I'm not what you'd call the ideal consumer.
Yeah, I have stuff, but I don't buy on impulse and I don't have to have every gadget that comes out.
I'm not a commercial watcher and I don't care for magazines so I have no idea what the latest thing might be.
You might even say I'm years behind on current products.
I might get something as a gift, use it and discover I'm in love even though I had no idea such a thing even existed before I opened the box.
So, last Christmas another gem came into my hands, a remote cooking thermometer, what some might call a wireless cooking thermometer.
With this small tool my grilling and cooking in the oven have been totally changed, the way I approach them has evolved.
Before I got my new best friend I always had issues with the times stated in recipes for cooking meats to certain degrees of doneness, it seemed like everything took far longer than it was supposed to.
Far too often I would take meat off of the grill or out of the oven, let it rest just to discover that it was terribly underdone in the middle when it came time to carve.
So the side dishes would sit and cool or warm or otherwise fall to ruin while I reheated the grill or warmed the oven again and finished cooking the main course.
Not only is that aggravating but it's embarrassing.
It looks like you didn't plan ahead.
Well, I did eventually learn to use a standard meat thermometer, but I felt like I was tied to the oven unless I knew that the meat needed more than half an hour's cooking time yet.
So I was slave to the roast while my guests were socializing in the next room.
I never saw all of a television show, or movies or played all of the rounds of a game because I was babysitting the grill.
And then my savior, the wireless cooking thermometer came into my life! Now that I have a wireless cooking thermometer I just place the sensor in the meat, set the temperature I want on the thermometer and go about my business wherever I need to.
I can clip the receiver to my waist or slip it in a pocket while I work on another dish, watch television or hang out with my friends because I don't have to be imprisoned in the kitchen anymore.
I can just take a look now and then and see how far along the roast is so I can make sure my side dishes will be done at the appropriate time.
Now I get everything to the table as it was intended to be served, my meats are done just right and I'm still pretty popular even if I don't shop so well.