After several weeks of soul-searching, we've chucked out our cooker.
It was still working - just, but as there's only us two here these days, there really is no need to have a huge metal lump in the kitchen, taking up space, looking ugly, and needing much more cleaning than the Forth Bridge! Some flames from the grill had started to attack the dashboard a while back, and while manhandling it into the boot for the recycle guy in the village, I noticed what damage had really happened, so I'm glad it's gone!
So, we're investing in a whole new layout, with a small double freestanding hob, and just a counter-top oven, and life does seem so much easier already! Mrs O'Blene doesn't have to get down on the floor to rescue the heavy casserole, and we've discovered that the microwave does great grilled items for a fraction of the time!
I used to sneer at properties in tight urban areas, where they only had a microwave for company, but again, why heat up a cubic metre of metal just to have a slice of chicken!
Smug? Me?
Old cookers, eh? I am looking forward to a massive reduction in our leccy bill this year, having replaced the old cooker (which took three quarters of an hour to get up to 180 degrees and then only parts of the oven were that temp) My Dad loves his microwave. "Have you got one of these marvellous machines?" They still scare me a little.
ReplyDeleteInduction hobs are pretty neat and a boiling water tap, I'm pretty lazy and have no time to wait for a kettle.
ReplyDeleteIt was becoming a bit of an elephant in the kitchen, Lils. While we have a great microwave, (Mrs Scrobs' mum's) it really does more than we really need, and the instruction book is written so badly, we have never got to grips with what it can and can't do, so I agree with you that they can be a bit of a mystery...
ReplyDeleteWhen the electrician has finished with the sparks, we hope we can look forward to a bit more ease on the knee joints!
It would be an investment too far for us, Thud, but I agree with you that they are great for a larger family - there's only two of us now, and we would never really use up all that kit.
ReplyDeleteOops, just accidentally posted my cooker comment on the post below. Please pop down and have a peep. Ta.
ReplyDeleteYou could try a slow cooker instead of that heavy casserole. They are very good although we probably don't use ours as much as we could.
ReplyDeleteGot it back Reevers!
ReplyDeleteExcellent opportunity for you to save the price of a good lunch with Mrs Reevers!
We just love our slow cooker, Mr H. Mrs O'Blene does a mean soup with all sorts of bones and stuff, aided and abetted with several of our prize leeks, some of which I will be unearthing today, for the biggest piece of lamb we've ever cooked...
ReplyDeleteI did suggest that we could slow-cook it, and was met with a withering grimace, which normally says 'You do your stuff, and I'll do the cooking', or words to that effect!
So we're test-driving the new little chap, and probably adding a few minutes of heat, as there's going to be quite a lot of stuff going in with it...
Just as an aside, while trying to translate the microwave instruction book, and having to use an international dictionary and the added efforts of Stephen Hawking, I spotted a bacon 'crisper' on Ebay, and this will also get an airing soon! It's really a ribbed tray, which keeps the rashers off a surface, and allows everything to wither up and go brown!
ReplyDeleteWell, that's what it says on the label...
It's really a ribbed tray, which keeps the rashers off a surface, and allows everything to wither up and go brown!
ReplyDeleteDon't do it Scrobs! Step away from the bacon crisper....
Lils, I have to!
ReplyDeleteIt's just a way into the next life - you know me...
Most areas which can go brown already have done so, and life presents a dismal picture I know, dark and dreary as the tomb, but we soldier on...
Hey, just as an aside, I suddenly recalled Bunty Binstock's requirement for a bed away from her indescribable domain, and, several tinctures today! Just thought you might feel a bit happier remembering old times, when Tiddles got lost in the rafters!
Thought of you also when the sad news about Jonah Lomu came through. Big man; big heart, big sporting icon - gone. You guys from there have some great people to remember.
In Urbania why have a slice of chicken when you can go to KFC and get a bucket load ?
ReplyDeleteWe don't live close enough to a KFC, Elecs. Funny you should mention that though, as we used to buy one in Hastings, and pig out on the cliffs, then walk it off, but it's not as much fun these days, as JRT refuses to walk so far, and neither do we...
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