Don't try this at home without adult supervision

I am not a baker. But plop me down in a country, in a city, in an apartment, in a kitchen where I am without an oven, and I will find a way to be Betty Crocker, if only for a few thrilling, almost 350-degree, warming moments.

It all started with a visit to the Hotel Equipment Corporation last rainy Sunday afternoon.  The giant four-floor warehouse 30 minutes from our apartment is home to professional grade cooks' tools and equipment, including three-foot whisks, more bakeware than Chuck Williams could shake a wooden spoon at, butane torches for the perfect crust on your creme brulee, the dozens of custard dishes to go with them, and of course not-your-mama's industrial sized rice cookers. So what do people without an oven or even a microwave do when they visit the HEC on a rainy, foggy day? They buy baking equipment, of course!

Well, we bought what equipment we thought we could turn into bakeware: the Chinese steamer. Instead of the bamboo variety, of which the HEC had hundreds, we purchased a metal steamer and matching lid (good idea, Z). We also purchased tinfoil cups two inches in diameter, a whisk, a silicone spatula, parchment paper and other items that have no immediate use for this baking experiment (i.e. citrus grater, two chartreuse bowls, signs that read in Mandarin cooked and uncooked because they'll be cute for the kitchen back home when we return, a tiny pitcher for soy sauce, a martini shaker and a nut cracker). So...Can you smell what I created just moments ago? I made with my two hands (with a little help from brownie mix I found at April Gourmet) delicious, chewy, chocolatey, satisfying brownies. Sans oven. Take that! Here's how I did it, and so can you:

First, preheat the metal steamer over the electric burner. While the retro-fitted oven device is warming on the highest setting - "9" -  grease tinfoil cups and stir together brownie mix with the appropriate accoutrement.

Fill greased tinfoil cups with brownie mix. You can lick the spoon because doing that reminds you
of being home and forgetting about any potential salmonella poisoning.
Also, there's only two of you to eat these brownies, so Germs, Shmerms.

After some trial and error, lower the heat to "7" and remove the center brownies altogether.
Even though you burned the center brownies the first go-around, you're still beaming with pride. It's really working!
Now, put the lid back on! You're losing heat!

After about 12-14 minutes you've got actual brownies.
This is more satisfying than when you were baking cookies with a light bulb a la Easy Bake Oven style.

You forget to add the M&Ms your mom and dad sent, so you sprinkle a few on top at the last minute.
The brownies are still warm, so the candies melt to perfection.

The milk can wait. 

I'm not saying these are county fair, prize winning brownies. I'm not going to start a business, and I certainly can't escalate to this status. But I bet these brownies, brownies made with love and patience and ingenuity this very afternoon, are some of the few, if only, homemade brownies within a seven mile radius.

Even as I write this, the baked goodness still wafts from the tiny kitchen and fills the apartment.