Death of the Toaster Oven

Back when my husband was single and just starting in dental school, he was offered a great opportunity to live in the basement of the home of an elderly lady--the mother of one of his professors. The rent was super cheap and my husband had to mow the lawn, take her blood pressure, and just keep a basic eye on things. The basement had its own entrance off an ally, its own bathroom and a small refrigerator and sink. It was very bare bones but for a single man with four years of expensive dental school ahead of him, it was a great set up.

Fast forward 3 and 1/4years later. Dentist husband and I are about to be married (we met at the end of his first year of school) and we were asked to continue living in the basement of this home. The professor's wife informed her husband that no woman should be expected to live in that basement without a kitchen, so strictly out of kindness to us, they converted an old dark room into a small kitchen for us. (They actually did a lot of improvements to it but the kitchen being the key point in this story). The only problem was that there was no 220 outlet for a full sized oven. After doing a lot of shopping around, I found the largest toaster oven available (a Black and Decker). It seemed super expensive at the time (I am thinking about $70) and hoped that someone would get it for us as a wedding present. We did get it (as part of a group gift from a group of nice ladies in my ward). I ordered some special cooking pans that fit into the toaster oven--it had muffin tins, a cookie sheet, a pan with raised-sides, so I could make a small pan of brownies or lasagna. It made enough food to serve two people. I remember placing that toaster oven on my counter and feeling so grown up! I was newly married and I remember the first meal I made in it was toasted cheese sandwiches.

Well, we have used that toaster oven daily, multiple times a day, for the last ten years and it finally died this past week. I had mixed emotions throwing it out. In my current, married with four kids life in a house we built four years ago, it took up way too much counter space. It could only make two toasted cheese sandwiches at a time, which was not enough when making lunch for my kids. It was old and out-dated looking in our stainless steeled appliance kitchen. I now have double ovens and a large assortment of pans and so I didn't use it for making small batches of cookies, brownies, etc. The toaster oven had quit toasting evenly a few years ago and during a visit from my parents, my dad out of frustration, went and purchased us a regular toaster. So, yes, it was time for it to die, but putting it in the trash can, all I could think about was how I felt taking it out of the box 10 years ago, feeling so grateful to have it and feeling so grown up. So, like a beloved pet, I am in no hurry to replace it. It served me well for 10 years and I have a silly empty feeling now that it is gone.