Loving to cook is like a disease - it can consume your life. However, it's a happy affliction because it yields such great things. Unfortunately, the sickness comes with some nasty side effects.
Dirty dishes are possibly the worst thing in the world. I dislike doing them, so I'll try and put them off until the last minute. This strategy is terrible because then I have to work that much harder to get them clean.
You're all thinking simple solution: the dishwasher. You'd be wrong. Dishwashers are good for simple things like plates, cups and utensils. Dishwashers are not for non-stick pans, knives or wooden spoons.
Then there is the whole notion of loading and unloading the contraption. I don't mind it, and I'll happily do it - I just hate it when I can't figure out if what's already in it is clean or dirty.
Dishwashers are selective about cleaning. They'll clean things all right, but then there's that one Glad container that has that odd speckled white ring around it. I blame this ring for minutes lost in crazy frustration trying to remove it, and then ultimately conceding defeat and shoving it in the cupboard.
Listening to music helps ease the tension associated with washing dishes. There are rules to dishwashing music. It cannot be something too sing-able. For me, musicals are out of the question.
Rent is amazing, but it does not work with dishes. It starts out great, scrubbing a 13x9 and mouthing the words to Seasons of Love. By the time you get to the casserole dish, you're singing into a wooden spoon and climbing on the dinner table belting out La Vie Boheme.
I have found only one artist (one CD actually) that not only helps me focus on the task at hand, but also keeps me entertained. Enter Michael Bolton's Greatest Hits 1985-1995. I have cleaned many a colander to How Can We Be Lovers (If We Can't Be Friends).
Go ahead and laugh, I'll wait ... finished? Michael Bolton may not be everyone's dish washing musical partner, but it makes the time pass quicker. The point is washing dishes stinks, but remembering the delicious food those dishes once held makes the messy aftermath a little easier to deal with. What's on your plate?
- Elizabeth Lundblad is a junior studying journalism and a reporter for The Post. Tell her who you listen to while doing the dishes at el246506@ohiou.edu.
4 Opinion
Elizabeth Lundblad
