Alex, such excellent questions, and everyone has given great answers. I always use the 17-inch mits, which end just a couple inches below the elbows. If you have only one item to put in the oven, try to center it on the rack, and this will help in avoiding the side walls. If you have more than one, keep a mental picture of where you placed each thing so that you automatically reach for those areas.
As for measuring oil and such, you may want to hold the measuring spoons over a small bowl as you pour, so it will catch any spills. Measuring teaspoons of butter is a pain, and I have not come up with a successful method. One stick of butter equals 8 tablespoons, and it also equals one-half cup. If you cut that stick in half, you have four tablespoons in each half. And so on. I don't know the brand, but there are cubes of butter that equal a quarter cup, instead of the one-half cup. It's expensive; I don't remember how much, but sometimes, it's worth spending a little extra to avoid the hassles. Hamburger--when it's browned--will have a crusty feeling to it. If you feel any raw spots, keep cooking. When you drain it, keep an empty coffee can or large jar over the drain in your sink so that the grease goes into the can or jar. If it ends up going down the drain, use plenty of hot water to rinse it clear. hth Jennifer On 8/24/10, Tara Fairchild <[email protected]> wrote: > YOu can get those oven mits with longer arms at say a BBBY as well and other > kitchen stores so don't feel you have to pay the mark up at a place for the > blind. No offense meant by this Dale because I am sure your prices are > reasonable but some others aren't if you do have these on BMM. I had a flat > cooktop and I am totally blind and had no problem with the top. You just > feel where the heat is and set pan accordingly and then slide it a little > one way or another depending if you feel a lot of heat or a little coming up > from where the pan should be placed. I too did not know there were lines on > sticks of butter. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and do the > container thing to scoop tea or tablespoons of ingredients out of. Good luck > on the cooking and you should stay on the list. It's not really that high > traffic and if you see a recipe you like you can relligate it to a recipe > folder in your mail program for later experiments. > > Tara > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Alex Hall" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2010 8:17 PM > Subject: [CnD] intro and a few questions > > >> Hi all, >> I am Alex. I am a senior in college for computer science. My family >> loves to cook, so I have never really had to learn. Growing up with >> cooks, though, has provided me with many hints and ideas, though I >> have never applied any of this "absorbed" knowledge to any cooking >> projects of my own. I know I will have to learn to cook sometime, >> though, and now that my sister is temporarily unable to cook (she is >> the primary cook in the house) I figure that now is as good a time as >> any. >> >> I have a small amount of vision. I can see a bowl on the counter, for >> example, but cannot see that I missed some sugar while mixing; I can >> see where the stove (one of those annoying cooktop ones) is in the >> kitchen, but I cannot see enough detail to see the sides of the oven >> or where the "burners" are on the flat top of the stove. With that in >> mind, here are the questions I have come up with, after today's >> adventure of making a cake: >> >> 1. For those of you with cooktops (where there are no physical burners >> but rather just one flat surface), how do you position pots or pans in >> the right place? >> >> 2. Perhaps this will come with practice, but one of my biggest fears >> while cooking with an oven is that I will hit the sides of the oven >> with my wrists or forearms while putting something into or removing >> something from the oven. How do you avoid this, as potholders or even >> oven mits only cover the hands, not the arms, and the arms are much >> closer to the sides than the hands? >> >> 3. How, when you are mixing something, do you tell if you have mixed >> thoroughly enough? While mixing the wet ingredients for the cake >> today, I was told that I had missed a few pockets of sugar, but I >> could not have felt this through the wisk. >> >> 4. How do you pour liquids into measuring spoons? I can manage cups >> well enough, though pouring oil is difficult as it is hard to feel, >> but I cannot figure out a good way of pouring into spoons? I >> considered putting things like oil or vanilla into larger containers >> so I could just take a spoonful, but is there a better way that would >> not require such large containers? >> >> 5. Tomorrow's experiment may be spaghetti (our family does not believe >> in canned sauce, so it will be from scratch). How will I tell when the >> ground beef is browned? Similarly, how would I tell if a hamburger or >> steak was done? What about other types of meat being prepared on a >> stove (as opposed to in an oven where a thermometer could provide a >> good indication)? >> >> 6. Has anyone come up with a way to figure out where the teaspoon >> markings are on a stick of butter? I had to have someone score the >> butter at the teaspoon line so I could cut off the right amount. In >> fact, before that, I had no idea that such marks were even on sticks >> of butter; I always thought you just had to soften the butter and take >> a teaspoon to it somehow. >> >> 7. Are there any good websites for recipes? By good I mean both >> accessible with a screen reader and containing good-tasting dishes. >> >> TIA for any help. I may not stay on this list long as school starts >> next week and so I will not have much opportunity to cook anything, >> but I hope to figure a few things out for this week and then try again >> next time I am home on break. >> >> -- >> Have a great day, >> Alex (msg sent from GMail website) >> [email protected]; http://www.facebook.com/mehgcap >> _______________________________________________ >> Cookinginthedark mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://acbradio.org/mailman/listinfo/cookinginthedark > > _______________________________________________ > Cookinginthedark mailing list > [email protected] > http://acbradio.org/mailman/listinfo/cookinginthedark > _______________________________________________ Cookinginthedark mailing list [email protected] http://acbradio.org/mailman/listinfo/cookinginthedark
