I Can Now Cook Scrambled Egg Again
I’ve now got my new cooker, which fits neatly in the space, where the other one made itself a nuisance.
My New Zanussi Electric Cooker
The space at each side can be used, whereas the other cooker was so wide it just blocked the cupboard doors from opening.
I can now cook scrambled egg again.
Scrambled Eggs, Smoked Salmon and Cold Potatoes
I didn’t have it on toast, as my local Waitrose won’t stock any bread at the moment, so I used smoked salmon. Coeliacs, like me, often cook extra potatoes and eat them as snacks, so I added some to the plate, as I have a massive bowl fill of them.
I think too, that I’m feeling better, as the cooker is not creating all those oxides of nitrogen, that could be poisoning me.
Has Steven Gerrard Come of Age?
You’d think that the headlines about Steven Gerrard this morning, would all have been about his performance in the FA Cup Final yesterday. The Times rated him at 6/10, but said he was rather a frustrated figure.
The biggest headline about himn today, is that he has signed a letter with Jamie Oliver, saying that cooking should be taught in schools, as a means of fighting obesity.
Coupled with his measured and thoughtful support for the new England manager, Roy Hodgson, it would appear that we are seeing a very different Steven Gerrard.
Cynics might argue though, that he wants the England captaincy.
Why Does Anybody Buy a Gas Cooker?
This house came with a complete set of appliances. Most have suffered at the hands of ten years of tenants, who looked after them as if they were their own and not the care you would if they were someone else’s.
The cooker didn’t suffer too much at the hands of the tenants, but judging by the fact that the microwave was in the garage and rather burnt, I would think the reason the cooker was OK wasn’t misuse, but no use!
But that doesn’t alter the fact that cooking anything as simple as bacon and eggs is very very difficult. Or it could be that I’ve cooked on a variety of AGAs for forty years and before that it was a sophisticated all-electric hob and oven!
So the next time a modern day Steptoe passes my door he gets it. And probably a double hernia as well, as it was obviously built by a company that knew weight could settle all problems. But not everywhere of course!
The cooker isn’t totally useless in that it can cook things that just need the electric oven or just one pot on a gas. so I can cook my fish pies or Moroccan Chicken Casseroles.
It’s just simple things like meat and two veg and of course bacon and eggs, that are difficult.
At least in the 1950s, you could always use them to kill the lamb before you ate it! Even that function has been removed on safety grounds.
Never Buy A House That’s Had Tenants In it!
When I bought my house about eighteen months ago, I liked it. I also got a good discount as it needed some work, as the tenants who’d occupied it on behalf of the previous owner hadn’t looked after it.
I still like it, but the faults in the various systems are a complete pain in the neck.
The cooker put in by the previous owner is totally unsuitable.
An Unsuitable Cooker
In common with every other appliance, there are no instruction manuals, but the biggest problem is that it is too big and stops the doors of the kitchen cupboards opening properly. It’s also a gas cooker, which I hate and the sooner, I can get rid of it and fit a proper electric cooker the better. To be fair to Baumatic, they did at least send me a manual, but that doesn’t help with its unsuitability.
The dishwasher has been wrecked and although it is a good make and I have the knowledge to make it work, I have decided that the best option is to get a new one, as all the baskets and shelves are broken and to get everything clean, you need to wash half the glasses and plates by hand afterwards.
But my biggest moan with the house is the underfloor heating system. When nPower fitted the new meter, they advised me to service the boiler which I did. It also needed a new control system, as the previous owner or the tenants had rewired things themselves.
It now works very intermittently, with the result the house is either stone cold or frighteningly hot. In cold weather, I have to ratchet up the controls and switch the boiler off and on to get any heat.
At least I’ve got hot water, although for the last few days the showers haven’t worked. I thought today, I’d have a bath, and I did, but then the water didn’t run out. Although to be fair it did eventually.
I can’t wait to sell my house in Suffolk, so I can get someone in to fix it all here properly.
I lost count of the number of times, I’ve phoned plumbers and they’ve said they’ll come and haven’t. But then there isn’t much work about!
I do have one worry about the heating and that is the problem might be that the house wasn’t very well insulated by Gerry the builder. So is heating the house, is a bit like pushing water uphill?
Roll on the spring, when I can switch it off.
Writing In An Oven Glove
Can you write or do delicate tasks in an oven or other form of protective glove?
This video shows me writing in an oven glove from Gloven.
It was surprising how much control I had. As an engineer, I feel that it has many applications in the wider world, outside of the kitchen.
