in a chinese takeaway to fund my vacation…..
Hehe, just kidding!
After gobbling down a sumptuous dinner prepared by my friend at her home, I offered to do the dishes. They all warned me about it and I was like, “How hard can it be? It’s just washing up some plates and cutlery. How hard can it be? Try me”.
And so, I found out the hard way. Washing dishes in UK is completely different from Malaysia. Of course, I can’t be certain whether the method taught to me was only particular to my friend’s household or is a common method in UK homes, but I was told that it’s pretty common.
It’s an established fact among my family members that I hate washing dishes. And after finding out how it’s like to wash dishes in the UK, I’m hating it even more. If I had to choose between washing dishes at home and UK, I’d much prefer the former.
How do you wash dishes? You rinse the dirty dishes, lather them up and then rinse again, right? Or if you’re anal about water stains, you wipe them dry before storing them back into your cabinets. Easy peasy.
But in UK, it’s not so simple.
Ever wondered why the more modern kitchens of Malaysia have double sinks? I’ve always thought that one was reserved exclusively for washing vegetables and the other for cleaning up dishes. I was wrong.
Both of the sinks are for washing dishes! This is a step by step instructions for foreigners on how to wash dishes in UK:
1. Give all the dirty plates/bowls/pans/pots/cutlery a quick rinse.
2. Plug the first sink and fill it up with hot water.
3. Pour some washing liquid into the hot water.
4. Submerge the plates/bowls/pans/pots/cutlery into the hot water.
5. Now, soak your washing sponge with the soapy hot water and begin cleaning plates/bowl/pans/pot/cutlery.
6. Place the soaped up plates/bowls/pans/pots/cutlery into the second sink.
7. Turn on the cold water and properly rinse suds off plates/bowls/pans/pots/cutlery.
8. Wipe plates/bowls/pans/pots/cutler to dry.
Learning points that I insist on sharing:
1. Wear reasonably thick gloves before sticking your hands into the hot water. It is painful.
2. Splashing your hands with icy cold water immediately after plunging them into steaming hot water is even more painful.
3. Next time, forget the dishes. Just bring a bottle of wine.
