Over the weekend, Elin and I moved into a new apartment in a different part of Tartu. Our previous digs belong to her relatives, who only live in Estonia for the better half of the year, when the sun shines and the days are long. Last week they came back to Estonia to claim their apartment, leaving us to find somewhere else to live for the remaining few months of our time here.
To say the least, we lucked out. Though it was an increase in rent, we are now living in a beautifully restored building right on the Raekoja Plats, or town hall square. The old medieval city is all around us now, as well as many of Tartu University's buildings. The university and the old town seem almost coterminous, sharing the town's heart which imbues Tartu itself with a great intellectual spirit and cafe culture. The sun is now shining, and with daylight savings time it's out until almost 8pm (by mid-summer, Estonia won't even have a true night, just a 3 or 4 hour dusky period around 2 or 3am). People are even eating outside, bravely. When we walk out our front door the first thing we see is the town's famous statue of two kissing students under an umbrella.
The apartment is a lofty, light-filled duplex on the top floor of the building. We look out over a courtyard and below us is a wine bar.
We also have two skylights, and under one has got to be the greatest reading nook of all time.
There is the slightly trying process of living with someone in a place with no walls ("I want to read." "And I want to watch TV." [Arms crossing; a typical impasse]), but otherwise this place is awesome. It's going to be a great two months.
Except. Well, there's one little thing--which, in my world, is a big thing. The kitchen? Is hardly more than an afterthought. Immediate problems that presented themselves: the stove is a two-burner electric surface...and there's no oven.
With cooking experiments to carry out and the Dinner Tonight column to write, it's going to get very interesting. Yesterday, for example, I tried to simmer some dried beans for a couple hours, and had a monster of a time trying to do it.
My stove acted like that clumsy bus driver who pumps the gas pedal then slams the brakes, constantly overcompensating and apparently unable to maintain an even speed. You know, the ones you make you fall over and bump into everyone? That was my electric stove. The beans would boil, then nothing, then boil hard, then nothing, on, off, on, off. All the while my dial never changed. I suppose if you took the average temperature you'd end up with about what I aimed to cook them at -- but gimme a break.
But the electric stove I can deal with. It's the no oven that gets me: no more homemade focaccia, no roasting, no broiling pizza.
Still, cooking with limited tools is a great test, and blaming them is the easy way out. I'm looking forward to the challenge. I'm sure some of you out there have this problem all the time--so who am I to complain?
Plus, it's spring, and the produce is getting increasingly better, which means you have to try a lot less hard to make great food. The Tartu market should be coming alive again.
You'll find me in the kitchen fighting with my testy stovetop.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Yikes! No oven? You're a brave soul! Can't wait to see what you come up with to circumvent that problem.
I highly suggest getting a wee gas cartridge single-burner or 2. If I want something cooked correctly (like over low constant/consistent heat), I go to mine instead of using my (bane of an) electric stove. They're supercheap at Asian markets, so you may need to just have someone send one to you if they don't exist in Tartu.
Buy a slow cooker for the beans and other suchlike stuff. And I just bought a single induction hob thingy for the odd time my gas runs out unexpectedly and as an extra element; it's quite good. Don't know what you're going to do about having no oven though.
There is probably an inexpensive part for that stove to fix that. I also bet the other burner doesn't do the same thing. But I feel your pain. My kitchen is way too tiny for me. Looks like you will have to buy appliances.
You’ll surprised at how much you can actually do. Humans eventually adapt to anything, I believe. By the second month you will be starting to feel comfortable. I say this, because I moved from an apartment with a huge kitchen to a one with a very tiny one. I thought at that time that there is no away I could fit any of my stuff in here and there was no way I could cook either. But I am doing it now. I have adapted. So, all the best to you.
Maybe you can cobble together a solar oven like the one shown here: http://www.solarovens.org/
Also, is there an outdoor area where you could grill pizza, veggies, fruit, etc?
As for the burner battle, sounds like the power is intermittant. Maybe you have a short?
I forgot to add that I really like the redesign. It’s fresh and reader friendly.
Your new place is absolutely beautiful. No trick photography to make that place look good, no six foot lofts lacquered forest green, and tons of Thonet. I’m jealous. Get a solar oven.
Hello Blake,
Beautiful.
But no oven is rough! Highly recommend buying a small toaster oven as temporary measure – the inexpensive basic ones painted white – which runs on a timer. You can do a lot with one of those as long as it doesn’t have any electronic sensors inside.
They cost between 10 and 25 euros, depending on which one you find where.
I had the same panic attack when I moved into my apartment in Japan, a practically oven-less country. While it does take some adapting (want a cake? try cupcakes instead), a toaster oven is a pretty solid substitute. I’ve even made the focaccia recipe from this site in it
Enjoy the new apartment; it looks beautiful!
I am currently debating whether a toaster oven is worth the investment for just a couple months.
@Beth: A solar oven! That is fascinating, but I am skeptical. That said I could easily plant that thing on the roof outside of our skylights.
@Jenny: Your comment got me thinking. I think the secret is to focus on cuisine from other “oven-less” countries where techniques like roasting aren’t common or used at all. If I look at this time as an excuse to research recipes from those parts of the world, it’s an adventure and not a limitation.
You had me at “skylight” and “winebar” and “lofty” but WHOA! You lost me at “stoveless.”
Hmmm…What the biggest available toaster oven?
This is going to be a serious cooking adventure, although for Summertime, I bet you won’t even miss it!
Well, Eric Ripert seems to do pretty well with that toaster oven on the recipes on his blog.
Do they have a place where you can buy one of those plug-in electric burners? Just to have an extra burner.
It’s only two months. It’ll be an adventure
You can buy little ovens from almost electronics selling shop in here, Tartu. I bought one from +- electornics.
That one – http://www.plussmiinus.ee/ee/kook/lauapliit?vaata=KML3001
But it’s only for two months anyway. You could use your friends’ ovens!? : D