032 NOW WE'RE COOKING WITH GAS...SORT OF

I spoke yesterday of my major cooking disaster involving smoke alarms.  Well, I am back to report things went much more smoothly today.  Not perfect mind you, but certainly much better.  I’ve discovered as well that when cooking something while you and your guest(s) are hungry is not the best time to be a) learning a new recipe or b) and more importantly, not the time to be learning how to use a new appliance.

Let me preface by saying that I turned on the range hood while I was mixing ingredients this morning, sort of a preemptive strike as it were.  I also want to say that I generally do not like waffles, but Renee does and so I promised her waffles for breakfast.

The recipe was given to by my son who got it from his Mom and he proclaimed it makes the best waffles I have ever eaten.  So, how bad could it be?  Anyway, the recipe was easy to follow along and to put the ingredients together.  The instructions for the waffle maker?  Not so much.  I read the manual through, really I did.  There were a few terms there that left me confused, but usually once you start using something, things tend to clear up.

Now, I will say that the screw-ups on my part were strictly mine alone.  The recipe said to fill the waffle maker.  The instructions in the waffle maker said to pour a half to ¾ cup on the center and close the lid.  I chose to fill it.  Suddenly hot batter is leaking out the sides as it expands.  It was dripping down both sides and luckily the splash pan was there to catch it, although it was soon full, and the spillover process began anew.

Finally, the bell rang to indicate turning the pan over.  Now this is the Cuisinart rotary waffle maker but the instructions were vague as how to do that.  I finally figured out you have to press down and twist.  Then I turned it back and opened it.  Oops, way too soon.  There was a crisp outer, but the insides were still gooey, and I closed the lid again.

FIRST EVER WAFFLE

Finally, it was cooked enough to serve.  Let me tell you.  Non-stick surfaces aren’t necessarily.  It took 15 minutes to clean both sides of the platter.  Apparently I was supposed to spray it with PAM or smeared it with oil.  The sizable pieces actually tasted ok.  Anyway, cleanup done, it was time to try again.  This time I tried it the way I should have the first time.  Since I didn’t have any PAM I wiped it down with oil.  I added the correct amount of batter and started the process.  When the bell dinged, I turned it.  When it dinged again, I opened it and there it was.  An actual proper waffle.  Renee loved the waffles, I thought they were ok, but still not a huge fan of them.

Later on it was time to do dinner.  Again I turned on the range fan while getting ingredients together.  Tonight’s dinner was tacos.  I don’t usually heat up the hard taco, but then again I didn’t have a fancy new oven before either.  So while the beef filling was merrily cooking on the range, oh and I figured out quickly that with gas and a stainless steel pan, you don’t need to cook on high.  So a more manageable medium heat was used.

Now talk about all the bells and whistles on a stove or oven.  This thing is computerized.  Trying to even turn it on was an adventure that defied logic as Spock would say.  Finally, I figured out the rapid pre-heat, except after that was done, I couldn’t figure out how to set the oven to bake.  Once that was done, setting the timer was another adventure.  Who knew that pressing 5:00 was 5 hours, not 5 minutes.  Apparently you just need to press 5 for that.  So the taco shells got heated, but I didn’t expect them to close up.

Getting the filling into them was like trying to squeeze myself into skinny jeans.  Ah but despite not having the tacos in the traditional way, two shells with filling between them made an acceptable taco sandwich. We had done a lengthy 4K hike up and around Kanaka Creek Falls, aka Cliff Falls and so after dinner I fell asleep in the recliner.

AT THE EDGE OF THE FALLS

But the adventures did not end there.  For years I had been telling Renee that I make the best peanut butter cookies, she convinced me it was time to prove it.  I had all the ingredients but inexplicably could not find vanilla extract.  No problem, the recipe works well without that ¼ teaspoon.

This time, I had no problem figuring out how to use the stand mixer and had the ingredients mixing up nicely, while I went back to refiguring out how to pre-heat the oven.  Finally got that going and got the cookies laid out on the sheet.  It’s been over twenty years since I last made them and I forgot to press them down with a fork.  I caught that as soon as I put the tray in the oven.

PRESSING THE COOKIES

Instead of greasing up my new non-stick “Cake Boss” cookie sheets.  I used parchment paper for the first time.  Parchment apparently acts as a non-stick surface itself and two nonstick surfaces together is like an ice skater on ice.  Trying to keep the cookies on the pan took for great balancing skills.  I finally got them in the oven and let them bake for 5-7 minutes, except they weren’t near done.

IN THEY GO

Apparently with this oven, when the timer hits zero, it shuts itself off.  That’s fine, but I had trouble getting it to go back on.  I put them on for another cycle, but still they needed more.  It was then that I discovered the “convection baking” setting on the oven, and things moved fast from there.  I got all the cookies on the cooling rack and Renee swiped one before 30 seconds had passed.  She loved it.

JUST LIKE THEY USED TO BE, MM MM GOOD

The batch made twenty cookies and I had three.  They were as good as I had ever made and I missed doing it.  Then I fell asleep in the recliner again.  Apparently while I was sleeping, little ghosts and goblins came and had their fill.  As Renee was heading up to bed she asked if the cookies should be left on the counter.  I told her I would put the balance in Tupperware.  There were exactly 7 cookies left.  I’d say they were a big hit.