Day 1 without Internet

I got up early this morning and got my bible reading done and worked on the scripture that I am memorizing. I spent the morning cleaning while Chris went to the grocery store to buy some food.  Our plan was to have guests over for lunch this afternoon. My menu was Garlic Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and gravy, Mac N’ Cheese, and Coffee Cake. I started by putting the ingredients for Coffee Cake in the slow cooker. I was trying to figure out how I was going to cook the potatoes, gravy, chicken and Mac N’ Cheese with just one burner. I decided to start the potatoes first, put the pot of potatoes on top of the toaster over, turn it on and let them stay warm and the chicken could stay warm in the toaster oven while I cooked the Mac N’ Cheese and then the gravy. The hot gravy would help reheat the potatoes if they got chilled. Our guests were due to arrive at noon. I guess God had other plans.

At Eleven my coffee cake was cooking and the potatoes were just about to start to come to a boil when the electricity went out. This meant no hotplate, crockpot, toaster, or microwave. AAAAHHHHH! Also Chris and I do not have the internet or a telephone yet.

So Chris walked over to a co-workers house and borrowed his cell phone. He called Richard the nice guy at work who takes care of everything for us.  He called the apartment handyman who arrived in about fifteen minutes. He flipped a few switches and magically we had electricity. I started to make the chicken. We were running way behind on my cooking schedule. I was frying the chicken in two batches. Just as the first batch was about done the electricity went out again. It was past the time for my guests to arrive and I only had half the food cooked and the air conditioner wasn’t working either.

So Chris called Richard, who called the handyman who came back and then they called an electrician. So when the second guy came I finally got electricity back and was able to finish my chicken. I started to wonder where my guests were. They were over an hour late. I thought in my head “I’ll bet they will show up just as soon as I finish cooking the food.”

Sure enough as I pulled the last of the chicken out of the pan my guests arrived 1 ½ hours late, but just in time for the meal that I said would be ready at noon. The electrician was still around fixing the problem. One of my guests even brought and extra guest. That worked out great because this guy could speak pretty good Korean and was able to communicate with the electrician and the handyman who kept coming and going.

We had a wonderful meal. Instead of Mac N’ Cheese I decided at the last minute to throw some corn in the microwave. It worked out perfectly and we had plenty of food. I used the left over oil from the fried chicken to make chicken gravy. It was great.

The only casualty of the electrical problems was the coffee cake. Since it kept turning on and off and had irregular heat it was cooked on the outside and gooey in the middle. Chris suggested that I finish it in the microwave.  It was very ugly but still tasted good. At least this time the dessert disaster was not my fault.

It was a really good day. Our guests are gone, the dishes are done and now I am sitting back with my feet up, remembering to praise God for electricity. It is even more important than internet.