Saga of the Oven, pt 1

My oven broke down in late September / early October, which caused quite a difficulty for me, since I happen to enjoy baking.  I like bread and baked potatoes and squash and roasted vegetables and cakes and cookies and casseroles....  The oven we had was old.  It came with the house, and was set into the brick wall, which on the other side is home to our fireplace.  When the oven officially broke down, it caught on fire, and that was super exciting.

Now, two years ago I remodeled our kitchen.  I put in new floors (cork!), refinished the cabinets, put in new countertops, removed the forest-green tiles that covered the walls and painted the walls white, had a new stovetop installed, bought a new fridge, and even replaced the kitchen lights.  The one thing I didn't replace, because it worked and seemed like a hassle to change, was the oven.  A year later, joke's on me.

(A before and almost-after shot, though the fridge and floor in the pic are still old -- they both got replaced.)

So we were left without an oven, in the early autumn.  The season of squash and sweet potatoes and roasted veggies.  And looking ahead to the holidays.

I looked into options -- called electricians, talked to salespeople -- but the verdict was always the same: the oven was too old, we couldn't make out the make and model, so replacing the parts would be impossible; and, it was unlikely we would find another oven to fit in the brick wall -- replacing the oven would require a mason to work on the brick and an electrician to do the wiring (or a dual-purpose contractor) -- and a nice chunk of change for a new built-in oven.  Too expensive, too time-consuming.

Time to try something new.

Tune in next time for the breath-taking actions of an ovenless baker.

Aldi's is Almost Here

The other day while running errands, I noticed that the Aldi store in the Home Depot lot is almost complete.  And then upon returning home that very afternoon I received a postcard with coupons in the mail announcing that the store would open December 13.  That's next week.  Wow.  I remember when they were just breaking ground -- it wasn't that long ago.

I've never been to an Aldi store, though my parents have.  They use Aldi products to stock the shelves their food storage.  They love the canned chicken, and one year for Christmas they gave me a case of Aldi's canned cherry pie filling.  (Yes, it was a good gift -- I truly love cherry pie filling.)  And so, in light of the cherry pie filling, I admit I'm the slightest bit excited. 
But a little disappointed, too -- another big chain store in our lovely little Hadley town.  Another mass of of lights on Rt 9.  Another draw for traffic.  Another big chain store.