Twelve Years On
So our twelfth anniversary has rolled around and we have planned a splendid day of celebration. As has become our custom we grab a few bottles of good red wine, the Mauritian cooks a roast and we spend the day at home with each other reminiscing and discussing.
Our weekend started off with a bang on Saturday morning, literally! I was going to bake a batch of muffins with breakfast and asked the Mauritian to turn on the oven to warm it up. Suddenly there is this rather strange bang like popping noise coming from the kitchen. On investigation we find that the glass on the inside of the over door has shattered! Guess I won’t be making those muffins now! The Mauritian, of course, has become irritated and restless and is cursing everyone and their dog for breaking the oven and interfering with his plans to make his superb lamb roast on Sunday. I really do think sometimes that if he could he would growl! So after eventually realising that what happened was really nobody’s fault he called the land owner to let her know about the oven. Apart from the fact that we think we woke her up, we live in a small town where nothing opens before half past eight and no repairman works on a weekend. Oh woe is us, no roast on our anniversary? You must be kidding; nothing was going to deter us from roasting that leg of lamb. But first to breakfast!
When the Mauritian and I finally got engaged my darling Mother-in-law was so happy she went a little dilly and bought us a lot of rather unusual engagement presents. One of these was a “Stove Top Convection Pot” and what a magic thing it is. It’s basically an oven disguised as a pot, it is designed to utilise the heat of the cooking plate on the stove top to create the convection heat of an oven. It works like a charm and does a roast marvellously, there’s just one problem, it’s rather small. We didn’t know if this cut of meat would fit so it was back on with the thinking caps.
The Mauritian’s birthday is seven days before Christmas and I am always faced with the dilemma of what to get him for both those days that has significance and neither bares any resemblance to the other. In other words I could buy him clothes for his birthday but not Christmas, it is rather a tough one most years. But one such time I came across a small kettle braai which was the perfect size to use when he got the urge in the middle of the week to have a braai for just the two of us. We soon discovered that it was a brilliant way to do a roast. It was also one of the items we decided at the last minute to pack and were really happy we did. So we had our plan “B” the problem with that however was, it’s an outdoor thing and the weather did not look promising. Perhaps we should consider a plan “C”?
Breakfast over the Mauritian headed off to the garage to resurrect the “kettle” braai and I went digging in the depth of our kitchen cupboards for the “Convection” pot. All parts collected and we set about reassembling both items. I know this may sound strange, but we were actually having a lot of fun even the Butterfly was helping and laughing with us. It also took us over an hour to complete something that should have taken a few minutes to do. But in the end it was all worth it!
As it turned out the cut of meat did fit in the pot even though it was a tight squeeze and the weather though wet and windy first thing in the morning was contusive to an outdoor roast now we had two options, who needs an oven?
We, rather wisely it turned out, decided on the pot.
So it’s twelve years on and we started our thirteenth year with a bang, literally! Our home at the end of the world is filled with the gorgeous smells of roasting lamb. There are carrots, potatoes and peas’ steaming quietly in the corner while a white sauce is bubbling on the stove. The Butterfly is glued to the television watching her new DVD, “The Gruffalo”. The table is set with our best linen and quality dinner service. The clay wine cooler holds a bottle of “Nederberg Shiraz” and the cheese cake is chilling in the fridge. Soon the Mauritian and I accompanied by our precious little Butterfly will be toasting the past twelve years and looking forward to the next twelve.
Our weekend started off with a bang on Saturday morning, literally! I was going to bake a batch of muffins with breakfast and asked the Mauritian to turn on the oven to warm it up. Suddenly there is this rather strange bang like popping noise coming from the kitchen. On investigation we find that the glass on the inside of the over door has shattered! Guess I won’t be making those muffins now! The Mauritian, of course, has become irritated and restless and is cursing everyone and their dog for breaking the oven and interfering with his plans to make his superb lamb roast on Sunday. I really do think sometimes that if he could he would growl! So after eventually realising that what happened was really nobody’s fault he called the land owner to let her know about the oven. Apart from the fact that we think we woke her up, we live in a small town where nothing opens before half past eight and no repairman works on a weekend. Oh woe is us, no roast on our anniversary? You must be kidding; nothing was going to deter us from roasting that leg of lamb. But first to breakfast!
When the Mauritian and I finally got engaged my darling Mother-in-law was so happy she went a little dilly and bought us a lot of rather unusual engagement presents. One of these was a “Stove Top Convection Pot” and what a magic thing it is. It’s basically an oven disguised as a pot, it is designed to utilise the heat of the cooking plate on the stove top to create the convection heat of an oven. It works like a charm and does a roast marvellously, there’s just one problem, it’s rather small. We didn’t know if this cut of meat would fit so it was back on with the thinking caps.
The Mauritian’s birthday is seven days before Christmas and I am always faced with the dilemma of what to get him for both those days that has significance and neither bares any resemblance to the other. In other words I could buy him clothes for his birthday but not Christmas, it is rather a tough one most years. But one such time I came across a small kettle braai which was the perfect size to use when he got the urge in the middle of the week to have a braai for just the two of us. We soon discovered that it was a brilliant way to do a roast. It was also one of the items we decided at the last minute to pack and were really happy we did. So we had our plan “B” the problem with that however was, it’s an outdoor thing and the weather did not look promising. Perhaps we should consider a plan “C”?
Breakfast over the Mauritian headed off to the garage to resurrect the “kettle” braai and I went digging in the depth of our kitchen cupboards for the “Convection” pot. All parts collected and we set about reassembling both items. I know this may sound strange, but we were actually having a lot of fun even the Butterfly was helping and laughing with us. It also took us over an hour to complete something that should have taken a few minutes to do. But in the end it was all worth it!
As it turned out the cut of meat did fit in the pot even though it was a tight squeeze and the weather though wet and windy first thing in the morning was contusive to an outdoor roast now we had two options, who needs an oven?
We, rather wisely it turned out, decided on the pot.
So it’s twelve years on and we started our thirteenth year with a bang, literally! Our home at the end of the world is filled with the gorgeous smells of roasting lamb. There are carrots, potatoes and peas’ steaming quietly in the corner while a white sauce is bubbling on the stove. The Butterfly is glued to the television watching her new DVD, “The Gruffalo”. The table is set with our best linen and quality dinner service. The clay wine cooler holds a bottle of “Nederberg Shiraz” and the cheese cake is chilling in the fridge. Soon the Mauritian and I accompanied by our precious little Butterfly will be toasting the past twelve years and looking forward to the next twelve.
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