Revenge of the White-Westinghouse

I've blogged about my appliance problem before here and here. And in between that time, I've done absolutely nothing about the appliances because the darned things were behaving themselves.

Well, sort of. The fridge does occasionally make weird noises. And it freezes our lettuce, but our ice cream is soupy. But generally speaking things have been working.

Which is why today's slap in the pie dish feels extra bitter.

The kids & I decided to make bumbleberry pie this afternoon. Imagine great excitement! Imagine 2 helpful kids helping make the pie crust. Imagine a bowl full of mixed berries, mascerating in sugar. Imagine building a lovely pie, 6 hands managing to put the top on, & 30 fingers pinching it closed. Imagine brushing it lightly with cream (or milk if you're out) and sprinkling it with granulated sugar, to make a lovely crust.

Pop it in the oven - which you've turned down from the recommended 425 degrees, because you're using a glass pie plate and because this oven tends to run 'hot'.

Happy anticipation settles in on everyone as we clean the kitchen and begin to smell lovely smells. About 15 minutes later, I sense that the smell is a little more powerful than I would expect this early in the baking. So I sneak a peek & I'm aghast to discover that the top is browning too quickly. That's OK. I know what to do. I turn down the thermo another 50 and quickly pop a little aluminum foil sunhat on the pie, and return to domestic bliss and making a batch of sugar cookies with the darling children.

Just as the sugar dough was ready - about 5 minutes later - it occurs to me that the "really done pie smell" is getting stronger and stronger. I sneak another peek and promptly set the smoke alarm off.

From there on it gets worse and worse. There's black smoke pouring out of the oven. It won't turn off. It's heating & heating & heating & I'm expecting it to any minute lock itself and start the self clean function - with my pie inside. I quickly pull the pie out. It's black. It's smoking. I run to dump it on the balcony & hope that the neighbours won't see it & call the fire department.

A couple minutes later, I'm thinking of calling the fire department. There's still smoke pouring from my oven. I run to turn off the breaker. I'm imagining the electrical system being on fire. I'm thinking the cupboards around the oven must be on fire. I'm short of oxygen and I'm not thinking straight. I'm trying to remember where the cat carrier is so I can evacuate her with us. I'm trying to figure out what the heck could be causing so much smoke and when it would end. Finally, 15 minutes later, the air is cleared. The oven is finally off but it's still roaring hot.

There is a thermostat switch in your oven which is supposed to turn the element off when it reaches the set temperature. Guess what? Mine decided to not work.

And our lovely pie is so pathetic and so burned that I can't bear to look at it.

Roo tried to cheer me up by offering to have us go out to dinner but in the end we ate at home. I did let him go to the store to pick up some ice cream, and of course he picked up a berry pie too. Nowhere near as good as mine would have been though.