[nurishment.phsyical] Tea kettles and cooking

[wispfox]

So, um, apparently electric tea kettles are normal in Britian.

I have a stovetop one, and even _those_ aren't particularly 'normal' a thing to have. I think the normal method of boiling water for beverages is microwaving it in a cup (which I sometimes do, since I don't think there was a tea kettle in my house at all growing up).

This conversation fascinates the _hell_ out of me. Seriously! Both the conversation in the post I linked to, and the conversation in the comments _that_ post links to.

---

I don't cook. Pretty much ever. I try, infrequently, but it seems to be something for which I have the initiative only rarely, which means I never get good enough at anything to do it more or less automatically. (And no, I don't count boiling water for pasta - for example - as cooking, even though I often don't have initiative or energy for _that_) And I'm _way_ too easily distracted and fairly poor at keeping track of what all I'm doing, neither of which are good for cooking purposes.

Far more likely to want to bake than cook, I am. Even then, though, it's rare.

So the fact that I have nearly as many tools/containers for cooking as I have (a decent amount - I don't tend to frustrate people who want to use my kitchen nearly as much as I could!) is mostly because I hoped I would eventually actually 'learn to cook'. I no longer think it's about learning, though, and am more thinking that I just don't really _want_ to, healthier for me though it absolutely would be. And cheaper.

I suspect this is partly the fact that I don't really understand how cooking could be fun, especially if I'm cooking just for myself, or if it's something I need to do regularly (which, since I get tired of food quickly, is usually the case). Nor do I tend to like eating for its own sake. So it's a chore, and not - for me - a particularly easy or quick one. Especially since, when I'm aware that I'm hungry, I'm probably already starting to have low blood sugar problems.

Comments

[starphire.livejournal.com]

Not just in Britain, but other Commonwealth countries too.
Australia, NZ, etc. Also, those on-demand mini hot water heaters in the kitchen - instant water for tea at your fingertips.
At first, I found it strange. But they are convenient and fast at boiling water. Also, they shut off if the water boils away, so it doesn't melt down - can't say that for the stovetop kind.
(pardon me if that's all in the discussion - I didn't read it)

re: cooking - recipes bore me, so I make cooking more interesting by experimenting as soon as I've made something once according to the recipe. Actually, sometimes even the first time.
But yeah, I'm a lot more likely to cook something when there are other people to cook for too. Taking on the role got me in the habit of it being an everyday thing. The thing is, people I cook for soon begin to say they "forgot" how to cook, which seems to be an excuse to have me do all the cooking. It's happened more than once.
Anyway, it's the experimenting that makes it fun for me.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

on-demand mini hot water heaters in the kitchen - instant water for tea at your fingertips.

Those, I've seen - if you mean the ones that are attached to the sink?

they shut off if the water boils away, so it doesn't melt down

That's helpful! But my tea kettle whistles, so I notice when it's ready. It's _not_ quiet. :)

people I cook for soon begin to say they "forgot" how to cook, which seems to be an excuse to have me do all the cooking. It's happened more than once.

Well, for me, I have - once - gotten in the habit of cooking relatively regularly, but once I stopped, I really did forgot how to cook what I cooked most often. I'd need the recipe again.

Experimenting tends to result in... not terribly appetizing food, when I do it. *shrug*

[starphire.livejournal.com]

Yes, the ones that are attached to the sink, or at least the plumbing.

I must just have a strong memory for recipes and methods - something to make up for my terrible memory of movies (I will forget the plot and/or key scenes of a movie I've seen a few days ago, it's that bad).
When I experiment with food, I follow certain principles: things like salt and spices get added very sparingly, until it tastes right; I try not to overcook vegetables, since underdone isn't so bad for most veggies; anything that gets fried in a pan gets special attention, since it can go horribly wrong so quickly. Stuff like that.

[interactiveleaf.livejournal.com]

I think my favorite line was "how do you [Americans] boil water?"

[carocrow.livejournal.com]

You silly girl. What do you think we did before we had microwave ovens?

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Mrr?

Who?

I did say I have a tea kettle (stove top), just not an electric one.

Re: tea kettles and hot water

[wolfieboy.livejournal.com]

we have both a stove top tea kettle (2 actually) as well as a hot water dispenser on the sink. I think that was working when you visited but I'm not sure. I was broken for a while and I don't remember how long...

