Bone Doctor rowed on the Yarra River in the darkness with scouts, stopping off at Herring Island for a barbeque, before pulling their water craft out at the posh school boy's boat ramps on the edge of the city. There was a party after the rowing and Bone Doctor arrived back here very late, but not as late as Phyllis and Kosov, who about 1.00am cooked up nachos.
She departed about 9.30am. Sister was at home waiting and waiting on Mothers Day for her breakfast in bed, served by their daughter Jo. A Japanese breakfast soufflé takes a long time to cook...apparently.
Neighbour HH is away for five nights as she tours grain storage sites to see the painted art on the silo towers. I am a little envious. She didn't invite me. I have seen some, such as these.
Friend Wombat told me about an local history exhibition, which I promptly forgot about. She attended on Sunday. If nothing else happens next Sunday, I will attend.
Kosov worked on Sunday, Mother's Day. The venue was booked out from morning to evening as everyone fed their mummies pancakes.
I am aware that we bloggers have very varied finances. Some of us are very comfortable and some of us are not. I hope you don't see this as bragging in some kind of manner.
I bought a new microwave oven when I had a perfectly working microwave oven. Why? It was at the urging of Phyllis and my own desire to improve the look of the kitchen. The big deal was my old microwave was underpowered at 650 watts, while the new one is 1200 watts. The last Christmas Day we hosted, err Great Niece Em is 9 and Oldest Niece was pregnant with her as she rested her pregnant middle on the bench as she carved with the electric knife, so 10 years ago, we once used the crisping feature of the microwave for the second chicken when the other was in the normal oven. The crisping feature of the old microwave was useful, once.
I've no idea of the power of our first microwave in the 1980s. I remember sitting and watching it boil a cup of water. Just amazing. The magnetron failed after about three years. The judgement was that it was not worth repairing. My new microwave has an 8 year warranty on the magnetron. I wonder what a magnetron looks like. It sounds like a robot.
Prices for microwaves have fallen so much, and the new one cost so much less than I expected. So here it is, slightly bigger than the old one, with a concealed control panel and a bright interior LED lamp. It does wonderous things, as modern devices do, but I expect its basic function will be all that is needed.
This is exciting. Not really.
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Little as I like travelling I would love to see the silo art. Later. Perhaps. I don't cook with our microwave but it is very useful for reheating. Your new one does look stylish - and yes, I have to look up how to reset the clock too.
ReplyDeleteEC, local travel by coach is probably one of the easiest ways to travel, beyond your own car. But if on your own, you spend a lot of time planning.
DeleteLove that you havea friend called wombat
ReplyDeleteHer favourite animal, John.
DeleteAndrew, I think you have to remove that brown sticky tape before using the microwave ....
ReplyDeleteJayCee, you have me paranoid. I am checking!
DeleteThank you for referring back to the Colbinabbin silo art. I don't remember ever seeing those images, so now I have to find who painted the works and why those scenes were chosen (unlike the more usual giant portraits).
ReplyDeleteI love blogging.
Hels, I did link to the artist in the post. I think there is sadness about their loss of a train line.
DeleteA wonderfully meandering slice of life—full of warmth, wry humor, and the quiet joys (and mild absurdities) of modern domesticity.
ReplyDeleteVery nicely stated, Roentare.
DeleteThe silo trek is on my to do list. It was meant to be last year, then this year so now next year. I would be interested to know where HH stays for future planning.
ReplyDeleteA new microwave is a bit of fun - if you do melt chocolate be veeeerrrrrrry careful. It can burn in literally a second!
Merlot, HH and I did have discussion about motels with internal brown brick walls, so be afraid of what she has to report. It is more likely I would soften butter before spreading it on bread. Worst case, I pour the butter onto the bread.
DeleteHeat bags 1 minute 40 in the microwave do the trick for backs . I saw a video where someone cooked(broiled) a steak in the dishwasher, then poured marinade on it and finished it off on a sandwich toaster .
ReplyDeleteWell, that was very adventurous of that person. It sounds like a male thing to do, one who didn't have to clean the sandwich toaster afterwards.
DeleteMy microwave came to me free, from Freecycle, because someone's boss upgraded the workplace kitchen. I use it for reheating mainly and heating rice filled socks for heating pads. It was practically new when I got it.
ReplyDeleteBoud, free is better than a bargain. I may give my old one away by a notice on a building's public noticeboard.
