What have you DONE in your kitchen today?

[Linna Heartbooger]

I figure that a lot of the time spent in our kitchens is not JUST making the food. Some is pre-prep, some is clean-up, and most days I just don't appreciate how much TIME all those mundane little things require.

Also, I'm hopeful that I can randomly learn a few things if people mention things that "of course" they do, but which I would never think of. =)

So here are a few things I've done in my kitchen today:

Clean the GIANT bread bowl, a big pot, and a huge cake pan.
Ask my husband to cut up an icky cantaloupe.
Puree some of the good pieces of said cantaloupe in the food processor for baby.
Remove organs from 7lb of chicken leg quarters.
Spread them out on a pan to thaw instead of baking them tonight as I'd planned to.
Cook rice and curried lentils as my back-up meal.
Allow the baby to investigate an onion.
Sweep up the resulting onion peel scraps.

Hmm.. I should go take some chicken kidneys out to the dumpster soon..

[Savor Dam]

Kitteh suggests that maybe some of those chicken kidneys might find a higher calling than being consigned to the dumpster...

[sgt.null]

i washed the dishes. julie cooked dinner.

[Savor Dam]

Made coffee.

Did the Saturday morning ritual of dispensing a week's worth of everyone's meds.

About to make a batch of Cheesy Pastina for brunch.

[Menolly]

About to make a batch of Cheesy Pastina for brunch.

Unless you changed the procedure, is there a reason why you changed the name of the dish?

[Savor Dam]

Didn't realize the name was sacrosanct.

Actually, I did make some changes from the way you taught me the dish. Did not cover the pastina while simmering off the liquid. Finished it with a little sour cream...and seriously considered adding a little chopped cilantro. Dam-sel and Dam-et approved of the result, so I guess I did OK.

[Menolly]

The pastina cooked through simmering uncovered? Good to know!

Your dish sounds far richer than what I'm used to. I probably wouldn't add milk to that, like I do my own serving.

[Vader]

Yesterday I prepared 3+ gallons of golden beef stock and the same amount of a rich brown veal "jus". I let them stand cold over night. Today I degreased them (which is easiest when the fat is cold and solid.)

I just put the beef stock into the freezer (some of it in ice trays). I'll now let the veal jus boil down for hours until it gets all concentrated, almost like jelly. A teaspoon of that will be enough to turn any sauce into something really special.

[aliantha]

Poor Linna. She's trying to get everybody to talk about the stuff they do in the kitchen *besides* cook, and everybody's ignoring her.

Here's my kitchen chore list from this morning:

Opened a can of Fancy Feast; spooned half of it into a bowl for Kitteh and put it on the floor so Kitteh would shut up already; covered the can and put it in the fridge for Kitteh's dinner
Got a 16-oz. glass of water to accompany my morning pages
Pulled a frozen dinner (Lean Cuisine Szechuan-Style Stir Fry with Shrimp, if you must know ) from the freezer for lunch; encased it in a ziploc bag so it doesn't leak all over the inside of my backpack; put it on the breakfast bar
Halved and seeded a red bell pepper; bagged the halves in ziploc baggies; put one in the fridge and one in my lunch bag
Put a container of Greek yogurt in the lunch bag
Put a banana in the lunch bag
Put the lunch bag on the breakfast bar to be popped into my backpack with the frozen dinner
Extracted a clean bowl from the dishwasher, filled it with cereal and milk, got a spoon from the drawer
Put dirty bowl and spoon in the sink and water glass on the counter

[Vader]

Straining broth is not exactly cooking. Technically it's like opening a can or cleaning the floor.

[Savor Dam]

Hrmph. I did address non-cooking activities until the inquisition into my heresy of changing the name of a dish I metioned that I was planning to make.

This morning (much like any other):

• Poured OJ and took Dam-sel her morning meds.
  
  Portioned out kibble for the two Feline Overlords.
  
  Made coffee, a task made more complex by the need for access to water tap; ended up rearranging sink of dishes not done last night by Dam-et.
  
  Packaged up planned-overs, yogurt, clementines, Snapple and a granola bar for Dam-sel's lunch.
  
  Rinsed and drained some bluets to top breakfast cereal.
  
  Got out of the way while Dam-et made his breakfast.
  
  Poured coffee, putting it and the bowl of bluets on table just in time for Dam-sel's breakfast.
  
  Had my own cereal, bluets and coffee once I got them out the door for the day.
  
  Sighed over the sink of still-undone dishes. Contemplated a general strike if they were still there when it was time to start dinner. Yeah, right. Like that would work...

[pippin]

Not sure if this is in the spirit of the thread...

Today I taught my 9-year old daughter the secret to lovely pastry - before rubbing the fat into the flour, meditate on your fingertips: visualise them being light, nimble, and above all cold

So we stood there in the kitchen, OMing, Rosie giving me that look... But you know what - it works

[lorin]

I have done
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nothing.

[sgt.null]

fired an inmate for having two (water) bottles full of prison alcohol.

oh - did you mean my home kitchen?

[Linna Heartbooger]

Poor Linna. She's trying to get everybody to talk about the stuff they do in the kitchen *besides* cook, and everybody's ignoring her.

Haha. Nahhh, no sympathy for me... I think I -actually- started this thread for the very self-serving reason that I wanted encouragement for all the kitchen tasks that aren't cooking but somehow had the audacity to demand the use of my hands. (!!!)
(I felt somehow cheated when I discovered how much time they really require.)

Also, I am -LOVING- some of these amusing comments! Wow, sarge... lol!

And pippin- discussions of stuff done with kids in the kitchen is meant to be part of the spirit of the thread! Or is now! You did something more valuable than just making a pie crust!

Lorin- well, if you're in the right place for it, this might be the inspirational video for you!
www.flylady.net/pages/jumpcut_video1.asp
(and yes, it mentions "faith" and "hope" but with FlyLady it's often in the vague and generic senses of the words!)
Also, since i just reviewed that FlyLady shiny sink video, now I wanna go and clean something... random... in my kitchen. =)

[Vader]

Made a big jar of dry rub.

[sgt.null]

at work - ending up having to cut some watermelons for ramadan. (did that myself)

power was out for a bit - so had to have an i/m hand crank the rotary oven to get the baked chicken out.

[Vader]

Made some more dry rub. This time tried something for Memphis style ribs (being served dry without glazing or sauce). I'm planing to get some pork ribs done on indirect heat the day after tomorrow - preferably country style ribs which I love.

It's a bit of a last dry run for the dry rub (pun!) since August 20 will be the first day at school for the Vadress and we're gonna have a "southern style BBQ" with the whole family (aunts, uncles and the whole bunch) to celebrate it.

[sgt.null]

had a frank conversation with my young c/o about how his constant ****-ups can affect me. then surprised him by admitting i had asked him to be transfered to my shift so i can help him keep his job. (he has a wife and two very young children)

[Linna Heartbooger]

BTW, -loved- that one, sarge! (for multiple reasons)