That's hot!

I love my Aga. I really do. When I bought my (first!) house four and a half years ago the shopping list was Aga, dishwasher, Dyson. Boy, do I know how to live! My Aga's a two-oven, electric stunner in British Racing Green - same as my fantasy Jag - and I wouldn't be without her. She gently warms my kitchen in winter and turns us all to little puddles of grease in the summer. She provides a cozy napping area for my dogs and cats and a convenient knicker-dryer in the rain.

Now, the thing about Agas that any aficionado will tell you is that you cook everything in the ovens. You start the pan boiling on top then transfer to the oven. You fry in the oven. You grill in the oven. And yes, you bake and roast in the oven. However, putting everything in the ovens has one drawback. Things get hot. Very hot. Including saucepan handles. So, although you would, obviously, take out saucepans using an oven glove (or a specially-designed-for-Aga 'gauntlet') you still need to remember that when you go back five minutes later the pan handles are still hot. Very, very, very hot.

And so it was that, for a few days last week, I sported a saucepan-handle shaped blistery red patch on my palm. But why didn't you just drop the pan? begged my friends. Because, of course, that would mean spilling lots of onion gravy all over the shiny enamel top of the Aga. Oh, and over the three Jack Russells and Springer Spaniel hovering at my feet. But why didn't you put the pan back down, very quickly? they queried. Because, of course, that would mean putting the pan on the shiny stainless steel hotplate cover of the Aga, risking a scratch.

As I type this, sitting next the Aga, gently reheating my shepherd's pie, I find comfort in the fact that, although she's almost five years old, she's as shiny as the day I bought her. What's a little permanent scarring compared to that?