Sunday busy
Dec. 5th, 2010 10:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altivoGary's still working on that final project for school, due this week. He also had a performance to go to, regardless. I've been the animal care person again today, though in fact Sunday is normally my day, so that wasn't a big deal.
We've also been discommoded by the failure of our electric range. This is temporary, as it's covered by a service contract, but I expect it will take at least a week to get it fixed. The problem is a scary one. Yesterday Gary was cooking and when he shut off one of the worktop elements, it didn't go off. The digital display said it was off, but it remained at full heat. This happened once before but by playing with the control we finally got it shut down. This time I had to go pull the circuit breaker to disable the entire range. I figured it was a stuck relay and might release once it cooled, but no, this morning it heated right back up as soon as the power was turned on. That will have been a full reset of the embedded controller as well as an overnight cooldown of everything. I can't do any more, we have to call for service. Fortunately we have a good microwave and the woodstove, so hot meals are still possible. It just takes a little more planning.
Used the stack cooker (a Tupperware product from the 90s) to make dinner tonight. These are nesting bowls, each of which forms a loose-fitting cover for the one below it. You put three separate recipes into them, stack them up, and pop the cover on. Then you microwave the whole thing for 25 minutes. It works pretty well with the supplied recipes, which come in spiral bound books with each page split into thirds because they are "mix and match". One top, one bottom, and one middle dish, any of each, can be combined and made at one time. I've not yet had a disaster we couldn't eat. It's not the style of cooking I prefer, but in a pinch, it will do. We had a four course dinner tonight made this way. Cheese grits (bottom), breaded chicken breast and frozen veggies (middle), and spiced apples for dessert (top). No complaints about any of it, and the recipes are designed for four people so we have enough for another dinner, just heat and eat. Well, make some rice or potatoes, probably, because we ate all the cheese grits. (Unlike most yankees, I do like grits and even more I like hush puppies. My father used to make endless fun of me for this.)
We have a much better microwave oven now than we had the last time I used this technique. The results were actually quite good. The breaded chicken was even slightly crispy on the outside, and the grits and the apples were done to a turn.
Saw and photographed a flicker this afternoon. This time I remembered the anti-silhouette feature on my camera and used it, so the detail is much better. Will post it, probably tomorrow. It's too late tonight. we both have to be up early tomorrow.
We've also been discommoded by the failure of our electric range. This is temporary, as it's covered by a service contract, but I expect it will take at least a week to get it fixed. The problem is a scary one. Yesterday Gary was cooking and when he shut off one of the worktop elements, it didn't go off. The digital display said it was off, but it remained at full heat. This happened once before but by playing with the control we finally got it shut down. This time I had to go pull the circuit breaker to disable the entire range. I figured it was a stuck relay and might release once it cooled, but no, this morning it heated right back up as soon as the power was turned on. That will have been a full reset of the embedded controller as well as an overnight cooldown of everything. I can't do any more, we have to call for service. Fortunately we have a good microwave and the woodstove, so hot meals are still possible. It just takes a little more planning.
Used the stack cooker (a Tupperware product from the 90s) to make dinner tonight. These are nesting bowls, each of which forms a loose-fitting cover for the one below it. You put three separate recipes into them, stack them up, and pop the cover on. Then you microwave the whole thing for 25 minutes. It works pretty well with the supplied recipes, which come in spiral bound books with each page split into thirds because they are "mix and match". One top, one bottom, and one middle dish, any of each, can be combined and made at one time. I've not yet had a disaster we couldn't eat. It's not the style of cooking I prefer, but in a pinch, it will do. We had a four course dinner tonight made this way. Cheese grits (bottom), breaded chicken breast and frozen veggies (middle), and spiced apples for dessert (top). No complaints about any of it, and the recipes are designed for four people so we have enough for another dinner, just heat and eat. Well, make some rice or potatoes, probably, because we ate all the cheese grits. (Unlike most yankees, I do like grits and even more I like hush puppies. My father used to make endless fun of me for this.)
We have a much better microwave oven now than we had the last time I used this technique. The results were actually quite good. The breaded chicken was even slightly crispy on the outside, and the grits and the apples were done to a turn.
Saw and photographed a flicker this afternoon. This time I remembered the anti-silhouette feature on my camera and used it, so the detail is much better. Will post it, probably tomorrow. It's too late tonight. we both have to be up early tomorrow.
