Out of practice
My new oven was finally installed on Saturday and let me tell you that thing is a beast. It's shiny and clean, just begging for a roast chicken or a pan of cookies. The front burners on the stove top are quite powerful and the first time I turned them on I swear I heard jet engines and my mascara started to melt. Not being able to bake anything for the last month and a half, I was anticipating a marathon weekend in the kitchen, sporting a jaunty apron and producing loaves of fresh artisan bread, homemade Mac and Cheese and this pineapple upside down cake.
The recipe calls for a layer of pineapple, then a brown sugar/butter mixture poured over the fruit, then the cake batter. Humming happily, I slid the pans into the oven (bonus - it makes 2 cakes in 8 inch pans) and within 20 minutes I was rewarded with the smell of sugar and pineapple and...... smoke.
I peeked inside to find that the butter/sugar mixture had bubbled up all over the racks and spilled onto the bottom of the oven. Noooooo! So much for shiny and clean. Next time I'll place a few pieces of foil under the cake pans to catch the drips.
About this time I proceeded to boil the macaroni over onto the stove top (I told you those burners were powerful) and then spent the next half hour with my body inside the warm oven, scrubbing off burnt caramel, burning myself, swearing, sweating, burning myself again.
What I won't do for a good meal.
Anyway when the mac and cheese was finally baking in the now clean again oven, (and I had wiped off the spilled starchy pasta water from the stove top) I sat down and cut myself a small sliver of cake (must be tested before serving right?) topped with a blob of whipped cream. (I don't know why I didn't pour a glass of wine at this point. I mean really, where are my priorities?) I stabbed into a piece of pineapple and my plate flipped over off the end of the table and you guessed it, upside down on the kitchen floor. Oh please, can I clean up just one more mess?
The recipe calls for a layer of pineapple, then a brown sugar/butter mixture poured over the fruit, then the cake batter. Humming happily, I slid the pans into the oven (bonus - it makes 2 cakes in 8 inch pans) and within 20 minutes I was rewarded with the smell of sugar and pineapple and...... smoke.
I peeked inside to find that the butter/sugar mixture had bubbled up all over the racks and spilled onto the bottom of the oven. Noooooo! So much for shiny and clean. Next time I'll place a few pieces of foil under the cake pans to catch the drips.
About this time I proceeded to boil the macaroni over onto the stove top (I told you those burners were powerful) and then spent the next half hour with my body inside the warm oven, scrubbing off burnt caramel, burning myself, swearing, sweating, burning myself again.
What I won't do for a good meal.
Anyway when the mac and cheese was finally baking in the now clean again oven, (and I had wiped off the spilled starchy pasta water from the stove top) I sat down and cut myself a small sliver of cake (must be tested before serving right?) topped with a blob of whipped cream. (I don't know why I didn't pour a glass of wine at this point. I mean really, where are my priorities?) I stabbed into a piece of pineapple and my plate flipped over off the end of the table and you guessed it, upside down on the kitchen floor. Oh please, can I clean up just one more mess?
And finally the point of the whole story, in case you thought it would never end, is that the oven performed brilliantly, but the cook was a bit out of practice. Everything tasted delicious, and I highly recommend that cake recipe.
The pictures above which have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with what I was just blabbing about, are of 16 patch blocks for my May blue quilt and a scarf made with Cascade Tangier yarn in the color Sunset Beach. It's main ingredient is silk, and so far it's real nice to work with. Kind of reminds me of Noro, but without the swearing.
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