The Family Table: Dishwashing dread
Everyone has a household chore they dread. For me, it’s dealing with dishes – in any capacity.
We have a mighty fine dishwasher that gets put through its paces several times a week. It cleans and dries for me; the effort is minimal. But I look at the machine that does these things with the deepest of contempt.
Thank goodness for the children, to whom we have assigned the chore of unloading the contraption. At 18, 13 and almost 11, they are more than capable of shouldering this small, minutes-long burden.
Yet, there always seems to be a reason they, too, have difficulty finding the time (or motivation?) to do it. Homework is the most popular excuse, but “I can’t believe I forgot!” is right on its heels as a close second.
Perhaps I’m getting some karmic comeuppance for my own avoidance of dishes when I was a child. As my mother will attest, I avoided dish duty in pretty much any way possible.
Growing up, we did not have a dishwasher, so I was the designated dryer – a chore I came to loathe. I had a plan of avoidance that worked for quite some time: eat quickly and run for the piano.
My parents put me in lessons when I was in second grade. I wasn’t much for practicing unless it was a song that I knew and liked – except at dish-drying time. I perfected many a song while not drying dishes, and my parents really didn’t argue because they didn’t have to nag me to practice.
Unfortunately, as with all good things, that arrangement came to an end when my assigned songs got more difficult, and I got too frustrated to practice them. My parents kept hearing the same songs over and over and caught on that I was only practicing to avoid my daughterly dish-drying duties.
While the piano (and my selective hearing) might have drowned out their requests for help, they started walking over and tapping me on the shoulder.
I tried other things, but after the piano charade, nothing really worked.
Looking back, I realize that they probably knew what I was doing all along.
As an adult, I try my darnedest to use the fewest dishes possible while preparing meals. It’s probably a good part of the reason I rely so heavily on my pressure cooker and slow cooker. Dirtying one thing to cook all the food, a cutting board and a knife? I can handle that.
Every once in a while, however, I find that neither of those will cut it. Everyone loves my twice baked potatoes, but there is no hack for doing them (quickly) in the slow cooker, and I don’t like how they come out in the pressure cooker. Thankfully, the microwave is my friend. I nuke the spuds for the first part of this, and finish them in the oven for the second part. It dirties a few more dishes, but no one seems to mind.
Until, of course, it comes to unloading them from the dishwasher.
Quick Twice-Baked Potatoes
Ingredients
4 large baking potatoes
4 tablespoons butter
1 handful of shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 handful of shredded Muenster cheese
3 spoonfuls of sour cream
3 garden onions (use both onion part and a small portion of the green) finely chopped
A splash of milk
Salt and pepper
Poke potatoes with a fork and microwave until done and soft. Cut them in half, and using a spoon, scoop out the flesh. Make sure to leave enough in there so that the potatoes will still stand up. To the scooped out flesh, add all remaining ingredients and mash. Refill the skins and bake them, uncovered, for 10-15 minutes in a 425-degree oven.