Let me put you in the picture, let me show you what it means

[venta]

You'd think that, by now, I'd have exhausted all my weird words and phrase. Or, at any rate, learned which ones of them would get me funny looks. Apparently not, though.

Last night I sent a text message which ended "... and once you've found your keys you'll be framing".

I got the response "framing?"

Er... ok. You know the drill now, don't you? Clicky time!

[Poll #1871848]

And not relatedly: microwaves. Why are they so complicated? I don't want to be able to set 10% power for a fish-based plated meal of 350g, I want to choose a time and press "go". Full power.

Do people really use these features? Assuming we're not talking about combination microwaves and ovens, or anything like that, does anyone do anything other than full power, go?

I'm perfectly happy that such microwaves are on offer, for those as want them, but why are there none available which have basically a time dial and a big green button?

[Poll #1871849]

Comments

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

I don't have a microwave at home but for the one at work yeah, it's basically full power for however long it says on the readymeal/soup carton. I have occasionally been known to use the defrost function in an emergency but I don't like it as it always seems to partly cook the edges of the food.

[metame.livejournal.com]

Up 'til a couple of months ago I pretty much only used my microwave for the odd bit of defrosting (which I do with the aforementioned changes in power).
Since then it has been all "90 second full power" to heat up a heat-pack, but I'm hoping to get back to the low power stuff evenutally. So I think I need about 3 buttons, rather than the 8 or 10 it has.

[glamwhorebunni.livejournal.com]

I believe that microwaves are for full power, but my girlfriend uses their defrost function as well.

[lnr]

I'd work out "framing for *something*" from context, not sure I'd get it on its own. Sorry, not on your side on this one :)

Oh and I mostly do N minutes, nuke - but use the auto-cook function for jacket spuds, the defrost setting for sausages from the freezer (though I pretend they're a chicken quarter), and have recently discovered the lower-power settings are useful for melting chocolate. Sliced bread is defrosted using blasts of 10 seconds of full power at a time though. I use the timer function sometimes too.

Oh, and even though it *has* all the other settings it's still really easy to do N minutes, nuke (just hit the 10 min, 1 min and 10 sec buttons enough times to get the right time then hit nuke) - so I don't see there's any harm in it having the other functions too.

(Stone Roses? Can't remember the name of the track. Half a kudo? The messiah is my sister and all that.)

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

I said 'Three minutes, nuke', but for defrosting things or melting things for cooking what I actually do is pick an arbitrary lower percentage of power for a fairly random amount of time and keep an eye on it.

I don't know how to use any of the weird meat, jacket potato etc settings.

[damerell.livejournal.com]

Sarah's microwave has the usual collection of buttons, but one of them - an obvious one - means "add 30 seconds to the timer at full power", so basically you can stick something in and bounce on that button.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Mine came from Robert Dyas and has a power dial and a time dial and that's it. I use it on half power for 3 minutes to reheat a box of e.g. Chinese food from last night. The gaps in between the zaps give it a chance for the heat to stir itself through the whole box and reduce the frequency of vegetable-explodage.

I also use this for 5 minutes to cook potatoes in a bowl with a plate on top. 5 minutes, rearrange, 3 minutes, done.

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

I hate digital microwaves, but you can still get them with 2 dials, one for power, one for time. £32 from Argos last month.

[sammason.livejournal.com]

If you try to frame me for those body parts in the bin bag, I'll figure it out in court.

Meanwhile, my microwave is a livesaver. Really. For this ex-chef, now crip, microwaving can make the difference between getting my meal and swearing at a closed fridge door.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

I understand "you've been framed" "framing someone" "being framed" and "framing a picture" but your sentence makes no sense.

My microwave has a dial with only only min, defrost, mid, mid-max and max.

I use defrost for defrosting leftovers from the freezer, max for cooking them, and min for delicate operations such as softening butter.

[cleanskies.livejournal.com]

Defrost. Don't forget defrost.

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

None of your microwave poll answers are much good for me since I'm awkward like that.

I use my microwave a lot and for all sorts of things, but I can't choose the top answer because I don't use arcane features of the device to accomplish this. Similarly, the word "complicated" doesn't seem to fit. For me, using microwaves is all about knowing when to cut things up and when to add water and when to cover things and what cooking times things need. Give me a fancy feature on my microwave and I'll... forget how it works. In fact I'll probably forget it's even there!

[rabbit1080.livejournal.com]

I no longer own a microwave - I wasn't using it much anyway. I'd use it for veggies, which I now blanch or steam or stir-fry instead. "Nuke for 3 minutes" then keep a vague eye on the contents seemed to work fine, back when I used to microwave stuff.

I agree that microwave control-panels are outrageously complicated these days.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

More accurately, I do exactly one other thing which is only slightly more complicated, namely the defrost setting.
This is for when I've got something out of the freezer that I'm going to be cooking anyway but it's a pain to do so from frozen (like frying sausages).

[exspelunca.livejournal.com]

Framing - blame your grandad as it came from him, presumably via me. It is used in the sense of being set up and ready to go/do something and could be naval slang as much of his was.
Microwave? Nah. Takes up too much worktop space in relation to use I'd get from it.