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Speed vs Time Saved
Mar. 7th, 2010 08:40 amLast night, M and I had a "risotto-off." She cooked hers by hand; I put mine in the fuzzy-logic rice cooker I got for Christmas. And the result was two risottos, both alike in dignity and creaminess.
Now... when people talk about time saved, they're usually talking about speed: dinner in 30 minutes! 20 minutes! 15 with only 5 ingredients! And if you measure by speed, then M was very much the winner: she started with basic ingredients and was eating about 35 minutes later, less than half the time it took the Zoshirushi to announce it was done by playing a tinny version of the Japanese national anthem.
BUT! I am going to argue (as I will with all the Electric Gourmet ideas) that I won in terms of *time saved.* Because for 30 of those minutes, M was standing by the oven, patiently stirring and ladling and stirring some more before finally plating and eating it.
Whereas while my dinner took around an hour, the actual time I spent in the kitchen was ~10 minutes: I prepped the frozen onion and white wine in a saucepan for about 5 minutes, then dumped everything into the Zoshirushi and walked away, only coming back to plate it when I heard it beeping.
And I argue that that is over an hour of my time *saved* because in that hour, I could go do something else! Clean. Read a book. Catch up on email.
To steal![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
scarlettgirl's motto for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
homekeeping, I want an organized house so I can spend more time watching Dr. Who. And the Electric Gourmet project is going to give me that, I think. (While I'm writing, the Zoshirushi is mulling over a heaping helping of apple moyle made with brown rice, barley, and dried apple. We'll see what kind of a breakfast that makes. Or maybe in future I'll try it with cracked wheat in an egg-and-milk sauce - I bet that will taste a great deal like french toast, only without the having to fry it!)
Now... when people talk about time saved, they're usually talking about speed: dinner in 30 minutes! 20 minutes! 15 with only 5 ingredients! And if you measure by speed, then M was very much the winner: she started with basic ingredients and was eating about 35 minutes later, less than half the time it took the Zoshirushi to announce it was done by playing a tinny version of the Japanese national anthem.
BUT! I am going to argue (as I will with all the Electric Gourmet ideas) that I won in terms of *time saved.* Because for 30 of those minutes, M was standing by the oven, patiently stirring and ladling and stirring some more before finally plating and eating it.
Whereas while my dinner took around an hour, the actual time I spent in the kitchen was ~10 minutes: I prepped the frozen onion and white wine in a saucepan for about 5 minutes, then dumped everything into the Zoshirushi and walked away, only coming back to plate it when I heard it beeping.
And I argue that that is over an hour of my time *saved* because in that hour, I could go do something else! Clean. Read a book. Catch up on email.
To steal
scarlettgirl's motto for homekeeping, I want an organized house so I can spend more time watching Dr. Who. And the Electric Gourmet project is going to give me that, I think. (While I'm writing, the Zoshirushi is mulling over a heaping helping of apple moyle made with brown rice, barley, and dried apple. We'll see what kind of a breakfast that makes. Or maybe in future I'll try it with cracked wheat in an egg-and-milk sauce - I bet that will taste a great deal like french toast, only without the having to fry it!)
