page 1236 – putting the groceries away
Does it still count as “technobabble” if it’s mostly about food and not, ya know, technological stuff?
Anyway, here’s the thing: whenever I try to cook something more complicated than… whenever I try to cook ANYTHING, the thing that always screws me up right off the bat is time management. I’m HORRIFICALLY bad about making one part of a meal, then taking so long to make the other half that the first half is cold by the time the rest is ready. And when I try to multi-task and start one thing then get another done while that first one heats up or whatever, that just results in things getting forgotten about and burning or boiling over or any number of other kitchen disasters. The point is, when I wanted to immediately illustrate Marshall being an absolute master of his domain in the kitchen, the only choice was to show him starting a whole bunch of things all at once and staying on top of it all, since that’s exactly the kind of thing I CAN’T do.
And speaking of not being able to multi-task, Ichabod’s line about not knowing where something is actually serves as a kind of in-joke. See, I ALSO don’t know where anything in the kitchen is because, in case you haven’t noticed, we never got an establishing shot of what this particular room looks like. We were SUPPOSED to get one in page 1233, but I got distracted drawing that hamburger spider and doing the dramatic shadow effect and blah blah blah. The whole “draw what the kitchen actually looks like” step was supposed to be taken care of in the following pages, but I kept forgetting. And when I remembered right in the middle of THIS page, I didn’t wanna spend time working out a whole new background from scratch for a page where I wasn’t sure how much the speech bubbles would just end up covering up everything. And I wasn’t about to redraw the WHOLE PAGE in order to accommodate an extra panel. So what I’m saying is, don’t be shocked if we suddenly get a page in the next couple of weeks that seems to serve no purpose other that show how far the stove is from the fridge.
(EDIT: TWC Incentive was late again, but I got a few good excuses. For one thing, I got really REALLY distracted fiddling with the details on this one again, but that’s nothing new. The OTHER reason is because I got started on the Incentive late ‘cos I was finishing up another comic page for Patreon! So be sure to go read that!)
This is why I stick with ordering out and frozen pizza. Too many steps otherwise, and who has space for all the decompression equipment?
Yeah, even I “make” something, two thirds of the time it consists of just putting some extra touches on to something frozen. Actually making stuff from scratch is SUCH an ordeal (and it has to be something that’ll give me leftover for a few days to justify the effort, even though that inevitably means even MORE effort to actually do it and blah blah blah)
My usual “cook food” thing is a simple stew.
Some mince. Some finely chopped potato and onion, and possibly other vegetables – though usually my “other vegetables” are just from a packet of mixed frozen vegetables because that is so much easier.
Then add in whatever herbs, sauces, etc. happen to be laying around, and if I’m feeling fancy, maybe add in an egg and swirl it around into everything.
Not much effort.
…Still doesn’t stop me from cooking frozen pizzas a lot of the time.
You and I have VERY different definitions of “low effort.” (Years with a kitchen that I could touch three walls and the fridge all at once may have impacted this though)
It’s mostly “Dump stuff in frying pan. Occaisonally stir.”
That said, if you don’t have enough room to be able to do pushups in the middle of the kitchen, it’s probably too small to actually use.
I’m literally eating dinner (frozen stir fry) as I read these comments, and my amusement at the irony is overpowering any useful reply I could make. Food food food.
So the one thing Ichabod knows nothing about is cooking. Because Heat Lamp’s aren’t some sci-fi piece of technology, they’re real and are exactly what they sound like. They are lights that produce heat that keeps food warm after being cooked. Okay, the USE of heat lamps in this comic is very different, but they would still be the same thing.
Also, Blitz, if your issue with cooking is Multitasking, start with making something that doesn’t need multitasking, like cake, biscuits or simple soups. Then move onto something that needs minimal attention while multitasking, or that you can put to the side while you prepare the other parts of the meal, like mashed vegies and steak. Then build up what you’re willing to cook from there.
Of course, that’s only if you care about what you eat. Me, I care about the nutrients more than the flavour. I eat meals that would make others wince from it’s tastelessness on a regular basis.
See, that’s the biggest thing I learned about myself while working in a restaurant (service staff, not cook, obviously) I don’t actually care THAT much about food. Like, I know what I want when I want it, but being “what I want” matters more than “being objectively good.” I’m too willing to go “Eh, close enough” to put the required effort into really getting better.