Unexpected Purchases, Here We Come

In the middle of cooking a pork roast a few weeks ago, I was greeted with this:

What the f&^%? A year and a day or so (just over warranty of course) after I got this piece of crap electric oven the whole rectangular computer piece there fell out and down into the back of the unit. After I tried massive amounts of duck tape to no avail, my Mom and Dad saved the day by packing the back of the stove with styrofoam blocks from Michaels to hold the computer piece in place. Needless to say, it's been downhill since.

A couple of months before Thanksgiving (which I host), I noticed things taking longer than they should baking such as Joe's birthday carrot cake. I completely over cooked it eventually. Then I got an oven thermometer and figured out how to compensate with the computer settings so that I got to the temp I needed. Well, that didn't really work but at least my Thanksgiving turkey was done 2 1/2 hours early rather than being underdone I suppose.

Now I have this. I completely freaked. This happened the day before I went away leaving Joe with all 3 kids for 4 days. His calm demeanor prevailed and after unplugging it and plugging it back in, the pork roast was saved. This is a freak accident waiting to happen.

Also, my dryer takes 2 cycles to dry anything these days on the hottest setting. Or, my washer isn't spinning well enough. I feel new appliances on the horizon.

What Not to Do When Baking/Roasting in a Glass Dish...

Do not pour a liquid into the bottom of a hot, dry glass dish when roasting to "deglaze" the pan. Duh...

The Horror that was the Brisket from Top Chef

This is too bad to let pass by...I attempted the slow-cooked Brisket Richard made from Top Chef last week and it is a MISERABLE FAILURE! In hindsight, I should have known that the brisket that I got from the store was much smaller than the mammoth hunk of beef he used on the show and adjusted the cooking time accordingly. Alas, I did not and at 10 hours, the shoe that was my brisket came out of the oven and the "off", sort of burnt, sort of mustardy smell wafted throughout my house. Dry, bland, overcooked, no sauce, but it did shred nicely. I do have to say that the recipe is written terribly...you'd think they'd work a little harder at that seeing that this is a competition for CHEFS! I digress. I have to try this again...next time, in the slow cooker instead of the oven, more salt and spice to start with, browned on the grill instead of in a pan, a little fattier, and MUCH less time (say 7 hours on low?). My poor family will have to have this again next week as now I am determined to get a juicy, melt-in-your-mouth brisket. I know I can just go to my moms recipe, but I want to get this one right somehow!



It's a good thing I have a sense of humor...look at what happened to my roasting pan from the brown sugar???

An Old Cake Disaster Story

It is with a great deal of embarrassment that I share this cake disaster story. While discussing homemade birthday cakes with a friend today and having read an awesome "make-your-own-creative-cake" story over at the Cole Mine blog, I recalled the biggest disaster of my cooking/baking life. The 3D Firetruck cake I attempted for Rory's 1st birthday was nothing short of a disgusting mess.


I clearly know that I am a cook and not a baker. Really, I should have used cake mix from a box and not tried for the 3D. But, I let my mom convince me that I could just as easily "whip something up" from scratch. I easily used 2 bottles of red dye to attempt to get the icing fire engine red. The house was hot, the icing was melting, I was completely nauseous from having inhaled WAY too much confectioners sugar, and it was taking a REALLY long time. But, I finished it.

And, it was terrible. It didn't just look like melting puke. It tasted like sugary cardboard. I could tell from my sampling that it wasn't going to work out. The next morning, I secretly bought a cake and after horrifying my family and frightening them into thinking that this was dessert, I took a few pics for posterity and then brought out the much better store cake.

Without further adieu...