It’s not popularly considered, let alone imagined, that accomplished, beautiful women would rather hang out at a kitchen sink and stove rather than dressed in uncomfortable clothes and being lavischiously ogled by people they don’t know.
Just look at these women—proof that two of the most coveted women of their times were quite happy to leave their husbands, Yves Montand and Arthur Miller, at the table while they stayed in the kitchen, always the best room in the house for a private, dishy, meaningful chat. It’s always a little intimating to come upon such a pair, feeling at once as intruding upon an intimacy that leaves no room for others, even famous husbands.
If you haven’t made the stuffing yet, follow Ms. Monroe’s recipe. It’s a good one and I’m about to make it now. I don’t own either an off-the-shoulder black dress or a tight plaid skirt—actually, I’m still in my bathrobe and fluffy slippers—but a friend is arriving soon and we’ll be happily in the kitchen while the men do whatever they do outside it.
I love meaningful conversation around the table with husbands, fathers, brothers. But there is something sacred about chats with my kitchen sisters at the kitchen sink, the baking counter, or around the range.