A New Stove

Our New Stove

Hello to all,

Have you ever been floating through life, only to have a monkey wrench thrown into your life?

We moved into our new home twenty-one years ago. We bought new appliances for our new kitchen. Tammy picked out everything but the stove. I had visions of a stove performing at a professional level, despite our modest budget. It took five stores and many hours of research to find a new stove of my dreams.

After twenty years of use, the numbers on the dial have worn away, but it didn’t matter because my hand would set the proper temperature without looking. I worked that old stove like a Pinball Wizard. My impeccable timing rarely resulted in a meal being burned or undercooked. Bake goods match the set timer to perfection. All was right in the kitchen.

A month ago, our old faithful oven had a quirk. It failed to cycle while baking bread for the local Farmer’s Market. We let it cool, and it started working again. However, the notion that it was time to place the old stove out to pasture became evident.

Our new stove arrived, and I watched the old stove with a heavy heart, thinking of all the good meals made in and on it. Then, I became excited to try the new stove. The burners all seem to cook hotter than the old, and it has messed up my cooking time. I haven’t burnt anything, but a meal came out darker than I wanted. Then I overcompensated and failed to create Maillard browning, leaving me with a rather pale dish.

Our new stove is neither better nor worse than the old one. There is a learning curve that we must adapt to. Here is to another twenty years of happy meals bringing my family and friends together. We must learn and adapt to overcome life’s problems.

Grace to all,

Danny Mac