so exciting, it's like lighting the oven with a lighter.

Our stove and oven are the kind you need to light every time you use them. Not so hard, but a bit of a challenge for a cooking novice like me. I'm accustomed to the difficulty in picking how long to set the microwave for.

During the week, we ran out of matches, so now we're using a lighter. This makes it more difficult, because rather than pinching the end of match and poking it towards the burner until it lights, I'm now forced to hold my hand by the burner and flicker with the lighter, trying not to let the gas run so long that the whole kitchen blazes. Also, without the smoking practice most Egyptian men have, I awkwardly fumble with the lighter, wishing it to light as the gas hisses aggressively.

Anywho, the stove is not so bad anymore :) The oven however, is a different animal. I need to lean into the stove, and reach my hand up to the upper back corner of the oven, turn on the gas, and pray I get the lighter lighted before the oven fills with gas and I burn my hair off. I can't do it without squealing, so here at "the harem" we've started to referring to exciting things as "like lighting the oven."

For example: "Anne in my Aa'miyya class told me about her trip to Mt. Sinai. It sounded incredible. Let's go next weekend!"

"Yes! It'll be like lighting the oven! I'll look into bus tickets if y'all look into hostels."

Erin cooked pancakes for brunch on Friday!