Tuesday, February 24, 2015

An Invention Called an Oven

Before I start my story, I want to give a huge thank you to Peaches Ledwidge  who surprised me last week by featuring and reviewing my books on her blog.  You made my day, Peaches!

(If you want to learn about Peaches and her book, you can visit her blog or her Amazon page.)

Now for the story:

The other day, our microwave bit the dust.  It was a grand event, with lightening sparks inside and lots of smoke. We hauled that thing out to the curb and left it there to be carried away by the garbage collectors.

This event brought great concern to my daughter.  "How are we going to cook without the microwave?" she asked.

I shrugged.  "I'm sure we'll figure something out."

When it was time for dinner, my daughter asked, "Are we going to have to eat cold food?"

"No," I said.  "I know a good trick."  I grabbed a casserole dish and put in the leftover pork chops, asparagus, and potatoes.  Then I popped it into the pre-heated oven. Twenty minutes later, we had a hot dinner.

My daughter was in shock.  "I didn't know you could do that!"

"That's how we did it in the old days, before microwave ovens were invented," I said.  "Pretty amazing, isn't it?"

She nodded.  "Yep.  Pretty amazing!"

50 comments:

  1. Oh what one can do going old school lol

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  2. Never understatement mums.. and the ability to go back to basics and produce the goods!
    Your daughter sounded truly impressed!

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    1. She was. It was kind of funny to see her reaction.

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  3. Amazing moms...always have a back up plan (-:

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  4. Scary there's a whole generation that doesn't know the stove is for cooking.

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    1. I think they know stoves and ovens can cook, but they have no idea that they can be used to warm up food!

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  5. Surprising that children only know microwaves, glad you had a oven handy that day.

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    1. We've come to rely on microwaves so much, that's it's hard to imagine life without them.

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  6. My son, who is VERY intelligent, asked me how a rotary phone worked. Who looks at a rotary phone and can't figure out the steps??

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    1. That is funny! It's been a long time since I've seen a rotary phone.

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  7. Take them to a pioneer village.

    Sherry, sometime later I'll tell you, but something amazing happened after I posted your blog.

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    1. Really? I have to hear about this!

      (My kids and I did visit the pioneer village. They were amazed at what life was like back then.)

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    1. Haha! Yep. I bet you cook the old fashioned way. That's why all your meals are so delicious!

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    2. It's funny that you call it the old fashioned way. But yes, I do it that way. We don't own a ding ding machine.

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  9. I grew up surrounded by women of the 'pinch of this, dash of that' persuasion. Recipes? Well, they were a good place to start.

    My daughter often complains that, when she follows my recipes her dishes don't taste exactly like mine; not bad, just not like Momma's. When I ask her if she tried experimenting with different spices, etc... she gets this shocked look on her face and says some variation on "well how would I know if I got it right if I did that?"

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    1. Sounds like my mom. It was like pulling teeth to get her recipe for spaghetti sauce. I actually had to stand next to her and measure her "pinches," and "sprinkles" to get the exact measurements.

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  10. I've never even had a microwave.... wouldn't even know what to do with it :) In my country we never eat readymade food

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    1. Really? That would be a shocking experience for Americans!

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  11. Remember someone telling you that you should learn a new thing every day? Now your daughter doesn't have to worry till tomorrow. Besides, now she knows miracles happen!

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  12. That's a little scary that she didn't know about functioning without a microwave. Maybe you need a little more variety in your lives.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. Well, she knows how to cook with a stove and oven. She just wasn't aware that food could be warmed up without a microwave.

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  13. She sounds so sweet. Genuinely innocent.

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    1. I guess she's never seen us warm anything up in the oven. It's always the microwave.

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  14. I don't remember this, but apparently before microwaves, TV dinners would take an hour to cook! My mom tells the story of putting dinner rolls in the microwave when she first got one. She kept waiting for them to cook...the longer she cooked them, the harder they got! It sounds crazy now, but when microwaves were new, people had no idea how those suckers worked.

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    1. I had no idea TV dinners took that long to cook. My mom never made them. I guess I know why, now!

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  15. LOL Seriously?! We don't "cook" in the microwave. All we use it for is to defrost the nights meat course and to warm up leftovers.

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    1. We use our microwave for warming things up, too. Once in a while we'll have a frozen dinner that can cook in the microwave. I actually "cook" about three times a week. The rest of the days, we have leftovers.

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  16. My microwave is over 14 years old... and still going strong.
    I'm actually surprised! (Better not speak too soon... *clamps hand over mouth*)

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    1. That's impressive! I think our microwave was only about a year old.

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  17. Hello greetings and good wishes.

    Very hilarious. Children are so innocent.

    You will be surprised to know that in India millions of people still don't use a micro wave oven.

    Best wishes

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    1. That really doesn't surprise me. Here in the United States, almost everyone uses one.

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  18. There was a time when colleges wouldn't allow microwaves in dorm rooms! Times have changed.

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  19. LOL we do tend to forget the oven these days - AND it makes the food taste much better since it loses less flavor in the heating process :)

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    1. Everything needs to be done so quickly. Who has time to wait 20 minutes while your food warms up?

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  20. Twenty minutes? Welcome to the olden days.

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  21. LOL! We had a period without a microwave. It was interesting, but we probably ate better.

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    1. I'm getting used to not having one. We did order another, but it probably won't be here for another couple of days.

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  22. Well, my grandkids are definitely microwave dependent but I know they understand what the oven is for because they check out the turkey roasting in it on Thanksgiving.

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    1. At least they know an oven is for cooking. It's pretty hard to cook a turkey in the microwave!

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