Carpe Diem Acreage

I spent most of the day yesterday pondering appliances. When we moved we did not take the microwave oven with us, and I have been living for two weeks now without it. Have I missed it? Absolutely not! This prompted me to really consider if I actually need one at the new house.

I have come to the conclusion that the microwave oven is perceived at a 'must have' appliance by everyone - but in actuality how often is it really used? I know of no person that uses it for cooking. I only used mine for defrosting meats and reheating the odd leftover and cups of coffee. Husband really doesn't want a microwave in our new home, as he feels it takes up counter space and isn't needed. I have to agree.... I would rather save the money for something else. I just have to plan a little ahead for my meal planning and baking, so that I take things out to thaw/warm in time. I have even found that reheating leftovers on the stove takes about the same time as it would in the microwave (plus the food doesn't dry out).

My other appliance issue that I have been dealing with is our new oven. We bought a wonderful GE Duel Fuel range/oven - and it cost a lot!

(Ignore the green tape in the photo as the tiles still need to grouted)

For the past two weeks I have not been able to get the oven to heat up, even though the range and warming drawer works fine. Yesterday, we finally had the repairman show up, and.... you guessed it! The oven worked perfectly. The repairman could not find anything wrong with it. Of course, once he left it would not heat up again.

In the mean time I have been using a counter top oven that I received for Christmas from my mother-in-law. Thank goodness that I had one! It works great, I have used it to cook a lamb roast, buns, and yesterday a banana bread.

Banana Bread