Crumbs From the Corner: Adventures in Woolgathering

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Coal Crumble



We ought to celebrate our new oven, I said. So I made a rhubarb crumble, having successfully procured some fine red stalks from the store- the last time I ventured out for rhubarb the store assistant wandered around looking for a colleague called Rupert and ruined all my culinary plans.
Into the oven with the dish, then; and one hour later when the crumble had not metamorphosed into the golden-brown that all recipe books boast of, Spouse and I collectively opted to set the oven to an extremely high temperature for an extremely short time.
We ought to celebrate fresh air, we said, twenty minutes later when smoke billowed out.
"Where are you?" I called out, unable to see Spouse through the swirling grey clouds of cremated crumble.
When I could see the dish I nicknamed it Coal Crumble, for good measure.
An hour later I stood by the living room window listening to an endless shriek of sirens passing by our home.
"Do you smell smoke?" I asked Spouse.
He did, of course, the hint of Coal Crumble being all around us, but there was a new scent on the air.
One of the apartments next door was blazing and half the street's population was standing outside to have a look. Off we went, to celebrate curiosity and coincidence and just in case we needed to evacuate.
I spoke to Mater later; she had, earlier, wisely advised me on the crumble and wished to know how it turned out and if we were enjoying the new appliance.
"It's a great oven," I said, "I think we'll be very happy."

6 comments:

Pauline said...

I've just this moment taken a rhubarb crumble from the oven. It is not charred - come on over!

Jaime said...

It's good to be back reading your stories...I know what you mean. I dropped off the blogging map for a while too.
How funny that I should read this story first. I just got a brand new oven a week ago! I'm wishing it wasn't new though...it fills my little space with chemical *new appliance* smells every time I turn it on. But is it ever nice to have an oven again after 6 weeks of no oven!
Good to see you :)

Pappy said...

"...through the swirling gray clouds of cremated crumble...."
Spouse remained silent, not even a mumble.
As he helped clear the air his demeanor was humble.
His chuckles were masked by the loud fire truck's rumble. Pappy

Phyllis Hunt McGowan said...

Pauline, I think I will- I love rhubarb!

Jaime, I hope you are very happy with your new oven! Be careful! Don't set it too high and forget about it.

Texican, how do you do it? Enquiring minds want to know, so they can do it too. That was great. Spouse WAS silent, but only because he didn't want to suck in lungfuls of smoke.

ArtSparker said...

Reminds me of Mr. Prothero standing in his burned down house, saying "A Fine Christmas".

Phyllis Hunt McGowan said...

ArtSparker, yes, I remember reading Dylan Thomas years ago. A real treasure.

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