There are not many things I miss from my life in the United States. The obvious ones being the children (some of the time), good friends, my garden etc. I’m sure that not many people would come up with missing an oven, but yesterday, cooking Christmas dinner I really missed mine.
Let me explain. It is not any ordinary oven. It is a 60 inch, cast iron Aga in claret red. Part of it stays hot all the time, giving not only constant heat and instant cooking, but warmth and comfort. It makes the kitchen THE place to be on a cold winter’s day and I miss it very much.
I was 14 years old when I saw my first Aga. I was babysitting for a couple in the next village and they had a red Aga in their kitchen. I fell in love with it and decided that one day, I would have exactly the same. I came close to having one when we were living in Surrey, just before the whacky lifestyle of traveling around the world kicked in. Just as well we didn’t spend the money then, because we were only in that house for a few more months before we headed off to the Far East. That house was rented and then sold when we moved to the United States in 2000.
Fast forward a further four and a bit years. After eighteen months in the States, two months in Israel, eighteen months in Stockholm and a further eighteen months in Paris we were back in the United States. The first house was sold and a second one bought. Only this time with the promise that I could re-do the kitchen and finally have my Aga. Whenever you say to someone (who knows about them) that you have an Aga there are two questions. What sort do you have and what colour is it? Mine is a two oven, gas, claret red. In addition, I have something called a “companion”. It is a standard stove, exactly the same colour as the Aga and made to look like an Aga but it isn’t. It is a regular stove that you turn on and off. Great for New Jersey summers that are so hot it makes nonsense to keep the Aga running pumping out heat that only competes with the air conditioning.
In total I have a hot oven ( 420 degrees F) a cool oven (at about 220 degrees F), a regular oven, a convection oven, a plate that can boil water in what seems like an instant, a cooler plate that is great for simmering, a 4 burner gas hob, and a grill (broiler to the Americans) I am in cooking heaven.
Cooking is a delight, never a chore and for a housewife that spends a lot of time feeding a family of four, that is such a bonus. Dinner parties, no problem – the capacity for producing food with an Aga is limitless and for everyone that has one, there is no other way to cook. For everyone else – bad luck.
Even professional cooks have them for their personal use. Jamie Oliver – white. Martha Stewart – baby blue.
So I miss my Aga. Never more so than yesterday. Here in Sao Paulo I have a pathetic oven that is so small that most of my pans don’t fit. There is one shelf and with heating elements at the top and bottom it means that you can’t put anything on the floor of the oven or near the top for fear of it burning. It often does when I forget.
Trying to cook two turkeys – I figured that one large one wouldn’t fit – roast potatoes, bacon rolls, sausage stuffing, bread stuffing, four different vegetables, gravy and steam a Christmas pudding whilst at the same time trying to keep everything hot and warm plates and serving dishes was going to be quite a challenge.
Steve, bless him had a great idea. Why not use the Barbeque? Fortunately, in the land of red meat and open fire barbequing, we had brought with us our American size, gas barbeque; complete with five burners, side burner and enough capacity to cook at least 50 hamburgers in one go. Brilliant! Why didn’t I think of that?
With an hour to go before serving time, the turkey was almost cooked and finished off in the barbeque, along with the sausage stuffing, plates for warming and a couple of serving dishes. That left room in the main oven to cook roast potatoes, bacon rolls and bread stuffing. The gas burners had vegetables, gravy and the Christmas pudding – phew. A first – Christmas dinner courtesy of the barbeque – who would have thought?
So no, I am not missing New Jersey too much. Especially, now that I have tackled and succeeded in cooking Christmas dinner,
It also helps that yesterday was about 84 degrees and the sun was shining. Contrast that with the UK that is in the midst of one of the coldest Decembers on record and New Jersey that is expecting 20 inches of snow tonight.
