Microwave

Despite having the last name Baker, my baking and cooking prowess is extremely limited.

How limited you ask? Let’s just say that my cooking skills don’t stretch much further than pouring milk in cereal or heating something up in the microwave.

This cold hard truth was made very evident a few weeks ago when I attended a cooking expo that featured over 50 chefs and restaurants from around the state of Arizona. It was an amazing collection of food, cooking and 50-60 year old rich couples who loving tasting wine.

I attended the event because it raised money for Phoenix Children’s Hospital but as soon as I got there I knew that I didn’t fit in. Not only was I one of the youngest people there but I couldn’t even pronounce most of the names of the foods. But maybe that has more to say about my lack of mastery of the English language than it does about being a picky eater.

To say I was lost would be an understatement. To help you get a better idea of how out of place I felt, just picture your mom at a monster truck rally. Much like your mom at a monster truck rally, I nervously kept my head down while also wanting to say, “That seems like an awful lot of fire. Does the fire department know about all this?”

Don’t get me wrong, the cooks were great. I was impressed to see what they could do with chicken, a bunch of vegetables and a huge knife.

While I sat and watched a 45 minute cooking display from one of their master chefs, I realized something important.

I am very thankful for microwaves.

Let me explain. I was interested in about the first 5 minutes of the cooking display. It was cool to see vegetables of every color of the rainbow. And I was in awe of how he didn’t cut off a finger using that giant knife. But for the final 40 minutes, I became bored. I kept thinking, “I’m hungry now. Seems like a waste of 45 minutes when you can just zap fry something in the microwave and be eating in 45 seconds.”

I’m sure whatever concoction this chef ended up making was much better than whatever I cook in the microwave (at least according to the 50-60 year old rich couples) but there is just something to be said about being able to turn food that is frozen solid into a scolding hot meal in a matter of seconds.

So today (and most other days) I am thankful for microwaves. Most people would probably take a fancy five course meal featuring six syllable words. But not me. Sorry that I don’t live up to the name Baker.