Re: tea kettles and hot water

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

May have been working; don't remember if I was ware of it or not.

*looks* I _did_ say that I have one, didn't I?

Yeah, ok. Just wondering. :)

Re: tea kettles and hot water

[wolfieboy.livejournal.com]

Yes, you did say so. I'm not sure that I was questioning such...

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

A good electric kettle is faster than a microwave, and a lot faster than the stovetop. The reason the kettle works so well is that the heat is contained, and all the heat goes towards heating the water. With a gas flame or an electric element, there's heat loss around the edges.

It's possible that those induction stoves are just as fast; I don't know. But, I have a $40-50 electric kettle, and I like it. Since it takes about two minutes to get hot water in my kitchen (I might be exaggerating, but it takes too-damn-long, even when you think "Okay, I know this is going to take a while, so I'll be patient.") I even use it for minor bits of cleaning, now; boil a cup or two of water, and put it into the dirty, greasy pan with a little soap and let it soak, and such.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

A good electric kettle is faster than a microwave, and a lot faster than the stovetop.

Yeah, I saw that. Made me start thinking about getting one. Except apparently they aren't cheap here, and my stovetop one works fine.

Interesting, as far as the cleaning part! My hot water does, in fact, get hot reasonably quickly, thankfully. Must make showering really, really annoying!

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

I used to use a stovetop kettle for one or two cup water heating, but I've been known to melt them, so when I dropped my most recent stovetop kettle on its head and broke the handle off, I replaced it with an electric kettle, which I'd learned to love in Australia, where they've been common since at least the seventies.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

I've been known to melt them

*blink* Really? Don't they whistle really loudly?

I mean, I can forget _everything_ cooking relating, but have yet to forget a teapot. Because they're loud. Also perhaps because I don't live in a very large place...

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

They only whistle loudly until someone manages to break the whistle. :) Also, if I'm in the middle of something, I ignore whistles and end up with a lot less water than I'd planned on. The electric one just shuts itself off.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

They only whistle loudly until someone manages to break the whistle. :)

Heh! Oh. Where _is_ the whistle? I presume you must know if you know they are breakable. ;)

I ignore whistles and end up with a lot less water than I'd planned on. The electric one just shuts itself off.

aaaah...

Nifty. I don't think I have the counterspace for one, or I might have to investigate getting one. :)

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

Electric kettles are fabulous inventions. The only reason I use a stovetop one instead is that space on the stovetop is less in demand than counter space in my kitchen at the moment.

Cooking: I'm trying to do it more because I know that given the chance, I will eat no vegetables in a given day and subsist on starch, and that's not good for me :) My tricks are:
*recipes with few ingredients so that a zillion leftover vegetables don't turn into science experiments in my fridge
*shameless use of convenience foods: I use boxed rice pilaf in particular all the time, as well as canned beans and frozen mixed veggies.
*things that freeze well! (Leftovers in tupperware in the freezer means I have lots of choices that are quick.)

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

*recipes with few ingredients so that a zillion leftover vegetables don't turn into science experiments in my fridge
*things that freeze well! (Leftovers in tupperware in the freezer means I have lots of choices that are quick.)

Any suggestions? I might actually cook if I had a reasonable sense of what would be reasonably easy, healthy, and such.

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

Yes!

Frozen mixed veggies are your friend. I buy huge bags of peas/carrots/corn at BJs, but grocery stores also have them.
1. Make rice pilaf (I love the Near East mix -- dump in boiling water, wait 20 minutes, and presto.) Put frozen veggies in bowl, microwave for a minute or two, put rice on top. Add cheese if you like it.
2. Make pasta. Throw veggies in for last 2 minutes of cooking time. Drain and put in tupperware (I make a week's worth of this at a time.) Before eating, microwave and douse with balsamic vinegar and salt or with pesto.

You can make your own burritos really easily and freeze them. Get a pack of tortillas, a box of Spanish rice mix, a jar of salsa and can of refried beans. If you're motivated, you could chop up a pepper and onion and stir fry them for 5 minutes in olive oil. Smear beans, rice, and veggies if using in a tortilla, add some salsa on top. Fold the ends in and roll it up. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and stick in freezer. Reheat in microwave. (The perk of this is that you can use up all the rice and beans at once.)

