Creme Caramel in the Instant Pot. Oh my goodness, it's a revelation! It's like the time I tried pressure cooking a cheesecake! Who would have though that it could be possible to make fabulous Creme Caramel in a pressure cooker! I've had the recipe for over a year, why did I wait?!?!
I also bought a Philips Airfryer. We've used a Tefal Actifry for cooking oven chips for years, but I was tempted by the Airfruer because it looked more versatile. I kept putting off buying one because it seemed a bit of an extravagance. Costco were offering one at a reasonable price, so I bought it.
We tried it. It worked really well. It's too tall to fit in the cupboard space occupied by the Actifry and, on the basis that we can try and use it instead of the oven (the saving is in the lack of preheatng required), I had to find it a home on the worktop. Easier said than done.
We tried it. It worked really well. It's too tall to fit in the cupboard space occupied by the Actifry and, on the basis that we can try and use it instead of the oven (the saving is in the lack of preheatng required), I had to find it a home on the worktop. Easier said than done.
I spend over a day rearranging the kitchen. I appreciate that sounds ridiculous, but it's true. It was like a 3D version of one of those sliding puzzles!
As an example, I moved one item into the cupboard wher the Actifry used to live. The space it created wasn't suitable for the airfryer, as that needs to be near the extractor fan. So i moved the vacuum sealer over instead. But that meant that the drawer full of vac sealer bags and bits needed to move too. And it wasn't as easy as just swapping over two drawers. Or just two items.
And of course, I had to clean thoroughly as I moved stuff. And I went through the drawers I was moving to see if I could get rid of anything. I was brutal.
Anyway, it's done. For the first time in months my worktops look tidy and aren't cluttered up . Well, no more cluttered than they need to be. The accumulation of piles of 'stuff' have been dealt with (apart from a relatively small pile of "I don't know what to do with these" things on a tray on the breakfast bar).
I also put one of the long-redundant kitchen appliances (previously relegated to the utility room while it waited for me to see if I missed it) up for sale. And I think I'll be finding a new home for the Actifry.
I'm hoping I can keep it tidy for a few more weeks. We'll see.
