Victim of the Oven

My oven died  a couple of weeks before Easter.

TWO WEEKS.  Two WHOLE weeks.  I had no idea just how much I use the oven until it didn't work.  

To make a long story short it was the day before my youngest son's fiancée's 21st birthday.  My son had called a few days earlier wanting to make sure I was making a cake or cupcakes for her because if not, he wanted to get her a cake.  It seems her mom had never made her a birthday cake.  It made me sad, but hey … we're not all into the same things.  Anyway, the pressure was on because not only had I told him she'd have cupcakes (I was going to be doing some for approval for their wedding) and you only turn 21 once!  It's not like I could make cupcakes on Friday and it would be "right" for her 21st birthday.  I learned that it's nearly impossible to get an oven repaired in this town.  Thus, the TWO WEEKS whine.  Hubby decided that maybe we should just get a new one since I'm going to be doing a lot of baking and I need a dependable oven.  What would have happened if this was the week before the wedding?

We went to the grocery on the Thursday before Easter.  We like to have a leg of lamb on Easter Sunday and had one all picked out.  Up and down the aisles we went and when we got to the baking aisle, I thought about making a special loaf of bread … and then it hit me … NO OVEN!  I can't even cook the lamb!

My hubby and I are the worst pair of procrastinators.  This was the jolt we needed, so the next day I met him at the appliance store after he got off work.  It's a little mom and pop local appliance store and we HAD done a little homework over the previous two weeks, so we knew their prices were actually MUCH better than Menards' and Lowe's and the selection was amazingly better, too. 

Faced with two rooms full of stoves, my heart went PittyPat!  Never been a fan of the stainless steel - fingerprints and streaks make me C R A Z Y!  Hubby said he wanted me to pick the stove I really wanted because I really do cook a lot.  I hadn't realized that a lot of the stoves with double ovens included a convection oven in the lower  oven and I've always wished for a convection oven.  But I finally narrowed the choice down to two, the main difference was the center burner and the color.  The black enamel stove had a small "warming" burner in the center and the stainless steel stove had a long burner in the center with a griddle.  The stainless steel stove won - I just don't think the warming burner would be something I'd use much while I know I'd use that long, full burner in the center. 

Decision made, begging for delivery on Saturday so I could make Easter dinner didn't work - there were already several deliveries booked.  Thankfully, we were able to borrow a pick up truck and the appliance store loaned us an appliance cart.  We got it home and hooked up and WOW.  :)  I love it!

Now I'm back to Fattening the World One Cupcake at a Time …  ok, maybe two or three cupcakes at a time?

My beautiful new gas range!