10 April 2008

I wish I could be a hausfrau...

I don't know if anyone recalls my last attempt at housewifery.



Well, if so, I have a big confession to make. It didn't quite take.

But you know me... I like to keep a positive approach to failures:

(Hey wait! The glass is not just HALF empty... it's completely dry! Sigh. (The photo, by the way, I found at Susan's blog.)

Where was I? Oh yeah... anyway, I thought I had been magically given a second chance on Wednesday when I magically came across these books lying out in the street on top of a broken bookcase:
I had already, for some unknown reason, bought this earlier in the day:
So, this was all some kind of sign, no?

I accordingly came home last evening prepared to cook myself and the long-suffering JJ a healthy, nourishing meal.

Well, here's what I did end up cooking:

Hmm. Not quite what I'd had in mind... but check out the fancy chip pan!

Obviously a big international hit. I love these things that come with instructions in six languages, none of them correct. For example, it said to cook the frozen fries at 200c/425F for 30 minutes!

Now, I'm not as far gone as I might have thought, because even with the magical properties of the Mr. Chips pan I realised that 30 minutes was way too long. I tried 20, the usual cooking time. The chips ended up slightly burnt at that. Sigh.

But this is something that JJ, being a Scottish/Irish tattie lovin' fiend, just had to have. I'm sure he was wowed by the description:


If you must use frozen fries, then they might as well be as good as they can be. This oval steel pan with two coats of Teflon® non-stick has ridges and perforations on the bottom to allow moisture to evaporate from underneath, keeping frozen potato shapes crisp. ... you can put most of a 1 kilogram bag on it
[emphasis added].
He ordered this from this place:

This is a fancy kitchen stuff mail order company. You know, all the little gadgets that make sense and look so useful, and then sit in the drawers or on the counter collecting dust.

I must say, however, that they have some pretty cool stuff. Check this out:


Wouldn't you like to have a Pirates of the Caribbean cake?!


(For those who haven't seen this beauty before, it is actually my Fit to be Tied Straightjacket...)

Well, easy-peasy apparently, as long as you have this fancy cake tin:


And, here's a choo-choo train cake!!
Cool.

Oh, and my mouth watered when I saw these beauties...

...but then I realised that they didn't come with the popover pan - you would have to bake them yourself.


Well, I was almost tempted. I mean, just because cooking didn't work out this time, why not take up baking?!?

Until I saw the price of the tins: $34.95. For one set. And that's what the cake tins both cost two. Man, for $34.95 I can buy a jumbo sheet cake or a chocolate truffle bombe deluxe at Loblaws AND a case of Diet Coke to wash it all down with. Pig heaven.

So, I guess for now I'm sticking to the tried and true fare in the Brouhaha household:

Oh well.

Happy Thursday!!!