A few weeks ago, Kyle sat me down on the couch and held my hands in his.

“Amanda,” he said, “I think we need to buy a new coffee maker.”

Outside, a bird chirped.

“You have to be frickin’ kidding me,” I said.

Our waffle iron was originally purchased by Kyle’s grandfather sometime between the invention of electricity and World War II.  It included two sets of removable plates in order to make either the world’s flattest sandwich or the world’s flattest waffle, presumably for the discerning gentleman who wanted to replace his pocket hanky with a snackable carbohydrate.   It is the exact opposite of non-stick, requiring a vat of butter to remove the waffle once baked – which takes a lot longer than you’d expect considering the machine gets so hot that part of the process is burning oneself as a reminder of the dining experience.  So why haven’t we replaced it?  It works great.  It works without needing any sort of troubleshooting or repair or brainpower beyond, “How do I use this waffle iron without burning off my arm hair?  Oops, not that way.”  If you come to my house and want a waffle, you’ll get a waffle.

This past weekend, my mother gifted me her 1980’s bread maker.  The bread maker came into our lives around the same time as our family’s first microwave, which was replaced years ago due to factors such as “lacking a separate setting for popcorn” and “radon.”  The bread maker, however, endured.

“I wiped it out and plugged it in and it worked great,” my mom said.

“Of course,” I said.

We made a loaf of bread.  The bread maker came with a 100+-page cookbook entitled, “Electric Bread”  with the word “Electric” in a long neon scribble because the first ingredient in food made in the 80’s was pizzazz.  We opted for a simple white loaf just to confirm it ACTUALLY worked great.  Interestingly, the recipe for the plain white bread was page 26 of the cookbook because no one was basic enough for basic bread back in ye olde days of Aquanet and tulle.  Also interestingly, the recipe page was not a recipe at all; it was only a list of ingredients.

“What are the steps for making this bread?”  I asked my mom.

“You just dump everything in,” my mom said.  “Except the yeast; that goes in this little area.”

“How do you know that?”  I said.

“Everyone knows that,” she said.

For four hours the bread maker thumped and creaked like a boulder encased in a mountain that had recently become sentient and decided to wriggle itself free.  The result was a delicious loaf of bread.

Now if you come to my house and want bread, you’ll get bread.

Back on the couch, Kyle rubbed the top of my hand with his thumb.

“We’ve made multiple pots of coffee a day for two years,” Kyle said.  “The coffee maker doesn’t really owe us anything.”

“I like that coffee maker,” I said.  “I don’t want to buy a new one.”

“You can buy the same one,” he said.

“I already own the same one,” I said.

For the next several days, I scoured the Internet for ways to turn my coffee maker into a 1950’s waffle iron or 1980’s bread maker.  I unplugged it.  I stuck a pin in a tiny hole.  I washed out the pot, and the machine, and the filter area, and the bread maker because I made, like, ten more loaves of bread.

“I think I fixed it,” I told Kyle.  “It doesn’t tell us all of the things it used to tell us when it brewed, but it does brew.”

The next morning, Kyle came up to the bathroom as I was getting dressed.

“In good news, the coffee maker does work,” he said.

“Yes,” I said.

“In bad news, the coffee is not hot.”

While I am good with thin waffles and thumpy bread, cold coffee is my limit.  I ordered a new coffee maker that afternoon.  I also ordered a bag of fancy flavored coffee to pizzazz up my basic white – so that I can sit and enjoy a bit of breakfast while I scroll online estate sales for a 1940’s percolator that may not tell me the time or delay start, but still works great.

---

Kyle went to a historic fort and bought me a souvenir, which was this hat. I’m pretty sure it’s a nightcap but for me it’s also a daycap. I think it was meant to be a joke, but the joke is on him because I love it. It felt right to have a quick photo shoot with my daycap and old coffee maker, and that is the photo above.

---

This week on North Dakota Today we talked about Keely Graves, my Nice Person of the Week, and the Jamestown Police.  Enjoy! (Valley News Live)

Speaking of North Dakota Today, congratulations to co-host Sophia Richards – Miss North Dakota 2024! (Valley News Live)

And speaking of Misses, congratulations to Claire Graner, Miss Rodeo North Dakota 2025! (News Dakota)

AND speaking of congratulations, Minot’s Cody Campbell was named the North American Hockey League’s Coach of the Year! (KFYR TV)

ANNNND speaking of “year,” happy birthday to Lori Hoots and Lois Lasher! (KFYR TV)

While I’m not sure anyone really LOVES extreme weather, one of the beautiful things about the North Dakota landscape is that you can see the bulk of any system (and sometimes multiple systems) from your front lawn. (Williston Herald)

We all know I love me a good mural. (Grand Forks Herald)

Kyle and his friends, Corey and Kelly, have a podcast called North Dakota After Dark where they talk about youth hockey in North Dakota.  The latest episode is up and is an interview with Jason Marshall.  Check it out. Bonus: you can watch it on YouTube. (North Dakota After Dark)

---