Pasta with roasted red peppers is one of my favorites: slice the pepper into strips, toss with olive oil and a clove or two of garlic you put through a press. In the oven for 10-15 minutes at 450 -- until all soft. Mix the peppers and oil from the pan with the pasta. (Using tinfoil on the sheet makes this much easier to clean up :->) Only needs one veggie!

Black beans: Drain a can of them, put them in a frying pan, add a little olive oil and some salsa (about half a cup). Cook with no lid until most of the liquid from the salsa is gone -- 10 minutes or so? Yummy with tortillas, tortilla chips, or couscous. (If you haven't discovered couscous, give it a try -- it takes 5 minutes to cook and is, IMHO, much more foolproof than rice :-> Also, to me, the whole wheat version, which is good for you, does not taste appreciably different than the other kinds.)

[moosemonster.livejournal.com]

It was major culture shock arriving at a hotel in the US and not having a kettle to boil water for tea. Finally worked out how to use the Coffee Thing to make hot water, which tasted like boiled jockstraps.

Another thing, kettles in the US are very slow because of the 110v power supply. In countries where you have 220v (and 240v in Australia), it's very fast to boil water, as for the same amount of electrical current, you get twice as much power.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

It was major culture shock arriving at a hotel in the US and not having a kettle to boil water for tea.

I vaguely remember there being a comment on IRC about this, mostly because I was so completely confused by the question.

kettles in the US are very slow because of the 110v power supply.

And I would _never_ have thought of this. Does make me wonder, however, if this means that electric kettles in the US are _still_ faster than stovetop, based on other comments in here.

cooking backstops

[sanityfaerie.livejournal.com]

I too am in the class of people who start thinking about food only after hitting the first few levels of food dep (sometimes not even then).

I've found it useful to develop a set of quick, easy recipes with ingredients that keep, and then trying to always have those ingredients on hand. Complement that with basic, inexpensive stuff that keeps and you can pretty much handle the starvation thing indefinately, if not well.

my personal list
- juice, in large bottles
- cereal and milk
- ramen
- bread and cheese (works as a decent sandwich uncooked or microwaved. Can be fried in butter if you're feeling fancy and you learn the trick of it.)
- canned fruit
- Good Old Raisins and Peanuts (no California Golds here. Grrr...)
- mac and cheese from the box (well, hey - we have milk and butter already.
- spaghetti and barbecue sauce (cook spaghetti. Add a pat or few of butter and barbecue sause to taste. Should color but not cover. It's a little wierd, but it works. Also works well with egg noodles.)
- hard salami (lunchmeat version) and canned pineapple. Plus bread makes a sandwich. Again, a little wierd, but I like it.
- tuna fish (you can do fancy things with tuna. i usually eat it straight out of the can with a fork.)
- One-a-day vitamin pills (not that you neccessarily eat one every day. Just sniff them every day or so and take one if you crave it.)

The idea here is to provide the basics, quickly and easily. Nothing takes longer to prepare than "cook pasta, mix stuff in." Personally, I use the thinnest spaghetti I can find, which means that the most prep time on the list goes to the box of mac and cheese. It's got a small amount of meat/fish/peanuts; plenty of pasta/bread/cereal, a fair amount of dairy, and some fruit. On top of that, you have the one a day pills to make sure that you don't short yourself on anything too badly. You have the fruit juice there in case your body gives you the five minute warning. Everything on there is cheap and decently healthy. You can use it as desperation food, depression food, or the blood sugar boost you need to do actual cooking. It's also boring enough that you'll still have a motive to find other ways of sustaining yourself every once in a while. Finally, except for the bread (and, potentially, the milk) everything on the list keeps like the dickens, so you can buy in bulk and stash it away until you need it.

Just some thoughts

thew Sanity Faerie

Re: cooking backstops

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Huh! Fascinating. You know, I should make a similar list for myself, since I have some of this already (all the time), but not all of it. And having fewer things around the house would make it easier to make a decision and actually _make_ something.

Neat! Thank you!

[alecto23.livejournal.com]

What pretty much everyone else has said.

I adore electric kettles. So much nicer than microwaving and unlike stovetop kettles, they shut themselves off if it turns out you're in the middle of something you can't interrupt when they finish boiling. Electric kettles were one of those things I adjusted to seamlessly when I moved here. They just make sense and it seems silly that they're not common in the US.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

They just make sense and it seems silly that they're not common in the US.

While I can't currently think of anything else, I suspect there are a _lot_ of things which fit this description!