When Gadgets And Kitchens Collide

Everyone knows I am a gadget fanatic. I get excited over anything that has a digital screen, beeps and has loads of buttons. My dear wife? She loves cooking and baking. So, it was a match made in heaven when we were out shopping for kitchen appliances while we were having our home renovated.

While shopping for an oven, we came across a variety of brands and models. We settled on a Electrolux built-in oven which was touted to be a "smart oven". My wife thumbed through the manual and said "This has pre-defined programmes for Lasange, Pizza, Roasting Chicken, etc. Just pop it in and press the button." She also mentioned something about a long metal rod called a "meat probe" and I made an inappropriate joke about how it would benefit our salesman, who appeared to be gay. Shame on you, Prem!!

"It costs a lot more than a regular built-in, dear.", my wife said. I looked at it and analysed. Digital screen? Check. Beeps? Check. Lots of buttons? Check. And it was brushed metal too! "Technically sound oven", I thought with a smile. I gave her the thumbs up to go for it. Nothing like digital screens, beeps and buttons to make a kitchen feel high-tech.

Yesterday, I got to see the "smart oven" in action as my wife decided to take it for a test drive by making Shepherd's Pie. The final product? Mmmmmm.... it was heavenly. My wife appeared excited by the performance of the oven and the perfect Shepherd's Pie that resulted.

Her lovely smile and my satisfied tummy made for a perfect end to the weekend! The "smart oven" made us both happy.

Jinxed

This post has nothing to do with Halle Berry or her role as Jinx in the movie "Die Another Day". I just Google'd "JINX" to see if I could find an image of myself and out popped Ms Berry.

I seemed to be jinxed in a strange way. At a particular time of every year, usually around August, September and October, things around me seem to start to break or spoil. I don't know why but it seems to be some sort of curse.

Last weekend, I tried to boil some water on our spanking new Electrolux gas hob and when I tried auto-igniting one of the burners, it seemed like all three of them were igniting. Even though there was gas flowing through the outlets, it wasn't firing up. No tea.

Last night when I got home, I popped in one of Janet Seidel's CDs on my *ahem* Bose Lifestyle 35 Series II system to enjoy and I found that the digital display was acting up. Lots of odd characters starting popping up, looking like something out of the movie The Matrix. We bought this system in July of this year and paid an arm, a leg, a kidney and part of my liver for it. In fact, I only started using the system actively over the last few days - and that for only about an hour or two a day.

This morning, my wife told me one of our new kitchen lights had blown. Only after two weeks of use? Later in the evening, my wife called me at work to tell me that our new aircon system has started leaking. *sigh*

The time has come for me to be cleansed in a holy river somewhere.