Cooking For Engineers

[srhcb]

Last month I moved into a new (old) house. Since I began cooking when I moved into my previous house twenty years ago, that was the only kitchen I'd ever worked in. Aside from the normal fuss and bother that come with moving, my new kitchen has presented a number of problems.

I immediately discovered that despite the fact my new kitchen is larger than the one I left, the butcher block top center island, where I did virtually all my prep work, just doesn't fit the floor plan, so it temporarily resides in the dining room disguised as a buffet/sideboard.

Next, there is a storage problem. Although there's plenty of cupboard space, I've concluded that my current home must have been inhabited by giants, since all but the bottom of the upper cabinets are too high to reach from the floor; and at 5'11" I'm not short. There is also a good foot of extra space above the refrigerator. On the upside there are nice high ceilings.

The biggest problem was that I couldn't bring my trusty range with me. It was nothing special; just a plain GE electric, but I'd mastered all it's tricks and foibles, and the oven produced thousands of loaves of bread and countless desserts over the years.

But, although it was still in perfect working conditiion, the color was all wrong. Remodeling the entire kitchen in greens to accomodate the stove was ruled out, so I decided to keep the Tappen range the giants left behind. (I did give my old GE to a guy who helped us move, so at least I know it went to a good home.)

I must admit the Tappen's burners heat more quickly than my old GE's, and the oven has performed well so far for roasting. I've kept my baking stone on the lower rack and monitered the temperature carefully, but still haven't given it the big test .... so,

I'm going to bake bread, but just to be safe, I'll going to start with a quick bread; my trusty banana w/chocolate covered raisins bread.

*** knock on wood ***

[SomeBoy]

Congratulations on your new kitchen ... I wish I can renovate mine very soon.
Can you take some photos of it?