I had a good friend Kate, come to stay over the weekend and we had a fab afternoon on the beach at Saunton Sands, messing around with surfboards, getting a good 1/2 hour flying (successfully with out the boys help!!!) kites and reminising about our 20 years of friendship, built upon many happy hours in the pub, at rugby, out ont he boat, cycling etc
But as we grew up separately, me in Surrey and her in Yorkshire it was amazing how similar our childhoods were.....lots of family walks, happy days on English beaches, camping holidays and lots of sport at school.........as well as Brownies and Guides. We were talking about badges you earned at Brownies and it was too funny thet we both did our Housekeeping Badge and as part of that we learnt to set out a tea tray properly, sort the laundry and hang it out to minimize creases and wash up in the right order, .....yes really!
Anyway I asked Michael if he knew how to wash up in the right order and he looked at me like I was from Mars. So for the benefit of every one who wants to know / doesn't have a dishwasher / wants a stupid 'at the bar' topic of conversation, here goes:
Get the water as hot as you can stand it and with bubbles but not too many. You also should have the hot tap on very low so that you can rinse as you wash and not leave residual bubbles on anything. Plus you don't need to dry up.
Start with all the glasses, then cutlery, then the least dirty of the plates and serving bowl, any stainless steel pans and utensils, then finally the really dirty or greasy bowls. This might need new water, soap and a soak or you can cheat and use Mr Muscle. Eitherway its best to soak the items as you finish cooking with them and wash up straight after you eat, so you minimise linger food smells!
