Sonia Majumder

Some people romanticise cooking with sprawling kitchens, marble countertops, and appliances that cost more than a weekend getaway. I’ve found unexpected comfort in my Black+Decker mini oven—small, practical, slightly underestimated, and doing exactly what it’s meant to do.

I didn’t always feel this way. Earlier this year, I fell hard for the air fryer hype. It was everywhere—online, in group chats, in “what I eat in a day” videos. Crispy this. Life-changing that. So of course, I bought one, convinced it would revolutionise my relationship with food and time. What it actually did was leave me confused.

Most things I cooked—vegetables, chicken, potatoes—everything came out with the same strange texture. Chewy. Slightly rubbery. Almost… plastic. I tweaked temperatures, followed recipes, experimented with oils, shook baskets halfway through like I was told. Still, the results were underwhelming. Except chicken wings. Eventually, I stopped forcing it.

That’s when my mini oven stepped into the picture.

There’s something grounding about baking food the old-fashioned way, even in a compact countertop oven. You turn a dial. You wait. You let heat do its thing slowly. The smell builds gently instead of hitting you all at once. Cooking feels less like a hack and more like a process.

Today evening, with no big plan and no recipe saved, I decided to keep things simple. Broccoli, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, and chicken. The kind of meal that doesn’t try to impress but always delivers.

I tossed everything together with olive oil, letting it coat each piece just enough. Then came the basics—salt and cracked pepper, a generous sprinkle of mixed herbs, chicken broth and a spoon of garlic paste worked through the vegetables and chicken until everything smelled comforting and familiar. Nothing fancy. Into the mini oven it went.

No weird textures. No fake crunch. Pulling out the tray felt quietly satisfying. Everything cooked evenly. Everything smelled right. Maybe that’s what I missed with the air fryer. Not everything needs to be hyped or, sped up.

Sometimes the smallest appliances bring you back to the simplest pleasures—warm meals, familiar smells, and the feeling that home doesn’t have to be complicated.

Have a beautiful day. Until the next post!