Cleaning up!

Well, after house sitting for two weeks, then being home for two weeks, I ended up just a bit behind on the important stuff when you have your own space - cleaning.
I finally bowed to the inevitability over the weekend, when I realized that the cat-confetti that Annabelle had so graciously made (out of some sales flyers, a paystub, and various other pieces of probably-important paper that she had scattered all around my living and dining room two days before I relocated to my parent's house for two weeks) had gotten thick enough that I coudn't tell what was confetti and what was carpet. Yeah - not good. That, and I was out of silverware, as it was all in the sink, with most of my bowls and a large number of plates and coffee mugs. *cringes*

So - I started to clean the mess up. Bits of Saturday and Sunday were spend sweeping up the confetti, sorting through the class papers and junk mail, and getting the living and dining rooms back in reasonable shape. Monday night was dish night.

Dish washing is tricky in my apartment, and I tend to put it off due to the challenges involved - my sink has two spigots, like a laundry sink, with a draining area on the left side instead of a second sink. Washing dishes is a little challenging. My methodology to this point has been the "soap on a sponge and try not to scorch my hands in the hot water" method.
This method sucks. Seriously. Major suckage.

So, I did a little research on dishwashing methods. Amazing how many ways there are to do something that should be simple. The method I decided to try involved using a second container to wash and soak the dishes, piling the cleaned dishes in the sink, then rinsing the cleaned dishes and placing them into the dish rack. I happen to have a large Rubbermaid dishwashing container that I picked up several years ago for soaking my feet when necessary. It doesn't get used much, and in fact, I had to chase out a spider that had set up living quarters.
So, I filled the plastic container with hot, soapy water and dirty dishes, let them soak for a little while, then commenced scrubbing.

It worked like magic. The good kind of magic that turns everything that pisses you off into chocolate.

so, all but the most stubborn dishes are happily cleaned and put away. The really stubborn ones I left to soak overnight in the plastic dishpan set inside the sink. I had planned to finish them up this morning, but the timing didn't work out, so I will finish them up after work before rushing off to class. So nice to have all the dishes clean!

Needless to say, since I was busy with dishes most of the evening, I didn't want to cook anything elaborate. So, I made a hybrid Arroz con Pollo meal, using the methodology from Fabulous One Pot Meals (Scarborough Faire Chicken, if I remember correctly..)

In a casserole dish, layer the following:

1 cup white rice
1 cup water
1 chicken bouillon cube
1-2 frozen chicken breasts (or whatever you have that is chicken)
4 tomatoes cut in wedges
2 bell peppers, cut into pieces
season with salt, pepper, parsley, oregano and a pinch of cumin, or other spices. A few capers would have been good in this.

Bake at 400 for 1-1.5 hours, until the smell makes you salivate.

pull out of the oven, check that the rice is done, then devour.

This came out good, and the leftovers made a nice lunch for today.