Thursday, January 26, 2012

Take Five

The stovetop fairy paid a visit this morning. Actually, two burly men with charming demeanors and a sackful of power tools. That's my dream of a good fairy.
I can't believe we waited nearly five years to run a gas line into the kitchen. I've been cooking on a wobbly, uneven electric range all this time. It had the decency to have infinite settings on the knobs; no clunky clicks from Medium to Medium Hot, you just swooped in on any temperature.
But that's gone, and good bye. I don't even know how to use the new cooktop yet. Not too complicated, I suspect. Just a flick of the pilot, then dial up the flame of your choice.
Oh, and there's a low-simmer burner, and a high BTU one for setting bacon on fire. Choices! And there's, uh, wait. Count the knobs.
OMG.

31 comments:

cookiecrumb said...

COLIN FIRTH IN PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

Kailyn said...

Woohoo! Gas!!! And five elements. I love my fifth element. No need to light up two burners in order to deglaze a roasting pan.

Zoomie said...

Okay, now you've done it. I'm pea green with envy. I have two (count 'em, two) rickety electric burners that come on more or less when they feel like it.

And, yes, Colin Firth in just about anything. Even beats burly delivery guys with power tools and charming demeanors. Please don't tell me he's gay. I need my fantasies.

Kate said...

Oh my gah. Totally jealous here. I can't wait until the day I own a nice oven/range. Congrats.

Nancy Ewart said...

Sometimes your leaps of connection leave me behind. Colin Firth? Cooks with gas? Oh - and not gay. Married to a gorgeous Italian and has at least one child, plus a child from an earlier affair with Meg Tilly.
Now, on to the essentials - hooray for gas stoves. I have an ancient 1947 Wedgwood stove, four burners and a side drawer for storage. I LOVE it! There are a few signs of wear but the old lady is still good for another 50 years or so. Maybe more.

cookiecrumb said...

Kailyn: Good to hear you have such a good piece of equipment. And isn't the Fifth Element a movie with Bruce Willis and Mila Jovovich? :)

Zoomie: Only two burners? I recall a spiffy Jennair indoor grill; doesn't that count for something?

Katie: Just try skipping your mochalocha every day for a year. Put the money in a jar. Bingo, stovetop. Good luck!

Nancy: The Colin explanation is just that we've been watching the DVD. He invented Smolder.com. I have almost all of Jane Austen on discs.
Love your old stove; we had one in Mill Vally and it was a trooper, if unreliable.

cookiecrumb said...

Katie: Are you my Katie from (possibly previously) Folsome? Good to see you!

Ms Brown Mouse said...

I DIE of jealousy, I'm STILL cooking on a dodgy, uneven electric stovetop, 11 years on!!!

Kalyn Denny said...

Yaay for gas! Have fun with the new toy.

Hungry Dog said...

Congrats on the new stove! very cool. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it in no time. Little flame, big flame.

cookiecrumb said...

Mouse: Is gas possible? Once you set your mind to it and make a few calls, it all comes together. It was a little bit teamworky, but those can be stay home days for you.

Kalyn: Yes, it is a toy! And don't think I wasn't thinking of you and your Thermie the whole time.

cookiecrumb said...

Dog: The first thing we cooked on it was hot water for tea. It worked. Little flame, big flame, cook, cook, cook!

Nancy Ewart said...

Totally OT but Colin Firth as Mr. Smolder.com. OK, I'll buy that but want to add Rupert Sewell and Clive Owen. They go beyond smolder and into incandescent. Now, as usual, I digress into fields other than food. But, to paraphrase Shakespeare, if smolder be the food of love, smolder on ...

Greg said...

Smoking!!

Cheryl Czekala said...

Sweet! I have to cook on electric burners when I visit my dad in Florida, and have learned to avoid "front right" as it always overheats. I love gas, except I can't get my own burners to get quite low enough without blowing themselves out. Your set up looks like that's not going to happen to you. Have fun!

