Kitchen Tip: Garburator is Not a Terminator

By Dreenaburton @dreenaburton
Some kitchen brilliance from yours truly today (I say this with a sarcastic tone, you just can't hear me)!  I have always been cocky with my garburator.  Yep, I think it can suck, trash, demolish, and annihilate anything pushed its way.  My husband catches me poking this and that down there and says "don't put that down the sink".  I've always mocked him, saying "It's a garburator, that's what it's supposed to do"!  Right?  Wrong.
Okay, I'll before continuing my blog of shame, I need to redeem myself in saying that I have stopped putting some things down the holy garburator.  Like banana peels.  No-no.  And really fibrous stuff like artichokes.  But, most kitchen scraps, hey, what's the big deal?  It's not like I'm shoving ribs and chicken bones down there!
Alas, I ate some humble pie last week.  But, again, I need to qualify that I was having one hell of a stressful day - make that a few stressful days in a row.  I thought I'd do something productive and began cleaning out my cupboard with grains and beans.  I stumble upon some whole-wheat couscous, gave it a smell, found it was rancid, and tossed it... yep, down the sink.  Okay, again, a qualifier.  I was on the phone, guys, and along with chatting to my girlfriend about all this stuff that had been going on, I also had toddling trouble distracting me, and my mind was all over the place.  Which is why I really didn't think about this...
Couscous doesn't really need to "cook".  Add some boiling water to it, and it does its thing.  Guess what it did in our sink then... yeah, it fluffed, it puffed, and it clogged our sink to the high heavens.  We tried all kinds of do-it-yourself techniques off the internet, but there was no saving this clog.  We had to call in the heavies, Mr. Rooter.  Two hours and $300+ later (I did ask if they had a shitty-day discount - nope, but was worth a try), I'm wallowing in self-pity while my husband, I'm fully certain, is getting some twisted satisfaction.  He wasn't upset, not at all.  He was very understanding, and tried to make me feel better.  All while sporting a grinchy-told-you-so grin.
So, I thought I'd share this "profound" kitchen wisdom with you today.  That's what you come here for, right?  Tips on making green smoothies, how to make some raw brownies, tasty bean burgers, and why not to toss couscous down your terminator garburator.
p.s. Don't expect to see any couscous recipes in my next book.
"I'll Be Back"!