A tribute to our trusty oven

Today I'd like to write you a love story. It's an unusual one that involves my ongoing relationship with our cooker, the Leisure Professional. Thursday will be a sad day as it's the day we say goodbye to this oven and welcome in a new model. We've had the Leisure for 20 years. It has served us well, but it's finally had enough.

I remember the day we chose it. It was so beautiful with its stainless steel finish and ceramic hob. I felt so grown up and adult when the salesperson, a lady, told me how useful two ovens and a separate grill would be. 'Nobody wants to put a delicate lemon meringue pie in the same oven as a roast chicken,' she told me. 'Think of the smell,' she added, crinkling her nose. 'And once the pie is ready, you can brown the meringue under the grill without it affecting anything else you're cooking.' I was sold. Probably just based on the fact that I was someone who looked like they could cook a roast chicken and a lemon meringue pie on the same day at the same time. And just in case you're wondering, I haven't accomplished this yet.

When the shiny new cooker arrived, I remember hugging it, telling my husband how happy I was that we owned such a thing—a range cooker. Everywhere else I'd lived, we'd had one oven and a hob, and I was using something that someone else had chosen. But this oven belonged to us and was the chosen one.

As time went by I accepted that the oven contributed in the way it did. I didn't hug it regularly, although I did occasionally thank it. It just stood by doing what it was supposed to do. And my it did some wonderful things. It cooked numerous Christmas dinners, even sadly outlasting some of the people who shared them with us. It has turned out turkeys, crispy roasties and to die for Yorkshire puddings. I did accomplish those. Numerous friends and relatives have sat around our table, waiting for us to pull food from one oven or the other or to serve curries and stews from the hob. I can't count the number of times we've eaten with others, enjoying their company, having a laugh and sharing stories. Food enables that. 

After my mum died, I took up baking for a while. Some good friends told me I was a contender for The Bake Off, but I knew I was never going to be that good. I enjoyed making a good old fashioned Vicky sponge, slapping some cream and jam in the middle and Bob's your uncle as they say. Cupcakes, sponges, fruitcakes, biscuits and scones have all been delivered perfectly from the Leisure and eaten (hopefully) with joy at tea parties and birthday celebrations over the years.

One of my fondest memories was cooking with my four-year-old neighbour. My husband set up a Reebok step in the kitchen so that she could see what was happening on the kitchen worktops and help with the mixing as she wasn't tall enough without it. It was probably the best use for that step! So we mixed and stirred and then into the Leisure it went. While the oven did its duty once again, she and I sat and mulled over some big questions. My favourite was her asking me if cats became princesses when they died. I assured her they did and still hold onto this magical vision thinking of our old cat Mojo sitting somewhere on a great big comfy cushion on a throne, being handfed salmon or chicken or whatever she fancies that day.  Once the cake came out of the oven, I had grand plans for decoration. We had lots of buttercream icing and glitter and sparkle and Smarties. However, I'd not been around a four-year-old baking before so how was I to know it all just went straight on the top, kind of in a big pile, but Bella was happy and excited and proudly carried her cake to her house to show her mum and grandparents.

I even had a spell of making Christmas cakes for friends as gifts. The Leisure had it all under control as well as ensuring my home-made Christmas pudding was one of the best I've ever tasted. There's just something about knowing it's homemade with love that comes out in each delicious mouthful. That pudding sat on the hob steaming away for hours on end before it got put under the bed to await the big day. Then it was returned to the hob again and steamed for several more hours before it got enjoyed with lashings of cream. The Leisure was always up for it whatever was demanded. Turkey in the main oven, roasties, parsnips and stuffing in the second oven, sprouts and other veggies on the hob. Christmas dinner, it said. No problemo. Leave it to me.

Even on the days when nothing grand was required, the Leisure held its own. It churned out numerous portions of pasta, chilli con carne and jacket potatoes with crisp shells and soft inners. It was there when comfort was required on dark days, days when my husband would knock up a crispy beef pie. This was a recipe kept from his university days that involves mince, baked beans and crisps and which is heartening to the soul and the ultimate in comfort food for times when life sucks.

Eventually, the grill died, but we bought a toaster, told the Leisure not to worry about it and as previously mentioned no meringues required browning. A couple of repairs were also required along the way, but it kept going and going and going until a few weeks ago when it finally could go no more.

So goodbye, dear Leisure cooker. You were a joy to own and what you delivered was also a joy. We thank you for your dedication and commitment to us. And now we welcome our new cooker. Still, two ovens and a separate grill because you never know when you might need to cook a roast chicken and a lemon meringue pie on the same day at the same time. A girl's got to have goals, you know.