DeleteYeah you are so lucky to be able to just go out and purchase a brand new microwave. I found ours at the local recycling centre (rubbish dump). If you have any spare money, please send it my way. Help The Needy!
ReplyDeleteYP, should we start a back and forth about how poor each of us is? I am so poor, I travelled ten kilometres to save 1 cent off my petrol refill. That was fifty cents! I'm sure I am ahead.
DeleteI'm poorer than both of you, can I get in on this back and forth?
DeleteNo, I really don't want to.
I remember the first microwave we bought back in the early 1980's. I don't think it was very powerful and only lasted about four years before it died. But we used it often and it was definitely faster for some things. There has always been a microwave in each of my kitchens since then. ( I only have one kitchen at a time, but have moved a few times). Good equipment is essential in the kitchen.
ReplyDeleteDeb, interesting that your first did not last long either. Who really cooks a meal in one? It does well with steaming vegetables, and cooking rice, but now there is a rice cooker here, that does a better job. Mostly used by me for reheating food, and 15 seconds in the old microwave before making toast with frozen bread is good.
DeleteOoh. Your microwave looks as if it would fit quite nicely in my new kitchen. Best keep your apartment secure. You can never tell when some Yank might tip toe in some night while you sleep.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds very stupid, but I'm going to say it anyway. I understand the microwave thing. Because I want to replace our couch. It isn't necessary at all, but...here we are.
Debby, I assume. I know where you live and I will come and retrieve my microwave...actually, no I won't. I am terrified of your border control.
DeleteWe can be wise and cautious about many things, but we have allow our artistic sides overcome us at times. Get the new couch.
I've had several microwaves over the years, and I've noticed buttons or whatever you call those things you press have increased over the years, so much so my latest one almost looks like the keyboard I'm typing this on!
ReplyDeleteKirk, yes, but worse is many buttons have become multifunctional, without a shift key.
DeleteAt first I thought the heading to this post referred to Bone Doctor. She certainly seems an energetic person. I have been wondering if family sleepovers of this sort might be inhibited now that P and K are in residence. Hopefully not though maybe Jo will still be a bit shy. Was this a first encounter between them and your family?
ReplyDeleteWho is the posh school boy? Is he cute? Presumably muscular since a rower. You may look but not touch or entertain lascivious thoughts. Especially not the cox, who would presumably be less muscular and be of less potential interest (yet) to you anyway. Don't take him literally when he shouts "Stroke!"
Just being an apostrophe Nazi there. Now I have to apologize for slighting the memory of the holocaust. Only Seinfeld is allowed to make jokes like that.
I recall European friends in the early 90s who abjured microwaves as the work of the devil. They were particularly down on not-quite-restaurant microwave-heated dishes. For many years I did not have a microwave. Shortage of kitchen bench-space was one reason. My present abode has one of those alcoves set above a wall-mounted oven so now there is a convenient spot.
Meanwhile microwaves have become ubiquitous and cheap. Our first was picked up from the curbside; when that failed our present one was bought on facebook marketplace for $10. I don't really cook with it. I sometimes defrost/reheat previously cooked and frozen meals, but its main use is to bring vegetables up to temperature to save time and energy when roasting them.
Right now our bench-top espresso machine (I can find bench space for important equipment) is away for repairs so the microwave is also pressed into service to heat the milk.
Happily (touch wood), we don't seem to have the tiny "German" cockroaches, but after I plonked the espresso machine in the car boot yesterday to take it to the repairers I spotted a very large garden-sized cockroach on the rear bumper. I strongly suspect it had been startled out of the espresso machine which, warm and moist, must be perfect habitat for it. The moisture is probably exacerbated by failing o-rings which are a likely cause of the machine's hopefully temporary failure.
I should get my own blog. Oh, I forgot, I have one but it is resting. This is easier and a great means of procrastinating on other tasks.
What happened to your old microwave?
MC, when my comments on other blogs were becoming long, that is when I began my blog.
DeleteI can accommodate two in the spare room. Nothing has really changed as Ray and I had our own bedrooms.
You know how rich some of those private schoolboys can be. That one has a boat ramp, should not be surprising. I am thinking about a film with rowers and cox calling out stroke.
Jo has met both of my lodgers and is fine with them. They have more in common than I do with either parties, ie pop culture.
