Yup, it’s winter in Adelaide. That means frozen feet and fingers, cold noses, tasty stews to eat, and lovely warm fabrics to wear. I really don’t like the summer because I get exhausted by the continuous sunshine, I get super sweaty at times, and we are prone to 40 degree days, which is no fun for anyone. However, now winter is on our doorstep, I’m yearning for the sun, dreaming of swimming in the sea, and I’m missing the long days. It’s dark by 5pm now. My muse thinks I could win a prize for the biggest weather whinger in the Universe.
So Jane, I hear you saying, where are you going with this dreary post? Well, I’m going to quite a fabulous place as it turns out. Now it’s winter, I had to take a long, hard look at my neglected oven, realising that it had to be cleaned if I was going to use it. I’m not keen on the thought of all those scary chemicals being used in oven cleaners, so instead, I googled a method that seemed weird, and too easy to be real.
I bloody wish I’d taken a before and after photo (but then you’d be looking at a dirty oven door photo, not a nice sunny shot of Sydney), because it was like a science experiment. My oven door was filthy, as were the oven racks. Yes, I know that’s disgusting, but really, cleaning the oven is just not something I have made a priority when there are manuscripts to be worked on. So, without further ado, let me share this amazing cleaning tip with you, which resulted in an oven that literally sparkled!
CLEANING YOUR OVEN WITH MINIMAL CHEMICALS
You need a bottle of ammonia, and a jug of boiling water. Firstly, preheat the oven to 150 C, or 300F, for about ten minutes. Turn the heat off. Next, place 1-2 cups of ammonia into an oven proof dish. I used a ceramic casserole dish, but you can also use a heatproof glass dish. Put this on the top shelf, and put another oven proof dish, containing 2 cups of boiling water, on the shelf below. Now shut the door and leave it overnight. In the morning, take out the dishes and wipe out the oven with a cloth. My oven door was so bad I used a scouring pad on it, but the dirt just seemed to lift off! Next, I did the inside of the oven, then I soaked the shelves in the laundry tub, in hot soapy water, with a splash more of ammonia. I scrubbed them after about half and hour, and was amazed to find their colour was actually silver, not black!! The oven sparkled. I was amazed. You will be too.
Remember to ventilate your room well if you are using ammonia (it’s pretty stinky), and wear gloves when handling chemicals. Don’t mix the ammonia with anything else. All in all I can’t recommend it enough. Here is the original article I found on the net. I hope they don’t mind me sharing it with you, but somethings are too good not to share.
Jane Ainslie 