About 3 or 4 weeks ago, I joined a neighborhood kitchen cooperative that my friend, and uber- homemaker, started. I like to cook, and I like to garden, and decorating is one of my favorite pasttimes, but Im far from domestic goddess. I thought participating in this co-op would be a good challenge.
For that first food exchange, I made olive & rosemary foccacia bread, which I have to say was delish. About halfway through the 6 loaves I was making (over 20c of flour, perhaps a bit too large an undertaking for a Sunday morning) my oven died. It was about 90 degrees that day, I had been running the oven at 450 for a few hours, I was sweaty, frustrated, and then- no oven. I was forced to take my dirty self to the neighbor's house to use their oven for another few hours.
I kept meaning to call an oven repair company, but it took us a few weeks to find someone we thought was reliable. We ended up using Don's Appliance Sales & Repair in East Liberty. The service call alone was $130, and our total bill was about $300. I know, the cost of a new oven, practically! Turns out, our ignitor was broken (which we had guessed) but it had broken because the gas safety valve was broken. That's the the thing that keeps your oven (and house) from exploding when the gas and flame meet. So, I think it was a worthwhile $300 spent.
Well, after 3 weeks without an oven, I realized how much I prize that possession and went into Baketressing overdrive. Using mostly all fresh ingredients courtesy of our garden and our CSA, in the last 24 hours I made a 3-layer vegetable lasagna, 4 dozen cookies (triple chocolate chip, and gingery ginger, courtesy of the Williams Sonoma guide to baking book), 2 quiche (pepper-onion-cheese, and leek-bacon: oh my goodness to die for! both variations from the Joy of Cooking recipes), and am starting on about 2-dozen black bean burgers. I gave half of the chocolate chip cookies and the lasagna to our neighbor who yesterday re-wired our basement so we now have 4 additional outlets. He did it for free, saving us about $250 in electrician fees. Now I can plug in my treadmill and finally get a large freezer. Half of the ginger cookies went to the other families in the kitchen co-op, but Reggie and I are still left with a good dozen. Froze half of everything else to enjoy later in the semester when life gets too hectic.
Oh, and I should say my new habit of involuntarily waking up at 7am everyday (I should clarify- every weekend day, Im up much earlier during weekdays) allowed all of this to be accomplished by 10am, leaving plenty of time for school work, house work, and of course, an amazing they-said-it-couldnt-be-done Pittsburgh Steeler Victory over the Tennessee Titans!
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