Tuesday, January 10, 2006


i heart the reliable

a person i met recently in oz is very fond of cars, particularly old jaguars. i remarked how difficult it must be to collect cars you cannot drive (because they don't run)!

whereupon he discussed the frustrations associated with various cars (now please keep in mind this guy has a lovely french wife); at one point he remarked: "italian cars are the worst. they look so beautiful but betray you at the most unfortunate times."

this remark was brought to mind by my recent kitchen difficulties. my g.e. dishwasher is kaput at only 6 or 7 years old.

my g.e. fridge, admittedly 26 years old now, has also given up the ghost. instead of, well, refrigerating or even freezing, it now sort of hums quietly to itself in the corner.

i think the compressor's history, since i no longer hear it kick in. of course in the midst of this kitchen chaos, there sits my italian princess, miss silvia.

she arrived 2 weeks after the y2k tax refund and actually not long before i began this blog. and i must say, that despite the reputation of italian machines, my nearly 6-year-old silvia espresso machine has never let me down.

in fact, she's never even needed maintenance. i do descale her about every month or so, and i should replace the grouphead gasket every year.

and every year this is my new year's resolution: replace silvia's gasket. it's not hard to do: empty her of water, turn her on her side, gently drive a screw slightly into the gasket on one side (not very deep!), and pull out a piece of gasket.

repeat until the gasket's all out. this strange method is usually made necessary because the heat of the machine basically welds the gasket to the grouphead. . .

but i never end up replacing this gasket, because she never needs it. silvia never leaks.

she's reliable and i love her. this is why, despite the arrival of the steamy latin carlos expobar, i've never sold her.

i suppose if i were less philosophical, and more greedy, i would say this kitchen appliance let-down is the perfect opportunity to go to home depot or one of the other hyper-stores that have infected new york to pick up a viking stove, a sub-zero pro, and a miele dishwasher.

unfortunately, sub-zeros appear to have poor service records and are too large to fit in my bklyn kitchen. likewise, miele dishwashers, i'm told, tend to leak.

i guess i'll default to the tried-n-true maytag. but about that viking. . .i need a creative way to vent that puppy outta my historic building's facade. . .

posted by fortune | 7:51 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 4 comments