#LivingInLockdown
Day 26 – Friday 10th April
This week marks a momentous occasion. I used my oven for the first time since moving to Spain. Yes, you heard me correctly, I haven’t used an oven for over ten years. Even when I lived in the UK I was famous for using my oven only once a year, when I would throw a dinner party for friends. As a single person who usually eats out, I just don’t see the point in turning the oven on for just one person. It takes forever to heat up (I’m not known for my patience) and then you have to clean it afterwards (the horror!).
Part of the problem is that the labels around the dials on my oven have faded. The dials themselves have pictures and numbers on them but they are difficult to see. This of course is an excuse, because the oven in my last place had perfectly labelled dials and I never used it once. Having said that the fuse box would trip in my last apartment if I used too many heating elements as I was on a lower voltage contract. I’m now on a ridiculously high contract that is way more than I need but I can’t be bothered to change it. Besides it’s nice not to have to worry about the lights suddenly going off because you decided to boil a kettle (for my friends in the UK who haven’t experienced Spanish utilities, it’s a minefield).
The reality is I don’t like to cook. I’m perfectly capable of cooking, as demonstrated by the fact that I’ve managed to feed myself every day for the past four weeks (to the amazement of some), but I don’t enjoy it. The act of eating I absolutely love, but prefer that someone else has prepared the dish. I was made for eating out. Eating in is dull. The food isn’t dull as I cook a range of international cuisines and ensure I’m eating different proteins, vegetables and starches each day as well as different flavourings. I’d go mad if I didn’t have variety in my food and my diet is healthier for this. Nope it’s the time spent in the kitchen preparing the food and then cleaning up afterwards which I find tedious.
One of the Facebook pages I follow is from my home town back the UK and apparently there is a major shortage of flour in the local supermarkets. It seems everyone is trying to buy the stuff at the moment. This baffles me, as I don’t think I’ve ever bought flour in my life. My only hope is that when this is all over some of the cafes and restaurants have managed to survive this hit to their finances, as I will be back I promise you. In the meantime I am debating whether to try some of the food delivery options. On the one hand I would be supporting local businesses, but on the other hand is this a higher risk of infection? I haven’t decided yet.
Anyway you’ll be glad to know that the cheese, potato and onion bake that I made in my oven came out fine. It’s preparation was complicated by the fact that I don’t have any oven dishes. Someone did tell me that, at a pinch, you can take the handles off your saucepans and use the pan as an oven dish, which I thought was rather creative. However it didn’t come to this in the end, as I managed to buy some disposable aluminium baking dishes at my supermarket.
So that’s it! The oven has been christened and cleaned and I will now go back to ignoring it. Tomorrow I’m contemplating tackling hollandaise sauce. this should be interesting as I don’t think I’ve ever separated egg yolks before either.