Popcorn, anyone?

When our country is on the brink of financial ruin, what do smart people do? Refinance their house so they can do some remodeling, that's what. Because nothing says Depression like new cherry floors, stainless steel appliances, and Corian countertops (granite emits radon now, adding to the long list of Things That Can Kill You or at least Cause Kate to Lie Awake Obsessing About night after night). We couldn't configure two ovens into the kitchen without removing a wall and spending six months under construction, a prospect that made my eyeball twitch, so the compromise was a convection microwave. At three times the cost of a regular microwave, this caused my long-suffering curmudgeon of a husband no end of grumbling. But! I can cook three pizzas at once! In theory, anyway. After a lot of trial and tribulation, the micro-oven was finally installed late into night. I awoke the next morning at 5:30, anxious to try out this fancy new oven. I cooked one tray of cupcakes in the old oven, and one in the convection microwave. I didn't need to read the directions or anything, because, hello? Cupcakes? I can make them in my sleep. The billion dollar oven cupcakes are on the left, in case you can't tell.








And.......








Drumroll, please.........





At least the new microwave makes a mean bag of popcorn. And it's shiny. Pay no attention to the bottom right corner of the picture.