Microwaves and Movies
I got myself a new microwave for Mother's Day.
My previous microwave was a hand-me-down White-Westinghouse dial model purchased by my bachelor dad back in the 1980s and bequeathed unto me when he married and moved in with my step-family. It had two settings: FULL and DEFROST (which was full power blasted in 5 or 10 second increments), and couldn't be set for less than two minutes or it would simply fail to turn on (so if you felt you needed something microwaved for one minute, you had to just stand there and wait), and no turntable or fancy features. Over the years I'd gotten pretty good at estimating how much "real" time it would take in my oven compared to printed instructions and had gotten used to food having hot or cold spots, cooking unevenly, and generally being unsatisfactory.
Having had this microwave in my possession for over 15 years and having moved it across the entire country, into Canada, and to at least 15 different homes, I was not surprised when the poor little thing started to finally give out, making disquieting clanging noises when it was running and continuing to tick for a few seconds after it stopped. It hadn't technically given up the ghost and was still working somewhat but I figure I've gotten quite a bit of use out of it and have been appropriately frugal...no need to risk irradiating my family when $100 could replace our little workhorse with something more powerful, more versatile, and (probably) safer.
I know it's a silly, mundane thing to be excited about but I am pleased with my purchase nonetheless. This microwave has a turntable, multiple settings and sensors and works the way it's supposed to. The melt butter setting? Actually melted the butter! The popcorn setting? Pops perfectly, no scorching, no bags of wasted, half-popped corn! A cup of coffee can be reheated in 33 seconds. Two eggs can be perfectly poached in my microwave poacher in 50 seconds. Seconds... There's a pre-set for zapping a quart of rock-hard ice cream so it can be scooped, perfectly and ever so slightly softened in a matter of seconds. A marvel of modern technology, I'm telling you! Best appliance since the electric kettle (an item which I haven't had since splitting with my ex...he kept the kettle, I kept the French press).
The Seattle International Film Festival begins for us this weekend. I'd originally planned to go down to Portland to visit my brother. We talked frequently during my grandmother's recent medical crisis and I thought the long weekend might offer us an excuse to get down there for a real visit with him. Unfortunately, Kate's dad needed to swap his visitation schedule all around this month and ended up scheduling a visit for this weekend, which is traditionally mine. (He originally told me that he needed to be "out of town for work" but his e-mail auto-responder said he was "away on a short spring holiday in lovely Belize"...a few years ago the deception would have irked me, but time and distance has allowed me to just shrug, because really, who cares what he's doing in his spare time or what his excuse is for not seeing his daughter for several weeks in a row. Not I.) I just couldn't see taking Kate half-way to Canada and then turning around and going all the way to Oregon in the same day, so instead Chris and I are seeing a whack of SIFF movies. One tonight, two tomorrow, two on Sunday and one on Monday. Look for reviews as I can summon up the energy!
My previous microwave was a hand-me-down White-Westinghouse dial model purchased by my bachelor dad back in the 1980s and bequeathed unto me when he married and moved in with my step-family. It had two settings: FULL and DEFROST (which was full power blasted in 5 or 10 second increments), and couldn't be set for less than two minutes or it would simply fail to turn on (so if you felt you needed something microwaved for one minute, you had to just stand there and wait), and no turntable or fancy features. Over the years I'd gotten pretty good at estimating how much "real" time it would take in my oven compared to printed instructions and had gotten used to food having hot or cold spots, cooking unevenly, and generally being unsatisfactory.
Having had this microwave in my possession for over 15 years and having moved it across the entire country, into Canada, and to at least 15 different homes, I was not surprised when the poor little thing started to finally give out, making disquieting clanging noises when it was running and continuing to tick for a few seconds after it stopped. It hadn't technically given up the ghost and was still working somewhat but I figure I've gotten quite a bit of use out of it and have been appropriately frugal...no need to risk irradiating my family when $100 could replace our little workhorse with something more powerful, more versatile, and (probably) safer.
I know it's a silly, mundane thing to be excited about but I am pleased with my purchase nonetheless. This microwave has a turntable, multiple settings and sensors and works the way it's supposed to. The melt butter setting? Actually melted the butter! The popcorn setting? Pops perfectly, no scorching, no bags of wasted, half-popped corn! A cup of coffee can be reheated in 33 seconds. Two eggs can be perfectly poached in my microwave poacher in 50 seconds. Seconds... There's a pre-set for zapping a quart of rock-hard ice cream so it can be scooped, perfectly and ever so slightly softened in a matter of seconds. A marvel of modern technology, I'm telling you! Best appliance since the electric kettle (an item which I haven't had since splitting with my ex...he kept the kettle, I kept the French press).
The Seattle International Film Festival begins for us this weekend. I'd originally planned to go down to Portland to visit my brother. We talked frequently during my grandmother's recent medical crisis and I thought the long weekend might offer us an excuse to get down there for a real visit with him. Unfortunately, Kate's dad needed to swap his visitation schedule all around this month and ended up scheduling a visit for this weekend, which is traditionally mine. (He originally told me that he needed to be "out of town for work" but his e-mail auto-responder said he was "away on a short spring holiday in lovely Belize"...a few years ago the deception would have irked me, but time and distance has allowed me to just shrug, because really, who cares what he's doing in his spare time or what his excuse is for not seeing his daughter for several weeks in a row. Not I.) I just couldn't see taking Kate half-way to Canada and then turning around and going all the way to Oregon in the same day, so instead Chris and I are seeing a whack of SIFF movies. One tonight, two tomorrow, two on Sunday and one on Monday. Look for reviews as I can summon up the energy!
Make and model of new microwave, please!
And a propos of Belize, I can confirm that it is lovely. So one part of the multiple contradictory statements was at least accurate.
A propos, in italics, dammit.
It's a Kenmore counter top model.
The bit about Belize is mildly irksome in that it's somewhere I would like to visit myself. I'll admit I feel a bit petulant that Mark's been off doing something that I wish I'd been doing.
I bet he just put that in his auto-responder because "I'm home, hand-washing the garbage cans and spreading chicken manure in the garden" just isn't very exciting. That's what I'm going to insist on imagining he did, rather than vacationing in lovely Belize. I've got your back!