'waving lunch

Now that we have a functional, dependable microwave oven again, frozen entrees are a lunchtime option for me.

Today it was Chicken Florentine Lasagna from Lean Cuisine. It was OK. The best thing about it was the four-minute cooking time.

It's mildly surprising how dependent we've become on a kitchen appliance what was practically unknown less than 40 years ago.

Microwave ovens date from the 1940s, but they didn't become affordable until the late 1970s. Since the median age of Americans is around 37, that means nearly half of the population can't remember a time when there were no microwave ovens.

My first wife and I bought our first microwave - a clunky countertop Amana Radarange that came with a hardcover microwave cookbook - sometime around 1979 or 1980.

We never explored its cooking potential with any depth, using it mostly for baking potatoes and popping popcorn. We learned early that microwaves explode eggs and turn bread products into rubber.

I don't remember what we paid for it - probably somewhere around $200. Like everything else in electronics, the price has dropped precipitously and today you can find a countertop microwave for under $50. (That's about $17 in 1979 dollars, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator.)