Tuesday, May 5, 2009

A pick me up - pay it forward



This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was chosen by Megan over at My Baking Adventures.  She picked Tiramisu Cake for us to make this week.  I was kind of looking forward to it, because I've never made tiramisu in cake form or otherwise.  Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be, at least this weekend...  Last Thursday, I had the day off.  I spent part of my morning making a batch of Dorie's Chocolate Chunkers to share with a friend.  I'd forgotten how much chocolate goes into those things!  That evening, I turned the oven on to preheat--I was just going to throw in some frozen chicken strips for Jamie and me to eat for dinner (it was a long day...).  After a while, I realized I should check on the oven.  It had been more than long enough for it to be preheated.  Imagine my dismay when I opened the oven door and discovered that the oven was still completely cold!  

The scientist/engineer in me demanded that I try to figure out what the heck was wrong.  I have a gas oven & stovetop.  The burners worked just fine.  The broiler (mine is in the top of my oven) also worked.  There was definitely gas flowing.  Jamie and I figured it was most likely something with the igniter for the oven.  I called my friendly neighborhood appliance repair people Friday morning from work.  But they don't work weekends at all, and there was no way for one of us to be home Friday afternoon.  So the earliest I was able to schedule an appointment was Monday morning.  That left me with an entire weekend to cook with no oven.  It temporarily threw a wrench in my usual BYOB plans.  I eventually got the idea to try making flatbread on my griddle.  But that's a story for another post...

Anyway, the oven got fixed Monday morning.  As we suspected, the igniter was at fault.  It has now been replaced.  But not soon enough for me to have time to bake cake.  I did bake bread Monday evening (the dough was already in the fridge) and it seems like the oven is working much more efficiently than before.  I'm going to have to watch that until I get used to how it's different.  Since I don't have the same sort of pick-me-up as you'll find on the blogs of the other TWD bakers this week, I thought I'd go in a different direction...

Quite some time ago, I was the lucky winner of a giveaway from Margaret at Tea and Scones.  She offered the winner a choice of gift cards, and I had a hard time deciding between Williams-Sonoma and Sur la Table.  I ended up choosing Sur la Table, and had a great time shopping.  I swear, I can spend hours in that store, even if it's just window-shopping.  I finally came home with the items pictured above--a new 8" springform pan, two sturdy 8" regular cake pans, and a cool new spatula.  I had some old 8" pans, but they were all pretty cheap (in construction).  I've had lots of fun using all of my new toys.  Thanks, Margaret!

One of the only conditions of the giveaway was that at some point in the future I would "pay it forward" by offering a giveaway of my own.  Well, I'm finally getting around to doing that.  But in the process, I want to pick your brains a bit.  So here's how it's going to work...  To enter, leave a comment on this post, and tell me a couple of things:  First, what cookbook do you have that you absolutely love?  (like I need an excuse to add to my collection...)  And second, what cookbook are you just dying to own?  One lucky winner will receive a $25 gift card or gift certificate for the book seller of their choice (as long as I can reasonably manage to get my hands on one--otherwise, there's always Amazon).  You just have to agree to pay it forward in turn.  The deadline is 11:59pm CDT on Friday 5/8.  The winner will be chosen at random by my lovely assistants, Brianna and Gillian.  I look forward to hearing about your cookbook choices!

19 comments:

  1. Oh, Di, what a fun pick-me-up post! I love the pay it forward theme. You did a great job shopping, btw; love everything that you found, and I know they will go to good use in that screaming oven you've now got!

    My favorite general cookbook at the moment is Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything - which just Monday evening won the James Beard Fdn award for best general cookbook! My favorite bread cookbook is Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads. Of course I have dozens of old favorite books on the shelf, but these are what I've got on the arm of the recliner right now!

    The cookbook I most want is Baked. Although Bakewise won the Beard award for baking book, so I'll have to look it over...
    Nancy

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  2. You know, I just got a new ingitor on my stove last Monday! I think all the baking we do is wearing out our ovens!! :o) Glad it's worknig again.

    Hmmmm...cookbooks. I love Dorie's book and I'm really enjoying Ellie Krieger's right now, too. And all of the Cooking Light ones. I would love to have MS Cookies and the Baked book. There are more, but I just can't think right now.

