Pizza oven failure

Easter is over and sadly, Sue has gone back to work. Sam has no work today and has gone with Gemma to Sandy Bay, Exmouth, to visit Gemma's family who are on holiday there. I am at home alone with a few jobs to do.

I had some pizza dough left over, which I made  a week ago. After a week in the fridge, the dough will produce a wonderful light, airy, crisp pizza. I turned on the pizza oven just after midday. Soon after 1:00 pm it was up to temperature. I left it for a while and on returning, I found that all the lights were out. I checked everything; power, fuses etc., and then found that the on/off switch was siezed up. The switch had been temperamental for some time and I had stopped using it, turning the oven on and off at the power switch on the wall instead. It seems the switch has finally died.

I phoned Christopher, who was not working today. He popped in on the way back from the gym and tested the switch with his meter and confirmed it was broken. Then he managed to prise out the switch from the oven and disconnect the wires.

I found the replacement switch on the Lincat Spares web site. The switch itself was inexpensive (£2.65 + vat), but the delivery was £7.50 + vat and would take 3 to 4 days to arrive. This is bad when compared to the P&P and delivery times I have recently experienced with eBay. I was reluctant to deal with this company. Christopher suggested that RS Components could have a suitable alternative. I drove down to RS Components and bought a switch which appeared identical, but on returning home found it to be slightly too large to fit in the aperture in the oven.

I ordered the correct replacement part online from Lincat Spares. Assuming they dispatch it tomorrow, Thursday 12th April, and allowing 4 working days for delivery, it should arrive here on Wednesday 18th. We will see.

Unfortunately, having spent so much time on the pizza oven, I hadn't done the jobs I should have done. Sue was not pleased, but to me, a broken pizza oven is a  major catastrophe and just has to be attended to immediately, especially as I have a new bag of Caputo in the house.

Tesco Beer Offer

Tesco have a good beer offer on at the moment, which runs until 30th April. Some lager type beers are 3 for 2 and nearly all of their bottled ales are 'Any 4 for £5.50'.

I bought 3 x 75cl bottles of Leffe Blonde and 4 x 500ml bottles of ale, all these for less than £12.

Old Crafty Hen 6.5% abv

McEwans Champion 7.3% abv
Exmoor Beast 6.6% abv
Wychwood King Goblin 6.6% abv


The real bargain here is the Old Crafty Hen which normally sells for £2.79 a bottle and at 4 for £5.50 works out less than half price.