Woman (Re-)Discovers Electricity

We've evolved. Once we discovered fire (in the fireplace), we rediscovered the electric stove. Or, in this case, cooktop/griller/roaster/warmer/oven...

I've used ovens before, and electric stoves, but this thing is amazing. It's a ceramic cooking surface, which is great because you can take your pan out of the oven and set it anywhere without tipping it. Cleaning the stove is SO easy. (The oven is still as annoying to clean). It has a billion settings - fan forced, fan bake, defrost, grill, ecogrill, fan grill, and I vaguely remember some settings about bake and classic bake. The fan does amazing things. It turns your Classic Sunday Pork Roast (complete with rind) into Grandma's Pork Roast That She Cooked in the Wood Stove.

As wonderful as this is, I've still managed some bloopers. Switching from gas to electric can be unnerving. There's no such thing as bringing something to a boil then quickly reducing it to a simmer. Attempting this has had interesting results.

If you're an average cook, a fan-forced oven can make you seem like a world-class chef. This thing has settings I haven't explored yet. There may even be a setting to boil water...

Chilling Out

It's been rather cold here lately. It's been hovering in the mid-40's to 50's Fahrenheit during the day. As long as you have a jacket on and are in the sun, it's actually quite lovely outside, but the nights get very cold. Overnight tonight will reach freezing. We've been having morning fog for the past few days, and I'm expecting frost when the sun comes up.

I've turned into a bit of a wimp when it comes to cold, mostly because the houses here aren't built for it. I've lived in New York, I lived in Minnesota, but there you dealt with the cold by dressing for it and keeping the heat going inside double-glazed, insulated buildings. Here the houses and buildings can be draughty, especially the older ones. That is great in summer when you need a breeze, but challenging in winter.

The use of the fireplace has helped quite a bit. We only use it once or twice a week, but it's a nice luxury which adds warmth and coziness to dark winter evenings. I must say, it sure beats the little electric heater at my feet!

A Week in Renew

Autumn is in full force in Melbourne. It's much like autumn in the Northeast United States, with the addition of gum trees. And kangaroos and koalas lurking in the bush. In New Jersey, the lilacs and forsythia have been blooming, and friends have sent us lovely pictures of the flowers in their gardens.

In the northern hemisphere, the earth is renewing in springtime. Oddly enough, it's doing the same here in the Southern hemisphere. It's been raining quite a bit, and the grass is actually growing.

Winter will be here soon -- June 1st. I've never liked the concept of Christmas in July, but I might give in, especially if we can go somewhere snowy. Alternatively, I might just check out one of those Qantas airline deals to Hawaii!

Man Discovers Fire

We finally built a real fire in the fireplace. We've done this properly, calling in a chimney sweep, making sure the screen is in front of the fireplace, and placing the fire extinguisher in plain view where it can be readily accessed. But I still burnt my lip trying to eat a hot dog during our marshmallow/hot dog roast. Twice.

We actually built a grate out of bricks and a piece drainage grate. These grates are serious pieces of metal that form a line over the drainage ditch in the driveway, and there happened to be some extra ones behind the car port. But our other impromtu tools (a piece of wood for a poker, kitchen tongs for toasting marshmallows and moving pieces of coal) simply proved Andrew's credo - that proper tools get the job done properly. Once my burnt lip stopped hurting, I was more than happy to agree.

Andrew came home from the Op Shop with an excellent set of brass fireplace tools for $30. Op Shops are amazing. We haven't found a real grate yet, though -- or a really long marshmallow fork.