rekashering the kitchen

I'm rekashering my kitchen. In a way, it's strangely therapeutic. When I first decided to have a kosher kitchen, I purchased the cheapest dishes and announced to myself that I was keeping "student-kosher," that this was a learning experience and eventually I'd throw it all out and start over "for real." I told my orthodox friends to consider my kitchen treif for all practical purposes. That confused some and amused others. It was a toss-up as to whether they'd appreciate my concern that I'd accidentally serve something that (through my own ignorance or clumsiness) wasn't up to their standards, or whether they'd be annoyed at my lack of confidence in my own abilities. Or, perhaps they worried I was just reserving the right to pick and choose my own rules, which was even worse.

I'm not sure why I decided that *right now* was the proper time to begin my "for real" kitchen. Perhaps it's because I'm spending more time with a man who loves to cook and knows how to kasher a kitchen properly. Perhaps it's because I'm trying to talk my orthodox cousins into staying with me during their summer vacations. Perhaps it's because I need a change in my life. I'm tired of treading water. It's time to start moving on. Then again, maybe it's simply that there is something soothing about packing up all my dishes and shipping them off to Goodwill.

(For those of who read AnotherBT, there's a new post there as well.)