I don't toss a salad -- I just put the stuff I am going to eat in the bowl I'm going to eat it from, dump vinegar and oil on it, then cut it with a knife and fork so it blends. I don't EVER eat creamy/thick dressing though.
― Laura Lucy Lynn (La Lechera), Friday, 16 March 2012 16:03 (twelve years ago) link
I like to taste the vegetables I'm eating, so not a lot of dressing for me in general.
― Laura Lucy Lynn (La Lechera), Friday, 16 March 2012 16:04 (twelve years ago) link
xxpost LOL
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Friday, 16 March 2012 16:04 (twelve years ago) link
washing up the pan is a task from Hell.
give me a break. first of all, don't let it burn on the bottom. second of all, if you DO let it burn on the bottom, just squirt some detergent in it, put some water in and let it soak for 10 minutes or whatever, sheesh. i like doing it on the hob so i can stir in raisins, pour in a bit of milk, etc. i think the stirring makes it creamier.
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Friday, 16 March 2012 16:06 (twelve years ago) link
What's wrong with the microwave?
― aka vanilla bean (remy bean), Friday, 16 March 2012 16:08 (twelve years ago) link
tracer is this super-basic for non-cooks threadgo easy on em
― Laura Lucy Lynn (La Lechera), Friday, 16 March 2012 16:11 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, seriously. There's nothing in the universe wrong with not wanting to wash an extra dish.
― carl agatha, Friday, 16 March 2012 16:12 (twelve years ago) link
After I've microwaved the oatmeal for three minutes and let it set for about one minute, I stir in the flavorings -- some butter, some milk, some sugar or honey, some cinnamon. The stirring definitely makes it creamier, but I don't see any need to do it over heat. And one bowl to wash is better than a bowl and a saucepan.
― Carlos Pollomar (WmC), Friday, 16 March 2012 16:12 (twelve years ago) link
give me a break.
Clearly you are a person who washes up more or less immediately after using things. Dried porridge. Adhesive stuff.
― Fizzles, Friday, 16 March 2012 16:12 (twelve years ago) link
1. take porridge out of pan2. add some water to the pan from the tap - maybe even quirt in some detergent and hot water!3. eat, do whatever4. wash up pan
― uh oh i'm having an emotion (c sharp major), Friday, 16 March 2012 16:15 (twelve years ago) link
*squirt
It certainly isn't complicated I agree, and yet...
― Fizzles, Friday, 16 March 2012 16:23 (twelve years ago) link
Gah you guys are being such pedants! It's a thread for ppl who don't cook, give them a break ffs!
― Laura Lucy Lynn (La Lechera), Friday, 16 March 2012 16:26 (twelve years ago) link
the thought of washing up puts me off even stirring pesto into pasta in the pot, also any and all frying, also anything requiring "separate bowls"
― lex pretend, Friday, 16 March 2012 16:27 (twelve years ago) link
frying is super messy, i agree
do you use dishwashing gloves? i find that they reduce the yuck factor at least a little.
― Laura Lucy Lynn (La Lechera), Friday, 16 March 2012 16:29 (twelve years ago) link
it's not really the yuck factor so much as the...lazy factor. i don't mind scrubbing stuff. but even leaving it a couple of hours after the meal makes it so much more of a hassle - it's just Another Thing to remember doing and i have enough of those generally
― lex pretend, Friday, 16 March 2012 16:32 (twelve years ago) link
then i cannot help youyou have to consider cooking to be a valuable activity if you are going to motivate yourself to do it
― Laura Lucy Lynn (La Lechera), Friday, 16 March 2012 16:33 (twelve years ago) link
yeah that's why you have to do it pretty much right after. it's one of those grown-up things like actually opening mail.
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Friday, 16 March 2012 16:35 (twelve years ago) link
oh lex
i am the dishwasher in our household, and while i don't mind it (gets me out of shit like cleaning floors), i'm always amazed how many dishes we generate in one day (or one meal).
― 40oz of tears (Jordan), Friday, 16 March 2012 16:35 (twelve years ago) link
like a couple pots and pans for heating things up, plates, salad bowls, and small bowls or ramekins for the all-important dipping sauces
― 40oz of tears (Jordan), Friday, 16 March 2012 16:36 (twelve years ago) link
it's one of those grown-up things like actually opening mail.
oh god i am terrible at this too!
if someone else has been good enough to cook for me i'm happy to do all the washing up but doing it all myself, punctuated by 10 minutes of eating...
i wish at some point in my life i'd had someone to cook with but right now it's just years of resentment built up at hearing "it's so easy" "it's an essential life skill" "why don't you cook" etc etc etc
― lex pretend, Friday, 16 March 2012 16:38 (twelve years ago) link
fuck opening mail
― 40oz of tears (Jordan), Friday, 16 March 2012 16:40 (twelve years ago) link
Just try it, and make it a part of your routine. Make sandwiches! Make salads. Make anything.
― Laura Lucy Lynn (La Lechera), Friday, 16 March 2012 16:40 (twelve years ago) link
Start with things that are based on assembly and require no extra dishes to wash, then work your way up from there.
