Artist's cooking/cleaning tip

If I were a child today, I would probably receive a diagonsis of ADD. My mother chose to call me an artist. When you are an artist, and not a culinary artist, the chore of cooking supper every evening can go beyond the pale of mundane and reach a sense of torture. Needles in the eye. At least once a week, in the midst of cooking supper, I get distracted by something more interesting. You know, like facebook, youtube, painting, piano, the dog, sunshine, the mail, guitar, accounting, cleaning, anything will do.

Last week, I decided to take the easy way out and cook the rice in the microwave. It is now clear how the phrase "nuke it" became associated with cooking in the microwave. Distracted by a family jam session, (we sounded awesome!) Somebody interrupts with "what is that smell?" I check the kale on the stove top - all looks good - so we return to jammin'. A few minutes later, the burning aroma cannot be ignored. I check the rice - which still has time left on the clock - but looks like the remailns of a nuclear holocaust. Turns out, "nuking" rice without water is a bad, smelly idea. Yup, I forgot to add water. The house smelled for 3 days straight. The upside is, I learned of a new use for vinegar and baking soda. Just mix together in a bowl (no measurements, because we are artists!), "nuke" for a minute or 2 'til boiling, and all of the baked on stinky mess in your microwave will easily wipe off. And that is your artist's tip for the day!