Esta es una exhibición prevé de cómo se va ver la receta de 'Chili Peppers Stuffed with Goat Cheese; fire v furnace' imprimido.

Receta Chili Peppers Stuffed with Goat Cheese; fire v furnace
by Katie Zeller

I have to admit, much as I may grumble about getting up in the middle of the night to throw another log on the fire, having a wood stove for heat is simple.

One opens the door, puts wood in, lights the wood and closes the door. Thereafter one merely adds the wood.

Simple.

Too bad it won't heat the entire house.

For that we have to rely on the relatively new, top of the line, German-made boiler that the former owner put it.

It has a computer that controls everything.

Which means that one cannot get at anything to simply turn the bloody thing on.

Rather one has to program in all of life's little details:

The temperature of the water circulating through the radiators

The preferred daytime temperature of the house

The preferred nighttime temperature of the house

The outside temperature above which it won't run at all

The hours, each day, that one would like it to run assuming that the outside temperature is cool enough. Apparently the computer doesn't realize that stone houses are very often much colder inside than the outside temperature would allow you to believe.

And a whole bunch of other crap I don't understand at all but am expected to make a decision about.

It comes with an 'easy' 20 page instruction manual - in French.

I stupidly thought that I would understand the English version more easily than the French.

Some things are incomprehensible in any language.

Why, you may wonder, is it MY job to manage the boiler?

Because it has a computer - in French. Mon mari won't touch it.

The computer part that is. He'd happily take the whole thing apart and play with it... but, as I mentioned earlier, one can't get at anything!

So, we called the furnace guy.

He came yesterday, did all the stuff he's meant to do every year (?) gave me a fast lesson in faster French on how to program it and left.

It worked last night.

It was supposed to come on at 5:30 this morning.

It did.

Then it quit.

I spent the morning trying to make it work and kept getting 'Chauffage - error'.

I gave up and called.

Now I'm waiting. And I'm cold.... Very cold....

On the good news side - I found these mild (I'm a wimp, remember?) chili peppers at the market the other day. I used to buy them often in Andorra but have never seen them in France before.

Naturally, I bought them.... and immediately stuffed them with goat cheese.

Puree tomatoes. Put tomatoes, herbs in a small saucepan and heat. Keep warm until needed.