a (hot) hiatus

Right around the beginning of June my air conditioner decided to call it quits. I can't complain, really--the thing was five years old, purchased on end-of-season sale back when I first moved to New York. It had a good run. And since I'm moving in a couple of weeks (the other reason for my absence? Apartment-hunting in New York sucks!) I decided to go it without A/C for awhile. No sense in buying a new window unit until after I move, I thought. I could make it a few weeks.

Well, I tried. 

Last weekend, after a valiant, almost pioneer-like attempt, I finally caved and bought an air conditioner. The home appliance stores all had a 7-10 day wait for installation, but thanks to Google and Air Conditioner by Vlad, I'm nice and cool once again. Good news for me, and good news for my reader(s?) too, since I am once again free to use my oven without the risk of baking myself in the process.

A few small positives did come out of my month without A/C:

1) To compensate for actual cooking, I finally got around to tackling a few foodie-type books. I devoured Molly Wizenberg's A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table in a matter of hours, and am excited to try out a few of her recipes in the very near future. And I'm halfway through Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential Updated Edition: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (P.S.) Both had been sitting on my bookshelf for months, and without the a/c debacle, it might've been another year before I actually got around to reading either one of them.

2) I got a good lesson in how most "real" New Yorkers supposedly live--eating takeout, using the microwave, and making simple (and boring!) stovetop-only meals. With temps inside my apartment pushing 90 degrees, I can't even imagine how hot my tiny studio would've been if I'd attempted to, say, make a pizza. If nothing else, being temporarily relegated to pasta, salads, and Japanese delivery for dinner definitely gave me a newfound appreciation for my ability to cook!

So that's it. I was hot, I was gone, I'm cool, and I'm back. My cooking (and posting) might still be sporadic for the next couple of weeks, as I deal with packing and unpacking and all of the other fun stuff that comes along with moving. But I'm looking forward to my new kitchen, and all of the culinary possiblities that come along with it.

Until then...