Heat Wave

We have not put our air conditioners in the windows yet, so I've been trying to make dinner without turning anything on. Fortunately, it's an annual tradition at Woman's Day to have an article on no-cook meals. Lots of sandwiches and cold soups, but tonight I'm going to try this Thai-inspired beef noodle salad that you make with deli meat and by soaking ramen noodles in warm water for 10 minutes. We'll see.

Last night I made another no-cooker, a couscous salad, with all the leftovers in the fridge. I nuke the water to get it boiling (although supposedly that's a no-no; see why below), then dump in the couscous and cover it for 5 minutes. This time I added tomato, roasted red pepper, diced mozzarella, salt, pepper and kalamata olives.

Why you shouldn't boil water in the microwave (although I do it anyway): Apparently the hot water can unexpectedly spurt up when you take it out of the microwave because the air that's trying to bubble up has nothing to form bubbles around, then when you slosh it when you take it out, the bubbles all form along the sides of the container and burst out of it; since the water reached the boiling point without bubbling, it's hotter than the boiling point when it spills all over your hands. I've seen others recommend putting a string or wooden pick in the water, breaking the surface, to allow the bubbles to form along that. I just use a really big, really old pyrex container with lots of scratches for the bubbles to form on.