Thursday, November 26, 2015

Thanksgiving, postponed

We're holding our Thanksgiving dinner (roast leg of lamb) for Friday due to the ongoing replacement of the central heating system boiler. The old one was decommissioned yesterday and removed. The new one is in the process of being installed. Work should finish up sometime during the day today.

The old boiler, disconnected and ready to be wheeled out. Every cardboard box you see in this photo, every single one, contains parts for the new system. When I took this photo, the new boiler itself was still on the truck.

Meanwhile, the wood stove in the living room is working to provide us heat. Thankfully (hey, today's the day to be thankful!) the weather turned from cold to mild and we're not at all uncomfortable. We're keeping our fingers crossed that everything works as expected and we will be using the new boiler later today. Ken is posting some "before" photos on his blog today. One or both of us will post "after" photos when it's done.

6 comments:

  1. It's like Christmas toys. "Some assembly required." Stay warm in the meantime.

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  2. What luxury, being able to control things from your living areas again with a thermostat! Funnily enough, our boiler in France was a Brotje too and was about as big as yours! Are you connected to town gas or is it an oil boiler? Trust that it finished on time as you expected.

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  3. when you can, could you send me some tips on how to cook a leg of lamb? I've wanted to try for ages.

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  4. Judging from the scale of tools and hand truck in your picture, the old boiler wasn't the behemoth I thought it might be. Looks quite modest in size. Glad you are getting the new one in with a minimum of fuss.

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  5. I'm sure the dinner will be worth the wait...

    A belated Happy Thanksgiving to you and Ken.

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  6. stuart, no kidding! But all is done now (I'm late responding).

    craig, good to hear from you! It's an oil boiler; we don't have town gas. And it's only for heat; the hot water is done with an electric heating tank.

    michael, it's not difficult. Ours was a 2.2kg (4.8lbs) leg, cooked it in a hot oven (450ºF) for 10 or 15 minutes, then at 350ºF for about 15 mins per pound or until the internal temperature hit about 50/55ºC (around 130ºF). We also put the leg on a rack inside the roasting pan with water/wine/garlic/rosemary under it to help it steam a little and to catch drippings for sauce or gravy. Cover the done lamb with foil and a towel to let it rest for 15 or 20 mins after it comes out of the oven, before slicing.

    emm, it wasn't huge, and the new one is not much smaller.

    gaynor, thanks! And it was! ;)

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