Let’s talk about ovens.
OK!
Context: Chinese don’t bake. You don’t walk into someone’s home and smell chocolate chip cookies. You don’t see Mom’s bringing homemade birthday cupcakes to their children’s school. You don’t see casseroles! Baking for them is limited to the cakes or Chinese cookies they buy in the bakeries or grocery stores.
Baking is a foreign, even exotic concept. It would be the equivalent of an average American using a Chinese bamboo dumpling steamer.
The fact that we bake is downright amazing to many of our Chinese friends.
Introducing our luxurious oven. Luxurious in that it holds a 9×13 pan. Hubs hand carried it back from Shanghai in 2005. Believe it or not, but the oven cost the same as the smaller ovens that many expats use. (Think Easy Bake!)
Can’t fit a turkey.
Bakes a limited number of cookies.
Bakes a mean lasagna.
Ah, but there are larger ovens to be had in China. This one was spotted at Ikea in Beijing. 6990 rmb = $1,023.92
This was was spotted in Yichang. It’s imported from Italy and costs more than USD$500. I’m not sure it’s much larger than the one we have now!
This brick oven at Giano’s Pizza in Wuhan has bricks imported from the States. You can ask Sandra: I toyed around with the possibility of making a brick oven, but had to admit that I wasn’t sure what chemicals/lead were in the local bricks.
But wouldn’t it be wonderful… I could cook a mean turkey in one of those!
Did you cut your turkey in half?
I completely empathize with you guys. Although I'm not quite as far off…they don't use them here, but I was still able to obtain one for a decent price. Here's hoping for your BIG baking future!!
Well, I am always impressed with the quantity and quality of things that you bake. Your pictures absolutely make my mouth water. Who knew that baked goods would be such a fabulous conversation starter? Have you ever thought of hosting a baking class in your home for your new friends, Sandra?
oh the pic of giano’s makes me happy and sad all at the same time. we were SO excited when they opened one right outside hua shi dong men vs. the trying to find the one in hankou. it was literally a nice stroll to get fresh brick oven pizza. mmmmm.