When The Kitchen Becomes Your Happy Place

I find it so special to go over to our friend's houses. I love it because it truly gives me further insight into who they are. How do they cook? How do they decorate? What are their habits? I so enjoy seeing home life! It also opens my mind to become inspired and introduced to new ways of doing things in my own home.Enter a few months ago when we went to our dear friend's house in Suncadia, Washington! Jase and I settled in upstairs, and I came downstairs into their lovely kitchen to get some water. Judah handed me a glass jar that looked like a cleaned out milk bottle, and said, this is yours for the weekend! I fell in love with the idea of drinking water out of glass jug; they are easily refillable, dishwash-able, and they don't contain plastic. It's a win on every level, and I immediately started incorporating that into our home habits + Jase and I take them in our cars every day to stay hydrated!Fast forward to two weekends ago. Jase and I went to our dear friend's house, and they cooked the most sensational dinner with the purest of ingredients. I am talking the fluffiest homemade bread turned into fresh garlic bread, pastured chicken with carrots, dark potatoes, and forty cloves of garlic! Yes. Forty cloves! We were greeted with roasted artichoke cooked in rosemary and lemon wedges, partnered with homemade ricotta cheese dip topped with fresh local figs. I realized they cook this way almost every night together - it's their happy place, and they love experimenting with recipes that come to mind. They remind me of playing the piano by ear, but in the kitchen. I learned so much by their art and creativity, and left feeling inspired and motivated to get out of my cooking rut. This last week, I made that homemade bread and experimented with the most lovely recipes almost every night with the freshest of ingredients from a local market in Silver Lake. All of the sudden, my love for cooking revived, and now the kitchen is becoming more of my happy place, rather than a stress.What have you learned from seeing how others do home life? We would love to hear from you in the comments below. xo