Wednesday Hodgepodge: Could you get along without one?

1. What title would you give this current chapter of your life?

Midlife Reboot.

2. December 6 is National Microwave Oven Day. Who knew? Besides popcorn and coffee reheats, what's the most common thing you microwave? Could you get along without a microwave?

We got along till about ten years ago without a microwave; then we were given one and found it handy for a few things. When we moved this year, we intended to lose both the toaster oven and the microwave (and it conveniently stopped working just before the moving date).When we moved in, we did a lot of stovetop and oven reheating, and it was a bit inconvenient for our small-family small amounts. One day Mr. Fixit noticed that the discount store next door had small microwaves on sale, so we went over and got one.

I don't microwave popcorn or reheat coffee, but I do reheat leftovers and melt chocolate and cheese. Sometimes I make cake or apricot treats or hot fudge sauce in it.

3. If you could insert yourself into any Christmas carol and experience the lyrics in real life, which Christmas carol lyric would you choose and why?

I've always thought it would be nice to be one of those looking for "a stable room lit by a star" in "How Far Is't to Bethlehem?" 

And when I was searching for a link to that, I realized that I answered the same question last year in exactly the same way. Nice to know I'm consistent.

4. Describe the most beautiful drive you've ever taken.

Not sure...you mean scenery-wise, or because it was a happy event? 

Some Christmas-week mornings have been a bit of both, say when we were on our way to visit family, and the weather was clear, maybe some snow, and the way there included quiet back roads.

5. What's something on your Christmas list this year? (an actual list or figuratively speaking, either one)

I asked Mr. Fixit for a wristwatch, because the one I have is quite old and the leather band has been replaced several times. Recently we were looking at some family photos, and one of the Squirrelings commented, "oh look, you were wearing that same watch." Yeah. It's time. 

Also a mirror for the bare spot over the cupboard that used to be in the front hall. It could use something, but we have enough pictures already.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Yesterday I was working at the thrift store, and I overheard someone saying, "People say they go to the thrift store to find something. I don't think it works like that. I think things find you."

Well, they might have a point!

This hat "found me" before I left.the store. It had a couple of decrepit-looking feathers stuck in the band, which I discarded. Otherwise, I like it very much.

In fact, I liked it so much that I pulled off the price tag and wore it home, and then wore it to the pharmacy in the afternoon (on a very windy day, I had to hold onto it) to get a flu shot. A woman stopped me in the parking lot to say "nice hat." Which made me feel better about getting my arm stuck.

Is that random enough for you?

Linked from the Wednesday Hodgepodge at From This Side of the Pond.

A moving addendum: the kitchen slims down, like it or not

We had some plans for the things that would go with us to the new place. Some of those ideas have gotten a bit nipped in the bud recently.

We weren't going to take the microwave, for space reasons and because we knew it was probably not going to last much longer, but it conveniently died a couple of weeks ago before we got around to dealing with it. We went out and bought an extra electric kettle for heating water. (Our old one is at the apartment.)

We were going to take the toaster oven, but it turns out that the best space for it is too close to the fridge, and we were reluctant to take up any of the rest of the kitchen real estate with it. Besides, there is a brand-new stove/oven in the apartment. Mr. Fixit went out and bought a toaster. (Pattern here?)

We were going to take the bread machine (I love my bread machine), but we did buy a stand mixer with dough hook at the thrift store, last winter. Because of storage issues and the age of the bread machine (it came from a yard sale almost four years ago), we have decided to send it to e-waste as well.

When we said new adventures, I wasn't expecting this much of a turnover in gadgetry. But better to figure it out now, I guess, than to have a storage room full of half-working kitchen gear.

The Organized Kitchen: toaster ovens, leftovers, menu planning

Mama Squirrel likes any kitchen ideas that make life easier and give her more time to do important things. (Like play checkers with Crayons.) Here are a couple of squirrel kitchen tips.

1. We are a microwave-less family, not so much by principle as just by the fact that we've never owned one and have never felt we really needed one. What we've always had, though, besides the big oven, is a toaster oven. Originally we had one from Mama Squirrel's previous life (before squirrelings), but when that eventually went kaput we acquired a more modern programmable one. It actually looks (and beeps) like a microwave.

The advantages to having more than one source of oven heat are that you can bake two things at different temperatures if you need to (like baked beans at 350 degrees and a pan of biscuits at 450), and that you don't have to heat up the big oven if you're cooking a small amount of something. We have a lidded casserole that just fits into the toaster oven space, and we've also baked many things in it in an 8-inch square pan. About the only things we haven't baked in it are cookies (our pans are too big), muffins (although I do bake muffin batter in it, in an 8-inch pan), and any recipe big enough to need one of our plus-size casseroles.

And it also makes toast.

2. Menu Planning: Mama Squirrel's current binge of planned-ahead meals is in its third week, and she's discovered something that makes this planning easier. The Squirrels always shop on Saturdays (and it's not usually possible to make another trip during the week). This means that certain foods are more plentiful, say, from Saturday to Wednesday. By Wednesday, the bananas are gone, the cold cuts are eaten up, and so on. So: our week's menu starts on Wednesday, rather than on the more obvious Saturday. I can plan the meals from Wednesday to Friday based on what's still left in the fridge and the cupboard, and make sure that anything we need for the after-shopping days on goes on the grocery list. If I want to make banana muffins, I write them in for sometime after Saturday, and make sure I buy bananas.

Of course this does mess up the lovely menu forms that you can print out online (nobody's menu form starts on Wednesday), but still it's working.

3. Favourite kitchen tools: a four-cup glass measuring cup (you can mix all kinds of things right in it), sharp scissors (for cutting open those irritating, harder-than-ever-to-open cereal box liners), clothes pins (for pinning all the opened bags back together again), lots of measuring spoons (check thrift shops), a rubber spatula, and a decent can opener. Mama Squirrel has had better luck with the first few than with that last one. Cheap can openers rust and bend, and even the expensive one we once bought doesn't cut the way it used to. Inventors of kitchen improvements: there is a niche there that needs to be filled.

Oh, and a permanent marker. You need one handy if you're going to be putting leftovers in margarine tubs or other non-see-through containers. There's nothing like opening a container of yogurt and getting diced tomatoes instead..