Never heard of an Aga. It would be neat if they could pair it up with an absorption refrigerator some how.

I wish that our range hood vented to the outside. Instead, I have to go outside when my wife decides that she is going to fry up two pounds of sausage at one time. She is on an Adkins diet, and meat protein seems to be the essential part of the diet. When I lived by myself, I hardly ever fried anything, and I never used the oven. Marriage has required an adjustment. Now, I'm the one who cleans the greasy skillets and stove top.

I don't have an Aga, I do have a Rumford which does a great job with Dutch ovens in the winter, if we ever get them again. Bet I could find an Aga here for only 6 or 8...thousand US dollars. My $89.00 microwave will heat up a previously cooked meal in just a few minutes after we get home from work around 8 or 9 pm. Seems like a good deal. No need to heat the house up with the Garland when there is a 37°C degree heat index outside.

We use to use something called a scorch buster. When we moved, we found that the new range did not need it, but it still useful for camping.

Yes, but it puts ... all ... radiation all over the food. I don't want radiation all over my food.

THROUGH the food. It gets on the inside too. MMMMmmmm!

My sister sang the praises of her new Microwave oven. "It makes scrambled eggs in just a minute!" she said. She insisted on making us scrambled eggs. She likes hers runny. I like mine stiff. It took a long time. Apart from that, I like Microwave Ovens. They heat up rice nicely. And they heat up the plates nicely too.

Anything that takes longer to clean than to use, falls into the category of "Gadget" to my way of thinking.

"Sandwich toaster" is a case in point. Stick the sandwich under the grill, in foil if you must.

"Garlic press". Even with a good stiff brush, those things are hard to clean. You can crush garlic with a blunt knife or a spatula.

What's up with your new range that you don't need one anymore?

It has better control over the flame, different burner sizes, the range grate is made out of cast iron rather than stamped sheet metal, but I think that the main thing is that the distance from the flame and the top of the range grate is higher and therefore further than the flame.

Unfortunately a range is not one of those things you can test if you buy one, and over the past 10 years I have used 5 different stoves that came with the places and had no real control over what they were.

OMG! The Sun! The Sun! Don't go out in the Sun! Radiation! Yikes! Tinfoil hat, where'd I put it?

BTW microwaves are easy to clean, put a cup of water in the oven, heat to boiling, let it sit for five minutes(ya don't even have to watch it), open door and wipe out interior with wash towel, an immensely useful thing I might add. If the implication is that microwaving somehow changes the food creating toxins and carcinogens that belief is not supported by any science.

You don't sell the things, do you, dwest?

Anyway, I don't trust them, so there.

Nothing wrong with not trusting them, but the way electromagnetic radiation is used in microwave ovens poses no hazard to food safety. How about them cell phones, laptops, iPads? Need a pierogi press?

Many kitchen toys I have no need for along with some other things.

Unitasker Wednesday

Pierogi should be pressed shut by hand. That's unnatural.

Nobody gets out alive!

Another voice of reason. BTW, if you want fresh garlic puree, a ceramic ginger grater is pretty hard to beat for doing the job. And they're dead-easy to clean.

This model - similar enough to mine - also has a silicone ring foot, so it doesn't slide around. Nice.



Nothing's perfect, of course, but you develop a system. I pretty much use mine mainly for garlic. I may even use it for ginger some day.