I’ll stick with Sao Paulo for the time being – Aga notwithstanding.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
Cell Phones. December 16, 2010
It’s a while since I have written a blog, which is a good indicator that life is beginning to be back to “normal” – albeit in the Brazilian sense. My life has settled into a pattern of predictability that no longer startles, amuses or catches me unawares. Maybe I am getting used to the eccentricities of living here and now take them for granted. Sitting endlessly in the back of the car, stuck in traffic is the norm. Not being understood when I open my mouth to speak is happening less and less often so the Portuguese teacher must be doing something right, and with a new circle of really good friends, there is plenty to do and occupy my time.
Yesterday, though, the reality of living here reared its ugly head again. I needed a new cell phone.
Ever since I arrived, I have been using the “emergency” cell phone from the office. Before I could get one of my own, I needed to jump through all sorts of visa hoops, most of which have now been sorted, so with obstacles out of the way, there is no reason not to get one.
My search started with the inevitable, “Marcelo, I need a cell phone.” He has never yet let me down and so he dropped me off at the local shopping mall and I went merrily on my way, only to be dazzled by a mass of posters offering amongst other things, the daily special / bonus plan / free cell phone/ pay as you go, etc. etc.
Plano B. “Marcelo I need you to come with me to the stores”. So I returned, Marcelo in tow to help me. Before long we had worked out which of the phone companies to chose. It actually wasn’t that difficult. When your driver, husband and husband’s secretary are with the same company, and as they make up about 80 per cent of my calls, it would be plain madness to use anyone else, given the free air time, Vivo to Vivo.
Now, in the States, you go to the phone shop, decide on a plan and they tell you which phones the plan come with for free, unless you want to upgrade etc, etc... Here it is almost the opposite. Pick a phone. Okay where to start? I have to admit that I am a bit of a techno pigmy and as far as I am concerned, all I do is phone and text. Emma might grab it once in a while to take a photo and I guess if I were in a car accident a camera would be useful but really not that necessary.
I hadn’t even opened my mouth when three phones appeared. Marcelo clearly knows my capabilities and had given them a brief that:-
a, it has to be simple
b, it has to have a big keypad and
c. no, we don’t need masses of technology.
( Steve, it has to be said has an i-phone 4g which is great for everything except making phone calls)
So, cell phone chosen. R$ 169.00 (US$ 100.00) credit card - sorted.
I am being allowed to keep the phone number of the cell phone that I have been using up until now, which is good, because it is a pain to have to change the number and to have to tell everyone.
You would think it was a matter of changing over the chip and all would be well. Wrong. Having paid for the phone, Marcelo then had to ring some sort of help desk to get the number and all the contact details changed over. He was on the phone for about 20 minutes, gabbling away in Portuguese, hardly any of which I understood. What the heck was going on? It seems that in order to transfer everything, the shop can’t do it and it is all done remotely.
Okay, new phone, existing number and details transferred.
So what about a payment plan? Again a huge array of plans, minutes, texts, internet –the lot. No, I want none of it; all I need is pre pay as you go. Given our track record with the length of time we stay anywhere, I do not want to be tied to a plan with penalty clauses.
“Marcelo, please ask them to put R$ 100 (about US$ 60) in the phone.” Not possible was the reply. “What?”
“No,” he said, “we have to go to the supermarket to recharge the phone”
My response was unprintable.
So off we head to the supermarket. The express check outs don’t do it so having stood in line there, thinking I only had one item it would be okay but no, I was redirected to another line to wait some more.
I held up the phone and said “re-charge” (only in Portuguese). Okay what is my plan? “Vivo”.
What is my DDD number? “My what?” How the heck do I know? Where is Marcelo when I need him? The answer is sitting in the car looking after the dog.
“Marcelo what is a DDD number?”
“11” he replied – ah – the penny dropped our area code.
Back to the check out.
Vivo, 11 and the phone number. How much to put on? I could put as little as R$ 3.50 (about US$ 2.00) or as much as R$ 100. Who would recharge their phone with R$ 3.50? Beats me. So R$ 60 later I have a working phone, with minutes, with contact details and a menu in English. What more can a girl ask for?
How about a voice mail box?
That requires a manual. Okay off to the computer to download the manual in English.
Beats me but I have read and re- read the manual 3 times now and there is no instruction to set up a voice mail box. The instructions are on the phone – in Portuguese.
