Gadgets....

[Skunks]

I'm about equally fond of our Black & Decker toaster oven and our slowly dying nameless cheese grater. Consuming as much pasta as I do, it's sublime to just pop a 1" cube of parm freshly chopped off the half-round into it and crank away. Sure beats struggling with a flat grater, at least. Though...Our freezer is also a central part of my life. Without the fridge/freezer ensemble, wherever would I keep icecream?

And, as far as microwaves go... Maybe I'm too young to be awed by the "cool" factor of popping things into a box and having them hot in a few minutes, but I really, really prefer the taste/texture of things cooked via more conventional means. Bread products in the microwave never turn out good, for example. Rarely do I whip out the mircowave, and when I do, it's typically only for glorified, and slightly faster, water heating. Oatmeal and the like. Even tea water is boiled on the stove, typically.