Remember they also protect against the cold and one version has extra silicone grips.
I will definitely be getting a pair to help with my gammy hand in the kitchen.
The Dragons Can’t Cook!
Or is it most likely won’t?
I watched them last night, when they rejected a lady who had developed a product called a Gloven.
It’s exactly what I need, to get round the problems of my gammy left hand, which responds badly to hot and cold.
I have a feeling that this is a product that will be a success, as it has so many niches, that haven’t been identified yet!
Do Successful Women Have a House Husband?
A news item in the Sunday Times today is headed Top women need ‘him indoors’
It goes on to discuss how quite a few of the top women in the City have husbands who are at home.
I will not answer my question directly, but talk about my relationship of forty years with C. Or more particularly our careers.
For the first few years, we were very typical although, some would say that your early twenties are too young to have children. We had three before I was 25 and C was 24. I worked hard to get on and by that time I was starting my first business. I was working at least 24 hours a day, seven days a week and we were living in a fouuth floor walk up flat in St. John’s Wood. So if you have to live in crap housing make sure it’s in a good location. Just north of Regent’s Park can’t really be better.
When I sold my first business, we moved to the Barbican and C went to UCL to do a law degree, as Politics from Liverpool, where your tutor was Robert Kilroy-Silk, doesn’t really prepare you for the world of real work.
For the next fifteen years or so, I was part of the team creating Artemis, whilst C was getting her career together as a barrister. We were both working hard and I got the financial rewards when the company was sold. C meanwhile gained a reputation as one of East Anglia’s foremost family barristers.
When we moved to Newmarket to start the stud, we started to evolve a new way of working together. We still had our individual careers and interests, but I would spend more time on other things, as C was now very much the major wage owner. It allowed me to develop ideas, some of which worked and some didn’t. And then when she moved to Chambers in Cambridge, which was very much Internet based, I became much more of her support at home.
As we didn’t have young children anymore, I couldn’t be described as anything more than home support.
So in some ways we’d almost come full circle.
I suspect our model has not been untypical and I’d recommend it. As the major wage-earner changes over the years, does it really demean the man to be the one who oooks after the house, when his wife can earn three or four times he can.
But we also did a lot of things together.
Shopping for instance. Some of my friends are incredulous, that for most of our life together we did the general shopping together too. When we were in the Barbican, we’d push the children up to Chapel Market next to the Waitrose I now use. So life has now come full circle in more ways than one.
Clothes shopping was often together too. C was better at choosing clothes for me and in many cases the reverse was true. I remember the year she died being in Zara and C was looking at a sun dress on a hanger. She said that it was awful and I then picked it up, realising that it would be just her size and style. She bought it and wore it all the summer. Remember that I am a designer and also an unusual man, who was taught to make clothes by his mother.
If I have any regrets about our relationship, it was that I dodn’t do more cooking. I taught myself in a few days after she died and like doing it.
So I would suspect that although house-husband is too strong a word for it, most successful women and successful men for that matter have a strong partner at home, who can help or even take charge of the mundane and suggest other ways in the serious part of their career. As an example in the latter, I helped in a few of C’s cases, by using my knowledge and experience to improve her arguments and in some other cases, I have suggested ways of improving her returns from the work.
And then there’s the need for a cuddle and more, that we all need!
Living alone is not a choice we would make for ourselves.
Oven Gloves for the Microwave
A friend brought these back from Hawaii.
Oven Gloves for the Microwave
They do actually help, and as there are two and they are small, they could fit anywhere on my work surface to move things that are either hot or in my case cold. Cold things like a pie from the freezer are just as painful.
Here’s one on my left hand.
A Glove on My Left Hand
Hopefully, they will help me use my left hand better, as often I use the right, as that works well with any normal temperature.
The fingers work as you can see, but the temperature sensors aren’t that reliable. Luckily, I haven’t burned the hand yet!
Now to Sort the Fridge
The fridge is a nuisance in that it seems most of the shelves and the door fitments are missing or broken. But the mechanical bits that do all the work, seem to be working well.
Luckily it’s a Siemens and I’ve been able to find the replacement parts section on their web site with a little bit of help from Dino at Concept Kitchens.
So on Monday, I’ll dismantle everything and see what is needed.
Baumatic Delivers
I have perhaps been a bit harsh on Baumatic and their cooker, but yesterday, they sent me the instruction manual in the post, having identified the cooker from the picture I sent them by e-mail.
That scores quite a few points.
The Anonymous Widower 