About My Microwave

I’ve been thinking about my microwave lately. It’s tiny, old, and takes longer than most of us are used to to heat things up. But it’s special.

When I moved here a year and a half ago, I asked my parents to see whether they still had my college microwave somewhere. I was spending money on a lot of other things in order to get settled and thought buying a new microwave was unnecessary.

When they brought it over, I had a good laugh over the fact that it still had a sticker on the back with my college address. I enjoyed the retro-ness of its faux woodgrain sides. (I had forgotten that once upon a time it was thought that microwaves would blend more naturally into a kitchen if they looked as if they were made of wood.) And I remembered that it was older than I had thought; it was actually in my grandmother’s kitchen for a number of years before I took it to college in 1994. I remember when she first got it. She figured everyone else had a microwave so she ought to get one too, even though she rarely used it. It wasn’t until much later, after she gave me this one for college and then bought a replacement microwave, that she got into the swing of reheating soup and Lean Cuisines the modern way.

The microwave fit perfectly into an otherwise useless nook of the counter next to the fridge, so I was good to go. I pushed the button to open the door – it required a bit more effort than today’s units – and chuckled. First of all, the interior was basically spotless, presumably because I had given it a thorough once-over sometime in the late ’90s (“Gosh, it is so great that I am such a clean person,” I thought). Aside from one blemish: a brown splotch that could only be a burn. The smell of burnt microwave popcorn somehow popped in my mind. I remembered an “incident” in college when my roommate accidentally set a bag of popcorn to cook too long. Remember how the smell of someone’s overmicrowaved popcorn would linger? God, I hate that smell. It’s kind of like when someone makes an afternoon bag at work but is so psyched to eat it they stand right next to it so there’s no way it would overcook, and then instead of talking about the weather everyone else in the office is like, “Oooh, someone made popcorn!” like just smelling the stuff is the highlight of their horrible day.

And this is why instead of microwave popcorn, now I use my grandmother’s old hot-air popcorn popper. Also, it’s super fun for sleepovers with the nieces and reminds me of being a little kid.

(Well, OK, actually the main reasons I use it are that I love real butter on popcorn and because I’m cheap and prefer to buy a bag of kernels instead of a bag of kernels plus chemicals. Plus it would probably take for-freakin’-ever to pop a bag in this tiny old microwave.)

My Peanut Sauce or, Best Quick Dinner Ever

1. Scoop some chunky peanut butter (about a tablespoon) out of a jar. Plop the PB in a bowl.

2. Pour about two tablespoons’ worth of your favorite orangey/gingerey type salad dressing (I use Price Chopper’s Central Market brand Mandarin Ginger Vinaigrette – has just 2 1/2 grams of fat per serving!) atop the peanut butter.

3. Microwave for about 20 seconds (or less; my microwave is unusually small and old.)

4. Stir together the peanut butter and dressing until they combine. Add more salad dressing until you reach the consistency that works best with whatever food you’re using it on. I usually mix the dressing with freshly cooked (i.e. still warm) noodles: I used to always use soba noodles but recently discovered that you can get much the same effect with – drumroll, please – Great Value* whole wheat thin spaghetti.

*for the uninitiated, Great Value is the Walmart store brand. Holla!

Savor Providence 2010

After skipping last year’s edition because of torrential rain, I was super excited to return to this year’s Savor Providence, a fundraiser for the fabulous Trinity Rep theatre company. (You may recall my attending 2008’s inaugural event.)

The day started off right with Rhode Island wine and cheese – Sakonnet Vineyards and Narragansett Creamery – in the theater’s lobby. Great stuff! I’ve been aware of Sakonnet wine for years, if not decades. I knew of it when I was a kid (my dad being a bit of a consumer of localish wines) and moreso during my R.I. college days when a few times we enjoyed their Eye of the Storm wine (when we were feeling upscale we’d browse the wines at Haxton’s instead of heading straight to the Natty Ice!) whilst reminiscing about Hurricane Gloria, as New England kids our age tend to do. (It was, aside from the Blizzard of ’78 which for most of us was just an opportunity for our toddler selves to be posed next to snow piles, the main weather memory of everyone’s youth. I doubt you want to hear the story of how school was cancelled that day and I was pissed because it was supposed to be my first day of clarinet lessons and I really needed that first day of lessons in order to figure out how to put the darned thing together. Also, one of our apple trees fell down.)

Anyhoo, they had much tastier wines than that one at Savor Providence. I tried two: the “Petite White NV,” a vidal blanc/gewürztraminer blend which actually had detectable levels of the “white grapefruit flavors” the tasting sheet touted; and the 2007 No Oak Chardonnay, which was delicious. I haven’t had a lot of unoaked chardonnays but really enjoy them every time I do.

And I cannot say ENOUGH about the Narragansett Creamery cheese. Their Atwell’s Gold was fantastic, as was the Salty Sea Feta. (UPDATE: Bought a nice slab of Atwell’s Gold at Sandy’s in Westerly in September! Love it!)

This year’s restaurant list was different than the first year’s, which turned out to be a good thing because otherwise we probably would have just returned to some of the same places that we knew were fabulous – we’re still talking about the mac and cheese at Al Forno – instead of trying new ones. And the addition of cooking demo tents was really nice, even though we only made it to one session.

Here’s a rundown of the highlights:
Aspire, 311 Westminster St.: “Unagi shrimp with wakame salad & toasted sesame; spiced nori encrusted scallop with grilled watermelon.” OMG. LOVE. Why am I not encrusting and grilling more things at home?

Café Noir, 125 N. Main St. They offered steak frites and a “goat cheese tart with sexy greens.” Sexy greens! Say no more. (They actually looked like ordinary greens to me but if you’re gonna stick tiny flowers in ’em and call them “sexy greens” I’m game.) And I’ve certainly never met a goat cheese tart I didn’t like.

Trinity Brewhouse, 186 Fountain St.: We started off here for lunch with the lobster mac and cheese, which I enjoyed with the suggested pint of Rhode Island IPA. Then at the end of the day we finished things off with dessert of “stout brownie sundaes.” Tasty! And a trip to Trinity is not complete without me reminding people that this is where we went for my 21st birthday. It was always my favorite bar in Providence. Still is now that I know they make brownies out of beer.

OK, this isn't a food highlight, but was super excited to learn that as Savor attendees we were entitled to 10 percent off at Craftland. I love love love Craftland. Go! Visit their website! Become a fan of them on Facebook!

Finally, new this year, I tweeted the event. (I know! I just used “tweeted” as a verb!) At one restaurant we were sitting next to someone checking people’s tweets to see what others were saying about the day. (I later figured out it was the ProJo’s food editor; I’ve still got my reporting chops!) So I logged on to Twitter using my mobile phone (for like, the first time ever, I might add) and unleashed one weak tweet about where we went and where we were going next. (I also spelled a word wrong and forgot to add the appropriate hashtag.) My bad. Next year I promise to tweet the event properly.

No Two Wheys About It

Curds!

Whey!

Queso fresco!!