Last Sunday evening, I was cooking for my mother’s birthday.
I decided on something simple, traditional, and elegant.
I roasted a big chicken, made mashed potatoes from scratch and braised some asparagus in a delicious butter sauce. I also baked dinner rolls from scratch! Needless to say, it was pretty hot in the kitchen with the oven and the stove going. Unfortunately, the heat was compounded by the fact that my air conditioner had given out earlier that morning! I woke up in a sweat and peeled off my covers, my mind racing as to what could have caused the HVAC system to give out the previous evening. I had gone to bed with it nice and cool in my room and the air conditioner blasting with no apparent problems. I wondered if I could call an HVAC company to see if a service technician could be sent out that very Sunday afternoon. I didn’t imagine that very many people would want to be going out on a Sunday on a service call. Worst of all, my mother and some other family members and a friend would be visiting my house for dinner! It’s not like it would be easy to pack up all the food and bring it to someone else’s place. So I had to resign myself to slaving away in the heat of my kitchen. There was no relief from the air conditioner at all. The HVAC service technician would not be able to come until Monday. I called ahead to explain to my guests that it would be quite hot. In the end, at least there was a breeze late that afternoon and I was able to ventilate the house to get it at least somewhat bearable as we enjoyed dinner. Everybody was very gracious and they were simply thankful to get a great home-cooked meal and fellowship with one another.