November 14, 2014 (Friday)
Today I turn attention from stuff in pants pockets (yesterday’s blog) to stuff in the home. One of the most useful things in my house is the microwave oven, now known simply as the “microwave.”
The first microwave we owned was purchased in the 1970’s and was called a “Radar Range.” It cost around $500 and was a miracle clad in chrome. It was big. It was tightly fit on the counter, under the cabinets with zero space above. It served to help hold the cabinet in place. The one we have now is smaller — six or eight inches below the cabinets.
Not long after bringing it home, we had a social for our Sunday School department. So we brought out our best china, which featured a metallic rim on the saucers. One of our guests said her hot drink was getting cold, so I had a chance to show off our new “Radar Range.” I placed her cup and saucer in the oven and when it was hot I reached in to pick up the cup and saucer. BAD idea! My thumb was severely burned by the hot metal on the saucer. That was lesson number 1 about use of the new appliance. Never put metal into it, even if it is disguised as china.
We learned to depend on the new appliance, and have had several of them through the years. They became smaller and lighter but even more efficient. Today I use it every day, to warm up my coffee, and even to cook something every now and then. Of course, we can’t count frozen dinners as “cooking,” but it works well to thaw the food and get it hot.
One of my favorite things is my microwave popcorn popper. I have a very nice regular electric popper that makes a lot of popcorn, and even stirs it as it pops, but I wanted to make a smaller amount for only one person. I tried several purchases of poppers for the microwave, including packaged stuff, and finally got one that works great and produces wonderful popcorn. I got it at Target and the brand name is built into the cover and the base: “Back to Basics“. 
Just put corn it the bowl, barely cover the kernels with corn oil, and give it 3 minutes in the microwave, then top it off, sparingly, with a little salt, stirring it lightly with the fingers to let the salt filter down. The bowl bottom gets hot enough to pop the corn and the rest of the bowl remains warm enough to keep the popcorn fairly warm. It’s just the right size for one nice serving.