In Praise of Electric Skillets

Thanks to Lowe's inept flooring department, we are heading into week four of our kitchen reflooring saga. We selected our tile (Armstrong Excelon) and placed our order. Assured it would arrive in the middle of the following week, we spent the better part of three days ripping the existing layers of flooring out of our kitchen- four layers of linoleum. The eldest layer was rather handsome, a mid-century pattern with stars and gold flecks. The three most recent, including what was in evidence when we moved in, were ugly as sin.

The week came and went, and we were informed there would be a delay. Fine. When it did come in, we took the two boxes home and only found when they were opened that they ordered the wrong color. So, I hauled it back in and reordered. That is where things stand, four weeks later.

All of the kitchen appliances were moved into the dining room. As we have an electric oven with a 220 plug, it's out of commission. We're making due with a crock pot, toaster, microwave and a vintage electric skillet. The skillet has performed admirably; we've used it practically every day this month, and for the most amazing things: boiling corn and pasta, poaching eggs, frying falafel, browning roasts, popping popcorn(!), and perhaps its most successful and most appropriate use, serving as a hotpot for Sukiyaki.

This morning, I've fried a rasher of bacon, and near the end, fried eggs sunny side up in the grease. Not exactly health food, but incredibly satisfying! Even if I did break some of the yolks.