Laboring Over a Hot Stove

Although, we have had a pretty mild winter so far, it still is that time of year when one likes to spend afternoons in the kitchen cooking warm & nurturing foods.

Sometimes we forget how easy our lives have become over the decades. 

Here are a few photos that I took last summer of kitchens from days gone by.

This stove was probably the height of modern convenience when it was first installed in its  medieval castle. 

This stone cook top had burning embers below & pots that fit into the holes above.

 I believe that this large caldron in a vast fireplace, was used to boil water for laundry, which was then stirred with the pole to the right.

I loved this old bakers oven found in another medieval town. No longer in use, it does resemble pizza ovens of today.

This photo was taken in the home of a sculptor, who created the circular table in the foreground. He actually uses his fireplace to cook his meals, as they did when his house was first occupied in the middle ages.

The last two photos are of village bread ovens, where early villagers would bring their bread to be baked communally.

This one belongs to my neighbor in France, & is still used to bake the occasional pizza or fire roasted meal.