For a person who loves to cook, I have frequently operated with some substandard equipment. For instance, my stove. My current stove looks to be at least 30 years old, but I’m guess probably much older than that. It’s something between harvest gold and almond, electric and 40 inches wide with four burners, an oven and a warming oven which doesn’t really work. The real oven is also starting to play out [re: sometimes the temperature just sets itself] so I have picked out the replacement unit. However, I can’t install that until I replace a patio door [in progress] and then my HVAC and/or water heater [next up], because the new stove is gas. Nashville Gas only pays for the first 100 feet of line if you’re installing an HVAC or water heater, both of which I need.
Got all that?
OK, so, my microwave had a similar checkered past, though it was all associated with me. While I can take no blame for the stove, having just bought this house two years ago, the microwave has been my bad for a long time.
When I went to college, my parents gave me an old microwave they had. I dunno, maybe it was from the break room at my dad’s store. I think it had been at the house for a while. At any rate, it wasn’t new. Ah ha, I’ve found on the inside that it was manufactured in February 1988. Amazingly, it did have 1000 watts of power, but it was small and had no turntable.
I kept it for so long because it was a damn good microwave. It was simple: it had a small number of power settings, and otherwise, you set the time and pressed "start." I understand that. My mother is now on her second microwave in my memory that I am unable to operate. Every time I visit my parents, she’ll shout instructions at me from another room, saying, "Press turbocharge and then press 12 and then press vegetable and then press start." I have no idea why that’s how you melt butter. You see what I mean? Her microwave is so complex that it makes no sense.
So I resisted upgrading to a "better" model for several years, based solely on my experiences with my mom’s microwave.
This fall, my trusty old microwave started regularly taking 15 minutes to bake a potato. At that point, you might as well be using the regular oven.
Finally, I couldn’t stand it any longer, and I went down to Best Buy. I was very intimidated, but I at least had several parameters to help narrow my search. My cabinet has a pretty low profile, so I needed something short. I wanted something I could understand. And it had to come in stainless. [In two years, I've managed to get a new dishwasher and a new fridge....soon we'll be matching again!]
Hallelujah, they had a floor model LG on sale. 1200 watts. Turntable. Gi-normous on the inside but short enough to fit under my counter. Shiny stainless. And SIMPLE!
Here’s my only point: when I get started doing something complicated in the kitchen [not infrequent], I better be able to touch it. While there is a bit of an art to microwave cooking, to me, it’s not the same as making a ganache or tempering chocolate. [I don't know why all my examples involve dessert, but if life had more dessert, I'd be better off.]
In other words, microwaving is not part of the sport of cooking to me. So let’s not have it be a pain, either.
I’m pleased to report that my new microwave cooks potatoes in record time, melts butter just like that, and heats up toddler dinners in mere seconds. That’s what I need!
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