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Charlie Hatton
Brookline, MA
« Today's Post Brought to You by NyQuil | Main | Red Alert! Red Alert! There's a Heifer in My Pants! »
Well, this is just crazy. Ri-goddamned-diculous, even. Diddly.
(Sorry. Apparently, I had a little 'Flanders moment' at the end of the rant there. I'm not quite sure how that happened. That's pretty fricking embarrassing.
Have I mentioned that I've been sucking down NyQuil like shots of tequila for the past three days? I think that calls for a little slack-cutting. I'm just saying.)
Anyway, it's ridiculous. And I can't be the only one who's noticed. Please tell me somebody else out there has their eyebrows furrowed as scrunchily as mine over the microwaving instructions that companies have been putting on their foods lately.
See, here's the thing -- I'm a lazy, lazy bastard. And just at the moment, I'm a lazy, lazy ill bastard. And not in a 'street' sort of way -- I ain't 'illing'; I'm just 'ill'. I've got a cold. That's all I'm saying. Don't be all wack and shit.
The point is, I'm not currently in a position where I want to work very hard for food. I don't wanna hunt, and I don't wanna gather, see? Just at the moment, I don't even want to have to move. If someone would be kind enough to open a bag of chips in the kitchen and snake a bendy straw here to me in the living room so I could suck down dinner directly from the couch, that would be just peachy.
Sadly, I've had no volunteers for the position. I don't even have bendy straws in the house. Not much of a master plan, really, but I'm working on it. Slowly.
Meanwhile, I'm faced with eating food that requires some sort of preparation and effort. Fine. I've been here before, and know well that in such situations, the microwave is my friend. Ovens are for suckers. Pots and pans and casserole dishes -- I laugh at you. Mixers? Blenders? Aluminum pie tins? Yeah. Good luck with those. Let me know how those work out for you.
But the microwave -- that's the appliance for me, baby. Nasty cold food in, push a couple of buttons, and bam! -- hot, tasty meals ready in just a couple of minutes. Now that's the life.
At least, it was. Back in the day, microwaving instructions were simple. All you needed to know was the cooking time, and that's all the food packages told you. 'Microwave for three minutes'. That was it -- there were no speeds, or settings, or intra-preparation instructions. Just wham, bam, the popcorn's done, dammit. No matter whether you had a seven-thousand watt nuclear-powered jobbie, or the E-Z Bake lightbulb model. Three minutes is three minutes. Solid.
Now... well, now, things are all goobered up. Those bastards who make microwavable crap have gone and gotten all fancy. Peep what I just read on the TV dinner I was thinking of making:
'Cut slit in plastic cover over main entree. Cut and remove cover from dessert compartment. Microwave on medium power for three to four-and-a-half minutes. Pull back plastic cover from main entree and stir. Replace cover. Return to microwave and heat on medium power for additional two-and-a-half to three minutes. Remove cover and stir before eating.'
Right. Like I'm gonna do -- or even read -- all of that. Don't they understand that people who microwave their food don't want to be bothered with all that complicated crap? Save your twelve-step shit for the crockpot crowd, ya dildos. I'm not putting in that kind of time, just to have your rubbery peas and steak-like meat product. Nuh-uh.
And who makes up these instructions, anyway? Are there really teams of nuke-testers out there in private kitchen stadia, determining the exact method of preparation that will make their food taste least like soggy cardboard? And honestly now, could there possibly be that much difference between four solid minutes on high power and all that complicated culinary crap? I think not.
It's not just the TV dinners, either. Spurned there, I turned to soup, and was meet with the same dippy doubletalk. Heat for this long, then stir that many times; put it back in and heat while it rotates... come on! It's not a fricking souffle, dammit -- and it shouldn't take ten minutes to process into edibility. Who's making up these damned rules, anyway?
So, I gave up. I grabbed a box of crackers, and a jar of peanut butter, and I got my munch on. No muss, no fuss, and no complicated directions. Take cracker, spread PB, and scarf it down. Hell, if there were actually any nutritional value in the damned things, I might never touch the microwave again.
God, I'm hungry. Crackers and peanut butter... what the hell was I thinking? *sigh*
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hahahahahaha! no shit! but you could've had some microwave popcorn. that's about as brainless-- um, i meant effortless; really i did-- as it gets. although you still have to remember to take the plastic wrap *off* before you throw the bag in the nuker. those bastards!
and remember; Product will be HOT. Handle with caution (translation: do not sue the company)
this just occurred to me:
Isn't Emeril coming out with his own microwaveable "home gourmet" line? All you do is make a slit in the plastic covering, put it on HIGH for 4 minutes, rotate it and cook it for another 2 minutes... you have yourself a previously frozen culinary masterpiece.
*BAM*
crackers and peanut butter sounds healthier than my lunch -- spicy nacho doritos and quarter of a jar of marshmallow fluff.
i think my arteries are hardening.
Now, Marie, if you would take the nacho doritos and dip them in the peanut butter, you would have yourself quite a treat. My favorite for many years now! :-) (Nacho doritos and extra crunchy jif..i'm a little picky with my quirky eatin' habits)
I'm just waiting for the day that they include doing the Hokey-Pokey as part of the preperation.
It's coming.
Believe it.
ROFL! I hear what you're saying. Everything is too complicated today--including microwavable dishes.
I cheat, I just take the cover off of everything and put it in for one minute less than the required time. As long as it's on high, it cooks everything. The microwave is supposed to be the idiot box of the kitchen. Throwing in directions is absurd. I'm thankful that my idiot box has a button for popcorn, if it didn't I wouldn't eat it. PB and Crackers sounds good though. Gimme!
nice. very very nice.
mostly i ignore all of the stuff except how long to nuke it for. 'cause, well, i agree, how much different can it really taste?
Just get those little pizza pocket things. The only part you can mess up is how fast you bite into them. Too soon and there is a nuclear (not to be confused with Nucular) explosion in your mouth and you are unable to taste anything else for the next three days.
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Ya Know...YOU'RE NOT ALONE HERE! Mic's used to be so easy. Everything got hot SUPER FAST and was ready to eat in no time. Now it takes almost as long to cook the damn things as it might have if you just made it yourself. Stupid-asses! And NO, they don't taste any less rubbery or cardboardish if nuked for less time, a little higher. It's a freakin' TV dinner!
Hope you get to feeling better soon.
*extending my bendy straws your way*
;)