Mice picnicking in our kitchen!
Clearly, we have a winter infestation. In her email to me, Sara said:
Heard them, as did Lucy – and found where we had mice feasting last night! What to do next?
Sara’s Photo-a-Day Project: 8 January 2012 (Sunday)
Tag Archives: kitchen
The Butterball Challenge (Haitian Style)
As Sara and I continue to pack up our lives here in Haiti, and I continue to reflect and reminisce about some of Haiti-related “challenges” we’ve faced over the last year, I simply must share, for those of you who may have missed it, the following about our effort to prepare a sit-down Thanksgiving dinner for 24 under, shall we say, less-than-ideal conditions:
In honor of the upcoming holiday, I’ve decided to share, over the next several days, a few of the challenges we’re facing trying to prepare Thanksgiving dinner from Haiti. So stay tuned all week for the sometimes amusing, sometimes maddening, sometimes mind-numbing complications that inevitably arise when celebrating this most American of holidays in the least American of locations.
Today I give you the oven-related challenges.
Is my Haitian oven up to the Butterball challenge?
I told Sara when we were looking for a house here in Haiti, that I simply had to have an oven. Neither of the two homes we had in Vietnam had anything other than a cook top in the kitchen, which bothered me to no end, since I like to bake—cookies, cakes, biscuits, pies, muffins. The only thing I like more than making them is eating them, but that’s another post for another day.
So Sara did what any Tollhouse-cookie-loving partner would do. She got us an oven—a real honest-to-goodness gas oven—minus the thermostat.
I kid you not. There’s no way to set any specific temperature on this most essential of kitchen appliances, any temperature either Fahrenheit or Celsius.
Now, I love Sara more than anything, even more than my daily dose of cake and cookies, and those of you who know my inclination toward carb-consumption, know that’s saying quite a bit. But sometimes she misses the most obvious of details.
“Oh, that’s not that important. You’ll figure that out.”
Twelve attempts and twelve burnt batches of cookies later, I’m still figuring.
Which brings me to the matter of needing an oven this week, a temperature controlled oven, I might add. In America we can’t celebrate Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie. It’s the most Thanksgiving of Thanksgiving desserts—even when celebrating from here in Port-au-Prince—especially when celebrating from any far-away, cholera-sickened, earthquake-toppled part of the planet!
A pumpkin pie likes to bake for the first 15 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit and the final 45 to 50 minutes at 350, temperatures too precise even for the oven thermometer I brought back from the US. It only seems to get me in the ballpark of a particular temperature, give or take 100 degrees.
But what about the turkey Sara plans to roast, what about the thermostatic requirements of the old Butterball?
Oh, that’s not that important. She’ll figure that out.
Have you had any memorable Thanksgiving dinner disasters?
Haiti needs to be HGTV’d!
Like many Americans, I love HGTV (Home and Garden Television). When I go home to the US, I can’t wait to watch kitchens upgraded, bathrooms remodeled, landscapes transformed.
Whether I’m cooking with the ease of Lean Cuisine, laundering with the convenience of Kenmore, or cleaning with the miracle of Mop & Glo, I appreciate the perky background chatter of “Divine Design” (to learn more about the show click here) and “Design on a Dime” (to learn more about the show click here).
I enjoy segments on how to install bamboo flooring at a diagonal as much the next surface-obsessed, granite-loving, domestic goddess in North America. Even when I’m at our house in Haiti, I complain about our stove, our oven, our cook-top.
It’s so small:
So tall:
—so not the stainless steel I have at home in the States.
But—(and this is a big BUT)
This past week I went with Sara to Leogane, a coastal town about 30 kilometers west of Port-au-Prince, close to the epicenter of the January 12th earthquake. A United Nations assessment team deemed Leogane “the worst-affected area” in Haiti, with 80 – 90% of buildings damaged and nearly all concrete structures destroyed.
Just outside of Leogane I visited a community called Nolivos—
Where the houses look like this:
a "Desperate Space?"
(To learn more about the show, “Desperate Spaces,” click here.)
The washing machines look like this:
doing laundry for a family of 7 children
The kitchens look like this:
a "Sizzling Outdoor Kitchen?"
(To learn more about the show, “Sizzling Outdoor Kitchens,” click here.)
The sinks look like this:
the community well
And the stoves look like this:
a "Kitchen Impossible?"
(To learn more about the show, “Kitchen Impossible,” click here.)
Watching a woman cook dinner for seven on a stove of sticks and stones, I wondered whether Vern Yip would be willing to bring a “Deserving Design” to this mother or another mother in the Port-au-Prince slum of Cite Soleil. (To watch an episode of “Deserving Design” click here.)
I wondered whether David Bromstad would splash some color a little south of Miami. (To watch an episode of “Color Splash: Miami” click here.)
I thought:
Haiti needs to be HGTV’d! (To learn more about the show, “HGTV’d,” click here.)
(and I thought I needed a kitchen remodel.)
Kathryn M. McCullough 