We’ve been here for three weeks now and until today, our gas stove & oven was not connected. I’ve been very inventive with my crockpot, electric frypan and microwave! This afternoon the gas man turned up and connected the stove for me. We don’t have mains gas here, so he needed to put a special fitting on the stove to the two gas bottles outside.

He was quite a friendly man, probably in his early 60’s, and we had a nice chat while he worked. He also has acreage and enjoys a large veggie garden and chooks. After he finished connecting the gas bottles I said,

“I’ll just go inside and see if it works.”

“No, no!” he said, “I’ll do that! I’ll check it all properly.”

So we went in and he checked all the jets to make sure they worked, and the grill as well. He showed me how to light the grill and the oven. Then he said we just had to wait a few minutes to check the temperature of the oven. I was quite surprised because I thought all he was going to do was connect the bottles and leave us to work out the rest. But here was some good old fashioned service.

He set the oven to 180C and while we waited we chatted some more. We discussed ovens and how the old ones (like the one I have now) are often better than the news ones they make now-a-days. He said a lot had changed in kitchens since he first started in the gas fitting business. He used to go into homes at this time of the day (4.30pm) and he would want to stay for dinner because it all smelled so good. Now people just heat things up in the microwave. He also said that some of these same kitchens had 70 year old women who were so good at knowing their ovens that they didn’t even need a thermostat! They just looked at the flame or put their hand in the oven and knew it was the right temperature! How times have changed!

Although the oven was set for 180C, its real temperature turned out to be only 140C! So he fiddled and futzed with it until he got it to the right temp. He said that this oven would never have cooked anything properly, but not many people knew or could be bothered with changing the settings! I am so pleased that he took the time to set it for me, because if it was left the way it was, I would have thought the oven was useless and would have gone to buy another one. I am thankful we don’t need to buy a new one, and the gas man assured me that it was a very good oven, even though it was quite old.

After he left I tried it out and made pizza for dinner. I already had it planned and was going to cook it in the microwave convection oven, but instead I could use my “new” oven! It turned out yummy!

Then I popped some muffins in for dh’s brecky the next few days and I am sooooooo pleased with the results! Now to get my kitchen cupboards a bit more organized……!