After seven years of using a local cooking range that V had got in his solitary abode/bachelor days here, I finally managed to make him agree to a new one that would help me bake proper cakes with the help of an inbuilt thermostat. I complained that the gas burners didnt emit strong flames for faster cooking - the gas pressure through the piped supply probably being one reason why they were not as fast as cylinders I had used in India - and that the oven door would soon give away.
On each mall trip, I trooped into appliance stores dragging a reluctant V, who tried to dilly dally as much as possible. I proposed that we use the money I had got for the Book Fair work, while he like typical Malloo men here advised we remain cautious about spending - saving money for his parents' future illnesses, kids education and our post-retirement needs. Anyway, on the penultimate day of DSF or Dubai Shopping Festival, I sauntered into EMax, a popular store from where we had made our last big purchase - a Frigidaire washing machine on the salesman's hard-sell, although I would have preferred a Samsung with an add-wash vent. While V fell for its 5-star rating for energy consumption, I wasnt impressed by its buttons that often warranted an extra hard push to get the required function. All the machines I have seen have a knob that makes changing wash cycles easy, but not this. So I told myself I will not fall for another salesman's persuasive talk about brands that I am unfamiliar with.
As I eyed the Bosch and Siemens stoves, a sales expert appeared from nowhere. A discounted Siemens model for AED 3600 was just what I fancied - gas burners and an electric oven. I called V over, and he heard salesman Mobin's arguments in favour of a few brands. While he dismissed Bosch and Siemens made in Turkey as no good, and Italian brands like Bertazzoni and Terim as not worthy of the trouble, he pushed a European brand called Gorenje (pronounced Goren-ye) made in Turkey as the best option if we were looking for a more economical buy. I quickly looked up online and found it was a Slovenian brand and decided to ask bro if it was a good buy. I couldnt reach him, and meanwhile V made up his mind to buy it since it was only 2200 dh after a good DSF discount. He convinced me that we should wait for the Bosch when we return to India for good, maybe in 5-10 years. Mobin allayed my doubts about the thermostat, and said it had a knob for temperature control.
V was already making the payment when bro messaged to say that Gorenje was a little-known brand with mid-level reviews in the UK. He suggested I go for Bosch or Siemens, and not to fall for retirement dreams and plans - he cited the case of a relative who died on his last day of duty as a helicopter pilot and his body that was never retrieved from the sea off Bombay. V didnt brook any change, and I left around mall closing time feeling a bit confused.
The stove delivery from Better Life took a week, and then we had to wait another 3 days for the SEWA guy to give the gas connection because of the weekend holiday.
I took out the brochure to check its oven settings, and to my dismay found it had no thermostat and that I would have to continue using the oven thermometer and my hit or miss cake baking sessions. We called Mobin to register our grievance; seeing he had erred he stopped taking our call. I then made a formal complaint (even asking them to take it back), which was answered by their customer service guy, who contended that only top-end models had the electric oven option (which wasnt true). Unlike the West, such complaints will not see much success here and so here I am adjusting myself to a stove I am unhappy with. V promised to get me a small oven for baking, but where to fit it in my cramped kitchen is the question.
Yesterday, I finally agreed to bake a cake - a marble one for the first time - in the Gorenje on my kids' entreaties. The result was better than in the old stove since this one has a fan for even heat distribution. With V ignoring my requests to buy an OTG now, I will have to practise my baking skills in the Slovenian for some time. More depressing is the realisation that I will be too old or too ill to cook by the time we buy a high-end model for retirement life.
p.s. The old stove was put up for give away in a Facebook charity group, and I was flooded with pleas from women members. It is first-comment-first-serve, however in consultation with the admin I offered it to a Filipina mom who said she was using her friend's stove. Her husband came to collect it, and later put a picture of her children happily posing in front of it. I hope her tale was true, and that I gave it to a needy person and not someone trying to sell it off.
#Gorenje cooking range #Emax
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