My new toaster

It sounds a bit silly to post about a new toaster, but I thought this was a bit interesting.  The very first toaster that I ever bought nearly burned down our place a few months ago.  The typical toaster that you find around here isn't like the typical American toaster.  For one the slots for the bread are fitted with a wire basket with handles that you insert and lift the bread out of the toaster.  There is also a dial that you turn that counts down the time like the old fashioned kitchen timers. 

(the old faulty Italian designed toaster)

One day a few months ago I had put in a two slices of bread to make myself some toast for snack after putting my daughter down for a nap.  Of course as most three year olds do as soon as I had put the bread in she started crying and calling for me.  So I left the bread in the toaster thinking I would be right back to eat it. Of course that was not to be as she was hysterical for thirty minutes, and may have been for longer only I had smelled something burning.  Terror rushed through me as I leaped up and ran to the kitchen.  I found the dining room filled with a thick white smoke from the waist up to the ceiling (that is a lot of smoke since we have 13 foot ceilings.)  The timer on the toaster had got stuck and had thus allowed the toaster to turn my two slices of bread into two very small hot burning coals.  The sides of the plastic toaster had also started to melt but the main source of the smoke was my pine wood shelves which had turned jet black with the heat.  A few more moments and we may have been homeless.  

So finally yesterday after a few months without toast I finally went out to buy a new one knowing that there was no way I was going to buy another one of those kind of toasters!  I was going to get a traditional American toaster that pops the toast up when it is ready, no need to worry about faulty timers.  This wasn't extremely difficult but there was NO selection.  So I ended up buying a Mickey Mouse toaster, much to my daughter's delight!  It was the ONLY toaster with the traditional "pop-up" feature.  Now, it is a Mickey Mouse toaster in the sense that there is a silhouette of the ears, it says Mickey across the front and it has the Disney emblem in the corner,  not because it is a rinky dink appliance.  I am actually quite pleased with the style and design and so far it makes good toast and super fast too!  If you want it lightly toasted it takes literally 30 seconds.  So far I am very pleased with my purchase. 

(my lovely new American style toaster)

Toast isn't as big here as it is in the states (in fact my mother-in-law has never owned a toaster in her life!) but I am sure glad that they have adopted some of the American designs, otherwise I don't think we would be having toast at our house anymore!