Microwave Memories

Memories of my dad, his bad jokes and his love of family and gadgets.

In his younger days, my dad was quite the gadget guy. Always buying the latest "thing." I remember when I was in first or second grade, he bought us a dishwasher. It was portable, on wheels, and hooked up to the kitchen faucet when running. That was long before the days that dishwashers were built into a house. I believe he intended that dishwasher as a gift for my mom, but my sisters and I benefited the most since we did the dishes every night.

While sorting through items in our house, in preparation for moving, I ran across this advertisement.

I found it on eBay about 9 years ago and bought it because it reminds me of one of the best gadgets my dad bought. Before I explain, I have a joke for you. It's the same joke that my dad told on Christmas morning in 1969. Just before the gadget gift was opened. (I may be ad libbing this joke as it has been a year or 2 since he told it! 😜 )

An Air Force navigator was walking across the frozen Alaskan tundra. His plane had crashed and he was the only survivor. After walking for quite a while, he spotted an Eskimo walking toward him.

When they finally met, the navigator said to the Eskimo, "Radar!"

That's it. "Radar!" was the punch line. Thinking back on this, I think I understand where my own weird sense of humor came from!

Mom then opened the gift, which was an Amana® Radarange Microwave Oven. None of us had ever heard of such a thing.

Back then, that microwave oven was quite the novelty. Since we had never heard of it, we “played” with it for quite a while. And oh, the fun we had with it. Making 2-Minute Fudge. Heating bread with butter (or likely margarine) and sugar on it. Trying it out for cooking everything - from eggs to meats to baked potatoes.

Over time, though, we learned it had limitations. If you wanted your meats to brown, you had to use something called liquid smoke. It baked a potato in 4 minutes, but there were some ‘funny’ spots in it.

Through the years since then, I have developed a different relationship with the microwave oven. I've lived in many apartments and houses that did not have one.

Today, we have one, although I could live without it. We use it primarily for cooking bacon and for heating leftovers Sometimes, I will melt butter in there. And every once in a while, I'll still make that 2-Minute Fudge because it is really quite tasty. And easy.

On the other hand, there are things that I just will not do in the microwave. I just never could get into cooking meals in it. The inconsistencies in cooking temperature are not to my liking. That’s the same reason I don’t heat liquids in the microwave. Not water, not soup, not milk.

I'm hesitant about heating bread in the microwave. Sometimes it works, but other times it totally changes the texture of the bread, in spots.

There are those who say that the microwave oven changes the molecular structure of food, and even water. I'm not sure I buy that. The inconsistency in the way the microwave oven heats food is likely why such claims are made. And that uneven heating is the primary reason I'm not a fan today.

I'm keeping the ad, though. I even framed it. It will hang somewhere in my new kitchen. It's a great memory of Dad. The caring that he had for family and the way he showed it. He wasn't the best at showing love in more 'traditional' ways. Gifts were his love language, you might say. It also reminds me of his sense of humor.

Moving & House Update

In August, we had a huge garage sale. It was also successful, defined mainly by the amount of stuff that was moved out of our house. Here's a little video I made about a week before the sale, just to give an idea of all we had. (And the video doesn't show everything.)

We wound up hauling everything that was left to Salvation Army. It took us 2 trips in my Explorer. We still have some furniture and guitars to sell, in case you're interested.

And an update on our new house. I shared this picture at the end of May.

The house was already planned at that point, and the form for the slab was in place.

Now here are some more recent pictures. We have NOT really seen it ourselves. It's 221 miles away from where we live now. In Weatherford, Texas. We have good friends who live in the area and have been visiting the house and taking pictures for us. And we are very grateful to them for the updates!

I'm sure we'll be making a trip up there soon. We're supposed to close around the middle of October. And somehow, that is now just next month! Yikes!