.
I loved this so much!
The best part of this post is you didn’t complain once, you found the best out of every situation. I love that so much!
This post made me want to cry for some reason? In a good way? It made me nostalgic for all of the places I’ve called home, not for the conveniences they offer but because of the feel behind them and the memories they bring to mind (good and bad). Thank you for this!
What a great post! Thanks for sharing your kitchens, Joy, you’ve found a brilliant way to sum up a portion of a life!
It’s funny how much I can relate to, from the shoebox kitchen (luckily in the past now) to being blindsided over the phone by someone you thought was just making plans (considerably more current). Thanks for reminding me that it’s just one step in an otherwise exciting journey.
Both as someone who has moved a lot, and as someone who has been reading your blog for a good many years now, I found this such a lovely way to reminisce on the last 8 years and how you wound up where you are. I hope this kitchen is full of magic! And full of Tron, because he’s the best part of any kitchen.
thank you Mary!
This should be your next book and the recipes in it the creations you made in each location – just sayin “)
i like the way you think!
me too!
Thank you for this lovely post! My husband and I are moving to an apartment with a woefully-smaller kitchen than we are used to, and this gives me hope that I’ll be able to do all the things I love to do in a kitchen just fine. :)
I feel like I need to see the blue floor!
love love love!
I love the way you write. Your posts and photos are beautiful, honest, and witty always. Thank you!
Joy, I’ve been reading your blog for a long time. I don’t cook but I love your recipes. I have made one of them. Muffins with lots of cheese in them. This was an interesting read. Thank you for being you.
This made made really smile. Most of these kitchen’s I remember considering I’v e followed along on your adventures for more than five years now. I love how soulful you make the kitchen sound. And amen to the toilet roll situation. I’m almost 26 and still doing it.
Thank you for this lovely post. I feel I have been on some of the journey with you. CARRY ON DOING WHAT YOU’RE DOING!! X
What a lovely, meaningful post for anyone who has ever baked/cooked…and made do with whatever to produce anything with love. Over the years, I’ve gone from tiny (with only a kitchen table for counter space) to large (which enabled me to buy too many pots/stuff that I never used), to small (because now I’ve grown up and I know exactly how much space I need to create). We never stop learning…thankfully!
Loved this post. What a journey you have had, determined to follow your passion, and doing it marvelously even without the top-of-the-line kitchen. And Tron – so sweet.
Beautiful. I love following your journey.
You are such an excellent writer. The descriptions you had me visualizing, smelling the aromas of said food, laughing at the roomie thing (I had more kitchen stuff “five fingered” by those bitches ???? and just enjoying the ride of your circle of life. Love your blog and food. Thanks.
What a beautifully wistful post. Thank you.
I just love this post….I’ve been to your kitchen virtually so many times… cooking with you, it always felt like a great honor.
I love all your spaces, there’s so much you in them….