Nice People 12: Nice in Nice

PasturesNew

SingleSue wrote: »

Josh can only do toast using a toaster and he has to be reminded to keep a watch even then! It's not laziness or anything like that, his memory is so poor, he forgets he is cooking something.

That is one of the complex reasons I don't cook. I am petrified of forgetting I am cooking, so HAVE to stay BY the cooker/whatever and be guaranteed to not get distracted.

Once he's mastered toast in a toaster .... you can make a cheese toastie by putting slices of cheese on each piece, into a microwave (on a piece of paper towel to stop mess, then nuke for 30 seconds. I then flip one piece onto the other piece in the microwave and press it down ... to minimise trying to juggle two pieces of cheese-laden toast. You can also add other things - e.g. cheese/tomato toastie, or cheese/pickle toastie.

Toast remains crispy, cheese is melted.

One thing to consider is more microwave cooking - purely because it has a timer/ping when it's done.... safer, quicker..... and usually less washing up. I've a "foolproof" macaroni cheese that's 100% safe and can never be a life-threatening experience.

hjd

zagubov wrote: »

Milk cartons on window sills were common, secured in carrier bags or course. I went past my first year halls this summer. A converted hotel on the High street in the city centre.

It had a dining hall but utility rooms with small cooking devices that were electric rings you could put a pan on top and slide a tiny tray of toast underneath, not sure that they're called TBH.

Probably don't exist any more, like cassette players or black and white tellies. Actually portable tellies were rare as hens teeth among students in the 70s. The Halls had a TV room and you all had to go en masse to see TOTP or Dr Who or the like.

I remember having a TV room in my student halls. Don't think I visited it much - have never been much of a TV fan and probably not wanting to watch what the majority wanted to see.
One of my first dates with the later to become DH was to the cinema to see Star Wars. I was deeply unimpressed at the time.

lostinrates

PasturesNew wrote: »

That is one of the complex reasons I don't cook. I am petrified of forgetting I am cooking, so HAVE to stay BY the cooker/whatever and be guaranteed to not get distracted.

Once he's mastered toast in a toaster .... you can make a cheese toastie by putting slices of cheese on each piece, into a microwave (on a piece of paper towel to stop mess, then nuke for 30 seconds. I then flip one piece onto the other piece in the microwave and press it down ... to minimise trying to juggle two pieces of cheese-laden toast. You can also add other things - e.g. cheese/tomato toastie, or cheese/pickle toastie.

Toast remains crispy, cheese is melted.

I forget stuff in the oven all the time. Usually to its benefit. .

PasturesNew

zagubov wrote: »

... haslet ...

I don't know what that is, but I know there were sometimes a few slices in a packet in the fridge when I was younger ..... I'll google it.

In British English, Haslet, (also spelled 'Acelet'), refers to a pork meatloaf with herbs, originally from Lincolnshire.

Ooooh - sounds a bit tasty! American version's nasty innards though.

vivatifosi

Nothing goes in the oven here without the timer being set. It would be impossible to accidentally leave something unless you were unconscious.

The weird foodstuff from my childhood that I'm glad not to see again is bread and dripping. Obviously I don't have an issue with the bread part... bread is lovely, but dripping... urgh.

lostinrates

PasturesNew wrote: »

My sibling recently said she'd forgotten a chicken she was roasting in her oven (my god that hole is an utter disaster zone of mayhem, spits and drips)..... I think it was 4-5 hours before she smelt something "not right" .... I was surprised it hadn't caught fire as in all my nightmare scenarios, I always expect every appliance and all food to spontaneously combust if not watched/forgotten.

Ovens no, Grills yes. Oh, and word to the wise, don't toast marshmallows in your kitchens over the hob.

PasturesNew

lostinrates wrote: »

Ovens no, Grills yes. Oh, and word to the wise, don't toast marshmallows in your kitchens over the hob.

I've not grilled a sausage for over 30 years as the spitting oil in the grill pan petrifies me. I can't even be in the room when somebody else is grilling fatty things on a grill.

This fear of fire, fear of electrical/cooking items etc isn't a new thing for me, the fears have always been there. In every kitchen, in every oven, everywhere, always.

I've shortly to face another of my fears.... turning the boiler on for the heating .... I hate boilers, gas flames, the fear of fire and not knowing what it's doing. Petrified to walk into the room where it is in case it's about to explode. etc.

These things won't go away....

PasturesNew

the other thing I do with toasters - and this doesn't work if you share a toaster with anybody else as they "fiddle" with them ..... I have the toaster set so it's not done when it pops up. It's about 3/4 done. What then happens is I put toast in - and it pops up. So I don't forget. Once it's popped up, I turn the toast round and put it on again - but this time I stand by it religiously as I know it's "almost done" and I press the CANCEL button when it looks the right colour.

As a rule of thumb, it takes me 2x as long to cook anything as other people due to the systems I've put in place to not muck things up.

e.g. if I am making scrambled eggs and tinned tomatoes on toast, then I put the bread in the toaster, then I scramble the eggs in a jug and put that into the microwave, then I open the tomatoes, take the tops off, and put the tomatoes into a dish. I then get out the marg and a fork and the brown sauce. Only when everything is laid out and ready to go, do I start cooking, which is then just turning everything on and watching it all. Everything, in all dishes, has to be prepared and laid out before I start the actual cooking bit.

PasturesNew

.... and if you think that's easy, there's my fear of microwave ovens. Not worried about the microwaves - it's the fact the oven gets hot ... and all the steam inside it. I'll often, therefore, stop the microwave quite often and wipe it down inside and let the steam out, before I continue with the cooking.

I expect it all to just spontaneously combust, or the whole microwave oven to explode.

... and you lot wonder why I eat crisps and toast so often

I think one of the reasons I like mini ovens so much is that, in case of disaster, it's possible to carry them out to the garden after they've spontaneously combusted..... and you can see all the way round them (see/spot problems, smoke, fire) ..... sucks to be me really.

lostinrates

PasturesNew wrote: »

.... and if you think that's easy, there's my fear of microwave ovens. Not worried about the microwaves - it's the fact the oven gets hot ... and all the steam inside it. I'll often, therefore, stop the microwave quite often and wipe it down inside and let the steam out, before I continue with the cooking.

I deal with that by not cooking using one

We bought that one for the eye thing I am meant to use. DH cooked something in it which burned badly, and I haven't seen the eye thing for a while.