MANILA, Philippines — The home I grew up in had one electric appliance: a radio-cum-turntable that played vinyl records in three speeds and sizes. Our stove was three stones fueled with wood scraps from Lolo’s bus-and-jeepney building shop. Clothes were washed in the neighborhood artesian well half a kilometer away and brought home to dry on clotheslines in the backyard.
Such a minimal lifestyle would be unthinkable these days, when even squatter areas have cable TV, washing machines and refrigerators, each of which represents a substantial investment. Here are some tips to keep these, and other, home appliances humming for many years.
WASHING MACHINE – Friends cannot believe that we’re still using a National twin-tub with 5-kilo capacity bought from a Makati appliance store that has since been torn down. Thanks to my late husband Victor, our family learned strict washing machine guidelines that have kept maintenance men away.
The first rule is: keep electric cables and outlets up and away from floors and other surfaces that could get wet or damp. Next, do not overload the washing machine. Keep in mind that even when the machine indicates a capacity of 5 kilos, this should not always be strictly adhered to as there are laundry items that need room to churn: bed sheets, towels, blankets, denim jeans and jackets, for example.
Observe the machine as it starts to wash a load; watch to ensure that the items move freely inside the tub. It may be necessary to help things along by lifting and untangling the items during the cycle. Listen to the sound of the machine as it runs; stop the machine and reduce the load or re-arrange the items before re-starting the machine.
To spin dry, it is more efficient to fold, twist and arrange wet items, and arrange them along the sides of the spin-dry tub, leaving an empty space down the middle. As the tub works like a centrifuge, it works more efficiently when heavier items are loaded at the bottom.
RICE COOKER – Keep and use the plastic cup that comes with the rice cooker and do not attempt to cook more rice than is indicated in the pot or it will boil over the pot and into the heating element at the bottom of the cooker.
Keep the cover on until the rice is cooked; uncovering the pot to peep while cooking affects cooking time. When the red light turns off and the orange light is on, it does not immediately mean that the rice is ready; wait 5 minutes before taking cooked rice from the pot unto a plate or serving bowl.
For the heating element to last, it is best to take the pot out of the rice cooker when scooping out the cooked rice.
Do not keep the rice for long periods in the rice cooker while it is in “warm” mode. This practice wastes electricity and eats up the lifespan of the heating element. In some models, the rice continues to cook even while on a “warm” mode, resulting in thick brown crust (tutong) that often is left uneaten and wasted.
While it is convenient to use the rice cooker as an all-around cooking appliance, its thin aluminum pot is ultra-sensitive to salt, acid and other chemicals. Many of my friends have ended up with rice cookers that still work but cannot be used because their aluminum pots have developed holes from vinegar in paksiw, salt from pinangat, sampaloc from sinigang, and tomato sauce in menudo.
If forced by circumstances to use rice cookers for other than rice, avoid stews and other recipes that call for long simmering. Transfer the cooked food to bowls or other containers as soon as possible and wash the aluminum pot with soap and water (avoid abrasives), drying with a kitchen towel or clean rag immediately.
MICROWAVE OVEN – My first microwave oven, sent from Osaka by a younger brother in 1980, was a combination microwave-convection oven which could microwave a whole chicken in 10 minutes, then shift to convection mode and crisp the skin with conventional heat. Since we always had a real oven for roasting and baking, the microwave was used mainly for reheating Vic’s 7 mugs of brewed coffee daily. Once in a while, I steamed leftover steamed rice in a covered pyrex bowl.
Ten years later, I won a microwave oven at a Christmas raffle. We installed it in the kitchen and gave son Albert our old unit. He’s still using it, and I’m still using the raffle prize. How have our microwaves lasted so long?
We’re meticulous about containers, never using plates and bowls that have even the tiniest trace of metal, such as gold or silver painted decorations. Another must is cleaning the interior with a damp cloth daily.
Except for mugs of coffee and water (for tea), all items to be microwaved are loosely covered. It is important that the cover is not tight; any moisture expands into steam, which causes containers to burst or explode inside the microwave.
Microwave popcorn became a no-no in our household, not just because of the high sodium and fat content, but also because several of our friends ended up with unrepairable melted plastic microwave oven doors when overheated popcorn bags exploded, splashing boiling butter all over the appliance’s interior. This could have been avoided had they tested the popcorn at shorter cooking time and by standing in front of the microwave all the time that the popcorn was popping, turning off the oven when the bag bulges to its maximum.size.
Next week: Caring for toaster ovens, TV sets, home desktop computers, electric fans.
source: mb.com.ph