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  3. Nice gifts... lucky you!

    I can understand oven trouble, although I don't have a gas oven (which I'm totaly insanely affraid of!!! LOL) I had to replace electric elements on my own, not long ago... now, it bakes so high... like there's no tomorrow! LOL

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  4. I love this idea! And I'm bummed about your stove...sorry, honey! And now I have those chocolate chunkers on the brain...oh, DI!

    My favorite cookbook is the Tassajara Bread Book. And I think the one I'd love to own is Tassajara vegetables. Tassajara is this Buddhist retreat center, so they cook all natural, organic, vegetarian food. I feel like if you cook vegetarian food with passion and a mission, it has to be good, right?

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  5. I feel your pain with the oven - but for me it happened with my dryer, after I had a load of wet towels in for over an hour until I realized there wasn't any heat. **sigh**

    Anyways, my favorite cookbook at the moment is probably Dorie's book, because it gets used the most. The book I have my eye on right now is the Bread Bakers Apprentice - so I can sharpen my bread making skills.

    BTW - Sur La Table is my favorite store too - I can never walk out without buying something!

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  6. So sorry your oven fritzed out on you.

    Your cake looks great.

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  7. Ok, so it wasnt' a picture of a cake, but a cake pan with a sweet spatula.

    I want a sweet spatula like that.

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  8. Oh, gee. It's hard to pick one cookbook...I love Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson.

    As for a cookbook I'm dying to own...Mark Bittman's newest version of How to Cook Everything. (I already have the original and the vegetarian version and have been wanting the new version, but can't bring myself to buy it. )

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  9. So so so sorry about your oven!

    Well, besides the obvious answer of BFMHTY :) I think the other book I have that I love is my copy of Baked. Everything I have made out of it has been amazing so far. Not just that though. The authors are completely charming in their writing, wit and philosophies about baking.

    The book I want the very, very most at the moment is Flo Braker's Baking for All Occassions. I got to look through it a little once and it looks amazing.

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  10. Di, what a lovely post and idea! Sorry about your oven. At least it was an easy and less expensive fix than getting a new one! I love the Sky High Cakes cookbook by Alisa Huntsman. (The Cake Slice bakers are baking from it this year). Love it!

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  11. Some weeks are like this...I never ever like to think of oven problems. Alwasys such a hassle. You are such a trooper to make the best out of it all.

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  12. So happy that your oven got fixed in good time, great picks for your gift card!

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  13. Hi...I'm a lurker usually. Bakewise by Corriher, at the moment, is my favorite. I have my eye on Bread Baker's Apprentice and Art and Soul of Baking.

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  14. Di, I am so glad you enjoyed the gift certificate and excited that you are 'paying it forward'. I won't enter here, but have fun with it all. Thanks for the 'shout out', too.

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  15. OH! And thanks for adding me to your blog list.

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  16. i'm not entering the giveaway, but wanted to say that you should get a $5 oven thermometer! i've been amazed at how things are different - for one i learned that my oven is not really preheated when it beeps saying it is (It's closer to 200F then). also i found that the longer it is on, it tends to be higher than what it says (even though it is digital). it's a great investment :)

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  17. Di - What an unpleasant surprise about your oven, but I'm glad that you were able to get it fixed.

    This is such a wonderful giveaway!

    my current favorite: Flo Braker's Baking For All Occassions

    what i'm eyeing next: Bakewise, by Shirley O. Corrhier

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  18. Hi Di! Ugh, what a hassle about your oven. Glad it's been fixed - baker needs her oven! And fun giveaway! I also love Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything" - it is the one I reach for again and again, and it rarely disappoints. I love his entire philosophy about food. Of course, I couldn't live without Dorie Greenspan's "Baking: From My Home To Yours" - I mean, what would I even do with all the extra free time if I wasn't baking or blogging about something wonderful out of it?

    The next cookbook on my list is Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. The Art & Soul of Baking is a close second!

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  19. How horrible about your oven! At least it's fixed now. My favorite baking book changes daily, but cooking - The Silver Palate Cookbook. Seriously awesome.

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