Why is curbside troubling me and spellcheck? I want to see kerbside. What do we use in Australia?
German cockroaches refers to the provenance of the machine? I know little of coffee machines and cockroaches (I can't ever spell the latter word). I remember being horrified when I saw them scuttle about the floor in Sydney accommodation many years ago.
Yes it is kerb. OMG, I have committed an [US of] Americanism!
DeleteGerman cockroaches are the little ones which are particularly difficult to eradicate. They live in houses and buildings and come home with your shopping, even in Melbourne, I believe. They will infest your kitchen, the warm backstage areas of your fridge and other electrical appliances, any crevices. Nothing to do with the provenance of my (soon to be former - the quote for the repair was prohibitive) espresso machine which is almost certainly made in China.
If you saw cockroaches scuttling around the floor in Sydney they probably weren't the German ones. The Germans, if you have them, will emerge at night to feast on unwiped bench tops, of which I'm sure you have none.
Good to hear about Jo and your lodgers.
You didn't say what happened to your (former) microwave. Your street doesn't seem well suited to leaving it out for a kerbside scavenger.
Oops, now I see that you have half a plan to advertise the microwave in your building. Maybe your annoying balcony-window exhibitionists would be the type but otherwise surely everyone in your building too posh for that, unless they have a use for it in one of their investment properties or Air Bnbs.
DeleteThere are students living here who share. I bet someone will want it. Or, wait for council collection, or take it to the waste transfer station, aka the tip. It is old and underpowered but its unmarked and works.
DeleteI've never bought a microwave new. The last one that quit working I took apart, because I was curious. But do you think I can recall what the innards look like. Wait, I think I took photos.
ReplyDeleteStrayer, what does the magnetron look like and does it contain a magnet?
DeleteThat's a nice looking machine and a few years ago I did the same thing, buying a 1200 watt to replace a still working 750watt. Mostly because the interior of the old one was so small, of course the new bigger one takes up much more bench space which I already had so little of..
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of a crisping function and will have to find the instruction book to see if mine has that. Are you able to adjust the power level on the new machine? Mine reduces the power level with each press of the power button and by taking it from 10 down to about 7 you can melt butter in 30 seconds.
I clicked back and saw those lovely painted silos.
Oops, current machine is 1100 watts not 1200
DeleteRiver. I think our one before was 750w. How did we buy a 650w machine. I think the crisping function is not usual in a microwave. Yes, there are a number of power levels on the new machine. I did that without turning the machine on, but I've already forgotten.
DeleteAlways been slightly nervous of microwaves. But recently learnt how to poach an egg in a mug of hot water for just under a minute. Clever ;)
ReplyDeleteThelma, I don't like to be close up to an operating microwave. I'm sure that is as silly as most superstitions. Hmm, maybe I will have two eggs in two cups for tomorrow's breakfast, cooked by the microwave.
DeleteOur microwave is the same wattage as the old one, 1100 but takes longer to heat things - can't figure that one out.
ReplyDeleteLove to do the silo art trip, it would be interesting.
Margaret, I keep meaning to look up the coach silo trip, but I am busy here answering comments.
DeleteThe grain silo murals are incredible - I looked back at yours, and saw Roentare's the other day.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about not wanting to sound as though you're bragging - you don't!
JB, the difference in each others circumstances is something I really do consider. There are so many painted silos, hence the coach trip to see them.
DeleteEnjoy the microwave, you can do amazing things with them, or simply melt butter.
ReplyDeleteTP, soften Crisco too?
DeleteMicrowaves are much cheaper these days than they used to be. But I imagine that's changing in Trump's America, after his tariffs! (Then again I hear he's reaching a trade deal with China so maybe the prices will go back down.)
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid we had a gigantic old microwave that was probably painfully weak by modern standards, but it seemed like a miracle at the time.
Steve, microwaves are just one of the many miracles that have come into our lives.
DeleteI use the microwave all the time especially the automatic setting for cooking veggies. Green beans are better not in the microwave though.
ReplyDeletePat, I have used mine to steam vegetables and it works very well. I am not sure if tried beans, but they steam well enough on the stovetop.
DeleteI buy fresh green beans and blanch and freeze them myself, they do fine in the microwave. Store bought frozen beans are awful no matter how you cook them.
DeleteSleek, modern and powerful!
ReplyDelete