The trials of baking in Korea!

[Val-the-nomad]

Even though my one bedroom apartment is a decent size (for South Korea), the kitchen has no worktop space at all. I can't add an island or table to compensate because of the layout, so I've developed coping strategies. Generally this means I only bake things that can be mixed in one bowl, don't need rolling out and so on. So no pastry or cookies but lots of loaf cakes and banana bread. Sometimes I dream about the kitchen I left behind.

[buddys]

I understand that. Before we moved, we lived in a small, single wide trailer which had an infinitesimal kitchen. When I cooked for the extended family for Christmas, we had to place cutting boards over the sink openings to use for cooking space. I am so glad we have a huge kitchen now and have spent the time experimenting with many recipes I couldn't try when we lived there.

[Silva]

Our place isn't huge but I have enough worktop space for the two of us. I shudder to think how you cope with none at all! It gets a bit crowded if I have to cook for visitors, but even then, if I move a few bits about, I manage fine.

[spacelover8126]

That would drive me mad, Val.  I like to bake sometimes and just having counter space in general is a must for me; in fact, I wish I had more, but now I feel spoiled by comparison to you.

[G R]

It's kind of amazing how well we can adapt to different situations when we have to. You seem to have done very well with it.  I used to live in a studio with no kitchen at all. I was left with either microwaving my dinner or ordering take-out. I ended up eating out a lot.

On a side note, I never knew you lived in South Korea. Personally, I would be rather nervous about living so close to that guy up north of you. He seems to be a few cards shy of a deck, if you know what I mean.

[Val-the-nomad]

I am ultra tidy, a coping mechanism developed after so many years of nomadic living in small spaces. I would like to be able to slob out a little sometimes though!

Gentle Rain, the hot topic here amongst Koreans is the new 'decency law', which will take us back to an age where women had their skirts measured to make sure they were long enough. (That's how it was here in the 1970s - pretty much like being in middle school, right?)

[Perfect7]

I can't imagine having no table! How or where do you eat meals? Good for you, making do, though. It isn't always easy to push through obstacles like that.