Just a Suggestion

Over at Smitten Kitchen, a comment caught my eye. Someone complained that even though laying out all your ingredients in advance is great for cooking (and baking), it's hard if you don't have a million little bowls.

I tend to forget ingredients, so laying stuff out in advance is essential or else we end up with something like "It's apple cake except without nutmeg because I forgot and with 2 tablespoons of vanilla because I misread the recipe and also I dumped all the cinnamon sugar in the wrong batter because I was reading it wrong." Usually, it's ok. Sometimes it's gross.

Anyhoo, here's the solution if you need to lay out your stuff in advance (like me) but don't have a million little bowls (which I *do* have, but let's just say you don't):

1. Identify which plastic-packaged single-serving item you eat all the time. This might be yoghurt, or hummus, or cream cheese or lipton soup in little bowls.

2. Do not discard those little plastic bowls when you're done.

3. Wash and save, all the same item.

Within about a month, you'll have a little collection of lightweight, stackable, easily disposed of bowls. If one gets all gross, just recycle it. You have a renewable resource there. I use the little single-serving Greek yoghurt bowls, and I have about 10 of them. I can feed Iain out of them, measure out spices or butter or eggs or whatever. They can be washed on the top shelf of the dishwasher, and they were free.

Now, I must go wipe down the half bath. My asparagus is out of the oven, my dinner is half cooked and waiting only for The Dad, my son is abed, and I have much wiping of sinks and toilets to do.

Happily, there are no new emails from my seniors. My fingers are crossed that this means they are all done with their papers and enjoying a nice celebratory beverage. A milkshake, for example. That's what all the young folks drink in college, right? Right?