Thursday Thoughts

[yendi]

So, the kitchen has, as some may have noticed, become something of an obsession for me. :-) I've been updating my Amazon Wish List with all sorts of obscenely expensive items, which has been quite fun (the link is provided so you can buy me DVDs and books, of course -- only my mom could possibly afford the food processor). It's amazing how far some of the gadgets have come since I was a kid (Mom had plenty of kitchen gadgets, but I haven't had anything beyond a George Foreman Grill and a small mixer in a long time).

I've also decided that I want to put some serious effort into getting the kitchen rearranged. Right now, things aren't always in the most accessible of places. This is largely due to the kitchen design -- no cabinets at ground level (other than below the sink), and not enough at head level. It's one of the few major design flaws of the house. I'm not sure how to go about it, but it'll be something I take a look at over the next few days. Along with actually organizing the cookbooks a bit, too. :-)

On other fronts: Interesting weblink of the day: http://www.dontlink.com/ -- a blog that points out stupid linking policies at other sites (and then deep-links to them). Hasn't been updated in a bit, but it's still a fun read.

Interesting LJ of the day (although a handful of you already read it, and I got the link from kajivar, I think): thefirstevil -- yep, the First Evil from Buffy. :-) Like most character and fictional journals, it may peter out eventually, but it's got some cute stuff for now.

Oh, and shadesong was at Best Buy last night, and they had a great deal on Buffy Season 3, so we now have it! Woohoo! And the flyer inside said that season 4 will be out in June!

Comments

[voltbang.livejournal.com]

Yes, the kitchen in your house looks like it wasn't designed, so much as tossed in as an afterthought. It doesn't inspire me to want to cook.

[hotcoffeems.livejournal.com]

It's not the worst-designed kitchen I've ever seen, but it's up there.

Hey! I see what you're listening to! I have that album ON VINYL. Old fart, old fart...

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Some of those cube-shaped build-your-own-furniture stuff, the ones they sell at Target, may work - do you think? I agree, the kitchen drives me nuts.

[teapot-farm.livejournal.com]

Why an electric wok? What is the advantage over a standard wok? Seems to me that it would take up more storage space and give you less flexibility with temperature - though I guess if you're using an electric hob, the latter is not such an issue (I'm used to gas, and prefer it).
And that is a marvellously optimistic wish list :) I'm impressed...

[voltbang.livejournal.com]

I had an electric wok, I might still have it, and I never got the hang of it. Didn't heat nicely, couldn't do wokly stuff with it. It was just an overlarge hot plate.

[yendi]

Vinyl? What's that? ;-)

I never owned the song until CDs came along -- got it a few years back on one of those "New Wave Hits of the '80s" disks.

[yendi]

Well, what's the point of a wish list if it's not full of wishes? :-)

[yendi]

Hmm. Between what you and Gill say, I may switch my wish to a regular wok.

[yendi]

I'm thinking of those. I don't want to use the yaffa blocks we have, simply for aesthetic reasons.

[hotcoffeems.livejournal.com]

Sheesh...I don't think my AARP membership is paid up yet. Yer depressing me:-).

[yendi]

Yeah, I get the impression that the previous owners didn't use it for much at all, other than the microwave.

[voltbang.livejournal.com]

My recollection is that it had terrible hot spots and was just uneven. It seemed like a good idea, but didn't wok out well. Another brand may work better, but it soured me on the whole concept.

[teapot-farm.livejournal.com]

It looks like the electric one has little legs too, which means you can't do the tossing-things-about-in-clouds-of-steam thing with it. Which would disappoint me, personally.
I do tend to go for the most basic functional option with cookware though - not really keen on electrical equipment, the whole chopping-and-mixing bit is part of the enjoyment.
Oh, and someone gave me an excellent garlic crusher thing - just a little clay plate with raised zigzag lines in the centre, which you scrape the garlic over to pulp it. Much less wasteful and easier to clean than a normal garlic press. Though for all I know, the rest of the world has been using these for years, and is sniggering at my enthusiasm behind its collective hand...

