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Thursday, December 12, 2013

This could be a bad idea

I was fascinated recently at Costco by the concept of a Turkey oven – which I realized was just a spare oven for those special occasions when you have to cook so much that your kitchen oven is just not big enough. We had this problem in Vienna where we had a tiny kitchen and an oven to match.

We saw this spare oven concept in action when we visited our relatives Madge and Merv in DC for Thanksgiving  and I was stunned by the facility of being able to cook everything at the same time – but in two separate ovens. Brilliant.

When I think of all the times I have had to cook things separately and try to keep them warm…..

So naturally I bought one for Christmas and it arrived from Amazon today.  I am looking forward to giving it a trial run next week when Cate gets back. I am thinking a rack of lamb – which abound here – and were so expensive in Vienna it made your eyes water.

I also bought a slow cooker. My son Lenny has been telling me for a long time that I need one of these and we saw one in action over the Thanksgiving weekend – when it was used to cook pork for pulling. We had Tortillas with pulled pork.

The tortillas themselves were made by the Mexicans who live next door. They are good friends of Madge and Merv and when they found out that M and M were making tortillas they said – you will not be able to make them the proper Mexican way – so they made them and brought them in hot in three separate batches.

Anyway – pulled pork was another taste sensation for me – and was accompanied by some of the best salsa I have ever had (from Costco). So Cate and I decided there and then that Lenny was right about slow cookers.

Anyway the slow cooker arrived today – and had parts missing – so I am sending it back to Amazon. I will get one from Costco next week.   

My quiche was OK but not sensational. I used ham and asparagus. William has given me some excellent ideas for improvements and I shall test this on Cate next week.

Today I have moved the cat’s litter tray and food  dishes to the basement. At the moment they are just inside the back door – which is in a little alcove next to the kitchen. This – we have found – is not the ideal place for either litter trays or food dishes.  

I lay awake last night thinking about all the reasons why this is a bad idea but have done it - and will just have to tough it out.


9 comments:

  1. In Australia, the temple of pie-making is located in our ancestral (Walker) village of Billinudgel near Byron Bay. I’m talking of the celebrated Humble Pie Bakery. Their website includes a page that lists the ingredients in their so-called savoury pies. It’s precious information for a home pie-maker, although we still have to guess the quantities for each ingredient. All their pies contain “unbleached and wholemeal flours”, which is no doubt the same rough flour that I use regularly in my bread machine. And they use maize starch as thickener. It’s interesting to see that their chicken pies contain white wine. Funnily enough, in their various meat pies (steak, chicken, bacon), there seems to be relatively little meat: no more than 25 to 30 percent.

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  2. If you have the storage space there is nothing better than all the specialty kitchen/home appliances and gadgets. Slow cooker is also wonderful for making stock.

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  3. I can't imagine laying awake for veRy long at night for that reason. We too had pulled pork in a slow cooker and thankfuLLy it was too large to fit in Tamie's pressure cooker where she regretfuLLy destroys things too often. As a second cooking source we have a grill right outside the back door and a stove next door, yet we have rarely used them in the last 5 1/4 years we have lived here. Oh, I did buy a quiche last night at the store but we have not cooked it yet.

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  4. William: Yes I am familiar with the Humble Pie Bakery - we used to stop there on our way up to Queensland to visit relatives. As an aside I mention that Mungo McCallum - a political journalist - lives at Billinudgel and writes a column called 'the view from Billinudgel'. He is apparently a fixture at the Billinudgel Pub.

    fmcgmccllc: I have oodles of space now so can indulge myself with all the larger alliances that I have done without for so long.

    esb: I am sure it is not Tamie's fault. Clearly you have a faulty pressure cooker. You have taken the easy way out in the quiche department - let me know what it tastes like.

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    1. She didn't wake me up for breakfast and made herself a pancake. So I woke to find no pancake, eXpired dried pancake batter in a bowl, and a whiny dog. So I think I should quiche without her.

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  5. @ easbb:
    What's the reason of "buying a quiche" if you then have to "oook" it?

    *grin*

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    1. I guess my choice of answers are A eat it B frisbee

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    2. Ah, it tastes wonderful. I wiLL definitely buy more.

      Besides options A & B, the back of the box suggested that quiche could Awaken your morning, Satisfy your afternoon, or Complete your evening - so I guess it is against the law to use them as a midnight snack(?)

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  6. @ Badger:
    I love "quiche" the Italan way, a frittata, cooked slowly in a frying pan. No crust, no fuss.

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