This evening I turned the oven on to preheat and then, when it was still cool, I slipped in a grape pie before sitting down for supper. Supper finished, I noticed the oven still wasn’t to temp.
Oh dear.
And then we noticed that the house smelled like burning something or other. Not gas, but carbon monoxide maybe? My husband says, nah, it was “incomplete combustion.” Whatever.
We turned the oven off, I removed the raw pie (maybe it will still be bakeable at a later point?), and now my husband and I are settled on the couch, each on our respective computers, me crowdsourcing via writing this post and him researching stoves and grumbling all the while:
“I don’t want to pay for a bunch of shit that I don’t need. I just want an oven that works for the next 25 years.” “Why do we have to have smart features? People don’t even bake! Ooo, look — I can turn on my oven from Japan.” “What’s with all this air fryer crap?” “For half the price of a stove, you can get a warranty!” “Maybe we should get electric. Heat is heat, right?” “I don’t want the best of 2024. I want the best from ten years ago that’s still running.” “It doesn’t have air frying capabilities. [Bleep.] What are we gonna do.” “Oh, here we go. A Viking. It’s only ten thousand dollars.”
So here we are on a Friday night with a half-baked pie and loaves of sourdough proofing in the cheese cave and an upcoming oven-based company dinner … and no oven. This time, we’re willing to pay more money (because we have a little more than before), but we don’t need anything fancy. We just want a range that’ll last.
So please, please, pretty please tell me about the stove of your dreams. What do you have? What would you love to have? Taking all your best suggestions ASAP, please and thank you, from the depths of our grumpity hearts. xo
That’s where my older daughter is. On the Queen Mary 2. COMING HOME.
Her friend met up with her in London so they could come back on the ship together. They boarded on Sunday (it’s a six-day trip), and that morning I got this photo from my daughter with the caption, “Getting a ride from some strangers!”
She called briefly then, to let me know they made it to the docks (apparently the bus line was down and there was some festival thing and they had to scramble to find transportation), and to tell me that she wouldn’t have cell service for the next week.
I was sick of all the random assorted containers cluttering up the freezer (containers, I might add, that I need for our regular leftovers and such), but I wasn’t sure what I’d think — would they feel like unnecessary stuff? Turns out, I love these things.
They stack on top of each other. They tuck into the fridge freezer. They freeze through quickly. They look pretty. The rubbery lids make it easy to push out excess air (and decrease freezer burn). They’re reasonably sized. They’re easy to label. They’re fun to hand off to friends and family — a perfect sized little freezer treat.
I want more but so far I’m restraining myself. We’ll see how long I’ll last.
The key to the perfectly emulsified ice cream? After making the base, while it’s still hot, give it a thorough beating with an immersion blender. My ice creams have never been creamier! THIS IS HUGE, PEOPLE.
To eliminate the problem of icy fruit, soak the fruit in vodka! (Thank you to those of you who pointed me to the answer to my conundrum!). Generally speaking, it’s a cup of minced fresh fruit, a half cup of sugar, and a quarter cup of vodka: macerate for 24 hours, strain off the liquid (and save it — see below!), and then add the fruit to the ice cream at the end of churning. The fruit stays soft and does not taste like alcohol.
Skip the Reese’s Pieces. The color comes right off and they’re too crunchy hard in the ice cream.
If using peanut butter cups, cut them up, even if using the mini cups. A mouthful of a PB cups, no matter how much you like them, is not a good thing in ice cream.
Salted smoked almonds, chopped up, are yummy and make a good Rocky Road version when added to vanilla ice cream along with marshmallow cream and chocolate flakes.
Figuring out the correct amount of peppermint extract for mint chip ice cream is seriously tricky. Most recently, I bought this extract which comes with a dropper which has a good flavor. However! I’m giving up on suggesting a specific amount to add. Do it to taste, and, if possible, have several people do the tasting as repeat mint tastings tend to dull the senses a bit.
rocky road
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But what to do with that sugary vodka fruit nectar? Why, toss it in a blender with a bunch of ice and then inflict upon yourself the worst ice headache in the history of the world.
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A couple days before leaving on a trip, my brother texted me. “Off the top of your head, do you have any epic family read aloud books that we could take on our trip?” I mentioned the request that night at supper, and then shot back a series of texts with our suggestions: Fish In A Tree. To Kill A Mockingbird. Flowers for Algernon. Wonder. Mr. Terupt. Cheaper By The Dozen. Holes. Treasures of the Snow.
“Great list,” my brother texted. “Could we borrow fish?”
