Heal Thyself

[tealin]

I cannot multitask.

I know this about myself.

And yet, over and over again, like some sort of mythological figure, I throw a Bake From Frozen pain au chocolat in the oven 'while I answer a few emails.'

I sure hope someone, somewhere, learns an important lesson from this, because I don't seem to be able to.

Update: 8:56p.m.

You'll never guess who just burnt an entire packet of sausages into little meaty cinder logs!

Seriously, just ban me from the oven now.

Comments

[frith]

A few years ago I learned that the oven has a timer that will stop the baking, automatically. I've had that oven for over two decades. I also figured out recently that I can take the oven rack out and slide a pizza off on to a cutting board, instead of futzing around with a long knife in one hand and trying to jiggle the pizza to a heavy board held in the other. The only hard part is realizing that the oven beeped and that food is ready.

P.S.: I think chatAI could correctly answer the captcha. ^_^

[tealin]

Fortunately or unfortunately, I have an old-school oven which basically functions as a woodstove except that it runs on gas.It takes about 2 hours to get up to baking temperature, but once there, it stays hot for hours with little extra energy needed, warms the kitchen, and the stovetop is hot as well as the oven so you can basically cook everything for the same price. It gives a wonderful even crispy glow to food, and is outstanding at cooking things on a low heat for hours, as old-fashioned recipes which presuppose a woodstove usually require. But. It has no timer, and no alarm, and not even a light in the oven or a window on the door to remind you something is cooking. It's very much a stove for someone who's in the kitchen all the time. Which my emails are not. (WiFI reception in the kitchen is unreliable, maybe something to do with the giant lump of iron sitting in it.) Though I don't think even a timer would save me there, as I wouldn't be able to hear it from my computer even if it did go. I could put a timer on my phone, but this presupposes I'd remember to take it with me wherever I go. There's a lot of presupposing happening here.

[frith]

That sounds like a fun stove! As long as you aren't in a hurry. ^_^ My parents had a wood burning stove in the country place. I think it had a small oven compartment too, plus a spot to hook a container filled with water on the side. We didn't have that container. During extended power outages I've used my wood burning stove as a stove, but just to boil water and heat stew.

Yes, a loud alarm clock by the stove might be your best bet. It won't turn off the heat and you'd have to heed the call.

[igenlode]

My kitchen is at the opposite end of a long corridor to my desk. When I put things in the oven, I take one of these with me.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Salter-Minute-Mechanical-Kitchen-Timer/dp/B01AFNR658


Much easier than an alarm clock because no calculation required.

[tealin]

Or I could just use the timer on my phone, which I already have ... the trouble with both of these things is remembering to take it with me and not leave it in the kitchen, beeping uselessly away.

[tigeranne]

"That's exactly how I cook too!" TigerAnne exclaimed, a month later. I have no idea how many half pizzas I've burned to crisp. Last year I cremated a pot of popcorn, so I had to keep a huge table-fan on all night, with two windows open on oposite sides of the house, just to clear the smoke. The pot itself had to sit outside for a couple of days, because it was still smoking.