Chaos

Today has not panned out quite as planned. I was up and at ’em bright and early this morning and had the laundry on and my bread rising before 8am. A kilo batch of seeded rolls was destined for the freezer.  I then promptly forgot all about my dough and this happened:

The phone rang at 10:00 am to herald Mr L’s conference call and I was startled to realise how late it had become. Two hours raising had over-proved my dough. I was on my way to the kitchen with it when there was a click. The click was followed by a small beep. The power was off. Panic and chaos ensued. Mr L’s call was cut off and he had to redial, then he came rushing up the hallway with the phone tucked under his ear and his lappie in his hands. Dogs scurried left and right. My room was taken over for the meeting as this is where the WiFi router is plugged through the UPS – the repeater down the hall requires power to.. er.. repeat the signal.

I knocked my dough back and shaped it into the rolls that I had planned… hoping that by the time that they were ready to bake, power would be restored.

When the conference call was completed, Mr L rang the power supply company and found that power would not be back until 1:30 pm. I was a bit stumped. My rolls would be way over-risen by then and I could not freeze them as dough because I couldn’t open the freezer lid or introduce anything warm while the power was off.

The desire for coffee was unsatisfied – I had to have Camp.  Water was boiled on the picnic stove. Ping! An idea: I got out the second camping stove and my griddle and frying pan. I treated my rolls as muffins.

We forwent the tasty home-made soup that was planned for lunch and settled for heating a can of Heinz Tomato, into which I stirred the remaining barley and butternut squash from yesterday. It kind of worked. I split a couple of “muffins” and toasted them on the griddle pan.

Mostly, I have been spinning. One thing that can be done successfully without benefit of electricity.

The washing is back in. It’s a brilliant drying day – just a shame that I could not get the duvet cover on to wash when the first load went out. I had to use 16 pegs to keep my sheet and my washing line from parting company. It’s breezy 🙂

The power came back on a little earlier than expected. Work may now recommence.