Let’s do this together

COMMUNITY CORNER

The Dark Lord is trying to convince me to get an air fryer for Christmas.

She’s been texting me Tiktok videos of delicious food made in air fryers, in the hope of persuading me. But I’m deliberately ignoring her.

I’m sure air fryers are really great, especially if you live alone, but I have a kitchen full of cooking devices.

I’ve amassed a sizeable collection over the years which includes a double oven (one of which only gets used at Christmas when my roasties need blasting), two microwaves (one’s in the wall), a toaster, a toastie maker, a popcorn maker, a rice maker, an ice-cream maker, and a Magimix, along with drawers of once-used-and-never-again gadgets, like sushi rolling mats and the poxy spiralizer.

What I really need is someone who will cook me dinner and not leave the kitchen looking like the Somme.

And I certainly don’t need another labour-saving device which takes more effort to get out of a box, than sticking a tray in the oven, takes up yet more storage, and will soon have a fine coating of sticky dust all over it.

“A hair dryer, you say,” I texted her back. “I have one of them, and about four different types of hair straighteners and curlers. None of which do the job they’re supposed to do.”

“Nooooo,” she kept badgering me. “An air fryer, look at all these yummy snacks.” And she hit me with a barrage of pictures of orange-looking food.

“They all just look like crispy fried chicken,” I replied.

“Yes,” she argued. “But it’s HEALTHY crispy fried chicken. It’s not cooked in oil.”

“But I don’t cook in oil. I pop stuff in the oven,” I told her, still completely unconvinced. “And anyway, we have a strictly one-out, one-in system when it comes to any gadgets now. And if an air dryer comes in…”

“Air FRYER, Mother,” she corrected me.

“Yes… if a stair fryer comes in, I will have to go.” There was silence. Then she replied. “I will miss you.”

Email me at siobhan.mcnally@mirror.co.uk or write to Community Corner, PO Box 791, Winchester SO23 3RP.

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