more tales from the makeshift kitchen

The fitter came round to do the final measuring, so fitting will start either in two weeks or three, which is manageable. I think.

Meanwhile, here’s some of what we’ve been eating:

• courgette and tomato pasta bake: this was OK, but it took absolutely ages – cook onion and courgettes, add tomato and wine, cook some more. Set aside, cook pasta (remember we only have one working ring), mix together, top with mozzarella, cook in Remoska for 20 minutes. Late supper than night.
• lentils with chicken and spinach – the lentils and chicken came out of the freezer, and the half bag of spinach was tipped in and wilted at the end. This one was easy – we do our basmati for 13 minutes on the heat and 13 off, so the lentils could cook while the rice was resting
• cauliflower cheese, with my first microwave cheese sauce – this was OK, though I’d rather do it on the job
• couple of cabbage meals – easy one dish ones

We’ve discovered that the ring on the induction hob is really too small for a lot of stuff – Pete made some drop scones on the cast iron griddle, but it didn’t heat up at the edges, so they took much longer than usual. Also, we have to start cooking a lot earlier than usual – everything takes so much longer when you have nowhere really to chop, etc.

We still have the sink plumbed in, thankfully, and that will stay until it’s replaced, and we still have the gas cooker, but it has stuff piled on top of it, and we’re only using it to roast potatoes and so forth.

So we soldier on – today we had some lamb shanks from the freezer, that I cooked a couple of months ago. They went into the gas oven, and we roasted some spuds, and steamed some broccoli on the induction hob. We had a takeaway on Friday, and we were out last night, but we can’t afford to do that too often.

Not too long now though!

Mirrored from Reactive Cooking.

weekend 4/5/6 March 2011

A three day weekend as I wasn’t in our office on Friday, but instead left the house at 8 to get to a local hotel in order to start interviewing three candidates for deputy head at the school where I’m a governor. I can’t really say much about it, but it was a long and intense day, and I’m sure we made the right decision.

I was nearly late, though – I had a nicely worked out timetable for the early morning, which was slightly thrown by the arrival of the dishwasher at 7.30.I was in the bath, and Pete was still in bed and hadn’t heard the door, but we managed to get it indoors and I made it to the Pearson Park Hotel in time all the same!

On Saturday morning, the kitchen fitted arrived to do the final measuring before he makes the cabinets, so we feel things are moving on well there. Then we called into Merlin on Sculcoates Lane to look at beech and oak worktops, to decide which we might prefer, then we set off for Lincoln.

Lincoln involved sossidge innabun from the German stall on the continental market, good coffee and a cinnamon toasted teacake in Pimento, a hike down Steep Hill (which is), with a visit to The Bag Shop, where a handbag called to me so loudly I had to buy it. It’s an Owen Barry Tucket in grassy green, and just lovely.

Continued into town for a mooch, long walk along the river bank and bank, called into the Oxfam bookshop for a couple of books, had a cup of tea in a pub called the Witch and the Wardrobe (what? no lion?), then an early supper in the Laughing Buddha in Silver Street – all-you-can-eat Chinese, and cracking value at 8 quid each before 6 p.m.

Then we toiled back up Steep Hill (it really is) to head for the Drill Hall, where Mark Steel was gigging. The ticket receipt had no street name or postcode on it, but Google Maps showed us where it was. Except when we got there, the Drill Hall wasn’t. We asked a passer-by, who told us that it was down in town. Just along Silver Street in fact (aargh). My knees are bad at the moment, and thankfully I had a walking stick with me for the first time in months, so we set off once again down Steep Hill (it really is) and back to just pretty much exactly where we’d started out on Silver Street. I was in bits by this stage, and sitting still for what was an excellent gig, but still over 2.5 hours, didn’t help.

We decided to get a cab back to the car (you can guess where it was, can’t you?), but there was none to be had, so back up Steep Hill (did I mention .?) we climbed, into the car and home for about 12.30. I took a couple of ibuprofen and slept like a dead creature.

Today has been slumpage – apart from Pete chopping up more wood for the fire, and me nipping (or popping) up to the shop for some bits, we’ve done bugger all. Watched, and loved, Crazy Heart, caught up with online stuff, going to have an early night and possibly another soak in the bath before bed.

Mirrored from kestrel.org.