I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles

[beamjockey]

Channel 10, the municipal info channel, says the "precautionary boil order remains in effect." E. Coli levels are low in a couple of hundred test samples, but regulations require that coliform levels remain low for two consecutive days before they sound the all-clear.

Got too tired to boil last night, am now sorry about that, since there's now no water with which to make coffee. (Also got too tired to go out in search of bottled water.) The cheerful pioneer spirit is sagging in the face of adversity this morning.

Fortunately the teakettle is showing signs of life on the gas burner. The Pyrex pitcher in the microwave is taking forever; I must have punched twelve minutes in total, and nary a bubble has yet appeared.

I can do fine without coffee in the mornings, but I don't want to see the expression on K's face when I hand her a canned Diet Coke.

Go, teakettle!

Comments

[erik]

We have no kettle her in the office (yet; there is discussion of getting one). I have found that 3.5-4 minutes is how long it takes to boil one mug of water in our microwave. So 12 minutes would be enough tome to boil 3 mugs of water. A whole pitcher? more like 24 minutes, I'm guessing.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Mr. Water, bring me d'eau clean?

B

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

Isn't boiling water one of the standard steps in making coffee anyway?

Hmmm - I am having recollections that US homes often do not have a kettle, whicvh still seems odd to me.

As to boiling times, you should be able to work those out from first principles given the power of your microwave, the mass of water, and the temperature increase you want...

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

If by "kettle" you mean a teakettle with a built-in electric heating element, yes, it is uncommon in the States.

In my houses, we've always had a kettle that sits on a stove burner. When water boils, one pours the water from that into a teapot where the leaves steep.

People who use teabags can pour the boiling water straight into the cups.

I recall that, some months ago, papersky made an essay out of her quest for an electric kettle that would run on Norteamericano mains.

[eck.livejournal.com]

Hi, you! Had no idea you were hereabouts.

Electric kettles must be increasingly common, if only because they tend to hang around indefinitely. Maybe they're a little more common in Canada, but after visiting here and loving mine, my mum had no trouble finding one in a department store in Kentucky. Seems to me college dorm stories increasingly mention having electric kettles as the one form of cooking that's allowed (with students subsisting on instant oatmeal and ramen noodles). I've been told a few times that an electric kettle is the fastest and most energy-efficient way of boiling water, too. The latter part is unconfirmed by me, but the ones I've used have all seemed quicker than boiling on a gas range (which seems wrong, but hey).

Sorry to hear about your water troubles, anyway.

[sraun]

You do move it before punching in more time, right?

I remember the discussion about super-heated water going through the GT list a few months ago - I'd hate to see that happen with a full pitcher, instead of just a cup!

[laurel]

Electric kettles seem to be increasingly common. A search in the "kitchen" section of amazon.com for "electric kettle" seems bear this out. Seems like more and more department or discount stores carry at least one type of electric kettle, kitchen/housewares specialty stores sometimes carry more. Given how much tea I've been drinking lately, I've been thinking of getting one. The good electric kettles are supposed to be far quicker than boiling water in a microwave or on the stove.