I actually took a couple of pictures of the chaos that is the dining room right now, so you could see how we're living. Then I turned the camera off and proceeded to the kitchen to get coffee. While I was in there, I decided I should take a picture of the work in progress in there. But the camera wouldn't turn on again.
The batteries are probably dead. They're rechargeable, which is great. It would be even greater if the charger hadn't been in the kitchen and is therefore now in the great mess of stuff I had just taken a picture of in the dining room. I have no idea where the charger is--I have a hard time finding large light fixtures in that room at the moment, forget a four-inch piece of black plastic.
So no pictures today. Sorry.
On a more positive note, the state of the kitchen has been forcing me to return to a previously amusing diversion that I sort of forgot about last winter--woodstove cooking. The appliances in the kitchen are functional, but I really prefer to get the hell out of there when there's plaster dust flying around from sanding the ceiling and whirling dervishes in the shape of the MiL and her sisters priming anything that's standing still. So dinner for the past few nights has been courtesy of the woodstove. Lamb chili last night, kielbasa and sauerkraut the night before. I think Italian sausage, peppers, and potatoes tonight.
I set up a little cooking station by the woodstove, with a small plate on the mantle to hold the stirring spoon and a towel over the small table by A.'s chair to set down hot lids or pots. It's not entirely convenient, but it keeps me out of the kitchen. That's pretty much my whole goal until everything is done.
I may run out of woodstove meal ideas before that, though. Any suggestions?
Well there's stew, obviously. And you can poach fish (or anything that's nice poached). Umm ... ooh! How about brisket? You can do the low-and-slow route in a Dutch oven, right?
ReplyDeleteWord verification: pratothe -- Old-English religious greeting
BBQ any meat...cook the beans in with the meat.
ReplyDeleteI bake and heat on top of mine by putting it on a trivet or cooling rack and inverting a large stainless bowl over the top.
Any broth based soup. Quiche, pancakes , anything you can cook in a cast iron skillet. Grilled sandwiches filled with cheese and all kinds of good things.
word verification- shrospo-quieting flower bushes that have no money
Drew I like your WV today.
soup, soup, soup!
ReplyDeleteSheila Z
I recommend this:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.farmgirlfare.com/2008/09/how-to-cook-lamb-slow-roasted-dutch.html
Any Dutch oven fare works well: potato soup, any kind of stew or soup really, anything braised, chicken with 40 cloves of garlic, etc.
You could keep repeating these dishes; I'd be happy.
ReplyDeleteMcDonalds?
ReplyDeleteOh Tammi, and not experience the adventure that IS cooking on the woodstove and eating the scrumptious fare that is woodstove cooked. You might as well not live. :) Hee, hee. It is the challenge , the struggle to endure, the mountain you have climbed, this adversity that is called 'cooking on the wood stove'.
ReplyDeleteIs that enough to convince you?
Yah, I'd do McD's in a heartbeat,too. If it wasn't so far away. Rather a local place has better fare. B.
Of course, I am teasing. I love cooking on MY woodstove.
Luckily for Kristin , Cubby is a special baby or she would have no strength left to cook on the wood stove.
Your comment made me smile.
Well Anonymous, i'm glad i could make you smile. *grin*
ReplyDeleteI just had a wonderful brainstorm. Have the mil's sisters bring you food to warm up on the stove. LOL After all they are all pretty good cooks themselves and it gives you a good excuse to be lazy.