The weather has turned, with the last couple of days being rainy and cold. We've made the most of these days by staying inside and studying. Ryan has been very productive and I have been getting back into the groove of being a student. Orientation begins next week and classes officially start for me October 4th. It has been nice to have these extra weeks to settle in and prepare for classes. To help us with the weather change (and keep our brains well fueled), we made a delicious bean and vegetable stew with chicken stock we made from scratch! Nothing like a hearty homemade soup to make you feel brand new!
Last night, as we finished our soup and were roasting vegetables in the oven for Ryan's famous vegetable hummus, a piercing alarm from the kitchen jolted us out of our chairs. We thought it was the smoke detector but soon realized it was the carbon monoxide detector. After silencing the alarm and opening all the windows, we thought, "ooo, should we call someone?" I remember being instilled with the fear of carbon monoxide's toxicity as a child by my mom: "odorless, tasteless, and colorless--hundreds of people die every year!" It could be a false alarm...I had images in my head of us going to sleep and being found weeks later by British Gas workers. Since I still had in mind the email my mom sent me last week about the gas explosion near San Francisco that killed 4 and burned 38 homes, I thought, better safe than sorry. I didn't want to be known as the "American-that-burned-down-the-neighborhood." So we called the emergency number on the alarm and within 30 minutes an employee of the National Grid had arrived to shut off our gas until British Gas could come the next day to do a safety check. Before leaving, the National Grid technician gave us a brand new electric space heater and an electric hot plate! Fast, efficient, friendly service, AND free appliances?! This is my kind of country!
While we were waiting for the gas to be turned off, our neighbors had invited us in for a glass of wine so we wouldn't have to wait outside in the cold. Once the serviceman had left, we took a couple pieces of shortbread down to our neighbors to thank them for their hospitality. We were invited in again and ended up spending several hours learning all about the neighborhood and the building we live in (which had been bombed in WWII and is therefore the only non-Victorian building on our street). Our neighbors, a counselor for the needy (originally from France) and a police officer (born in Ireland), are warm, funny, and laid-back. They told us of all the good restaurants in the area and some of their favorite weekend food markets We are lucky to have caring and affable neighbors (and ones who love food as much as we do)!
Everything turned out fine with our appliances. British Gas came and confirmed that nothing was leaking. They did a safety check on all the appliances and gave us a new carbon monoxide detector and mounted it on the wall just OUTSIDE of the kitchen. Since our kitchen is so small and can get hot and humid quickly, he said having the alarm slightly further away will prevent this from happening again. So we are alive, un-poisoned, and our kitchen is ready to make many safe meals for us this year!
London lesson #5: having good neighbors can save your life! And having a good shortbread recipe will ensure good relations with your neighbors! So here's the recipe that harbored us while we escaped the suspected carbon monoxide fumes!
Bake, share, and enjoy!
English Shortbread
250 g (8.8 oz or 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp.) of unsalted, English butter
2 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar (icing sugar)
1/4 tsp. salt
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, cut the butter into the flour with your hands or with a pastry blender until the dough comes together. Alternatively, you can pulse all the ingredients together in a food processor until the dough comes together. Press into a 2 cm thick round and place on a parchment lined sheet pan. Score the dough into triangular wedges with a fork. Bake at 325F for about 40-55 minutes or until edges slightly brown. Let cool completely. Store in airtight container for up two weeks. Enjoy with copious amounts of tea!
No comments:
Post a Comment