This past week, I found out that using hot water isn’t as easy as it seems. My faucet produces a decent temperature of steamy H2O, but one doesn’t work on all, as I found out. Let me explain.
In the mornings I eat oatmeal for heart health, and I’ve found the best deal in steel cut oats which take a few minutes to heat in the microwave. For my beverage I have been drinking hot tea, which is loose leaf and prepared with the aid of a Keurig (I recently posted about this in another blog entry).
My morning oatmeal calls for 3/4 cup of water. As the average person would do, I added plain tap water at room temperature to start, since there were no indications of what temperature water to use. The combination produced soup with minimally moistened flakes. I learned by trial and error that using the hottest tap water resulted in a wonderfully creamy, fragrant bowl of joy. Using boiling water instead causes an oatmeal volcano. When I temporarily used oatmeal in a microwavable cup, the cups actually exploded. Lesson learned.
On the other hand, loose leaf tea is best prepared with boiling water. My Keurig heats water to 192 degrees, just short of the ideal temperatures. Guidelines call for a maximum boil of either 185 or 212, depending on whether you are preparing green or black tea, making it slightly off both ways.
So here I am needing two kinds of water every morning like some entitled bedridden dowager who keeps a thermometer by the bedside, ready to fire underperforming butlers and maids who can’t prepare water at the proper temperature for the task at hand.
Instead of struggling, I broke out my electric tea kettle, and the full value of its worth in the kitchen has saved my sanity. I can prepare my tea water in the kettle while putting the hot tap water in my oatmeal. My utility bill will also reward me (my July bill just arrived, and it was the highest in the whole year).
Now I’m faced with what to do with the Keurig. Place it in storage, perhaps, until it is needed for something else, or to fill in should my kettle whistle its last. Since it seems possessed, making noises even when unplugged, maybe I should put a cross on the box to prevent its escape. And yes, I keep the boxes for my appliances. Old Depression-era parenting ingrained that into my brain.
Meanwhile, my countertop will be more open, and my hot water will be in keeping with directions. A hot bowl and a hot cup. Who could ask for more?
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