The Week our Oven Resurrected Itself (What We're Eating: 10/24-10/31)

The Best Laid Plans

It is Monday morning and I am sneakily starting to write this before my students arrive in the classroom. I have ambitions this week. My first ambition is to break our stove again. You see, I may have accidentally made it work and now we're worried that when the fixer comes on Wednesday they'll look at our stove and tell us that it's fine. But really....it's not. 

Yesterday Nuala and I took a free Bake with a Legend class. Dan was doing Eisenbahner or German Railway Biscuits. Cookies for the Americans in the room. If you're German and reading this and you never heard of these, then please know that there was much debate about whether or not these were actually German, BUT we all agreed that they were (thanks for the assist, Google), but probably very old German so that none of the younger Germans in the class actually knew what they were. Maybe? Who knows, really. All I know is that we turned out some unexpected magic in our broken oven on Sunday.  

We had signed up for it before the oven died. The plan was to follow along because usually there are excellent tips and tricks and we figured we could just freeze the dough and finish it later. But then I just decided to give the oven a go. Might as well. It was a total gamble. I watched the minutes tick down on the bake wondering if we would just wind up with half baked shortbread. But it worked fine. Still, I want my oven to break again because I want them to fix it or replace it because baking and roasting shouldn't be as much of a gamble as it was yesterday. 

For Sunday dinner I made Cannelini Bean Pasta with Beurre Blanc. It was outrageously easy and delicious. We also chucked a bunch of Spinach in it because...why not. I routinely throw handfuls of spinach in almost everything. 

For Monday I am going to be alone. Totally solo. While I don't like being alone (more on that in another post), I sometimes love eating my weird foods alone. Or I like eating leftovers cold from Tupperware while watching British and Irish shows that no one else wants to watch. I'll make the best of it somehow. 

On Tuesday I think I'll make these pork chops with apples because they sound so fall-like and I think the men will have returned. 

On Wednesday I'm going to make risotto and something with chicken. We had risotto last week, but I think we need to have it again because I have all the ingredients. That bottle of white wine needs to be used because it's just taking up room. The chicken will be for the men who need it. It will be a "good chicken" recipe. Something with olives that I saw someplace. 

Thursday's dinner will be pasta based and considering the likelihood of rain soup based as well. Like ribollita. 

Friday is a date night. At least I think it's a date night. We'll eat out someplace or maybe we'll cook hot dogs over an open fire. Although chance of rain seems high. So maybe we'll just order in or I'll make pizza. Or order pizza. I like the sound of that. 

And Saturday. Good old Saturday. I feel like I want to be making dumplings or ravioli. But probably dumplings. Although my daughter is with her dad and will probably balk at the fact that I did that when she wasn't there. So there is a batch of Bratwurst and a bunch of sauerkraut in the fridge. It's one of the last days of October so probably a final Oktoberfest is in order. I like that prospect. 

How they went agley.....

Well, it's Saturday afternoon and I just made a stew. It apparently didn't matter that I defrosted a package of Bratwurst yesterday and had totally planned on Bratwurst tonight. Well, I suppose they'll be just as good tomorrow. And last night....well last night I wound up making a red lentil dal to eat with my daughter before I brought her back to school to help with their haunted house. Then Watts and I ate more of it while watching a movie. A WILD DATE NIGHT, I tell you. Insane. Thursday was just too busy and rushed so I found myself making a quick spaghetti bolognese with impossible meat and jarred sauce. On Wednesday I made that risotto, but we wound up packing it in lunches for the rest of the week because we found ourselves at a local B&B for their wine and pizza and jazz night. We sat outside with our kids and ate pizzas that weren't half bad, but were probably more flatbread than pizza. All in all a delightful evening. 

P.S. The oven fixer came on Wednesday. The oven worked perfectly for him. That evening it broke again. I give up. My oven is my favorite appliance. I can cook totally fine on the top of the stove, but I need to bake. It brings me comfort and joy and we're going to have to figure this mess out really soon because Thanksgiving pies cannot be cooked on the stove. Neither can Christmas cookies.