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Of course. But the cube-y things in maple would look nice.

[cissa.livejournal.com]

Cooks Illustrated frowns on woks. While they are ideally suited to cook while nestled in burning charcoal, their shape makes them work poorly on most stoves (gas or electric). The exception is if one has a really fancy range with a wok-shaped burner, like the ones in Asian restaurants. For other stoves, stir-fry in a saute pan for an equivalent effect.

Although I'll add that J poo-poohs this advice and uses his wok. It works OK for many things.

I'm loathe to get kitchen gadgets because I have no place to put them, though I long deeply for the proofing covers sold in the King Arthur Flour catalog...

[teapot-farm.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I think I'll join J in the poo-poohing... I see the point about the type of burner, but I think the shape is still very important - part of the advantage of a wok is that you can cook at very high temperatures while keeping the food moving, and the shape that makes this easier, whereas a saute pan or frying pan makes it hard to keep all the food moving but still within the pan.
I love kitchen stuff, but it's almost on an aesthetic level rather than because they do anything useful... I have a wonderful black iron pepper grinder that my dad brought me from Italy, which doesn't work too well but feels lovely to hold, and looks very solid and no-nonsense...

[maida-mac.livejournal.com]

When we got married, we got the Kitchen Aid stuff from Gabriel's family - his Mom bought us the food processor, his Dad got us the mixer. It was WELL worth it. :)

Good luck with the new adventure!

[voltbang.livejournal.com]

I'd get you a cane, but I'd be scared of what would happen after that....

[mfree.livejournal.com]

My grandmother used an electric skillet... worked wonderfully.

I don't, simply because I've got a whopping 4 linear feet of counter space, inerrupted into 2 2' sections.

Re:

[hotcoffeems.livejournal.com]

Just don't get me no chickens, and you'll do fine.

[voltbang.livejournal.com]

right, no chickens.
*bites tongue*

[yendi]

Don't tell, but I used to own an 8-track player. :-)

[yendi]

Good point. I've modified my wish list and put a cheap "real" wok on it. The ones I really want are uber-expensive (the Calphalon non-stick is $80 or so), and I can't justify that for a wok, even on a wish list. I figure a cheap one should more than suffice for starters.

[yendi]

Thanks! :-) Yeah, the Kitchenaid food processor is my top wish right now. I can cut stuff real good with it. :-)

Re:

[hotcoffeems.livejournal.com]

HA!!!! You are old, you are old, you shall wear the bottoms of your trousers rolled...

[cissa.livejournal.com]

It's definitely a trade-off. The saute pan shape isn't nearly as nice for keeping the food moving, but the wok-- at least on our wimpy stove-- has a wee hot spot in the bottom and so has a minute capacity for proper stir-fry. Put in a reasonable amount of stuff and it steams, not sears. Which is OK for most things, but not ideal.

Some of the way-fancy stoves have special burners one can swap in that fit woks. That'd be so cool! If I had to have an electric stovetop-- or had room to add a 2-burner auxiliary one-- I'd get one that could do that...

I love kitchen gadgets, too-- they're such fun, and often so ingenious. Frequently insane, too-- how many people really need a machine that does nothing but cook hot dogs?? But fun.

We have an assortment of pepper grinders, two of which work pretty well. I hate to get rid of the others, though, because they're all rather nifty.

Wish List

[gladstone.livejournal.com]

Your Wish List link doesn't work correctly. It takes the person who clicks on it to his or her own Wish List instead of yours. Here's the link to your Wish List:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/registry/6UX3HNVC4PS4/

I tried to leave this comment yesterday, but I kept getting an error.

[cissa.livejournal.com]

Us, too. Well, we have more countertop in theory; it's just that it's storing all the stuff that doesn't fit into our totally inadequate cabinet space. So no electric skillets or woks here.

Re: Wish List

[yendi]

Thanks -- forgot that Amazon is funky with wishlist links! And yeah -- LJ was having all sorts of issues over the last couple of days.