The Wretched Table: How Dinner in America Became an Ordeal

Re:The Wretched Table: How Dinner in America Became an Ordeal by Idontagree on Sunday October 04, 2015 @10:22PM (#10329657)

So you have someone to do the dishes? Not everyone has children or someone else around to do it for them. There's also the extra laundry it makes if you don't use paper napkins/placemats. It's nice to have the time to do it, but it's not the quickest thing you can do in an evening.

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Re:The Wretched Table: How Dinner in America Became an Ordeal by moron4hire on Sunday October 04, 2015 @10:32PM (#10329675)

We have a dishwasher and run it once every other day. The pots have to be washed by hand, but if you aren't burning your food like a newb, pots are the easiest thing to clean because they're optimized for surface area versus volume.

Hell, some things like knives and cutting boards, I clean while I'm cooking. While I'm waiting for something to finish roasting or frying, I'm already cleaning my work area. Usually, the only dishes that are left over are plates, forks, and glasses.

And it's part of the day. Brushing your teeth takes time. Taking a shower takes time. Getting dressed takes time. You have to decide that you are a person who takes time to cook, not spend 15 more minutes on Twitter.

I'm not some rural hippy who has no real job, living off of the land, disconnected from the pace of life. We live the DC metro area. And by that, I don't mean we live in a mansion in Herndon or Reston, I mean we live in an a small apartment in Alexandria. I'm the CTO of a technology consulting firm. We have only one car between my wife and me, which she drives, and I take public transit everywhere.

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Re:The Wretched Table: How Dinner in America Became an Ordeal by douche on Sunday October 04, 2015 @10:29PM (#10329672)

Perhaps I'm revealing my ill-breeding, but people actually use placemats on a regular basis?

If you don't feel like doing the dishes every day, you can just stack them up and do them once a week...

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Re:The Wretched Table: How Dinner in America Became an Ordeal by rtpg on Sunday October 04, 2015 @11:00PM (#10329756)

That requires having 7 times the number of plates your need for a meal....

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Re:The Wretched Table: How Dinner in America Became an Ordeal by moron4hire on Sunday October 04, 2015 @11:09PM (#10329775)

Or washing one set of plates immediately before needing them, because you're waiting on the roast to finish roasting.

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Re:The Wretched Table: How Dinner in America Became an Ordeal by pjc50 on Monday October 05, 2015 @02:16AM (#10330197)

I have placemats, because I don't want hot plates on my nice table. But they don't require frequent cleaning. In any case they're plastic fake leather.

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