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Sunday, December 27, 2020

Take that, MIT

It's the end of December, it's a holiday week; eleven of the recent twelve inches of snow remain, and I am not about to go for groceries. All my fresh food is gone, save those reliable staples of garlic and onion.

For three nights I've leaned back and rubbed my tummy after one of my favorite soups whose secret to success is taking the potato masher to a can of white beans before adding the can of tomatoes. Yum. I could make another round of that, but then I could have doubled the batch, and didn't.

What to make for supper tonight, and the next couple of nights before I go shopping? Thumbing my recipe book, I stopped at Bruschetta Spaghetti. No, I do not have garden tomatoes or grocery Roma's on the counter, but it's winter, for crying out loud, and I'll try anything.

However, and essential to fitting the recipe into my small cast iron pot, the recipe calls for the spaghetti to be broken in half. I've made this stuff several times, and broken spaghetti in half, and spent five or ten minutes with the broom, after the mess.

This time I consulted Google. Yes, there are instructions on breaking spaghetti in half, with no accompanying mess. It was devised by MIT students, who won an ig-Nobel prize. However, they contributed to the study of force science, and have built a machine to break spaghetti one strand at a time, efficiently.

You must twist the spaghetti almost 360 degrees, then snap it.

My brain is not up to all the pain in my hands, doing that.

Nevertheless, I wandered down to the pantry. I don't know why. Sheer perverseness, I suppose. Standing with the package of spaghetti in one hand, looking to see if there is an empty jar to hold half a package of broken spaghetti, I looked down at the shelf. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I put the middle of the package on the edge of the shelf and pushed both ends. Ka-ching. Two halves. I looked closely, and I swear I can see or hear no little bits. However, I do not have a glass jar to store the spaghetti, so I will not open the package until I make supper.


Time to go tie on some warp ends. Here is a picture of a foot of snow in Boston Township, to play us out:






35 comments:

  1. Your pantry looks like it has the makings of a good meal or two especially along with the onions and garlic. I can usually find some carrots and cabbage in the refrigerator and if I am very lucky a potato or two although the do eye out. We had a warm spell with rain that melted our hoards of snow but now everything just looks dirty now.

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    1. It will be warm here for a week, starting today. But, that's a lot of snow to melt.

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  2. That's a LOT of snow. It sounds like you're making some yummy meals. I love soup this time of year. I break my spaghetti over the sink because it does make such a mess. Walking on a broken piece of spaghetti with bare feet doesn't feel very good either.

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    1. I can't wear bare feet, for a myriad of reasons. So, no danger from stray kibble, straight pins and broken spaghetti.

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  3. We still have very little snow in-this strange for us winter. But I will try to remember the spaghetti trick. Now that we are going back to grocery pickup I will be less able to shop on a whim, not that I was doing that anyway lately, but at least I could pickup items as I wander3d about once a week.

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  4. Oh my. That is a heap of snow.
    I smiled at your mention of the Ig Noble awards (and even more at you outsmarting them). My bedside reading at the moment is a book of the Ig Noble awards and some of them are definitely head scratchers. At least one other definitely falls into the eeeuw category.

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  5. I usually just buy penne pasta so I don't have to break the spaghetti! :)
    That is a LOT of snow - glad that we have only had a dusting so far in the Chicagoland area. We usually get more in January I think so I had better stop talking about it!

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  6. I always break my spaghetti in half whenever I use it... and usually just break it over the pot of boiling water. But your using the edge of the shelf should work too. (We do use thin spaghetti so it's probably easier to break than some)

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  7. You did have a big snow! It sounds like you found a smarter and easier way to break spaghetti. Who needs an MIT degree when you have common sense! I find it sad they don't seem to be able to teach common sense, do they? Be careful with all that snow and enjoy your spaghetti!

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  8. I break one third of the spaghetti at a time, over the sink, if I am only making half the package I divide it in halves and break each half over the sink. Then any that escape when they break fall into the sink for easy pick up.

    I hope you had a Merry Christmas and will have a Happy New Year!

