On Tuesday our dishwasher wouldn't run so yesterday the repairman was here. It turned out to be a broken wire to the door, a small fix and we were up and running - thank goodness. Now you might think this is no big deal and wonder why I'm telling you - but here's the thing - my parents bought this portable Maytag dishwasher in 1972. Yup that's right. It's 40 years old. I believe my mom ran the dishwasher every night (she always did it when us kids were sleeping) for all the years we were growing up and then even after we all moved out. When she moved, her new house had a built in dishwasher and so she gave this one to me as we have a small kitchen and could use it. So now for about 10 years Jp and I have used the dishwasher - we run it maybe 3 times a week (more when The Kidd is here) and I've only had to have it repaired once about 5 years ago.

And this is why I'm in no rush to replace it. They really don't build things like they used to. Granted my father maintained it really well and repaired/replaced parts as time when on, but really it's been quite the workhorse. I checked it out on line, and there are some gearheads out there who swear by these old machines they really do run extremely well.

Sometimes newer isn't better

It never gets old

Recently we stopped into the only Krispy Kreme Doughnut shop in the Vancouver area, and Jp bought me this cute little cup:

what makes it even cuter as after you drink your coffee, you find a little joke - a donut in the bottom!

Ah ha ha - it never get's old ...

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...the donut and the joke ! 

Lovin' my cuppa

Recently Jp made some changes and stopped drinking coffee which meant I too had to make some changes. It used to be that I'd make coffee for the two of us either in a french press or the drip coffee maker and liked the coffee very much, but I couldn't seem to get a good cup when I was just making it for one and since I drink my coffee black, the taste isn't masked by crem or sugar so it had to be good. I had just decided that I would switch to tea for my daily cup when he surprised me with a Keurig coffee system for one:

Wow! I am impressed! The manual said it would take 2 minutes for the water to get warm and two minutes to brew coffee but I've got a nice hot steaming cup in 2 minutes total! Can you believe that? I am amazed. And the joke around here is that I need three days to warm up to new appliances introduced by Jp, but this was love at first cup.

And check out all the varieties of coffee- they list 71 on the site! The machine came with a sampler box of 12 k-cups and I've been keeping track of which ones I like - so far the ones marked 'bold' are a bit strong for my liking but they are pretty good. I'm liking "Donut House" which is strong but not super strong. My one issue is that the k-cups are not very environmentally friendly since the little plastic cups have a mini filter inside they have to go into the garbage - but Jp must have known I'd think that about that and so he also bought me a reusable filter. This way I can use the coffee I want and not have to throw anything away. (The grounds go into my compost)

It also brews tea, which I understand if you're in an office or or RV or other location that doesn't have a kettle, but otherwise, tea already can be brewed one cup at a time so I don't see the need for that.

What a great gift idea! He knocked it out of the park with this one! *

Do you have one? Which flavours do you like?



*Note to family members, mum really wants one now too.....

PHOTO  CREDIT: http://www.keurig.ca/brewers/keurig-mini-plus-brewing-system