Indiana Jones and the Thermometer of Sugar

Friday I had to don the fedora, clip the whip to my belt and go on a quest. I had cooked the fruit and I was ready to add the sugar but my jam thermometer was broken. Not a problem, I would just buy a new one, or so I thought.


I went to the Metro Centre, as a specialist cook shop lives there, but they did not have one, I then went to every other shop that would normally sell this type of equipment, but none of them had one in stock. Therefore I had to travel right into Newcastle to see if I could get one there. I went to every shop that sells cookware and I was not able to find one. Finally I went to a hardware store in Granger Market and they had one.


It is a very good one and was similar to the one I really wanted when I got my old, deceased, one. However it was twenty pounds ($35US). I now have a pain right here in my wallet now. It took me five hours to find this equipment, but looking at all these shops that are selling cooking equipment actually confirmed the need to be doing these videos.


The problem is that the shops are full of gimmicky gadgets, that may be fun to use once or twice, but not really suited to a lifetime of use. I have two saucepans that are older than I am and will out live me. Further, while much of the cooking equipment looks fantastic, some of it looks as though it would not survive actually being used, more style over substance. There was also plenty of good quality equipment, much of these carrying endorsements of celebrity chefs. The implication being that if you buys this you too can cook as well as these chefs. However, these endorsements seemed to do no more than add twenty percent or more to the price.


Therefore ordinary people looking to equip a kitchen and start cooking could so easily end up paying over the odds for even the basics. Or even worse, people could end up buying pots and pans that are next to useless and would lead an inexperienced cook to burning the food they are trying to cook. This I am sure leads to people believing that they can not cook.


For people who are on a limited income, not wasting money on worthless equipment has to be a vital starting point for learning to cook. Some of the pans I saw were so thin and tinny that, there would be uneven heat distribution. Add to this the lack of confidence that people have about cooking and it is no wonder that people stick with the salt and fat saturated ready meals. For the poorest people in society it is simply that they do not know how to cook and the supermarkets and shops are not helping.


While I am a great believer in freedom of choice, educating people to make wise or appropriate choices should help. As I have said here before, the education system actually lets people down as there is far to much emphasis on making "Good Little Workers" and not creating well rounded human beings. If the education system were working properly then everyone, boys and girls, would learn the basics of cooking in school and the home. I also suspect that a well-rounded education would allow our young people to recognise that we are being sold a pile of junk both metaphorically and physically.


There were benefits from going in to Newcastle, as I was able to visit my favourite Cheese shop, and get some really decent coffee. The difficulty I have is that my home is an hour away from the city and I just do not really want to go there that often. As I was nearing the end of my quest and walking down the main street towards the station, where I could get my bus home, I was confronted with a drunk (possibly drugged up too) young man who was aggressively talking loudly into a mobile phone. As he barged passed me, spilling his can of beer over me, he threatened to kill whomever he was shouting at over the phone. Having lived in a place where drug users would inject drugs where I could see them from my windows, I have developed a real distaste for cities. Therefore, I don’t particularly want to be forced to visit any city just to get the foods I would like to buy. Yet it is ironic that to get goods produced in the countryside, where I live, I have to travel to the city to get them.


The journey to and from Newcastle was rewarding as on the journey in I saw five of the Red Kites. Not only that but as the bus passed by a block of woodland, Thornley Wood; I was drawn to a movement and saw a Roe Dear, all to briefly. Then on the way back three more (or the same ones) Red Kites.


I did finish my quest by making the Marmalade, and yielded about ten pounds of Marmalade, fourteen and half jars. I don’t know what it is, but I always end up with one jar that is not quite filled. I was very pleased, as I was able to give my neighbour a couple of jars. She has of late been bringing me some eggs, her son works on a chicken farm, and I was pleased to be able to offer something in return that she and her husband would use. That’s another good reason for living in a rural community, we all try and support each other.