Saturday, April 22, 2006

Not so much domestic goddess as Cinderella (sans fairy godmother)

You may have noticed a dearth of fabulous recipes lately on this blog. You see, after the initial enthusiasm, I've fallen into a cooking rut.

With Baby's naps becoming a scarce commodity, the last thing I want to do during her sleeps is to plan dinner, when I'd much rather spend that 20-45 minutes either blogging or snoozing. What hasn't helped is discovering that, of all the dishes I've tried, the boy's favourite is fish fillet, baked from frozen, in between two slices of white bread and garnished with a slice of raw tomato. It's hardly inspirational.

Today's big housewifely task was possibly the least fun thing I could have chosen to do on a sunny Saturday afternoon - oven cleaning. It had to be done though, and it had to be done with Baby out of the house and at a safe distance from those nasty, toxic oven-cleaning fumes. So I had to do it while she and daddy were out feeding the ducks at the Botanic Gardens.

Considering that our oven hasn't been cleaned since...how long has Baby been alive?...eight months ago, the stuff really works. I sprayed it on (choking and trying to breathe through a paper towel), left it for about half an hour and - voila! - the grime just wiped off; that corner of the kitchen is no longer a potential feature for the How Clean Is Your House TV crew.

But, phew - it's just the dirtiest job ever. I think I must've rinsed the sponge out a couple of dozen times before the water stopped running black and sooty. I was so mucky, sweaty and air-polluted that afterwards I had to do time under a hot shower, followed up with a nice lie-down and a bowl of feijoa ice cream.

8 comments:

flying kiwi said...

Wait, you're not saying that fairy godmothers are supposed to clean ovens are you? Surely not. (given my fairy godmother status and all)

Anonymous said...

Ahh yes, the ease with which the stuff removes baked in grime - imagine what it's doing to your lungs as you breathe it in...

Amanda said...

How ever bad you think you are there is always someone worse.

Our oven has been cleaned once in the past 3 years [blushes with the shame of it all]

Ms Mac said...

Aw yukk! I always make the Mr. clean our oven. "But you're so much better at it than me!"

Jon said...

I once passed out from using mildew remover in the shower. Granted, it said to use a a nose and mouth mask available form the groery store or harware store, and to use in a well ventilated area, but most NYC bathrooms aren't that well ventilated. Anyway, I passed out and woke up 15 minutes later. Good times!

Violet said...

flying kiwi: you're off the hook, since you're no fairy. But if you were then I'd have wished for the chores to be magically done, a nice dress and an evening out masquerading as a single, childless sex symbol.

desiree: I did, which is why I had the kitchen door open wide and the rest of the family exiled.

mtnw: I reckon if you leave it long enough you've got yourself a home-made time capsule.

eb: I used some super-toxic oven cleaning aerosol - Mr Muscle I think it was. Lemons are for the birds.

ms.mac: the boy used to do the oven, saying he wanted to spare me the disgusting filth. But since becoming the sole breadwinner all the housework's fallen to me.

jon: you and your shower stories! first you get locked in your bathroom, then you pass out cleaning the shower... You gotta be careful with those disinfectants and things.

Kazzer said...

Sh*t - you mean they need cleaning?

Violet said...

kazzer: only if you use them.

juliabohemian: just wait until she's old enough to hold a scrubbing brush!