When I woke up this morning and staggered out to the kitchen to make the day's first pot of coffee, I noticed that Husband had, the night before, lovingly cleaned and polished our little coffee maker. This is an elaborate process involves sending a pots of water and vinegar through the system, thoroughly cleaning the basket and the carafe, removing any slight coffee liquor buildup, followed by a polish of the whole thing. Husband takes this seriously and cleans with purpose.

We really love our coffee maker. It is the true workhorse of the household with a minimum of three pots going through it a day. (Coffee is one of our main food groups, along with salts, fats, and sugar.) We've gone through quite a few coffee makers in the past. We first swore by Brauns, then went to Krups, and found after a while that the more expensive machines couldn't withstand our required daily use. For years now, our run-to-the-store-in-the-middle-of-the-night "emergency replacement" $15 black Proctor-Silex "Easy Morning" has given faithful service. It will be sad when it dies; I doubt they've made this thing for years. Our "Easy Morning" doesn't have a clock or a timer, doesn't have various buttons or filters, doesn't beep or talk. It's a coffee maker. It's performed like a trooper; and makes the perfect cup of coffee. Oh, and Chock Full o'Nuts really is the heavenly coffee...

Where would we be without these machines of wonder? Very sad I'm sure.

Next week: An appreciation of our microwave.