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  9. I'm about to go make soup myself. It's soup weather. But our soup weather does not include snow.

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  10. That looks like a discoiraging amount of snow...

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  11. Breaking spaghetti in half always leaves some debris around. I am glad you found a way to solve the problem. When looking for something to eat, I often ask Google. I look in my fridge and pantry and put in some ingredients I have and Google gives me some recipes. It has worked out well some times.

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  12. I always break my spaghetti over the pot of boiling water. Holy cow that's a lot of snow! I so hope we see some snow this winter!

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  13. Hari OM
    ...I use other pasta so as not to be faced with breaking spaghetti. It snowed here today. After a fashion. YAM xx

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  14. Clarification: I only wanted half the package of broken spaghetti, and, my hands are not strong enough to break any reasonable amount of spaghetti in half.

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    1. Break it in stages, a few strands at a time, say ten or fifteen.

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  15. my neighbors down the street gifted me with a homegrown big cauliflower and a head of broccoli. I'm going to make cauliflower soup but I need to get a few other ingredients at the store. it's warm here, high 60s into 70 for the next few days so I'll have to wait til the next cold front comes in for soup weather later this week. and it looks like you have the making of spaghetti in your pantry...sauce and noodles.

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    1. and really, that's brilliant...breaking the spaghetti in the bag.

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  16. That is a monstrous amount of snow. It will be good when it's gone.
    I did not know you could twist spaghetti like that. Probably not with my cranky thumbs.

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  17. I love a challenge in the kitchen and we certainly have access to some great recipes especially with the internet. Sorry about your hands but I can’t help notice they don’t slow ya down much.

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  18. Your method for breaking spaghetti is better than the MIT award winner. Soup is a favorite all Winter long. Crunchy crackers or crusty bread make soup all the better.

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  19. Brilliant! Those MIT guys ain't got nothing on you.

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  20. Ah, the challenges of life! Who needs MIT?

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  21. You appear to have some promising makings there. Why do people break spaghetti? I've never done that should I start?

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  22. I always break spaghetti as I find it easier to eat short lengths, but I measure out the amount I want, then hold them over a large pot, sort of halfway in, then break them, that way no bits go flying about. Your method of leaving them in the packet to break them is a good idea. I'll try that next time.

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  23. Wow - you have SNOW! (two days ago we had a few snowflakes). As to breaking the spaghetti: sounds practical. I always wonder which questions one can put to Google and then really get answers!

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  24. Since I made Christmas Dinner I haven't been much in the mood for cooking. Thankfully there are always a lot of leftovers. But today I decided to make turkey, corn and potato chowder to use up some turkey. At the end I decided to use up some left over wild rice mix. I think It wasn't quite what I wanted but it was good enough. Now I have a thought about breaking the spaghetti. Put the amount you want in a long plastic bag and snap it or twist it while in the bag. It will contain the mess.

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  25. We're supposed to get 1/4 of an inch tomorrow! Raining right now, but that's o.k. as we need the moisture. I break spaghetti by hand, over the pot of boiling water. My spaghetti often comes in a cardboard box so breaking it on the edge of the pantry shelf wouldn't work for me.

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  26. Like everybody else, with the family not here over Christmas this year, I don't have any leftovers to graze on so I'll be eating the other winter staple... a baked potato.
    The great advantage of that is the way the flat gets warm, too.
    No snow... just endless rain. I might just start building an ark.

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  27. You have to love the MIT guys. We have snow later this week. Ugh. I actually cooked today. Popped a slice of salmon in the oven and microwaved some lima beans. I've grown lazy. I know you will love my latest post though for some reason it says you can't enlarge it. Better to watch the full screen on YouTube. Love to you.

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  28. I do not envy you all that snow. And, in general, I thing someone has too much time on their hands when their project is to find a good way to break spaghetti one strand at a time and get a prize for it. I stick it in a ziplock bag and whack it on the edge of a counter.

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  29. Hey... I just bought several cans of that same diced tomatoes.
    I actually do miss having a little snow when they first fall, before they get slushy.

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