Nuke 'Em

I must confess... I have a love/hate relationship with my microwave. We received this particular model from my mother in law about 5 years ago. This thing has all the right buttons... with the press of a button you can get perfect popcorn or thaw some meat in a matter of minutes. I even began using it as a time out timer. In recent years however, the display has been slowly going out on me. At first, there wasn't much of a difference. The display was still readable and the microwave was still cooking my food to perfection, so I wasn't stressing it. In the last 6 months or so, the display has gotten worse. I could still make out what it said but others had no idea.

Just the other day I went to put something in the microwave and that is when it happened. I realized the display was no longer readable. There was only two dots displaying as the timer counted down. Now I can no longer see how many more minutes are left before I need to check the crescent rolls and I will undoubtedly forget I put them in causing them to have a bottom layer of burnt crust instead of being light and fluffy and yummy (I just like to pretend it will be the microwave's fault when I know I will still burn them without any help from that little piece of modern technology). I had been thinking about replacing our old lady and she must have sensed that. She had to prove herself and that she did.

For dinner tonight I made baked potatoes. I put them in the oven and checked the time... 530... that would mean they wouldn't be done for another hour and the kids would be driving me nuts and starving by then. I looked up a recipe for baked potatoes in the microwave and the majority of them were only for 1 potato... I had to cook 5. I went back to my kitchen in hopes of being able to wing it and noticed a little button on my microwave that said "Baked Potatoes." Wonderful! If only I could read the bits of wisdom undoubtedly scrolling across the display. Not knowing what it was telling me I just hit start. I went about my other dinner arrangements and waited for the microwave to finish. About 15 minutes later my potatoes were done. Not only did they not need to be flipped... but they were P.E.R.F.E.C.T. I have not had better baked potatoes at home in my entire life. I even coated them with olive oil and sea salt before nuking them. I won't be getting rid of that old thing any time soon and with the potato perfection she creates I am afraid I won't be able to find a suitable replacement for her when the time comes. I also think I will be saving on the gas bill by nuking all my potatoes from now on. SO.MUCH.EASIER.QUICKER.YUMMIER! Try them... you just might agree!