Cali said...

Well, color me jealous! I do have a gas stove, and it's only about 15 years old, but it's your basic 4 burner model with an oven and a broiler in the bottom. Now, when I say basic, I mean basic. No clock, no timer, not even a window in the door! Makes popovers, Yorkshire pudding and Dutch baby pancakes an exercise in faith-- even more than usual!

cookiecrumb said...

Greg: Yes, well. Hopefully, not smoking! :)

Cheryl: I so dig you on "front right." Fortunately, on this cooktop, front right is "normal." We love it so far.

Cali: Ha! Wow, that IS very basic. My parents had that setup. But useable, yes?
Been meaning to tell you I have appreciated your links on Twitter to OakFoSho's Ustream.

Plume said...

Have fun!

kudzu said...

Splendid news about your rangetop. I know we c-a-n cook on anything thrown our way, but isn't it super duper to have all the advantages? Good for you two!

Unknown said...

Love the gas stove!
We went from gas to electric when we moved 2 years ago. Much harder to adjust in our direction. We have no hope of gas in our house. We would have to pay the gas company to lay gas lines down our street, then dig up our yard to bring gas to the house. That is a bit too much money for us right now.

cookiecrumb said...

Kudzu: I guess what's puzzling is why we didnt do this sooner. We could have afforded it, but it was too mental. (Everything looks great; there are other shiny bits.)

Lannae: Oh, gawrsh, it would be cheaper to move! I know you can make it work, though. Some of my favorite cooks use electric tops, and it just gave me courage over the past few years.

Chilebrown said...

I am impressed and congrats. You will love it.

cookiecrumb said...

Chilebrown: Thanks! Love it already. You can put the top grates in the dishwasher, yay.

Ms Brown Mouse said...

Gas is possible, but if we do it we may as well do the WHOLE KITCHEN, which Mr Brown says is a bit much for a stove ;)

cookiecrumb said...

Plume: Aw, thanks.

Mouse: Heh. If you've been 11 years so far, you're probably not gonna get one. Or, you could remodel the whole kitchen, and of course I vote for that. :)

Cali said...

Yes, the ultimate in basic stoves works just fine. I've never had a better, more evenly heating oven (at least at home) than this, honestly. Still, I'd really like to be able to watch things bake or roast without having to open the door and lose all the heat.

As for OakFoSho, there isn't a better citizen reporter anywhere. I hope you got to see some of his stuff while he was on the east coast. The Riverside Church thing was really inspiring. It was just what he needed at a time when many members of Occupy Oakland were harassing him for his commitment to non-violence. If you missed it, I'm sure it's in his Ustream archives, and it's definitely worth watching, even for a non-believer like me.

I'm not quite sure how he managed to escape the kettling at the YMCA Saturday night, but I'm sure glad he did. I think they just don't want to arrest him because it would be really bad for OPD's public relations.

cookiecrumb said...

Cali: I just feel things are at crisis proportions. Jesse LaGreca is so pissed by Quan that he's threatening "defending his country." Read that how you like, and Jesse's not a nut, but you could read it sort of wrong, too.
Very proud of OakFoSho; I was pretty impressed he went back east.

Pink Granite said...

Hurray!
I love our gas stove - far more basic than your fabulous one - but love is the word.
My favorite part, which surprised me, was how wonderful the continuous grates are. And having the lowest flame be at the opposite end of the dial from highest/off is brilliant. What took that innovation so long?
Enjoy!
;o)
- Lee

cookiecrumb said...

Hi Lee: Yeah, it is love. We had a good oven/stove at our last house, so it's just Mental that we didn't upgrade until now.
I just got what you mean by "all the grates are continuous," like one big surface.

Sammo said...

Drool. I would love a stove like that, but it may be bigger than my whole kitchen.
Have fun playing with your new toy.

cookiecrumb said...

Sammo: It really is a normal, suburban tract home size. Not large... Anyway, thanks! Loving it.