Mmmmm toasty...

I forgot to mention the spoil of war that I had picked up over the weekend (and yes I am the king of small appliances). My trusty sandwich maker finally gave up the ghost after about 8 years of service, which is 'ok' by my standard. I wish it had lasted longer, but given the quality of things in this day, 8 years is quite a long time.

So to replace the often used grill, I bought the PC gourment sandwich press (or panini press). Aside from the strange use of the 'Ready' light, it works like a charm. In fact, I may prefer it over my old one - the grill cheese test will be the breaker in this case. We tried it out on some sandwiches and they came out nice, toasty, and melty. Some bonus light grill marks also are visible on the bread, and it gets squished a little too. The use of the 'Ready' light is backwards in my opinion. When the unit is plugged in, both the red and green (power/ready) lights come on, and once the unit is preheated to the correct temperature, the 'Ready' light turns off. It's purely a labeling thing, and I checked the instruction booklet to ensure my unit wasn't defective - sure enough, the unit is operating within specification.

So now I must bung the empty shell that was the offical sandwich maker and hail the coming of the new grill. It's a new time, perhaps a new dynasty for sandwich grillers everywhere.