“Remoted” Day 286 (Sunday)

Trapped, but enjoying it.

The morning was spent with Moose in my bathrobe-clad lap and a coffee cup in hand. Even when the cup was empty, I remained in place to not disturb him because it was too nice a moment to ruin with movement. Winston isn’t the lap sitting type, so there are no shared moments like this with him, even though I’ve tried. The closest thing to a cuddle from Winnie is him laying next to my soft, pillow-like thigh. His other affectionate moments are when he wraps his front legs around my arm so he can lick my wrist. For the duration, I’m held prisoner while he has his way with my arm and it’s pretty funny. 

After a sumptuous breakfast of a carrot cake cupcake, it was time to deal with some vegetables that were beginning to suffer from neglect. Brussel sprouts were trimmed and halved. Carrots were cut into chunks. These were tossed in olive oil with salt and pepper and spread on a cookie sheet lined with tin foil. Sweet potatoes were pierced with a fork and placed on another foil lined cookie sheet. The whole lot went into a 400-degree oven per roasting instructions found online. Three minutes after the vegetables went into the oven, the smoke detector at the bottom of the stairs in the dining room began its shrill peal. 

The range fan was turned on high, and I was annoyed it hadn’t been done sooner. Then I grabbed a dish towel and ran to the smoke detector to wave it at the detector until it stopped its eardrum piercing shriek. The dogs ran for cover. Moose disappeared upstairs, while Winston cowered in the corner of the couch. The window over the sink was opened. The kitchen and front doors were opened. The dining room slider was opened a few inches. Temperatures outside were in the 30s. There was no visible smoke.

Unfortunately, this scenario used to happen when roasting eggplant. I think the problem is the 400-degree temperature causes the olive oil to smoke. The oven was cleaned on Tuesday when I was avoiding baking and it’s the cleanest it’s been in ages, so I'm going with the oil smoke temperature on this.

The next thing was to locate Moose. He was in the furthest corner of the bedroom, hidden under the bed with just a sliver of his butt and his tail visible. He was trembling. It took some coaxing to get him out.

The alarm went off at least three times in the first 15 minutes of roasting. There were cuss words, which certainly added to the doggy stress levels. Between the detector and the swearing, there was a brief period where things were loud and colorful in the BungaLowell.

Winston in recovery from the cooking.

When it was time to turn the carrots and Brussel sprouts, the oven temperature was reduced. Screw the instructions, this was too stressful. There were no more smoke detector activations. After the excitement of the three alarm vegetables, the dogs were nervous and trembled for a half hour. Once they calmed down, they slept on the couch. It was stressful for me, so I can imagine the effect on the pups. 

Once the vegetables were roasted, cooking shifted to frozen ravioli and tomato sauce for lunch before the kitchen was cleaned and closed for the day. There is still a bowl of apples and onions on the table. And a butternut squash, a spaghetti squash, and more vegetables arriving Wednesday. But after the smoke detector nonsense and all the stress it generated, the enthusiasm for further kitchen work was extinguished, as was the oven. Quiet was restored.