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If You Can’t Stand the Heat, Get Creative in the Kitchen
Surviving cooking in the summertime
Hell’s kitchen: That’s my moniker for the tiny 9-by-4 foot space inside my apartment where I make meals on a regular basis.
During the summertime, the nickname takes on a literal meaning: All the heat in my building rises to the top floor where I live, and the ancient buzzing air-conditioning window units in my living room and bedroom manage to blow cool air everywhere except inside that space. It’s not unusual for me to have sweat dripping down my face while chopping vegetables, hopping over the open door of my dishwasher to grab a mixing bowl, or scooting around my butcher’s stand to get something out of my refrigerator. I feel like I need a cool towel draped around my neck to keep from passing out every time I fire up my gas stove. And don’t even get me started on what it’s like to turn on the oven during the dog days of summer.
I know what you’re thinking. Why (in the hell?) would anyone try to cook anything complicated that involves heat when it’s sweltering outside? Especially if they live in a unit without centralized air with a kitchen that’s comparable, size-wise, to some people’s closets? Because sometimes you come up with a menu featuring a few challenging dishes that you love too much to change, extreme circumstances be damned…
