Creative cooking

I don't have an oven.
Well I do, but not really.

My kitchen used to be a living room and so it has no plumbing (YET!) and no cooker point.

For ages I had a toaster oven, but it finally died, so I decided to take stock of what I have...

• Microwave.
• Slow cooker. 
• Rice maker.
• Toaster.
• Log burner.

The Microwave is a combi so it has an oven feature on it, but its balls.... seriously, it only cooks around the edges and the bottom stays soggy. Its not bad for crumbles, but nothing with pastry.
I use it for browning veg to go in the >

Slow cooker damn it! Everyone needs one of these! Not just for soups and stews,you can make curries , chinese food, chili. You can steam puddings in it, stew fruit in it. Best thing is, you can prep your food and leave it cooking all day. Its also bang on for keeping food warm for a while if you need to.

Rice maker, not just for rice. I was always baffled by rice makers. Who eats so much rice that they need an actual appliance to cook it?! Oh how wrong I was. A rice maker is basically a bowl on a hot plate, I've cooked pasta, sauces, sausages AND rice in it so far and its a cracking little machine. And I have to say... perfect rice.

Toaster. I make toast in it..... that's it.

Log burner. Its no secret I love my log burner. I can fit like 3 big pots and a kettle on it in one go. It cooks food in a far superior manner to any conventional hot plate, and in the winter it costs nothing to cook on as I already have it going for heat and hot water.
I admit it though.... I lust after a rayburn or aga or ANY sort of range cooker.
Alas its not meant to be, so how do I MAKE one out of what I already have?

BEHOLD!!!! Two roasting tins!!

Ok, basic doesn't really cover it, but I thought, what the hell.... An oven is really only a metal box that gets hot right?

So I made cupcakes.

They didn't really brown on top, as the heat is coming from below, but as you can see they cooked through and tasted fine!

There is a stove top oven called the "Coleman Camping oven" which looked pretty good, sadly though, in American they're about $35 and in the UK you can't buy for less than £70 :(

Although its meant to go on the Coleman gas range, it seems lots of people use them on log burners.

                                       

So anyway, that's what I have at the moment. Kim's thinking about making a Coleman style box for us to use so watch this space! 

  

Evolution and responsibility...

I have increasingly mixed feelings about the shutting of larger high street stores.
On the one hand I feel bad for the staff, and of course the customers who have gift vouchers that are now null and void (You know, this is the reason I hand out money in cards instead of vouchers...)

They're all blaming Amazon, who is by no means blame-LESS...

....but....

Remember when we all bought our cameras from little independent shops instead of Jessops?

... or when you went to a book shop run by the same family since 1900 instead of Waterstones?

... or when you bought your music from that funny little shop with the overly enthusiastic guy behind the the counter who always tried to get you to listen to some Norwegian death Metal, instead of going to HMV?

This has been a long time coming and these stores can bleat all they like, at the end of the day they're just pissed that someone bigger, brighter and cheaper than them came along.

Karma's a bitch.

In all honesty, YES, I use Amazon.

However, my local bookstore, music store and camera store are all between 20 - 30 miles away.
I would LOVE to be able to spend time picking exactly what I want and getting advice from enthusiastic people who love their job, but it will cost me £20 + to get to them by train before I've even picked up a book/CD/Camera.

Besides, are the people who work in these large stores enthusiasts?

No.

A handful may be, but most are working there because its a job.... its a minimum wage job.

Ever tried getting DIY advice in Homebase?
The phrase "rabbit in the headlights" springs to mind.... if you look closely you can see them sweating in fear...

Its too late for these stores.
They taught the consumer how to think, lured them away from the independent shops with flashy showrooms and cheap prices.

Its a bit late to morn the high street now ....

It died years ago.

We just didn't notice.