I Need a New Oven!!

Dinner was late today, and I'm blaming it all on my lousy oven! I had decided since last week that I'd change the menu a bit and attempt a western style dinner. Nothing elaborate, just a soup, dinner rolls, greens and the foolproof roast chicken.

I looked up the recipe for one of the easiest soups to make, onion soup and found that I had to simmer the thing for 2 hours! So I started preparations at 3pm. As I sliced and cried my way through 1kg of yellow onions, I began to doubt my previous enthusiasm.

One hour later, with the soup gently bubbling away, I started on my dinner rolls. I opened the bread maker, took one look and knew that this was going to be a looong day. The dough was sticky and was impossible to handle. A sudden brainwave made me dump the whole lot onto my baking tray and I decided, heck, I'm just going to turn it into a very big, one inch thick 'bread'. I put the whole lot into the oven to proof and went to the sofa. No prizes for guessing what happened next!

I woke up when my phone rang and after answering the call, went back to the kitchen, it was already past 5pm! Woke my daughter up and sped her to her piano lesson, raced back to the kitchen and fired up the oven.

When it was time to go pick my chidren, at 6.45pm. the oven still had not heated up to the required temperature. I couldn't wait any longer, so I shoved the bread dough and the chicken into the hole and hoped for the best.

We came back at 7.15, the bread dough was half cooked but still pale as a ghost, I didn't even bother to look at the chicken. Served the soup first, they liked it (maybe they were really hungry), then the blanched vegetables. After that all of us just sat around and waited.

Hubby came back at 8.15, still no sign of dinner! Told him to shower first. By the time he came down, I took the chicken and the bread out and we gave thanks for the food.

Chicken was tender, but the skin was tough like plastic. Bread was ok as long as you dipped it in the soup.

As I said, I'm putting ALL the blame on my lousy oven!