― Laura Lucy Lynn (La Lechera), Friday, 16 March 2012 16:41 (twelve years ago) link
i'm hard on you lex because i've been there. there have been checks i failed to cash in time purely because i left the envelope lying unopened for like three months
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Friday, 16 March 2012 16:42 (twelve years ago) link
if i could think of any cookbook to give lex it might be the long out of print "a cookbook for poor poets (and others)", which has a whole section on "one pot meals" and whose initial injunction is to have always, at a minimum, some bread, some butter, and a bottle of wine
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Friday, 16 March 2012 16:43 (twelve years ago) link
For example:
Get a rotisserie chicken and pick off all the chicken. Use it to make salads! Tacos/tostadas! Sandwiches. Whatever. You do not have to actually cook the chicken to make things with the chicken. You just have to actually have edible food in your kitchen and put it together and then eat it.
I also hate opening mail btw. Love cooking, though.
― Laura Lucy Lynn (La Lechera), Friday, 16 March 2012 16:43 (twelve years ago) link
problem with always having some bread if one is not actually a poor poet is that it translates to one always having some stale bread, and one always throwing a lot of bread away.
― ledge, Friday, 16 March 2012 16:45 (twelve years ago) link
Ducks, ledge, ducks.
― Fizzles, Friday, 16 March 2012 16:47 (twelve years ago) link
Though if you try feeding the ducks in London it quickly becomes a scene from The Birds.
i freeze bread! sometimes on the day of purchase, sometimes if i've had it lying around for a few days and know i won't be able to finish it before it gets mouldy. then it's just raw toast
― lex pretend, Friday, 16 March 2012 16:47 (twelve years ago) link
there have been checks i failed to cash in time purely because i left the envelope lying unopened for like three months
my entire life
― lex pretend, Friday, 16 March 2012 16:48 (twelve years ago) link
I lost (paper) plane tickets about 13 years ago because they were buried under a pile of mail I was avoiding. When I found them, I wrote NEVER LOSE ANYTHING EVER AGAIN on the envelope and I still have it.
― Laura Lucy Lynn (La Lechera), Friday, 16 March 2012 16:52 (twelve years ago) link
and the plane tickets
organising my life is a process. i'm just about getting there w/r/t finances. i know where my keys are about 60% of the time which is a huge improvement.
i actually really like...unmixed food? idk whether this is odd. i like eating ingredients separately and will often do so way before i realise they can be put together.
― lex pretend, Friday, 16 March 2012 16:57 (twelve years ago) link
Fine then, focus on things that require assembly rather than 'cooking'
― Laura Lucy Lynn (La Lechera), Friday, 16 March 2012 17:01 (twelve years ago) link
Or just eat a handful of chicken
then a handful of lettuce followed by a handful of bread. it will make a sandwich in your stomach.
― 40oz of tears (Jordan), Friday, 16 March 2012 17:04 (twelve years ago) link
You do not have to actually cook the chicken to make things with the chicken.
This is the truest fact I have seen in all week. It's now on my office wall.
― Jaq, Friday, 16 March 2012 17:07 (twelve years ago) link
Re. bread freezing. Slice bread, put 2-3 slices per bag into freezer bag, can be debagged and toasted from frozen. Takes only a few seconds longer to toast than fresh bread.
This assumes you need to slice your own bread, I don't buy sliced, but if you do - even easier!
― Also unknown as Zora (Surfing At Work), Friday, 16 March 2012 17:07 (twelve years ago) link
rice cooker oatmeal 4 life
― call all destroyer, Friday, 16 March 2012 17:08 (twelve years ago) link
Rotisserie chicken, if you can get a well-seasoned and tasty one that doesn't turn to pools of fat in the bag, from a pretty good grocer, is like the most useful thing ever. It makes SO MANY OTHER THINGS and can last one person like A WEEK.
Then if you are slightly more than a non-cooking cook, you can freeze those suckers to make stock with later without ever cleaning or roasting the chix yourself.
― drawn to them like a moth toward a spanakopita (Laurel), Friday, 16 March 2012 17:11 (twelve years ago) link
Plus they're like $5 or $6 usually!
We get them at Costco (it's on my way home from work) - inexpensive, hot and tasty. Chop meat + skin, mix with broccoli, cream, shredded cheese of some sort, bake if feeling fancy, nuke for 6 minutes if not, eat.
― Jaq, Friday, 16 March 2012 17:20 (twelve years ago) link
I like the costco chickens but since I rarely drive during the week, I just roast my own - it's pretty simple.
― L'ennui, cette maladie de tous les (Michael White), Friday, 16 March 2012 17:22 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, I don't get home until well after 7 most nights anymore. We end up mostly roasting chicken thighs now instead of whole birds.
― Jaq, Friday, 16 March 2012 17:24 (twelve years ago) link
I do that a lot too. Good portion control and they cook pretty fast.
― L'ennui, cette maladie de tous les (Michael White), Friday, 16 March 2012 17:40 (twelve years ago) link
I don't get the hate for washing dishes upthread, I love washing dishes. anyway, I've never been able to get emulsifying a dressing? Any tips?
― JacobSanders, Friday, 16 March 2012 18:05 (twelve years ago) link
do you add mustard?
― just sayin, Friday, 16 March 2012 18:09 (twelve years ago) link
sometimes, depending on what sort of dressing I'm trying to make, but most of the dressings I've made from scratch failed to taste like I want them to.
― JacobSanders, Friday, 16 March 2012 18:15 (twelve years ago) link