Firstly, I learned that I am getting too old and wussy for scary movies. I nearly had a heart attack throughout almost all of Jurassic World, and actually got quite emotionally terrified when a flock of escaped pterodactyls flew across the island toward the crowds of unsuspecting tourists. (I actually got a lump in my throat, and when the pterodactyls started to swoop I for real started shallow-breathing and almost squeezed out some tears. The children! The children! What would I do if I was herding my kids through a stampeding crowd chased by raptors and pterodactyls?? What would I do, dammit?! The horror, the horror....)
So that was number one. I can obviously no longer go and see scary movies, or even enjoyable adventure movies with predictable character arcs and what I am sure is deeply inaccurate science.
But: despite all that, Jurassic World is actually pretty good and I did (kind of?) enjoy it. I am just an emotional idiot.
The second thing I learned was that managing minced meat can be a whole lot easier than I ever knew. I was making bolognese sauce, and you know how once you've heated the oil and sautéed the onions and garlic, you get the beef mince out of its packet and drop it into the saucepan, and it's basically a big red cold brick that you have to sort of hack away at with your wooden spoon, if you don't want to tear it into chunks with your bare hands first? And it's actually quite hard work chopping it all up and mixing it and turning the pieces until it's all broken down and brown and starting to cook?
Well, it turns out you don't have to do that. Today I dropped my red brick of cold minced beef into my saucepan, then turned away momentarily to read a couple of pages of a book I am reading, then got lost in the book and completely forgot about my saucepan... until a faint cooking smell wafted over, and I hurried over to resume. Voila! My minced beef had all "melted" into the pot, broken down and almost all browned, and only needed a couple of easy stirs to get all mixed in and ready for cooking.
So there you go.
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I get scared just thinking about minced meat.
ReplyDeleteSorry then if I scared you :)
DeleteScary movies are not for me. At all.
ReplyDeleteThe mince trick we do on a regular basis. And start with the meat, no oil, and add the other things in later.
I always learn these things so late!
DeleteProbably wouldn't work for me. If ever I turn away from the stove for more than thirty seconds, anything in that pot is stuck to the bottom of the pot and blackened on the bottom. I have to keep stirring stuff until it is browned enough to turn down the heat, then keep stirring until the heat actually goes down. I hate electric hotplates. HATE HATE HATE!!
ReplyDeleteUntil I moved here, I cooked with gas all my life, it's so much better.
You're right, electric hot plates are hard. Also, I was using a heavy-bottomed saucepan (gift from my mum a few years ago - changed my LIFE).
Delete