A Tale of Two Chemists: The Saltshaker Wars

The Saltshaker Wars .... Sunday 3^rd Feb 2013

For the most part living on a boat is not so different from living in a house (on a smaller scale, of course). There are certain realities that have to be accepted. One of these is that storage is complex and difficult matter. I think I mentioned before that our pots are stored in a very oddly shaped cupboard under the stove. Each night after completing the washing up, I get down on my knees to throw/shove the pots back into this little compartment shutting the door quickly before they all slide out again. I call it ‘paying homage to the Force 10’ (the name brand of the stove). We mentioned this curious storage space to our friends Sharon and Frank. Frank admitted that his pots were stored in the same spot. He claimed that each evening Sharon would declare “we’ve got to find a better place to store these pans!” All the places to store things on the boat are inconvenient in one way or another. There is a small toolbox that is easily accessible. For the more serious tools you have to open storage spaces under the seat cushions. In a short time, it looks as if someone has ransacked the whole boat. Every job, project or repair involves lots of digging through storage spaces to find the items you need. All this before you can even get started.

Another reality that must be faced is the dampness of the environment. This one seems to give us more trouble. For example, there’s the tendency for mold to grow on the walls or ceiling. Then there’s the saltshaker. Initially, to keep the salt from clumping up, I placed a sheet of plastic wrap over the shaker body and screwed on the top. Each night when I came to do the dishes I would find the piece of plastic wrap lying in a puddle on the counter. Each night I would cut off another piece and replace it. Then one night Mike did the dishes. By morning the top of the shaker was a lake. I decided that my strategy just wasn’t working so I threw rice into the shaker. This provoked an argument. Apparently, the presence of rice in the shaker was completely unacceptable to the chef. After a few days of contemplation, I decided to put the shaker into a plastic bag with rice. This went along fairly well until the night when I was casting around for some way to store left over grated Parmesan. Clearly I wasn’t at my best as I threw the cheese into the ziplock with the rice! ARGGH! Now we are back to the plastic wrap method. I’m trying to just accept it.

Gloria