Early this past weekend, I decided to spoil myself and cook up that pound of bacon that I purchased when shopping for groceries last. I prefer my bacon cooked so crispy as to have it shatter when poked on a plate. Yup, I like it nuked in the microwave.
Previously, I cooked a pound of bacon all at once. You know, with several layers of paper towel placed between each layer. Only… well, the paper towel STUCK to my bacon the last time, render MOST of it uneatable. Not nice considering the cost!
Anyway, this time I decided to cook the bacon on the tray with only one sheet over the bacon to prevent bacon grease splatters. And, it worked out well… for the most part. The first tray of bacon took about 13 minutes to cook properly… then I discovered the strips of bacon were 2 pieces stuck together. Oookay, so my second tray only being ONE piece thick, took only 10 minutes.
I took the tray and drained off excess grease between the batches, in order to prevent spilling the grease when taking the cooked bacon from the oven.
Trying to cook the third tray of bacon was when I had a problem. I no sooner pushed the START button, and the microwave oven just shut right down, though I had blown a fuse. Or so I suspected. So, off to my home office to borrow a spare power bar, to re-route the microwave oven from the shelf over my stove, to a counter-top plug… so I could finish cooking my bacon snack. Turned out, the receptacle the microwave had been plugged into was NOT the problem. The power bar plugged into a counter-top receptacle worked okay (indicator lights were on) but when I plugged the microwave into the power bar, nothing happened. All I could think of then was “ooooh no, I’ve blown my microwave!”
I telephone my local appliance repair shop and explained my problem. The gentleman who answered the telephone explained that sometimes it’s the fuse inside the microwave itself that gets blown. But he didn’t have an RCA fuse, so I was left with only one option IF I wanted to repair this microwave. The gentleman informed me that there is only ONE shop repairing microwaves now, and they charge $50 just to look at it.
Originally, I purchased my microwave in December 2007. Some weeks later, in January 2008, I was given a replacement microwave because the first one up and “died” on me, with no apparent cause. Knowing my microwave was no longer under warrantee, the news of this repair cost, I felt, was not a cost-effective measure given the current prices on brand new models.
Off to my re-cycle bin I went, to retrieve the Canadian Tire flyer. I was sure there was at least one microwave offered on sale in it. I found the flyer. “Offers valid until November 20-26, 2009… 1000W of power. Stainless-steel interior and exterior. 10 power levels. One-touch cooking. Regular 119.99 on sale for $99.99.” I’m in luck, I thought. Then when I got to the store, I read on the box, it states there’s a 2 year warrantee… Wow, how much luckier can I be!
On my drive to pick up my new microwave, I got to thinking about how hot the microwave was when I tried to see if I could lift it by myself. Though I discover the weight far too heavy, I remembered noticing how unusually hot it seemed. I got this fleeting thought, I wonder… maybe, just maybe like a hair blower that’s been on too long, the microwave MIGHT have a safety built in to shut it down completely IF that temperature is reached.
Arriving back home, I decided to leave the new microwave in my car, and find out if my passing thought had any merit to it. Well blow me down, it works… my microwave oven still works! I had been gone from the house long enough that it had time to cool down, allowing me to use it again, to complete cooking the third and last tray of bacon…. voila!
Thanks to Canadian Tires’ great returning goods policy, I was able to return the unopened microwave oven for some other luck shopper to purchase.
$99 plus tax SAVED… I really am lucky!
