We stayed in BaanMae for a number of days and missed having either a microwave oven or a real oven. So we went down to the nearest HomePro and picked up a Samsung combination microwave, convection oven, and roaster/grill.

It is quite fancy and comes with a number of wire racks, crisper plates, and even a steamer pot (for steaming dumplings and the like).

It has all kinds of nifty features like being able to detect the power and time necessary to heat your dishes (based on the gases released). My favorate feature is the ability to bake with (possibly reduced power) microwave and convection oven or grill at the same time, so that you get the faster baking times of the microwave without losing the nice golden brown crust of a convection oven or grill. It also has about a hundred different “auto menu” items where you are supposed to be able to throw ingredients together in the appropriate cookware and it will auto set the cooking method (microwave, convection oven, or grill), power settings and cooking time. And if you need to add ingredients later, it will stop and beep at the appropriate time. You put it in and just press continue and it goes on about its job. Everything from miso soup to “tom yung goong” to “gai pad med mamuang” (chicken fried with cashew nuts, but presumably baked instead). It has lemon grilled fish and pork chops and pound cake options too. And about a hundred others.

We haven’t had a chance to see how these auto-menu dishes turn out, but if I was still a bachelor in the USA, I’d probably use it almost every night. (The auto-menu feature seems like a great crutch for both the lack of imagination and laziness typical of the American bachelor.)

Praew, being a bit more imaginative and less lazy when it comes to cooking baked up two things to try it out. Bagels, and a carrot cake. Both were really amazing straight out of the oven.

Between this and the pasta aglio olio she fried up, I am now pretty convinced that it wouldn’t be much of a sacrifice to live off of the small table top portable induction stove and 32L Samsung microwave/combi-oven+grill appliances.

Here’s to living small!