Tonight our microwave died. A Goldstar Turntable from the late 80s. It's power has been deterioating for some years now — foods took longer and longer to defrost or cook — but it kept on microwaving away.
Until tonight.
I was melting a small amount of chocolate (too small to bother with a double boiler) to drizzle over some raspberries when ZAP and the microwave power goes out. Darn it, I blew the fuse. I check the fuse box, then Joe reminds me that we have new power outlets with reset buttons. After that doesn't help, so we test the outlet with another appliance. The outlet works, and we have to admit that I killed the microwave. We've planning on buying a new one for a while now, but I was hoping to get another 6 months to a year of use out of it. They all seem so cheap and flimsy. Will our next microwave last 16 years?
sigh
It was a good microwave. It never complained. It faithfully told time 10 minutes fast (because I set it that way) for over 15 years. We received it as a "hand me down" from a college friend who was leaving town to attend grad school out East. Todd Bakal, if you're out there, we want you to know that we took good care of your microwave. It was cleaned on a regular basis. It had a nice prominent spot in the kitchen with a grand view. It lived a long full life of zapping our food — hardly a day when by when it wasn't used — and the beep beep beep BEEP! of its timer will be forever remembered.
Joe & Lisa's Goldstar Turntable Microwave
May it rest in peace.
Um -- rumors of its death are greatly exaggerated. (Maybe not THAT greatly, but still...)
I'd like to take credit for some amazing feat of technical skill, but it occurred to me the thing might have an internal circuit breaker that needed time to reset. I plugged it in this morning and it worked.
I am the resurrector of microwaves!
Posted by: Joe | December 21, 2004 at 12:17 PM
Ohh My...That sounds fantastic Joe! Our microwave has applied for an early retirement after our assistant cook injured it---do not know what she did. She would not confess---Anyways it is SAD, very sad. I love it very much :)
Posted by: CookingDiva | December 22, 2004 at 08:34 PM
Wow, a microwave from the 80's that would make it 14 years old. Still chugging along. It's great you brought it back to life and get some more use out of it.
Microwaves . . . they mean so much to us.
Posted by: Drink Recipes | March 30, 2005 at 03:27 PM