FRIENDS AND ENEMIES OF THE KITCHEN

FRIENDS AND ENEMIES OF THE KITCHEN

My beautiful four year old ovens

Most people probably wouldn’t be as upset as I am about having their oven go on the blink. BUT I LOVE TO COOK AND BAKE AND THE HOLIDAYS ARE ON THE WAY! The repairman looked at the blueprint, I guess you call them that, of my beautiful, only four years old, stainless steel double ovens.

This certainly is easy enough to read. Right!

He told me that there are two relay circuit panels, one for each oven. Since the top oven went out four months ago, (I’ve been working with one, just like I did for most of my life prior to four years ago) that means it is not the electrical wire because if it were, they both would have gone out at the same time. He said that it is not the coils. That definitely leaves the circuit relay panels and those cost a bundle. He also said that most ovens of this brand have only one circuit panel but mine has two! If I had only one, repairs would be a lot cheaper.

I was given the horrendous number of about $1,000. to repair my ovens. This of course really threw me into shock. Repairing these ovens seems like a mistake at this point. I could get a second opinion. To purchase the same brand again would be a mistake. Purchasing another electronic oven could bring the same problem a few years from now. There just doesn’t seem to be a good solution.

The previous oven I owned, which lasted over 25 years, was not electronic. It was easy to use and the few times I had to have it calibrated for temperature, it was a breeze to repair. Most of my appliances are electronic now. My friend, Trish, asked me why it is that everyone who enters my kitchen begins to talk to my refrigerator when they want a glass of ice water. Of course, they are trying to figure out the control panel.

Ice? Water? Purified? Crushed? Cubes?

There are small appliances that I must say, have saved me tremendous time in the kitchen. I do not know what I would do without my hand blender. I used to drag a large pot of soup over to my food processor and ladle potatoes and other ingredients from the pot to the processor and back and forth. Now, I simply use the hand held blender, and before I know it, all the contents in the pot are pureed instantly.

Hand blender

Vegetable and fruit washer

I also love my ozone vegetable and fruit washer. No longer do I need to worry about what pesticides or toxins might be lingering in my fruits and vegetables. In about 10 minutes this machine will completely sterilize and disinfect them by ozone. While my vegetables are being purified, the air has the refreshing smell of an electrical storm. Just look at how clean and beautiful these leeks look. Not a drop of soil left in them.

Purified leeks

Now, back to the ovens. I am sure there is a lesson here somewhere. Perhaps I should just accept the fact that if I am going to rely on technology, then I must be willing to pay the price….literally. I think that often times we bring possessions into our homes and then become slaves to those very items. I am so dependent on many of them. And that brings up the computer. What will I do if my computer ever goes on the blink?

My precious computer

Ahhh, life in the age of technology!