The Electric Kettle

Our ability to cook or even boil water in our Astypalaian studio has always been quite limited.  We have a hot plate with a single burner to work with.  Not even a microwave or a toaster oven.  So in the morning when we want o make coffee we have to get out the spaghetti pot, fill it with water and set in on the burner to boil.  Our burner is not efficient, so it could take 20 minutes or so to get the water good and hot.  We then pour the boiling water into cups filled with Starbucks Via, which is instant coffee.

This year we decided that our lives would be dramatically improved if we just had an electric kettle to boil water for coffee or tea.  I can't live without one of these kettles at home. I drink way too much tea, and my grandmother taught me never to boil water for tea in the microwave.  So we spent 15 euro on a kettle and quickly pressed it into service.  It was wonderful!  Well, at least for a little while.

Soon we started to have power outages.  Power outages are very commonplace in Astypalaia, but I quickly noticed that our neighbors had power and we didn't. Our landlord came and showed us the fuse box and switches and we were able to reset the circuit breaker. This fix worked for a bit, but soon we could not reset the breaker.  So one morning we got up, realized that we had no power, and set off for work hoping that the cleaning lady would realize that we had electrical issues.  Right away she noticed the problem and remembered us struggling with the electricity the day before.

It seems the kettle was to blame for our electrical problems.  They say it draws too much power, or something along those lines.  Two electrical outlets and a fuse had to be replaced.  The most surprising thing was that the work was completed before we came back from the lab.  So now our kettle works and we are not suffering through random power outages!  Hurray!

Here is a photo of our beautiful new kettle along with some coffee making essentials.  The Nescafe was a gift from our landlord, this instant coffee is extremely popular in Greece.  I do not see the appeal, but I drink it.  The little blue can labeled NOY NOY is evaporated milk,  we cannot have coffee without NOY NOY!

Luckily we will be able to keep ourselves caffeinated.

More soon.