Nucular [sic] Experiments

I’ve been without a microwave for about two weeks now.  It’s curious just how inured we’ve become to this instant gratification thing.  “What?!  I have to wait five minutes for my food to be warm?  Oh, the inhumanity!”  Though there have been no outbursts so dramatic here it has been a bit of a transition (still in progress).

Leftovers have been handled either by heating them on the stove or in the oven and, I gotta say, though slower it’s a vast improvement over Ye Merry Olde Nuker.  “Slower” really hasn’t been all that slow.  The average leftovers have reheated nicely on the stove in five minutes.  This morning’s leftover quiche went into the oven which, yes, took about twenty five minutes (cold oven) but I was doing dishes during that time and didn’t even notice the wait.  When it was done the crust was nicely crispy, as were the onions on top.  That plus a piping hot pot of puerh? That’s the way to start a day, I tell ya.

One of the most common microwave tasks is popping popcorn.  I haven’t used those bags of miserableExcuseForPopcorn for over ten years, preferring instead a very effective microwave popping bowl by Nordic Ware.  If anyone wants mine they’re welcome to it as it serves no purpose for me in my sans-nuker state.  I’ve moved on to something better:  kettle corn.  True, it’s not as good for me as the popcorn which comes from the trusty microwave popper but dang does it satisfy after a long day at the office when all you want to do is curl up on the couch, watch cheesy scifi and veg with the cat.

The biggest test so far in my Nucular [sic] Experiments is dinner tonight.  I’ve been spending the day in my office, either working on my server or getting stuff done for work.  Right around 1 PM, when I was grabbing lunch, I decided I wanted to use up the lamb stock that’s been taking up space in my fridge.  And…oooh!  Lookit that!  There’s also a couple of lamb shoulder steaks in there!  Dinner plans made: lamb and brown rice stew.  Everything is frozen solid as rocks, which typically would send me for the nuker.  Instead I set stainless steel pans on the stovetop (just as good for conducting cold away from foods as heat toward) and put the frozen food on them.  By the time I was ready to good everything was nicely chilled but thawed.  Perfect!

Summary?  The final decision will still wait until November but it’s looking like I’m not going to have any trouble adapting to the lack of a microwave.