Exam time means study time. Study time means not enough time. And this, of course, means streamlining.

Obvious targets are tasks that can be eliminated altogether. The justification which allows fast food to replace real food becomes more muddled, and can even extend as far more bizarre substitutions. For example, the purchase of new clothes to save that hour and a half spent on laundry. (Possibly a guy-only savings; apparently some females find clothes shopping to be a veritable black hole of time consumption.)

But besides killing chores, what about the necessary recreation? Man cannot live on studying alone… What kinds of relaxation activities give the highest degree of relaxation per unit of time invested?

Specifically, what pastimes are

1. mentally relaxing,
2. physically active,
3. emotionally rewarding, and
4. non-addictive, taking place in controlled time intervals?

I had a new favourite this term, which will be discussed at length sometime in the future. But my other great relaxation activity is still cooking.

Wait… what?

Yeah. It’s my experience that making a meal I know I can make well is extremely rewarding, and guaranteed to take no more than a set amount of time. Ordering in food, on the other hand, takes almost no time or effort, but has the following downsides:

1. I’m unlikely to go back to studying in the time between placing a delivery call and recieving the food, which means,
2. I’m more likely to turn on the TV or a movie. TV watching meets none of the four criteria listed above for Good Exam Time Recreation Activities. (unless, of course, it’s really good TV, in which case it may be emotionally satisfying.)

Anyhow, here’s some fun things to make, that take a bit of time but are worth the effort.

Pizza From Scratch: The crust of this is the excellent recipe from pizzaware.com. Between the two pizzas, there’s a half-can of tomato sauce, a third of a block of Mozzarella cheese (the typical $10 one), and then toppings to taste appearance. I recommend pre-sliced pepperoni, since it curls much nicer than when you try to slice it yourself.

I’ve never gotten it quite as fluffy as Pizza Hut, but it’s also never as flat as most fast food pizza. The rising time means this is more of an afternoon project, but kneading is relaxing, and I feel much more like studying in that hour-long gap than I do in the 30 minute wait for Chinese.

Bread From Scratch: The particular loaf depicted here is this recipe, although I found that the amount of milk called for was a little excessive; when I make this now, I trim it to about half. (substitute water for the missing part…)

I’ve since started trying more recipes from the Book of Bread, but the AllRecipes one linked there had served me well.

Rotini Casserole: This is pretty much a no-brainer. You make pasta sauce with lots and lots of meat in it, you boil the rotini until it’s not quite done, and then you dump all of it into the 9×13 pan with some cheese on top, and bake it for half an hour.

Not complicated, but definitely delicious. And it goes well with the white bread above.

The Ultimate Brownie: I haven’t got a picture of this one, regrettably, but it was a big hit with my study pals this term. You’d think brownies would be a no-brainer as well, but it’s surprising the amount of tension between the barely-cooked “fudge” brownie camp, and the might-as-well-be-a-cake brownie camp. This recipe, however, is excellent.

And just to prove that things don’t always turn out how you plan, here was an almost-disastrous accident from last term:

And all I wanted was a mug of tea.

Mike

← Earlier Later → Posted at 2:53 pm to Food, School.