Cook me, Daddy, step to the bar

I bought two items on Amazon.com today, a waffle maker and a toaster. First, let me tell you about the waffle maker.

The unit I have is a rotating Belgium waffle maker made in China by Oster. 'Rotating' means the unit turns after the batter has been put inside. Think hotel breakfast style waffles. A Belgian waffle is a thick waffle with much deeper holes than a conventional waffle; the person making the waffle can put things like fruit or chocolate chips in the batter more easily with less 'stickage' to the plates. A Belgian waffle maker is not really what I wanted since I don't add anything to the waffles except butter and syrup. Plus, I bought it when I first moved here a decade ago for probably less than $20. I do not use it very often, probably two or three times a year.

This morning, while making waffles with the top open to remove the finished round waffle, it tipped over, something it has never done before. Trying to right a tipped-over, hot waffle maker, while holding a finished waffle in one hand made me realize that, since it was getting old and starting to fight me and never really made the waffles I wanted, I decided it needed to go to Goodwill.

It was then I started considering the toaster, too.

I have owned the toaster for a very long time; in fact, it was made in the USA and you know how long ago anything was made in the USA, right? But the heating elements were going bad, so I was getting almost burnt-undone differences on my bread and that just is not okay. I like bread and I like toast; I want my toast to be properly toasted, a simple task at which my current Cuisinart unit was failing.

While checking around, I learned the only toasters made in the USA these days are $1,200 commercial toasters. I don't think I need that...but it would have been nice. There is a company (one person, really) in New York who refurbishes very old USA-made toasters and resells them...for prices starting at about $250-$300. One can buy a pretty good foreign-made toaster for that much.

My search then went to Amazon.com, my primary source for "things." It was there I found and bought a new waffle maker and a new toaster. After spending some time considering things like style and price, I made my choices and punched the keys to buy them.

The toaster has been replaced by a 2-slot new unit from Cuisinart, my favorite kitchen small appliance maker, and a new regular, square waffle maker from someone else...Cuisinart has a good unit for $85 and I just couldn't see spending that much. (Famous last words?)

I then spent the better part of two hours cleaning the two units. The waffle maker has a noticeable amount of oil residue and the toaster has cooked-on burn spots, so both of them went into the sink, into the water - I know what you are thinking, that one should not submerge an electrical unit in water, but that only applies if one plans on using it soon. I do not and I plan on letting them sit on their shelves for a week or more to dry out before shipping to Goodwill.

So my replacement kitchen appliances arrive Tuesday and I will check out the result. Hopefully, I will get better waffles and great toast. Perhaps the greatest, most beautiful toast anyone has ever seen.

Oh, wait. Those are someone else's words...