Crank up the woodstove

[altivo]

The temperature is dropping again. Down to 8°F./-13°C. Fortunately, we have plenty of wood still, this winter hasn't been that cold for the most part.

If anyone comes around here looking for that one-word comment meme, the reason I'm not posting it again is that I already did it about eighteen months ago. If you really want to post one for me, feel free to attach it there:

July 3, 2005 Reluctant Lemming

Comments

[kyhwana.livejournal.com]

Ahhh yeah.. Prolly got to 30C in the sun here on Saturday.. Sunny again on sunday!

[hrrunka]

Meanwhile, over here, the wind's still a bit gusty, but nothing like as strong as it was a couple of days ago. It's still way too warm for the time of year. It's not been frosty since I got back from Kenya. Even so, I'm sure at least a few of the trees the wind has flattened in the last few days will end up in wood-burning stoves.

[kint.livejournal.com]

Fireplaces are certainly nice, but I definitely miss my parent's wood burning stove...oh so cozy

[altivo.livejournal.com]

The stove is much more efficient, yes. We have a stove here, and I have to agree that while an open fireplace is attractive and romantic, a stove gets a lot more practical heat out of less wood. Ours can be burned with the door open to give the fireplace effect, but I've never had a suitable screen to contain any sparks, so we don't do that.

I'd rather have a stove with an oven so I could bake in it. :D A friend of ours down the road does have one of those. It's made of marble and limestone, and you heat it up by lighting a wood fire in the oven part. When it's ready to bake, you sweep the ashes and coals through a slot into a compartment below, and you can use a peel and bake loaves right on the stone floor. I've gone over and done it a couple of times, and it's interesting. The bread is good too, but it does make me appreciate the ease of just turning on the gas or electric oven.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Snow is supposedly coming tomorrow, that will raise the temperature for a day or two.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Has it been as bad as that windstorm about a decade ago that flattened so many old trees in the gardens at Kew? I remember hearing about that all the way over here.

[hrrunka]

Nothing like 1986, when we didn't have a hurricane, honest, guv. However, quite a bit worse than we've had in the last few years.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

1986? Was it THAT long ago? Good grief. I'm really getting old I guess.

Oops. A year out...

[hrrunka]

Oops. My memory's faulty. It was October 1987. My brother was still at University, and I was in my previous house, and working nearby. I cycled to work, and had to lift my bike over a few fallen trees on the way. When I got there I found the night shift mostly still on duty because they couldn't go home (there were trees down across both driveways) and the day shift having difficulty getting in. The office ran on generator for about three weeks...

Yeah, I guess I'm getting old too.

[kint.livejournal.com]

It does sound like fun on occasion at least

[corelog.livejournal.com]

Woodstoves are romantic. However, I greatly disliked the rigor of having to have so much big logs, so much medium logs, so much small logs, and so much kindling. I'd rather chop as needed, or as desired, not on a schedule of time or output.

I'm not sure it works that way, though. And there's the whole drying time thing, which is outright impossible in BC, unless you store the wood indoors.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, we don't chop our own. For one thing, that requires some skills to do it safely. For another, the trees in our woodlot are all very high (60 to 70 feet) and close together, so getting one to fall clear would be a real challenge. ;p

We buy cut and split firewood. It's already seasoned, but we have a closed woodshed to keep it in where it dries out more. I think it costs about $90 a face cord, delivered and usually stacked right into the woodshed. Used with care, that yields more heat than $90 in propane or electricity would.

We pick up fallen branches of cherry and oak on our property and Gary cuts some for kindling by putting them through a bandsaw. But we don't spend a lot of time or discipline on keeping wood prepared, and we only need one size because we only have one stove. (Different stoves do best with different sized wood pieces.)

It takes a little practice to lay a fire in a cold stove so that it catches on the first try, but once learned only requires some newspaper, a handful of dry twigs and about three split pieces of wood. Nothing complicated.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yep. Every winter we talk about doing it, but getting her schedule and mine together for a day of baking is always difficult. On both occasions where we managed it, I whipped up a half dozen different doughs and made as many kinds of bread, starting with sourdough hearth loaves while the oven was nice and hot and working our way down to a sweet oatmeal bannock at the end. She makes soup, and we have folks over for a meal with the home baked bread. Very satisfying.

Her husband is a bit of a wine connoisseur and stocks a cellar. Last time we had a wine tasting along with. Fun.

Re: Oops. A year out...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Like wine and cheese, we're just improving. :)

[octatonic.livejournal.com]

Stay warm pony! And keep them boys fed with hay!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It's warmer now, and snowing. But don't worry, we'll work on it.

I just put chicken with Chinese garlic-ginger-molasses into the crock pot. That will please Gary. The other boys are easier, and you're right, hay will do.

[octatonic.livejournal.com]

*sneaks into your kitchen. He pulls up the
lid, slowly, your still on the 'puter...
taking a spoon he tastes...*

YUM!

*You go @.@ at hearing "YUM" and he goes
back to cyberspace as you enter the kitchen.
all seems normal*

^.~

Crockpot Oriental Chicken

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It's an easy, cheap recipe. One cut up fryer (I used legs and thighs, cuz they were on sale cheap yesterday) browned first in a little oil in a skillet. Place parts in crockpot on high.

Make a sauce from 1/3 c. soy sauce, 2 Tbsp. brown sugar, 2 Tbsp. red wine or vinegar, 1 tsp. ginger (or 2 tsp. grated fresh ginger root), and a clove or two of garlic, mashed up good. Stir till sugar dissolves, pour over chicken and cover. Cook for one hour on high, then reduce to low heat and continue cooking for five more hours.

Serve with rice and steamed veggies, using the gravy from the crock as sauce (thicken it if desired.)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Darn it. Now I'm craving rice. I'll have to wait till sundown though. And we had rice last night too...

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

*sits next to the stove keeping warm*

Re: Crockpot Oriental Chicken

[octatonic.livejournal.com]

I like this.

*prints it out*

Re: Crockpot Oriental Chicken

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It turned out well. You may want to increase the ginger and garlic. They were good, but we wouldn't have minded them being more prominent. Do thicken the broth with arrowroot or something and serve it as a sauce for the chicken and rice. Oh, and this CAN overcook. The chicken will fall apart completely. We stopped ours just in time, at about the six hour mark, so I wouldn't suggest it for a ten or twelve hour day type recipe.