Glorious Appliances!

The reimbursement came in, and apparently the dollar was strong against the yen when we shipped things and bought tickets, because we got back more than we expected. They still owe us for my plane ticket but we won't get that until I start working.

Anyhow, Ana drew out most of it in cash and Meiko took us shopping for appliances. I can't say I ever expected to be excited about buying kitchen appliances. Three weeks without a refrigerator was actually a lot easier than I expected, but that doesn't mean I wasn't looking forward to being able to buy milk and not have to use it within twelve hours and things like that. We also got a rice cooker that could probably pilot a plane if we programmed it correctly - looks like something out of Star Trek, and a combination microwave / convection / steam oven whatsit that is pretty large for around here and still not very big.

Got some good deals - the fridge was their store model for last year and was marked down about 40%, which made it cost the same as the cheapest ones but it has a much more solid feel to it and is a little bigger. The microwave was a never-used (according to the store) 2008 model but we got it for $265 at a secondhand store when a new one is $578 the other place we saw it. I'm glad we found it cheap because I would have balked at spending that much on an oven right now and the less expensive ones can be very small indeed. The rice cooker was on sale too but I don't know if they are usually on sale or not, got $50 off the MSRP. Might well be par for the course.

Anyhow, enjoy some pictures.

Fridge:


Fancy rice cooker:
Fancy multi-oven:
Fancy strap-on carrying handle they put on the rice cooker box: