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In November I visited a very good friend in Virginia. At one point she mentioned how she was unhappy that her ex made off with the waffle iron. I thought pensively and sadly to myself how the utter lack of home made waffles in her life was only multiplied by the loss of the iron itself. Thus began a search for a great waffle iron. It was a surprisingly long road.

I had bought a Villaware model 2001 from Williams Sonoma in 2001 that I am very happy with. But it’s a Belgian iron and she said she didn’t like such big crusty waffles. Besides, they don’t make the model any more, the replacement isn’t that well rated.

I stood in the San Francisco Williams Sonoma googling their waffle irons; starting at $180, you would think the All-Clad machines would be well rated, but “eh”. Surly Table was about the same. Standing in the basement at Macy’s, the Cuisinart $30 iron got good recommendations; and then I realized it would cost almost as much to ship it as it cost. Finally, I got a trial subscription to Cooks Illustrated online to look at reviews. They liked the M840 Wafflepro Express. I read a gazillion reviews. Many love, some hate. It was good to see that most of the hates were things like “It doesn’t make my mom’s traditional recipe the way I want it to!”

So here’s what I got her from Amazon:  Chef’s Choice M840 WafflePro Express Waffle Maker, Traditional Five of Hearts

Is it a good waffle maker? Late one evening, about 2 weeks after mailing the machine, I got the following text:

Im drunk and i have been eating waffles all night. You are amazing

This is about the greatest text I have ever received.