March 2005 “Cooking Tips” Winner —
Carole Resnick

Oven Mitts can be very expensive. And, in many cases they are not good at very high temperatures. A very good alternative is a pair of welding gloves. They come in a variety of lengths and withstand very high temperatures. Granted, they are not very pretty but they are inexpensive. Keep a pair in your kitchen and another pair next to the grill.

Carole Resnick

Prize:

• Cooking tips:
  English Tea Bag Selection
  Ahmad Tea of London

March 2005 “Cooking Disasters” Winner —
Anonymous

My husband loves sushi and gets his co-workers together to eat it whenever possible. When we were engaged he heard about "ceviche" which is a Latin American way of pickling raw fish and he found it to be equivalently exciting to sushi. He wanted to have his co-workers over for a homemade ceviche party. So, I found myself pickling fish and seafood in lemon and lime juice for 48 hours before the party at his apartment. On the afternoon of the party he came home early to "help" set up. He doesn't have a lot of experience cooking so I gave him small tasks to do. The first one was chopping vegetables. He managed to cut his finger. So after we bandaged him up, I gave him the job of stirring the beans. His attention wandered right out of the room and he burned them. Finally, after a couple more minor mishaps I said, "Don't worry you can't possibly screw this up, all you have to do is put the unburnt beans in the blender with this coconut milk". A few minutes later I heard him say, "Honey, the blender is leaking, I think it's broken". He starts to lift the blender as I say, "Wait! Nooooo, don't pick it up". He naturally freezes with the blender already in mid-air with beans pouring out of the bottom all over the counter top. He looked at me with a very sad puppy dog expression as beans dripped onto his shoes and said, "You were wrong, I can screw this up." After that he fled the kitchen but bravely returned after the party to help clean up the dishes.

Anonymous

Prize:

• Cooking Disasters:
  2 Jars of Wasabi Sauce
  Baycliff Company/Sushi Chef

Previous Winners

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