h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The sound of a dinner bell and the aroma of freshly baked bread drift across the compound.

Since we're a small group at the moment, I've decided we can take our meals here in the kitchen. That will give me time to get the refrectory all spic and span. We can use it for special occassions until our numbers grow enough to need it daily.

It's nice and cozy in here. Quite a pleasant kitchen with a lovely view of the herb garden. I'll keep things warm on the stove and in those buffet trays. Help yourself to whatever is in the fridge. And please feel free to prepare things yourselves whenever the mood strikes you. Mi casa, su casa.

*goes over to the stove, stirs a large pot of soup containing vegetables and herbs from the potager then takes a peek at the loaves in the oven....nearly done....where's that butter and homemade marmalade*

mmmm smells goooood.... oh!

Is that a woodburning stove you're cooking on!?

Hi fluffykerfuffle. (That is a mouthfull, by the way. )

We sometimes use deadwood for our weiner roasts, but I use natural gas in the kitchen. I've never liked cooking with electricity. It's harder to control the heat properly.

I would never be brave enough to bake with a wood-fired oven.

yes it is a mouthful isnt it i like all the uff sounds

i don't have a wood cookstove right now but i raised my family with one and i miss it... it warms you in the winter as well as feeding you... and you move stuff across the top away from the firebox (on the left) to 'turn down' the heat under it... it becomes intuitive of course because sometimes your fire is hotter than other times....

and, if you have never roasted a turkey in a woodburning oven then you have not lived. Somehow, the way the air moves in the oven roasts it to perfection! And bread!!

The only problem is in the summer on hot days... but those days we just used a hotplate. My grandma had the menfolk move the stove out to the summer kitchen for the summer... (screened in platform in the shade)

dashes into the kitchen to scarf some sustenance for the shadetree mechanic who needs a bit of sobering up.. .. .

lessee here... bread, sliced turkey, mayonnaise, lettuce.. .slapping together a huge sandwich. . . .

. .. .grabs an apple and s back to the Carmel-by-the-Sea bus under the old shade tree. .. .