I have never underestimated the reach of a small neighborhood newspaper. Back on Dec. 4, I wrote an article about the Repair Cafe. Held on the first Saturday of every month at the Fox Recreation Center in the 600 block of South Oak Park Avenue, it is a magnificent concept that keeps repairable items out of landfills.
I had lamented in that column about my vintage Black Angus rotisserie oven. To this day, I can still remember being over at a friend’s house while we were in high school and she cooked a steak in one of those ovens. I still remember how good that steak was. The char-flavor was reminiscent of steak from a steakhouse. So when I had the opportunity to buy such an oven via eBay over 20 years ago, I jumped at the chance. And it has served me faithfully ever since.
When the tiny lamp-type vintage cord gave out, my first thought was to get it repaired over throwing it out. I had been reaching out to different repair locations, but the response I got was lacking. I even gave some thought to trying to rewire it myself. If all else failed, I could again go on eBay and look to buy a replacement. I actually did buy a replacement oven, but that oven’s timer knob was so hard to turn that the oven wouldn’t come on. So I returned it.
The December Repair Cafe put a new plug on my oven. But truthfully, the entire thing needed to be rewired for safety. When you live in a 100-year-plus bungalow like I do, fire is always a concern. A couple of days after I wrote the column about my situation, I got a phone call and someone told me if I dropped it off at the January Repair Cafe, they would have it ready for me by the February session. I was overjoyed. So I did just that. When I got the oven back, she was ready to cook. The two-prong plug that looked like it belonged on a lamp, was replaced with a heavy-duty three-prong one. I cooked in it and my steak was excellent. The timer now works correctly and even the little button to indicate the oven is on was glowing a beautiful red. Big shout-out and thanks to the Oak Park Repair Cafe!
Since I have another of those rotisserie ovens, I’m going to bring it to the March Repair Cafe. After having gotten the first one fixed, the identical second one will be a piece of cake. Hopefully others will look around their houses and find things that they don’t want to throw away and bring it in to see if it can be fixed.
The Repair Cafe limits each person to one item, but you can just plan on bringing something else the following month. I already have something ready for the April cafe.