How are we cooking?

Our temporary kitchen has been set up in the basement.  We've learned quite a few things about our basement in the 9 years that we have lived in this house.  The pipes overhead are very low.  They hit around 69 inches off the ground which would be great if I wasn't 70 inches tall.  A concussion is in my future.  The one outlet we use for the extra refrigerator goes out when it rains, we get water seeping through the floor sometimes, it's a yukky 100 year old basement.  We did not, however, learn that there are only 2 outlets down there until we decided to put the temporary kitchen and laundry down there.  Since the refrigerator is plugged in to the outlet, we decided to get a big old power strip to use.  Surprisingly enough, you can still only use one appliance at a time.  I've already fried one strip and it's supposed to be for power tools and things.  I did it with a toaster and a microwave.  I'm just good at destroying things.

We just finished week two of being completely in the basement.  It really isn't fun.  Especially when you can only use one appliance at a time.  I had envisioned being about to cook fairly well but that is definitely not the case.  So far my arsenal contains the following:

- Microwave
- A small oven (looks like a toaster oven but bigger and it bakes/broils)
- Toaster
- Coffee Maker
- A Crock Pot (which I am not fond of)
- Electric Skillet (courtesy of Mom)
- Electric Griddle (also from Mom...she had lots of appliances)
- A big electric turkey roaster
- A big weber grill outside

Luckily I also had a stainless steel work table that I bought from Ikea a number of years ago.  That has been incredibly helpful.

I think we have managed to cook about 5 days out of 7 so far.  Not too bad but I still think I need to pare down the dinner plans.  Less elaborate is better.  Also, I've started drinking wine out of plastic cups because the giant 100 year old work sinks down there are hell on wine glasses.