My oven died yesterday. Well, actually, technically it was the microwave part of the oven that died (and not a little over dramatically at all). I just wanted some popcorn and the microwave decided to do that lightning-crashing-scary-pre-blow-up-thing and I had to run back and halt the process before there was smoke and electrical fires and all. I live in a flat with an over-sensitive fire alarm (that I am sure will one day save my life) and I would hate to have dragged everyone else out of their Sunday afternoon dozing to stand in the cold whilst the firemen sorted out my dodgy oven. I prevented that. See, I am a kind person.

But I still don’t have an oven. The maintenance guy who appeared a short while after the initial spark drama first insisted that I show him what happened (which meant switching the microwave on again with the same lightning-crashing results) and then said I’d have to make popcorn the traditional way! At least he found the whole thing amusing. Then another maintenance guy appeared this afternoon and after testing out the oven again (yes, seriously, evidence of sparks, fire etc need to be witnessed by several people more capable than me) he declared he’d be back with a new one in half an hour. That was 2 and a half hours ago. So I am now housebound with no oven or microwave.

And I have a craving for apple crumble. But I’m sure there’ll be a nice post about my new oven somewhere in my future that will feature apple crumble. Until then I’m eating toast (I had the foresight to bake bread on Friday) and heating soup up on the stove – yes! you can still do that. (Although it requires the washing of an extra pan…)

And last night I made surprisingly good pasta. It wasn’t the macaroni cheese I had in mind but rather a terribly student-like feast of shallots, tomatoes, chickpeas, green beans and peas with a ridiculous amount of parmesan. One of those pasta sauces that includes everything in my fridge that needs using up and isn’t in fact a sauce at all, more a collection of cooked vegetables tossed with pasta. I’ve become conscious of food wastage (more so than I ever was before) and so the beans had to be included. I was going to throw in some chorizo for good measure too but I ate it as a snack whilst the pasta was cooking. So it’s true. I can cope for a few days without an oven. Well, one day so far. My cravings for microwave popcorn and apple crumble will have to wait. Patience. (I’m sure I’ll learn something from it.)