Tonight I had pasta for my dinner ... !
By patootie
@patootie (3592)
January 20, 2007 6:14pm CST
I was like this .. earlier that afternoon I'd just gone and laid down .. trying to beat the fatigue that the change of weather has given me this last few days (always happens - any sudden changes in air pressure - I get totally fatigued - even had 12 hours sleep last night and I'm still feeling really tired!) ... when someone banged on the door ... up I got again ... charged off to the door .. bang bang bang again .. OKAY .. I'm coming I hollered. Opened the door and it was a delivery girl ... quite red in the face having carried a large and rather cumbersome parcel down my very long pathway.
Opening up the parcel I first found a "Congratulations on your prize win compliments slip ... " woohooo ... whatever is it I wondered ... ohhh nooo ... it flippin' looks like a deep fat fryer ... another thing I've won and don't want ... but after pulling yet more packing out .. well it didn't look like a fryer anymore ... ohhh my gosh ... it's a pasta cooker ... !!!
Now I do actually eat quite a lot of pasta as it's pretty quick and easy ... so I thought I'd try it out and if I didn't like it I'd auction it off on Ebay.
So I sat and read the instructions ... 10 minutes later I was ready to give it a go ... this is what you do ...
Set up the clock ... (and has a delay cooking timer function too .. all very posh !!) ... then you measure the water (easy) .. then put the pasta in the basket (easy) ... then switch on (easy) ... and go and sit down (really easy).
Now for the clever bits ... the pasta cooker holds the basket up out of the water until the water is boiling ... then gradually it lowers the basket down into the water .... an integral stirrer starts slowly whirling round keeping the pasta on the move through the boiling water ... (and it's got a lid with clever slots in so you can do long spaghetti pasta without breaking it up .. and a natty sauce holder so you can use the heat from the cooking to warm your sauce .. told you it was posh!) ... then one minute before cooking ends it beeps to let you know you can get your plate ready ... precisely 10 minutes from when the basket lowered it slowly rises up again and so draining the pasta for you (and yes I did sit there and watch it happening hehehe !!) ...
I haven't got the best quality pasta in the cupboard at the moment ... just some cheapo pasta .. but I have to say it was absolutely perfectly 'al dente' cooked ... the cooker all comes apart for easy bit by bit cleaning ... and because you can wait until the water has cooled .. there's no hot water for me to contend with (always a danger with weak hands, lack of feeling in my fingers and mobility issues) ... and it was brilliant pasta with every piece separate and perfectly cooked (my own efforts tend to be a bit clumped together and some cooked some not !) ...
Now I only have one problem ... I think I need a second kitchen to store all my gadgets in hahaha !!!
1 person likes this
6 responses
@wolfie34 (26771)
• United Kingdom
22 Jan 07
Congratulations on your win, it would be of no use to me because I don't like pasta, I hate the stuff with a passion! Yuk! It would have gone straight onto Ebay. Impressed that you got it set up and working, you know what I'm like anything comes in a box it takes me about 2-3 days to open the damn thing and 2-3 weeks to work out how to use the thing! Man, I'm hopeless with gadgets. Next you need to win a bigger kitchen Toots!
1 person likes this
@patootie (3592)
•
22 Jan 07
I'm actually eying up my dining room (open plan and adjacent to the kitchen) and wondering if I shouldn't put some cupboards in the dining room area for storage .. then again maybe I just need to have a really good clear out and tify up in the existing kicthen cupboards ...
@ukchriss (2097)
•
22 Jan 07
Well done toots on your win,
I love pasta We have it at least once a week,
Your pasta cooker sounds great i just had a look at them on ebay ...
now where would i put it if i bought one...
opps just said that out loud and my other half said if i buy one he knows where he would put it!
I wonder what he means lol
Yes, we only have a very small kitchen as well!
@brokentia (10389)
• United States
21 Jan 07
You know, I have to laugh. Because as you are describing this thing cooking your pasta...and then admitted that you sat there and watched the whole thing. I thought, I would be just the person also sitting there watching this thing made the pasta to perfection! LOL But we both know it is so that we don't have to sit there and watch it. But gee...I really would have to sit there and watch it giggling!
I don't have to get up and stir the pasta! I don't have to drain it! I don't even have to worry about when the water comes to a boil and then drop the pasta in myself!
hahahaha I love the fact that you sat there and watched it! :)
I would have too!!!! Congrats on your winning a little entertaining kitchen gadget! :)
@patootie (3592)
•
21 Jan 07
Giggles, thanks !
Although I don't watch it every time now .. I must admit to feeling a little thrill when the timer beeps ... if I am quick I just have enough time to hobble to the kitchen and see the basket rising up out of the water with my perfect al dente pasta ready for me ..
And being disabled this makes pasta cooking ultra SAFE for me .. no ladelling pasta straight from the boiling water .. and I can let the boiling water cool right down before emptying the pan and the two big handles mean I can get a good grip .. and anything that makes my disability blighted life safer is good to me !
@Lady_Vincy (1538)
• United States
21 Jan 07
I had pasta last night for dinner. I don't know what I will have for dinner tonight though. I'm thinking about going to go out to a restaurant with my friends. That seems like a really good idea.