25 JULY 2024 POST BEGUN 1044HRS BST
SIX WEEKS AGO MY GINORMOUS BEAUTIFUL 60L WORKTOP OVEN DIED.
I was standing in the kitchen mourning that ginormous beautiful 60L worktop oven and steeling myself to once again having to use the under-worktop unreliable unit. Using the oven thermometer proved it - that oven should be replaced but I refuse to waste money on yet another under-worktop oven I struggled to use owing to low height - I do not bend well, and the awkward placement making cleaning it painfully difficult.
OK, I admit it, I was crying. That 60L worktop oven was SO SO SO good - all my bakeware fit and it didn't cause my back to threaten to seize up. I loved that oven.
In strolled my husband who casually told me to have a look at the 30L version - on sale - before it sold out.
I love my husband, we have a good marriage now we've worked out all the ways to cope with his Asperger's (and coeliac condition meaning I had to learn a whole new way to cook and bake, gluten free to prevent relapse). But, er, well, he IS full-on archetypal Scottish - I joke to my two closest friends 'He's Scottish, he's not mean (meaning penny pincher to a fault), he's frugal'.
So for him to encourage me to buy a new oven floored me, nearly.
Any road, I bought that oven before he could change his frugal little mind. Two days later it came through the door and was in use. WOW!
It's been six weeks minus two days with the new, smaller capacity oven. I've had to buy all new baking trays to fit but most of my glass casserole dishes fit as long as I support them on the double-duty drip/grill shelf. The wire shelf isn't robust enough to safely support a fully loaded glass casserole dish so I've learned to put those on the drip/grill shelf. I don't grill on that shelf, btw - ok I tried it once, it was the devil to clean and I foolishly put it in the dishwasher which did not do the shelf any favours. (Lesson definitely learned - aluminium anything should NEVER go in the dishwasher)
I love that little oven nearly as much as I loved the 60L one. It uses less electricity, it is easier to clean, and it bakes/roasts everything actually better than the 60L (that also used not so much electricity but was tricky to get the temperatures right).
Life's little challenges, it's all one long adventure.
POST PUBLISHED 1137HRS BST
