Simple Things That Make Life Better!

One of my favorite foods when I was a kid was my mother's rotisserie chicken. Nothing quite as lovely as the scent of it cooking wafting through the house, followed by a delicious dinner!

Maybe I liked it so much because it was pretty much the only thing I was allowed to eat with my fingers at the dinner table... and then only if it were a wing or a drumstick.

Anyway, we've had a number of rotisserie countertop ovens over the years — they seem far less common the USA than in Europe — and most have ended up not getting used very much, basically because they were really hard (or impractical) to use.

For example, the last (failed!) version we had was made somewhere in S.E. Asia and simply wasn't practical to use because it was designed for a chicken no larger than 3-4 lbs... the average fresh chicken in a US supermarket weighs 5-7lbs.

Nice to have, but we almost never used it, because it was a great rarity to find a small enough chicken at the market.

Ironically, chickens the size we get here — at least in Denmark — would only be sold as hens or capons.

Anyway, we finally found a large capacity rotisserie oven and coughed up the $200 (gulp) to have it, a couple of years ago. And, of course, it has turned out to be a wonderful thing!

The point here, though, is that very simple things can make life a lot better... when they really work and do the job they were designed for.

I have long been a little skeptical of "cooking gadgets" here in the USA... primarily because so many of them seem to have been designed more for someone to show off all the countertop appliances they have, as opposed to actually using them.

Which just strikes me as plain silly, but I also know that I don't fit the typical household "marketing profile" because I have absolutely no interest in so-called "ego driven" products that are more designed to make their owner "look cool" rather than to actually be functional.

For example, I own a "somewhat smart" phone that makes calls and takes reasonably decent photos, but I have no interest in the latest iPhone 45 1/2.

But I digress.

I just really enjoy relatively simple things that significantly add to our quality of life! I guess it goes to show the value of the basics of life, which often go unappreciated — or underappreciated — in a world often filled with glitz.

In a similar way, I really enjoy using a number of my father's old hand tools that he likely had since the 1950s. Which is not to say that I haven't had some of "the latest and greatest" as well... although that has often been disappointing. Like our fancy new $800 electric lawnmower that lasted about half a summer season before it broke and needed repairs... while I went back to using our 18-year old very basic push mower.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great rest of your week!

How about you? Do you like simple things for everyday tasks? Or do you prefer the newest and fanciest? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

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Created at 2024.12.04 21:42 PST
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