George and I often seem to stumble across trends right before they become big. Not because we are super-smart and prescient, but because one of us happens to want to buy a particular thing. For example, when we wanted to buy Chuck Taylor All-Star high tops in mid-2000 we had to special-order them because the company said they were going out of business. Six months later, the company had been sold to Nike and Chucks adorned the feet of hipsters everywhere. When we went looking for a folding screen to decorate and semi-partition a room that same year, we couldn't find one anywhere. A year later, folding screens were all over the pages of Pottery Barn.

I've since gotten wise to this phenomenon. When I couldn't find a single pair of granny boots in fall 2003 or navy heels in winter 2004, I knew those were about to be part of big trends in a few months' time. That's why I believe that the next big culinary trend is waffles.

The Cuisinart waffle maker we got five years ago as a wedding gift is starting to break. It still works, but some of the outer plastic parts are not well attached and have cracked or fallen off. George would like to replace it with something sturdier, so every time we go into a store that sells small appliances he looks for waffle irons. So far, all he's found are panini grills, quesadilla makers, Belgian waffle bakers, and the exact same Cuisinart waffle iron we're having so much trouble with. Apparently, there is no love for the traditional thin waffle among the hoi polloi these days.

Searching online, I managed to find this waffle iron on the fifth page of Froogle, after removing Belgians from the equation and skipping over countless heart-shaped and Disney-shaped options and dozens of the same Cuisinart model we're trying to replace. So it looks like we can get our hands on a good, basic, sturdy waffle iron, suitable for making waffles and cheese sandwiches.

A year from now, when Waffle House is the hip place to go, you can say you heard it here first.