Time for a Retro-fit.....
Can you Imagine a kitchen Without an Oven, Dear Readers? Well I am embarrassed to say that when I constructed the Tiny kitchen in the Tower of the Cloud Palace, I completely Forgot to include an oven! Even though my Family members will not be surprised that I did not make the kitchen of Primary importance, as they know I am not an eager cook, nonetheless, I am surprised, because when I cook, I bake! And so does Hamish Harry "Hotcakes" McCloud, who was coming to take over the kitchen duties at the Cloud Palace! As you can see in the picture above, he arrived with a suitcase full of pots and pans along with his trusty rolling pin! He obviously had plans for baking! And an oven is essential! So as soon as I realized my oversight, I hastily began to Retro-fit an oven into this Tiny kitchen! Here below you can see a slightly out of focus shot of the fireplace Without the oven.....
Where oh Where would an oven fit???
Fortunately, it didn't need to be a Huge oven....
and there was already a kind of stone lip beside the hearth....
and just Maybe there was room under the stairs....
if I cut it just right......
Believe me, it took some fancy cutting
to get the glued styrofoam off the wall
without taking out any of the stairs.....
And then I had to construct a little
arched chamber from cardboard....
And build out the "rock" wall of the chimney
to surround the oven chamber...
made from egg cartons!
And while I was at it I also added a "rock" ledge
inside the hearth..... for setting pots to warm....
And then painted it all to blend in with the already built chimney.
I made the interior of the oven all black
as it is the kind of oven you light a fire inside
and then sweep the ashes aside to do the baking.
Here you can see it a little closer... still without the door.
And then I thought some more about what Hamish Harry might like
to help him cook in this Tiny kitchen....
and decided he could use some built in "iron" racks
over the fire to hold frying pans....
And a chain for hanging kettles over the fire.....
And here you can see the racks holding
the frying pan and soup cauldron....
And lest you worry that the oven is too small...
I thought we should test the muffin tin....
Aha! It fits!
And now you can see there is a door to the oven too....
Attached with leather strap hinges....
Surely you can forgive me for not using metal ones!
They would never hold with the Egg-carton "rocks"!
And here you can see Hamish Harry is trying
to work in this new and unfamiliar kitchen....
Wielding his trusty rolling pin....
but Alas, he has found the shelves Embarrassingly Bare
of the necessary ingredients for baking!
But being a Bear of Great Resourcefulness...
He brought out one of the Marzipan Cakes
(These Fairy Bears always seem to travel with Marzipan cakes!)
And he quickly sliced it up into thick pieces.....
And carried it out for the Bearys to have with their tea!
Of course, there was enough for EveryBeary to have some!
Believe it or not, Dear Readers,
I was ever so Grateful for the Marzipan Cakes!
There will be plenty of time now to get the Kitchen
fully stocked so NoBeary will go hungry!
And Hamish Harry "Hotcakes" McCloud
will have plenty of time to test the Oven...
And there may even be one or two other improvements
in this Tiny kitchen before we are done!
It is a good thing I was able to retro-fit an oven into this Tiny space, Dear Readers,
because even though you can barely see it tucked in beside the hearth...
Hamish Harry (and I) will know it is there!
