So my life consists of relatively mundane tasks. There are very few things that I feel passionately about - but CLEAN DISHES is in the top five. I swear.
I think it started when I was a little girl. We didn't have a "real" dishwasher and so the girls were delegated nights to wash. My dad was militant about having clean dishes. In fact, my sister was horrible at washing dishes and I have vivid memories of Dad not being satisfied with the washing done by my sister. Ever the competitor - my goal was to do it better. faster. with hotter water.
To this day - a dish isn't clean until it has been doused in scalding water at least twice.
Fast forward to the present. I live in a lovely little house with circa 1950s appliances - save the refrigerator which is coming in a distant second at DOB 1990. The dishwasher here has this almond covered panel to make it look "modern" and it makes this HORRIFIC grinding noise once you turn it on. Seriously - no exxageration, you can't watch TV in the next room with that thing on.
My suspicions were that the dishes weren't meeting my standards of cleanliness (we all know cleanliness is next to Godliness, don't we?) but the grinding and the magitude of decibels produced confirmed it.
So - I began washing by hand. I mean, it did it for almost eighteen years - what's another two or three, right? (Side note: my "new" house won't have a dishwasher either. What sin did I commit as a child to deserve dishwasher hell???)
I don't necessarily use a lot of dishes, but when I use dishes I use BIG dishes. We're talking 18" searing pans and 13" Calphalon saute pans. No small potatoes here. I actually enjoy washing the dishes after cooking a large meal. There's just something about completing a task that's fulfilling.
I also play this little game when I'm stacking the dishes to dry. I go for efficiency and stack-a-bility. I even wash in a certain order as to attain maximum dish stacking height so that cups can be stacked and spoons turned upside down. Water spots are my enemy in this game with myself. Tonight - there were lots! of! big! dishes!
Thrilling!
I added an element, almost like a new level in video game dish stacking! (Girls - I'm on to something here!) I stacked them as high as I could while still being able to open the door to the bowl cabinet. You see... in my stacking and washing and washing and stacking frenzy I put all the bowls for oatmeal (Beth!) and Special K (Laura!) on the bottom. Sad day. Once I realized this I had an epiphany! Just stack so that you can get to the bowl cabinet! Brilliant! You get to skip to the next level in Wii Dish Washing and Stacking, right?
1 comment:
Well done, Beth. I, too, have a system by which I wash dishes and stack them with considerable dexterity. I was impressed with your stack and have achieved similar standards at home. I am wondering if this actually makes us "world class" in dish stacking. I believe, based on the number of times that I have seen people abondon a stack, dry some and then continue washing, that we would be among the best I have ever come across. With this in mind, I am looking for the world benchmark. Have you seen better? Perhaps through your excellent website, we could uncover the current best practice as I am keen to see if I am up with the best or if I should be aspiring to the dizzy heights of my 9 foot ceiling.
Post a Comment