Vad Bibes

The good, the fresh, the hard to find - we’ve spent many Saturday afternoons on the prowl for ingredients for the perfect supper. Not anymore. Actually, there isn’t any point, since the fridge that came with the new house freezes everything that we put in it regardless of the setting on the dial. And trust me, frozen arugula doesn’t recover. I’m not even going to risk truffled goat cheese. In what is strangely, yet comfortingly, similar to our specialty food shop forays, Norm and I have taken to using our free time to visit the clearance section of our local appliance store. The new gas stove/oven has been patiently waiting (it’s patient, but I’m not) in the garage for two months, for the day we are ready to tackle the kitchen reno. In the meantime, we’re on a refrigerator quest. My thinking is that even when we find the built-in model of our dreams (to qualify, it must be perfect for our purposes and definitely not full retail price) it won’t have to wait in the garage…it can replace the current 70s relic immediately. By my reckoning, we’ll probably have energy savings as well as grocery savings since I won’t have to throw out half of everything that goes in.

So, back to Saturday. We did find a great fridge. Floor to ceiling, counter-depth, all fridge (no freezer), huge articulating hinges, stainless steel. Didn’t buy it, but at least we know what’s out there now. I suspect a little more research is in order. On our way out, we wandered through the microwave oven section. Another little item for the list. There won’t be room in the kitchen for a full double oven, but in the old house I had a stainless steel microwave that was also a convection oven, and I think that’s the route to take in the new place too. I’m not brand fussy about any of this and it is quite likely that each of the kitchen appliances will be different makes. I want solid, commercial grade, good warranty, positive reviews etc… None of this stops me from looking at every single brand I walk by, which in turn meant I ended up laughing hysterically in front of one of the microwaves. For blog purposes, it will remain ‘brand-less’, suffice to say it had the word “Professional” plastered to the front. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve owned this brand before, in a gas stove/range, and it was a great unit. Having said that, I never would have bought it if it had buttons like this:

Apparently my laughter precluded Norm from whipping out his Palm Pilot to take a picture of it, so these shots are from the online owner’s manual.

I can buy into the Popcorn button. Never use it, but it is pretty commonplace. But Chicken Nuggets? Is that a food group now? Maybe “professional” cooks get home at the end of the day, and just can’t stand the thought of whipping up anything more complicated than chicken nuggets. But really, I don’t imagine they need a button to tell them how long to nuke the nuggets.