The kitchen counter got a new trapping this week. A shiny stainless steal toaster. This is not just any run of the mill department store toaster. This toaster is digital!
Think of the last time you pushed down the handle of the electric toaster. Remember the vision you had of things you would change? Ok men, I realize the vision was of bacon but please stay with the theme of toaster redesign.
This new technology wonder now has a Lift and Look (L&L) option. No more will you need to over ride the positioning leaver and force the toast up for a look. Press the L&L button and the toast rises to be reviewed for desired colouring and then lowers to finish the cycle.
It also has the cool feature of end panel row lighting to display the toasting level. Remember having to look at the handle position on an embossed scale to gain that knowledge? Now you can view a light bar to determine browning level. I bet you didn’t realize what you were missing.
I have lived with this electronic wonder for a few days and let me tell you it has some conveniences that may not be desirable. Recall that L&L button. Spiritual deity forbid, you remove the toast on the lift because it is done to your liking. You are required to select cancel before removing the toast or the toaster will continue to heat the air between the tongs after you remove the bread.
One morning the toaster, after securing my bread between the metal grippers that rise from the toasting gape, proceeded to flash all it’s lights. As any male knows, discovery takes precedent over the manual to understand anomalies in operation.
It seems the toast had a blue screen of death experience. You know that personal computer feature, where the screen goes blue and you have to reboot in order to finish watching a YouTube sports video you swear to your spouse you were watching.
The toaster doesn’t have a reboot button. Unplugging the stainless steel wonder was the only option to possibly regain control of my breakfast. I had to shred the bread to communion wafers because those toaster tongs had no idea I wanted the toast back while it forgot it was a toaster.
I recall toasting my bread with a metal coat hanger over a stove element. Getting both sides crispy was a manual operation. We then advanced to the side drop toaster. That beast still required the user to monitor the toast cycle or it would produce smoke. Toast never tasted good when you let the smoke out.
A Newfoundlander’s low tech toaster.
