Cozy Apartment For Rent

Hot Plate Chic

I figure in a pinch I can heat water directly out of the toilet. When I wash dishes I dump the water into the toilet and then take a shower to rinse the pans. You can't expect much for $100 a month. At least I get a private bathroom. I want to write a song about cooking with a hot plate because I feel a single electric burner pretty much puts me in a category of living that is stereotypical. I liked it more when I cooked fish in a pan over a woodstove in my van. That felt original. But when I heat hot water for ramen noodles on a hot plate that I got for $5 then I feel it's a step in the wrong direction. Never mind there is no kitchen sink so I must deposit all waste water in the toilet. That doesn't bother me. It's the single hot plate that bothers me. I've avoided it for a long time but I can't find white gas here and paint thinner was too smoky to burn inside. So I got the hot plate. And since there is no room near the bed I had to put it on the shelf in the bathroom, with the food and water jug. I tell myself this is temporary but that's what I said in 2008 when I started this ridiculous journey.

'Baking' cookies

 I wondered if it was possible to bake cookies using only a hot plate. There are probably tutorials about how to cook with a single hot plate. I know the circuits are overloaded here already though this is only a 5 Amp burner. But how many other appliances are already spliced onto this circuit. Too many, I know, so I can't add another burner. All I can do is create an oven with two skillets placed together. But I can't grill the bottom because it will certainly burn, so it has to be slowly cooked and then turned, which involves some finesse since it's still soupy on top with a thin crust on the bottom. Like flipping a hot pizza. The truth is that I am merely trying to cook the egg so it is not raw, and cook the rest of the ingredients so they are hot, not make a cookie. The cookie shape and consistency is a first world delicacy and I'm not in the first world. I have electricity and chess and sugar. That's all I have. The cookie came out good enough to eat. Mexican food is spoiling me, but Mexican pastries and deserts are not quite what my palate desire. There is a French bakery here called Oh, La La, and it's as good as any pastry and chocolate shop in North America, but it's a little expensive for my budget. That limits me to only one or two eclairs a week, and the rest of the time I stuff my face with half baked cookie dough.