Home, home with a range...

My mother and stepfather bought us a new stove for Christmas. We have been using a very old electric stove since we moved in (it was actually the stove my Great Grandmother purchased about 50 years ago!) Although the stove technically "worked" it wasn't the most reliable of cooking appliances.

When Jamie and I lived in West Seneca we had a gas stove (another very, very old stove but it was gas, nonetheless.) If you're used to cooking on a gas stove - or if you've EVER cooked on a gas stove, even once - you immediately recognize the difference. The heat is immediate, the heat is consistent, the heat goes away when you shut off the burner. (Have you ever scrambled eggs on an electric stove top? You know... You make the best, fluffiest scrambled eggs, turn off the burner, walk away for 10 seconds to get plates and forks, come back and the eggs are now burnt? Although you shut off the burner, the electric coil thingy is still EXTREMELY hot. Hot enough to keep cooking whatever you have in the pan.) Well, gas stoves don't do that.

The only problem I ever encountered with a gas range is the oven. Often times the temperature fluctuates about 25 degrees, one way or the other. If you set the oven for 350, sometimes it will go up to 375. We've had to rely on an oven thermometer in the past, and keep checking the temp. The stove my mom and stepdad bought us has a digital oven thermostat. You just punch in your desired temperature and it beeps to let you know when it's reached that temp...AND it maintains a constant, perfect temperature throughout the cooking process. We put it to the test last night... I set the oven for 350, put in our thermometer, and waited. It digitally reads the current temp and when it reaches 350 it beeps. We kept the oven on about 15 minutes and the temperature was exactly 350 the whole time!!!

You may be wondering why I'm so excited about temperatures and ovens. I sometimes wonder that myself, to be completely honest. The truth is...we both love to cook. Our old stove only had 2 out of 4 burners working (one of them actually caught on fire a few months ago). The oven was NEVER accurate (even for an electric stove!)

I'm also excited because we installed it ourselves. Years and years ago, there was apparently a gas stove in the kitchen. Then, lo and behold, they installed an electric one...cutting off the gas to the kitchen. Well, it was fortunate that they didn't completely remove the pipe in the basement...it was still directly beneath the spot in the kitchen where the stove goes. So, here Jamie and I are, cutting holes in the floor, using pipe "dope", wrenches, flex tube, pipes, etc. Then we lit it. And it WORKED!

I'm very proud of us but even prouder of our NEW STOVE. What a great Christmas present.

Whatcha want for dinner? I'll definitely cook...