it's been a bit more than a week since we relocated our microwave and toaster oven to the appliance morgue beneath the trash chutes next to our building.* we've done pretty well without the toaster oven, i must say; it might get hectic the next time we need to, like, toast some pine nuts, but we're not big bagel people (read: i love bagels so much that it's safer for everyone to keep them out of the apartment), and i think we could broil something in the oven if we wanted it badly enough. i thought we weren't big microwavers, either, but i was oh so wrong: while we don't zap much frozen food, we do make big sunday night batches of dinnerish stuff (chili, soup, lentils) that need to be coaxed back to the world of the living during the week. i tried playing the tough guy and eating cold chili after work last week and it nearly killed me, man.
so we're in the market for a microwave. in the course of our search, we've learned that microwaves, like americans, are a lot bigger than they were a decade ago; most microwaves are butt ugly; the 29th result for "microwave oven" on amazon.com is an episode from the fourth season of bones; and it's really hard to shop for microwaves online.** you have to be able to slam the door, beep-boop the buttons, all that good stuff.
we know that we want something big enough to fit a dinner plate, probably stainless steel, hopefully not gigantic. futuristic, but in a retro way (a '78 cylon centurion, if you will - not a reimagined one***). have you seen that sort of microwave in your travels, internets? if you like the one you have at home, does it have a sister (that is, would you recommend your model)?
*i'd feel guilty about that, but both of them still worked, technically; if the microwave in particular could make it from an anonymous hallway to our friend tony's place however long ago, and then from tony to us in 2003, i think it will find a new host (in both senses of the word) without trouble. also, let's all ignore how i just told you our microwave came from a hallway.
**harder than shopping for skinny jeans online, and how is that possible?
***translation: NO POPCORN BUTTON.
well, there's this "microwave and grilling oven" for sale on craigslist. http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/hsh/1012064522.html that looks pretty retro, though i'm not sure about the "grilling" function in a microwave.
ReplyDeletei actually looked into one of the newfangled combo microwave/toaster things for awhile (not that that's one of those, but hey, vaguely related), and the feedback consensus seemed to be that they do both things badly. alas! we must wait for science.
ReplyDeletei should clarify that i am buying a new microwave; in asking if the internets' microwaves had sisters, i meant to ask if anyone had a model they were particularly excited about (and could recommend). i'm thirty and gainfully employed: i think i've moved past the Inheriting Other Folks' Zapped Detritus phase of my life.
But you must not suffer cold chili in the meantime! I think pretty much any fridge leftovers reheat just fine in a skillet with some oil, though skillet-cleaning drudgery must follow.
ReplyDeletethat's been the model to date, P: we throw 'er into a sauce pan and add some milk / veggie broth / what have you. i don't mind the drudgery - it's the supplementation in order to reheat, since it monkeys with flavors a bit.
ReplyDeleteand then, george found this...
ReplyDelete“We have made various Combo products.
It is Toast Microwave oven, Café Microwave oven, Radio & Messenger Microwave oven.”
I feel you. I have been sans microwave for the last three years, because my tiny 1950s apartment kitchen has ONE PLUG and no counter space and I just can't bring myself to put a micro in the living room. Cold leftovers are sad.
ReplyDeleteTry searching for "apartment microwave." I did quite a few desperate searches when I was trying to find something that would fit in my kitchen, before I gave up.
Huh. We haven't had to worry about a microwave for awhile, and hopefully won't for a while longer. BUT! I'm totally totally unhealthy obsessed with pretty shiny toasters. Not toaster ovens, toasters. It's odd, because since I'm not home for breakfast, I only use it occasionally on the weekend, but a fancy toaster seems so grown up, no?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, so I found one I love, and it's price is AN EMBARRASSMENT TO ME, and I made David register for it anyway, since I didn't much care about anything else. Except the plates. I worked myself up to caring about the plates.
That's my only tangentially related story. Good luck with the microwave. I agree, you might be too old to craigslist that (too old to craigslist a super cheap unused high def Tivo or some such, never).