Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

allison cook of the houston chronicle did a story on chilaquiles not too long ago.

http://blogs.chron.com/cookstour/archives/2009/09/of_chilaquiles.html#comments

To spice it up cook chorizo sausage (the crumbly Mexican kind, not the hard Spanish kind), drain well and mix with the migas before plating them.

Make sure you have lots of hot corn tortillas to eat on the side with salsa. And instead of a orange garnish give everyone 1/2 of a avocado, sliced.

I. Love. Migas. I think that was my favorite discovery while going to college in Austin (hook em)

I'm so glad more people are learning about them! Another great migas recipe is Lisa's on Homesick Texan!

http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/2008/05/migas-in-morning.html

Microwaves very effective at blowing up chestnuts. First they spin like tops and then BANG! Awesome fun.
Or eggs, but they don't spin as well.
If you get the thing set high enough, you can make butter foam fountains.
If you have an old microwave, putting in a plate that has a pretty gold rim is pretty entertaining. Zap! Zap!
Flies are smart enough to hide in the corners.
For culinary application that requires a molten center and frozen exterior, then the microwave is perfect.
As a book case, I find it too small for anything but trashy paperbacks.
And it makes a terrible doorstop.

Perhaps I should get a TV?

It's the best thing I've found for steaming a whole fish, Cantonese style. I don't have the BTUs for a wok and a steamer rig, so the microwave is awesome. And since that was my favorite dish growing up (thanks, Dad!), I will assert both to "needing" my microwave, and to maintaining whatever might exist of my foodie credibility (whatever that means).

This topic has cycled through before so let me just reiterate the same points I made a year and a half ago:

We were renting an apartment years ago that had the microwave over the stove. When it died we just did without it, never requesting a replacement from the landlord and I don't recall it being a hardship. When we later bought a place the kitchen of course had a brand spanking new stainless steel microwave over the stove.

We use that baby multiple times a day from breakfast to dinner and I honestly don't know how I was without one for those years way back when. I know I did it and it wasn't a big deal, but I use mine constantly nowadays. We still cook our hot cereal on the stovetop everyday out of habit from those years, but while the cereal is cooking, we make eggs in the microwave. I often defrost something for dinner and I can't imagine roasting spaghetti squash in the oven when cooking a half squash only takes 6 or 7 minutes in the microwave (think about the energy saved!). I keep frozen cubes of homemade stock in a freezer bag and usually melt these in a coffee mug with some water so that I don't have to add "ice" to something cooking on the stove. And all these folks who eschew the microwave and would rather melt chocolate in a double boiler seem crazy to me!

I guess I don't cook many things in the microwave from start to finish, but if the stove is crowded, I certainly don't mind making fresh broccoli or asparagus in the microwave. Plus there is less cleanup as you can usually serve right from the cooking dish. I know that I could do without one, but I just find it too helpful and convenient. Anything done in a food processor or stand mixer could be done by other means as well, but what's the big deal in taking advantage of convenience? I say no big deal either way.

sorry, germane not "germain"..... whew.... I need a beer!

I didn't have one for about a year, then got a free one finally - it was such a relief. It is such a pain to reheat things on the stove, especially when you're really hungry for dinner at the end of a long day of work.

I also like the microwave so I can defrost things like english muffins enough to split them before I toast them - I store them in the freezer because I live alone & go through the package quite slowly.

I certainly wouldn't pay $130 to get it fixed, though. You could buy a new one for $60ish or get a used one for probably $30ish, or even free.

I have not had a microwave for over two years now. The only thing I have had issues doing is making fast popcorn, however fresh stove-top popcorn is so much better, and getting to toss fresh popcorn with your own butter/saeoning mixture is like so much better than any quick popping method. Ohhh, and when I'm lazy, Jiffypop is soooo much fun!

You can reheat most stuff in a pan, or if you want to go old school, you can place a place of food you are reheating over a boiling pot of water, just be careful taking it off.

I also lost a considerable amount of weight not having one.

Question-how does an unplugged microwave give you a shock?

Cafe Zola on Washington. I know it's not strictly Italian, but their menu is basically Mediterranean, with a heavy Italian tilt. Honestly, it's my favorite place in town.

A microwave can be better than the oven or stove to reheat very liquid things. Things involving water or steam. It is fast and activates the heat from within the objects. However, if the objust is mostly solid, its ok, but not better, and may be worse than the oven or stove.

In the microwave I can reconstitute dry rockhard biscuits. I dont think I would be so successful elsewhere. I can heat water super fast. I can reheat chicken or pork to very warm and still moist (with lid) where the oven may dry it because of the time it takes to reach "very warm".

As for the question, it begs the next question, do you pay $130 for a repair on a $80 item? How much to buy a new microwave?