Today's Picture: 070
Apr. 6th, 2009 10:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akujunkanIs of:
my "stove." If you live in an apartment in Japan, this is pretty much what you cook with. Granted, my particular stove (or konro in Japanese) is an extreme low-end model. Basically, Japanese apartments are boxes; the tenant supplies her own refrigerator, washing machine, heater, and konro (and in many apartments, air conditioner and light fixtures). While all the konro I've used in my past four apartments were gas-fueled double burners, my current apartment is not hooked up for gas, nor is the kitchen big enough for a double burner. Which is why I've spent the past six months cooking on this ceramic coil proto-stove that can heat things to 1200, 600, or 300 watts only, and there's no way to concentrate the heat. (In other words, if you want 1200 watts, you have to use a pan that covers the entire burner, even if you only want to melt a pat of butter.)
I grew up using gas stoves, and I'm terrified that one day I'm going to forget that I've used the konro and either put something flammable on it (space is at a premium in my kitchen) or actually burn myself on the damn thing--it takes a good 10 to 20 minutes to cool down after use. On the other hand, I've discovered that I can save even more electricity by pulling the plug midway through whatever I'm cooking and letting the residual heat finish the job.
That will be all.
my "stove." If you live in an apartment in Japan, this is pretty much what you cook with. Granted, my particular stove (or konro in Japanese) is an extreme low-end model. Basically, Japanese apartments are boxes; the tenant supplies her own refrigerator, washing machine, heater, and konro (and in many apartments, air conditioner and light fixtures). While all the konro I've used in my past four apartments were gas-fueled double burners, my current apartment is not hooked up for gas, nor is the kitchen big enough for a double burner. Which is why I've spent the past six months cooking on this ceramic coil proto-stove that can heat things to 1200, 600, or 300 watts only, and there's no way to concentrate the heat. (In other words, if you want 1200 watts, you have to use a pan that covers the entire burner, even if you only want to melt a pat of butter.)
I grew up using gas stoves, and I'm terrified that one day I'm going to forget that I've used the konro and either put something flammable on it (space is at a premium in my kitchen) or actually burn myself on the damn thing--it takes a good 10 to 20 minutes to cool down after use. On the other hand, I've discovered that I can save even more electricity by pulling the plug midway through whatever I'm cooking and letting the residual heat finish the job.
That will be all.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
on 2009-04-06 02:05 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-04-07 01:29 pm (UTC)Also: your icon!!
no subject
on 2009-04-07 12:00 am (UTC)the apartment we moved into here in Toronto came with an electric stove, and i had no idea how much faster it is compared to my ancient gas one. so you can probably imagine the sweet memories i have of the first meal and pan that i
cookedburned. ^.^no subject
on 2009-04-07 01:30 pm (UTC)I have the opposite problem--it takes so long for this burner to heat up that I get tired of waiting, go off to do something else and *then* yeah, the pan gets burned. >.
no subject
on 2009-04-07 10:49 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-04-08 02:20 am (UTC)But yeah, I miss my four burner stove, to say nothing of an OVEN.