![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.anislandmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/100_3134-768x1024.jpg\" "\\"100_3134\\"")
<\/a>Then, a couple of weeks ago, our new fridge started leaking. At first, we thought the water was from the outside water and ice dispenser that the small people sometimes overflow. But one day, after studying the pattern of the water for a minute, I called LCB, who quickly ascertained that the leak is coming from the back of the freezer.<\/p>\nSo that pretty much stinks.<\/p>\n
LCB called the manufacturer, who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s now sending someone out next week to hopefully fix the problem.<\/p>\n
Then, last week I made Comfortably Domestic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Chicken Pot Pie<\/a>. It was fabulous, truly. But it took extra long to cook. This got me thinking about how things like the pizzas and the cookies we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve made in the new oven also have seemed to take extra long to bake. However, since we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t time these items but judge their readiness by sight, I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t 100% sure of my assessment. Given, too, that we both have been unusually busy this fall, our oven use has been way down from what it normally is, so I hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really thought it through much until now.<\/p>\n One hour.<\/p>\n That was a long hour, my friends, watching the popovers for signs of popping over, trying to resist the urge to throw sharp objects at the oven and settling instead for giving it dirty looks.<\/p>\n Then, we started checking the actual temperature of the oven by resetting it, and found that it was consistently dropping 100+ degrees below the set temperature.<\/p>\n So there I was Monday night, having obligated myself several weeks ago to bake for my younger two children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Thanksgiving feasts at school. For my son, I had volunteered to make cookies, which should have been easy, but turned out to be a giant experiment in frustration, because some cookies seemed to take the standard 10 minutes to cook, and others seemed to take 20+ minutes. I sat therefore, vigilant, eyes peeled to the oven for 2 hours, while I baked 5 dozen cookies.<\/p>\n For my daughter, I had volunteered to bring vegetables and rolls. I had plans to make a medley of rolls, but because of the oven problems, I decided instead to make the popovers again, despite the fact that I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t serve them in their ideal state (fresh from the oven). I reasoned that I had already tried them in my new oven and knew what to expect, unlike my other recipes.<\/p>\n Did I have nagging thoughts in the back of my head about the potential failure of the popping over part?<\/p>\n Yes. Yes I did.<\/p>\n But it was getting late, and the words \u00e2\u20ac\u0153super easy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d seduced me yet again.<\/p>\n So I made the popovers while getting the kids ready for bed and cleaning up the cookie dishes, and didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t begin giving the oven dirty looks until 30 minutes in, when I glanced over and the popovers still looked like soup. I spent the next 10 minutes ranting to LCB about the oven while I washed dishes, then turned around from the sink and gasped.<\/p>\n Most of the flour that was meant for the popovers was still sitting on the island counter, waiting to be poured.<\/p>\n LCB spent the next 10 minutes laughing that annoying \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m really trying not to laugh but I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help it\u00e2\u20ac\u009d laugh, until I pulled the popovers from the oven and said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You know, these are almost like very plain mini-quiches without most of the flour in them.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.anislandmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/100_3135-768x1024.jpg\" "\\"100_3135\\"")
<\/a>Sunday night, I removed all doubt that my oven has serious issues. On a whim driven by a carb craving, I made Comfortably Domestic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Super Easy Popover<\/a> recipe, obviously drawn to the words \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Super Easy,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as one naturally should be. The recipe calls for baking them for about 25 minutes. Guess how long mine took?<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.anislandmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/100_3121-1024x768.jpg\" "\\"100_3121\\"")
<\/a>LCB\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s head popped up from behind the couch, and three seconds later he was grabbing cheese and pepper and doctoring them up.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.anislandmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/100_3132-1024x768.jpg\" "\\"100_3132\\"")
<\/a>Oh yeah, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attractive. They look like hockey pucks.<\/p>\n