This is a job for Solange, Steve’s assistant, but I have had enough of cell phones for today so that can be tomorrow’s task.
Yesterday, though, the reality of living here reared its ugly head again. I needed a new cell phone.
Ever since I arrived, I have been using the “emergency” cell phone from the office. Before I could get one of my own, I needed to jump through all sorts of visa hoops, most of which have now been sorted, so with obstacles out of the way, there is no reason not to get one.
My search started with the inevitable, “Marcelo, I need a cell phone.” He has never yet let me down and so he dropped me off at the local shopping mall and I went merrily on my way, only to be dazzled by a mass of posters offering amongst other things, the daily special / bonus plan / free cell phone/ pay as you go, etc. etc.
Plano B. “Marcelo I need you to come with me to the stores”. So I returned, Marcelo in tow to help me. Before long we had worked out which of the phone companies to chose. It actually wasn’t that difficult. When your driver, husband and husband’s secretary are with the same company, and as they make up about 80 per cent of my calls, it would be plain madness to use anyone else, given the free air time, Vivo to Vivo.
Now, in the States, you go to the phone shop, decide on a plan and they tell you which phones the plan come with for free, unless you want to upgrade etc, etc... Here it is almost the opposite. Pick a phone. Okay where to start? I have to admit that I am a bit of a techno pigmy and as far as I am concerned, all I do is phone and text. Emma might grab it once in a while to take a photo and I guess if I were in a car accident a camera would be useful but really not that necessary.
I hadn’t even opened my mouth when three phones appeared. Marcelo clearly knows my capabilities and had given them a brief that:-
a, it has to be simple
b, it has to have a big keypad and
c. no, we don’t need masses of technology.
( Steve, it has to be said has an i-phone 4g which is great for everything except making phone calls)
So, cell phone chosen. R$ 169.00 (US$ 100.00) credit card - sorted.
I am being allowed to keep the phone number of the cell phone that I have been using up until now, which is good, because it is a pain to have to change the number and to have to tell everyone.
You would think it was a matter of changing over the chip and all would be well. Wrong. Having paid for the phone, Marcelo then had to ring some sort of help desk to get the number and all the contact details changed over. He was on the phone for about 20 minutes, gabbling away in Portuguese, hardly any of which I understood. What the heck was going on? It seems that in order to transfer everything, the shop can’t do it and it is all done remotely.
Okay, new phone, existing number and details transferred.
So what about a payment plan? Again a huge array of plans, minutes, texts, internet –the lot. No, I want none of it; all I need is pre pay as you go. Given our track record with the length of time we stay anywhere, I do not want to be tied to a plan with penalty clauses.
“Marcelo, please ask them to put R$ 100 (about US$ 60) in the phone.” Not possible was the reply. “What?”
“No,” he said, “we have to go to the supermarket to recharge the phone”
My response was unprintable.
So off we head to the supermarket. The express check outs don’t do it so having stood in line there, thinking I only had one item it would be okay but no, I was redirected to another line to wait some more.
I held up the phone and said “re-charge” (only in Portuguese). Okay what is my plan? “Vivo”.
What is my DDD number? “My what?” How the heck do I know? Where is Marcelo when I need him? The answer is sitting in the car looking after the dog.
“Marcelo what is a DDD number?”
“11” he replied – ah – the penny dropped our area code.
Back to the check out.
Vivo, 11 and the phone number. How much to put on? I could put as little as R$ 3.50 (about US$ 2.00) or as much as R$ 100. Who would recharge their phone with R$ 3.50? Beats me. So R$ 60 later I have a working phone, with minutes, with contact details and a menu in English. What more can a girl ask for?
How about a voice mail box?
That requires a manual. Okay off to the computer to download the manual in English.
Beats me but I have read and re- read the manual 3 times now and there is no instruction to set up a voice mail box. The instructions are on the phone – in Portuguese.
This is a job for Solange, Steve’s assistant, but I have had enough of cell phones for today so that can be tomorrow’s task.
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