On the subject of appliances

So we are buying this house. And it's great. It's excitingly great. There are a lot of excellent features, plus it's almost twice the size of the house we live in now. I am super pumped about moving there.

But I discovered a problem today. The stove is electric instead of gas. Now, before you get all "Oh, PLEASE" and your eyes go rolling full circle on me, hear me out. I know very well that this might not seem like a huge deal. Especially if you're a lifer of the electric persuasion (ooh, that could mean a lot more interesting things than your stove preference!) But I'm a gas convert of the highest level.

See, I grew up using an electric stove. Waiting for that coil to get red hot and then going about my business of frying up some taters. When I encountered gas, it scared me - I mean, there is a live flame shooting up in front of your face! Believe me, I had my share of moments where I narrowly avoided singing off my eyebrows. And I nearly killed my new husband once by accidentally leaving the gas on all day. Oopsie!

But once you get used to working with that actual fire...there is no going back. Forget about leaving the water to inch toward boiling for the better part of a half hour - that baby is going to be bubbling before you can peel a few carrots and tell a telemarketer to shove it. Politely, of course. We gas-users aren't cave-people!

Now, the actual offending appliance that is the object of my flame-deprived angst, I should concede, is a very nice glass cook top range. You know, the fancy kind. It's sort of like having a crappy car with buttery soft leather seats. Or, to use a semi-contemporary phrase, putting lipstick on a pig.

Something I pride myself on is having a policy of not acting like I am the first person to ever encounter a particular problem. So...to the Interwebs, I went! I came across this website here http://www.thekitchn.com/-good-questions_34-176154 by googling "my new house has an electric range help me." While there is some empathy to be found in this post, as well as a few useful tips, one of the first things I found was advice to avoid boiling something over by taking the pot off the burner and shoving into the oven which should be pre-heated to 250F. Seriously?! That is outrageous! It is exactly the kind of advice out there that points to the simple truth that THESE CRAZY CONTRAPTIONS SHOULD NOT EXIST. Oh, this here stove works just FINE...you just need to use a whole other THING to make it perform its designated function.

The thing is...I love cooking. Love cooking for myself. For my family. For guests. It's one of the surefire ways I know that communicates my love for people. I'm not so good at the shoulder patting, head nodding, hand holding kind of support. But a nice baked ziti to acknowledge your painful breakup? I'm your girl. Now my ziti is going to take like a bazillion hours to make. And it will make me grouchy. And that makes me sad.

Look, I'll get over it. I mean, I have all sorts of things to worry about with this move, plus there are people fighting for their lives in Syria, the national debt is out of control and there are people sleeping outside, in this weather, probably within walking distance from wherever you are. So, let's just say, I have bigger fish to fry. I just wish I could fry them on a freaking gas stove!