I told my daughter to go fetch the book. A little later she staggered back downstairs.
I picked the top ones (that I suspected my brother’s family may not have read) and snapped a photo to show him my curated selection.
How many of these have you read? What would you add? (He took five of them, I think.)
Well, it’s the same old bakery, but they knocked out the wall between the bakery and the next door coffee roasters (which moved to the building across the road), renovated in just one week, and now we have double — maybe triple — the space.
It’s so much fun to watch customers come in the door and then stop in their tracks and gape. One guy even let out a big ol’ Whoo-wheeeee!
pastry station with a view
Some highlights:
We have running water and our own dish pit.
The oven faces forward so people can see what’s baking. (I think the baker should wear a crown.)
We have two work benches that are accessible from all sides — yay for tag-teaming pastry, bread, etc!
There are two doors and lots of space for customer clusters.
We have a pantry pass where we can eat and do prep work and hide out.
The customers can see all the pastries at eye level.
We have our own freezer!
We’re getting another fridge!
SPACE
We work so much more efficiently and quickly.
You gotta come see us.
*The above photos were taken on the first day we were open after the renovation. The bakery is still changing daily as more and more things get finished.
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I have been having so much fun watching Young Sheldon.
It’s simple, and a bit silly even, but I find it wonderfully calming, the perfect show to relax with: no stress, a few giggles, sweetness. My husband watches it with me, but it’s a little too slow for him (he prefers Unchained, which we’re also currently watching), but the other night he laughed out loud the whole way through the Sheldon episode, so I don’t think he’s suffering too much.
Despite having an abundance of our own pork and beef, I often go days without digging any out of the freezer. It’s easier to grab a jar of yogurt for breakfast, saute some veggies with leftover rice for a quick supper, or make a grilled cheese sandwich, baked mac and cheese, or a big ol’ chef salad. But then every now and then, I remember: MEAT, Jennifer. PULL THE MEAT, and I run down cellar to grab an assortment of things to use in the next few days.
ground sausage, burger, ham, beef shanks
It’s not that the meat is better food, necessarily, but there’s something about pulling meat out of the freezer that makes me sit up and pay attention, culinarily speaking.
If I don’t use the meat once it’s thawed, it will go bad, so there’s that.
One well-rounded meat-based meal often stretches to two or three, shape shifting in more creative ways than my non-meat meals.
Meat byproducts spawn new life: bones to broth to the cooking liquid for rice and soup; fat (bacon or sausage) into scrambled eggs, stirfries, pie dough, and cookie dough (bacon fat chocolate chunk cookies, anyone?).
A little bit of leftover meat fluffs a non-primary meat meal exponentially: a single leftover scoop of sausage into a quiche filling, those couple pieces of bacon into a tomato sandwich, a leftover hamburger patty chopped up into a pasta sauce, a slice of ham tucked into a cheese sandwich.
Because meat packs an enormous flavor punch, I find that cooking with it delivers a more satisfying cooking experience, and that’s fun.
Meat-centric meals extend our budget.* The meals tend to be more complex and interesting (perhaps because I pay more attention to the various components when cooking with meat?), which means they leave the masses more satisfied, which means we’re less likely to snack on cereal and chips in the evening, which means our snack food lasts longer, which means I spend less money.
*Remember: the meat I’m talking about comes from our back yard, and the slaughtering and packaging costs have long been recouped.
One thing I’m trying to do more of: pan-cook meat on the grill. I used my largest cast iron skillet and then close the grill lid to keep the heat in and reduce splatters, because even though it’s outside, it still makes a mess.
Case Study Number One The other week, I fried up sausages for breakfast, and then fried the eggs in the fat. The eggs cooked, there was still some grease in the pan, so I browned a couple beef shanks and, after that, I sauteed the garlic to add to the beef stew.
Case Study Number Two Just this weekend I opened a cube of ground sausage, sliced it into wedges like I’m cutting biscotti, and then fried the slices in the skillet. While they browned, I quick sliced a couple onions and peppers and then, the sausages done, I reduced the heat and slow-sauteed the peppers and onions while we ate breakfast, and then I got so wrapped up in enjoying my buttermilk pancakes, sausage, and coffee that I forgot the veggies out on the grill so they got extra crispy caramelized, but they’ll still be delicious added to a stirfry with the leftover sausage, or added to scrambled eggs, or turned into a pasta dish. We’ll see.
Point is, serial skillet cooking on the grill first thing in the day makes me feel like I’m slaying dragons.
