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| Our back yard this past weekend. |
Dear Diary,
I love the holidays. There are many reasons why.
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| Medals from the current year are always tree ornaments on our 4-foot tree. |
First, it's about the time that we in Albuquerque get out first snow.
Second, since it's finally cold enough to do that, Himself starts digging into the wood pile and building cozy fires.
Another reason I love the holidays. Take a look at my kitchen below: see anything missing?
I have no oven. Nope. None. Well, if you look really closely you'll see a small toaster oven that Sweet Baboo bought me way back when the oven first quit. I refuse on principle to spend that much on a single appliance that I use, at most, three times per year. Not because I'm cheap; I have an induction cooktop and I love to cook. But I don't even bake.
And probably won,t ever. Without an oven, there is no expectation that I'll pull off something spectacular.
For a while, I stored oven pans in the non-working oven. Eventually, I had a handyman remove it, and Sweet Baboo put a shelf in the empty space for the toaster oven.
The rest of the space contains the following oft-used appliances: rice cooker, bread maker, Indoor griddle, and an electric pressure cooker.
I'm considering upgrading to a larger toaster oven with a built in rotiserie, extra fancy, and still about 1/10th price of an oven.
Two years ago, when Himself was gone for Thanksgiving doing Army things, I baked three cornish hens in it for me and the boys.
Oh, I think about how nice it would be bake every once in a while. Then I go to the bakery department at the local grocery and get over myself. I have made some quite nice pies and cakes, one at a time, in the toaster oven, along with the occasional casserole, some hot wings, and other things. From time to time I roast a whole chicken in the toaster oven, using a cast iron dutch oven.
Over all, though, it's just as well. I don't need something that holds cookie sheets. I don't need the ability to make cookies easily and quickly at home.
Just think of the freedom! I am automatically exempt from:
- Hosting holiday dinners
- Baking pies, cookies, or cakes for special occasions.
- Making large roasts for ANY occasion
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| Buttery pecan tarts. Heatable in the microwave. |
I am my mother's daughter. My mom announced abruptly in 1984 that we would not longer eat holiday dinners at my parents' home. Instead, she said, we would eat at the country club.
Between sobs, I insisted that she was ruining the holidays. RUINING THEM. No, she assured me, cooking ruins the holidays. I realized she was right when I beheld the country club holiday buffet, which included three kinds of shellfish and four kinds of roasted meat, among other delights. My mom was a good cook, but this kicked ass. I never complained again.
Even better, marrying Himself caused me to inherit a mother-in-law who loves to bake. Win-win.
I will not be pressured into buying expensive things because everyone is supposed to have them. And honestly, I don't know what's for sale these days because I listen to Pandora, itunes radio, and I don't get cable.
Some other time I'll write about why I don't have a couch.
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