BALI, INDONESIA – We recently moved into an unfurnished villa after several years of traveling around the world and staying in fully furnished apartments, condos, hostels, hotels and Air BnBs.
Every one of those places was outfitted with all the standard trappings. Not necessarily lavish, but we rarely lacked any of the necessities for daily living.
The villa where we stayed for the past year was totally furnished – OVER-FURNISHED, to be honest.
There was so much furniture we had to stash some of it away so we could move around the house without bumping into things.
The kitchen drawers were stuffed with enough utensils to outfit a busy restaurant kitchen.
There were enough dishes and glassware – including handblown stemware – that we could have entertained a busload of our friends.
Our new place came with a bed and not much else
Our new villa was all but empty when we moved in. There was a bed with a new mattress, but almost nothing else.
In anticipation of the move, we had already bought some dishes, silverware, bedding and towels, a couple pots and pans and a few pieces of furniture.
And since our move, a couple months ago, we’ve been slowly filling in the gaps in our household goods.
One thing we became accustomed to during our last stay was a toaster. Nothing special. Just an ordinary two-slice toaster, albeit with slots wide enough to accommodate a sliced bagel (not that we see many bagels here in Bali).
But that toaster was handy. Especially after living in a few toaster-less spaces where we had to make ‘cowboy toast’ when we wanted a slice of crispy brown bread with our breakfast.
In case you didn’t know, cowboy toast is nothing more than a slice of bread fried in a buttered skillet. Not hard to make, but using a toaster is so much easier.
We went shopping for a few more things
Last week we went shopping for more of those missing items among our furnishings – bathroom shelves, window cleaning supplies, more pans – and a toaster.
We had already checked out toasters at a big appliance store a couple months back. They had just two models on display. One was huge, with all kinds of extra features we would never use. The other was a basic machine that seemed perfect – until we heard the price.
That simple two-slice toaster cost nearly as much as my first car (Granted, it was a rusty old beater, but still…). The shocking price rated an instant hard NO.
But on our latest shopping excursion, we spotted two toasters within our price range. One had an arch-topped retro shape and a beige color scheme. The other was sleek and modern-looking in black and chrome.
Beige is boring, so we opted for the black and chrome model.
Not exactly what we expected
Back home, while going over the day’s receipts, I noticed an item described as ‘toaster with smiley pattern.’
Wait… What?
I didn’t remember seeing anything on the toaster or its packaging that mentioned a ‘smiley pattern,’ What was this about?
Checking the box, the only possible clue was a single line near the bottom of one side: ‘Add a smile on your toasted breads.’
So I looked closely into one of the toaster slots and there, on one side, in shiny silver metal, was a round disc incised with the classic emoji smiley face.
The idea is that during the toasting process that disc shields the bread slice, leaving an untoasted circle with darker brown toasted smile and eyes.
Which brings me to this morning’s breakfast. Two fried eggs, over easy, and one piece of whole-grain sourdough bread, toasted to a light golden brown, except for that corny round smiley face grinning up at me from my plate.
It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘Happy Meal.’