Observations/Interpretation:
For Andrew, making a meal is a social occasion. Several times during the preparation of the meal Andrew makes phone calls. The cell phone is always nearby.

All activity is centered around the kitchen and the dining table. The living area is not used. The house has been lived in for almost 4 years, but it is not very organized. There are a lot of open surfaces: kitchen counters, dinning table, bench, desk. For the most part, the surfaces have no dedicated use. Andrew's tripod and video camera are on the dining table at the start of the day--Andrew was experimenting with it before he decided to make breakfast.

The kitchen/dining space is functional and social. The inhabitants of the apartment are brought into it for its functional purposes--workspace, food preparation, eating place, reading place. There is enough room to accommodate at several people, and the tasks associated with preparing food are simple enough not to distract from conversation. The only forays from the dining space is to the CD player, which is located in an "entertainment corner," which consists of a TV, Stereo, and lots of CD's.

There is improvisation during the cooking process. At one point, after chopping onions, garlic, and stemming some tomatoes, Andrew puts the refuse into one of the discarded grocery bags still lying on the table. He also employed the lid of the cherry tomato container as a strainer for rinsing the tomatoes.

For the most part, the organization of the space is organic--some things have a place and some do not. However, no time was spent searching for ingredients or objects. Spices have their place. The cell phone doesn't have a place but is floating nearby--usually on the dining table or desk. Minimal time is spent organizing. All groceries are consumed so they don't have to be put away except for extra tomatoes and eggs.

Emotional observation: Andrew has a relationship with the recipe. He used to make it in college, and recalls the Jamie Oliver episode where he learned how to make it. He recalls that in this particular episode, Jamie Oliver made it as something to eat after a night of going out--something of a hangover prevention meal. He ate it as a late breakfast and made it completely from memory. It seemed as if the recipe itself was designed for a social occasion.

Not too much time is spent eating the meal. The Andrew and Peter had hung out last night, so there was not that much news to be shared. This was a very casual meal. Most of the interaction between friends occurred during meal preparation and not during its consumption.

Conclusion:
In this space there is a nexus between socializing and mundane activities. The loose organization of the space works well. It's possible that a stricter organization of objects would better facilitate socialization. With more organization, it is possible that the user would have more mental energy for conversation as he would not have to be keeping track of improvised object placement. However, a highly organized space is also inconsistent with Andrew's habits so it is hard to predict how he would function in such an environment. In addition, the observer did not keep track of time spent searching for objects or any other indications of increased cognitive load due to disorganization.