Comments on: Let's all chill out...

Question: Let's all chill out...

Shoeburyness — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 16:05:29 -0800

TooDarnHotFilter: Since most of the U.S., including me, is having a broiling heat wave right now, I thought it would be useful to share suggestions on keeping cool. Particularly, what are the best recipes? What I'm looking for are things that heat up the kitchen the least. I tried the slow cooker today, but it's still making things hotter than I like in the kitchen, and tomorrow's forecast is 102. There is always grilling, but that requires (eek!) going outside. Other suggestions for keeping cool for the under-A/C'ed (like myself) or the A/C-less?

By: k8t

k8t — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 16:10:45 -0800

Get a white sheet wet and hang it over your largest window. Wet water will blow in on you.

By: magodesky

magodesky — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 16:12:05 -0800

Anything you can cook in the microwave. ;)

By: mr_roboto

mr_roboto — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 16:19:00 -0800

Sashimi and cold beer.

By: leapingsheep

leapingsheep — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 16:19:07 -0800

Tuna sandwiches with tomato salad (cherry tomatos cut in half, cubes of feta or mozzarella cheese, chopped basil or other herbs of choice, olive oil & white vinegar). Yum.

By: muddgirl

muddgirl — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 16:19:31 -0800

mmm, greek salads. If you need meat, grill up a bunch of chicken at once and then refridgerate it. So only one day of torture for a week or two of grilled chicken salad.

Lots and lots of jello - you can boil the water in the microwave.

By: Drunken_munky

Drunken_munky — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 16:26:16 -0800

Take one lime. Slice.
Insert into cold, cold Corona.
Add one deck chair.

Mix vigorously.

By: karmaville

karmaville — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 16:28:18 -0800

Food:
1. Hummus, cheese, and crackers - good, easy, tasty snack
2. rotisserie chicken from the grocery - warm/hot food without cooking. Leftovers can be used for salad
3. Caesar salad - Use the left over rotisserie chicken
4. Frozen fruit pops - cool and tasty, plus it counts as a serving of fruit
5. Toaster waffles with yogurt - Toaster doesn't heat up too bad and yogurt makes it cool

Cooling yourself:
1. Take a cool shower being sure to rinse underarms and groin well with cool water. It will cool you down very, very quickly and allow you to take the heat a while longer.
2. See a movie, go to the library, sit in a bookstore. All provide free A/C.

By: fish tick

fish tick — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 16:29:46 -0800

Could you plug in the slow cooker outside? Or place a toaster oven outside?

By: buggzzee23

buggzzee23 — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 16:30:39 -0800

Gazpacho is great, as are cold fruit salads. I've spent my life in the California desert and found that drinking plenty of cool water, along with wearing light-colored, loose fitting, long-sleeved clothing made of cotton and a hat is the best way to stay cool.

My grandmother used to wrap a napkin around the bottom of a salted icecube and give them to my sibs and I on real hot days. I'm in my 50s now and I still haven't found anything as refreshing as sucking on a salted icecube after spending the day out in the hot sun. Stay away from sweetened drinks but squeezing a lemon into your water is a nice touch.

It gets extremely hot here (123 degrees a couple of days ago) so we have a stove and sink alongside the BBQ on the patio and do most of our cooking out there this time of year.

By: XiBe

XiBe — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 16:33:44 -0800

Some suggestions (nothing very earth-shattering nor new) at Wikihow : How to Cool Yourself Without Air Conditioning, How to Sleep Comfortably on a Hot Night.

By: redteam

redteam — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 16:37:02 -0800

Los Angeles is deadly right now.

This may seem completely obvious, but if you don't already have one, get a fan.

Also, if you want to freeze, get a small towel, soak it in water (or even ice water), wring it out a little and put it around your neck.

It gives me a fat guys in the steam room vibe, but you'll be so refreshed and cool that you won't care.

By: goofyfoot

goofyfoot — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 16:59:47 -0800

Seconding the gazpacho tip. Garnishing it with avocado bulks it up a bit.

Also, cold yogurt soup: equal parts plain yogurt and chicken broth, with lots of crushed or minced garlic, chopped cucumbers and radishes, and cilantro or mint.

By: Vantech

Vantech — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 17:11:50 -0800

I usually end up doing cold cuts in the summer time...
Salad is a great option as well.

By: kimota

kimota — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 17:13:44 -0800

I've had two people swear to me that reading this story will chill you to the bone even in the midst of a heat wave. I haven't read it on account of global warming; I'm saving it up!

By: persona non grata

persona non grata — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 17:16:08 -0800

My two favourite self-cooling techniques (along with the towel around the neck mentioned readteam) are touched on by karmaville, but I take a slightly more extreme approach:

1 - I put head under a strong running faucet on EXTREME COLD for a few minutes. Sooooo deeply satisfying after the initial shock and provides an immediate cool down.

2 - When I am not doing anything too active I put a bunch of ice cubes in two plastic bags (crushed ice is even more comfortable), wrap the bags in cloth napkins and stick 'em in my armpits.

Anwhere that there is significant blood flow close to the body's surface is a prime spot for this kind of low-tech direct cooling.

YMMV when it comes to such aggresive cooling in the groin: it takes a bit of blocking and immobility but if you can get an insulated ice pack up against those femoral arteries without freezing your precious parts all the better.

By: invisible ink

invisible ink — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 17:18:47 -0800

Keep fresh oranges, strawberries, pears, apples, watermelon, etc. in the fridge.

Buy heart-healthy nuts like almonds, cashews, walnuts, etc.

Mix and match options from both groups, and you have a very healthy, easy-to-prepare snack or light meal.

By: snsranch

snsranch — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 17:24:35 -0800

The hot commodity around here is quirt bottles. Mist yourself away. I even give myself a nice misting just as I lay down to sleep (with the ceiling fan on) and oh, that is just awesome.

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 17:33:46 -0800

Take warm as opposed to cold showers. It makes the air feel cooler.

By: matematichica

matematichica — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 17:38:33 -0800

1. Lots of cold pasta or rice salads. As mentioned above, you can grill up a bunch of chicken and use it all week. Make up a bunch of rice and pasta, and keep that in the fridge too. Then just pick a culinary theme and toss in veggies. I've had great luck with a chicken-mango-cilantro-lime theme; greek (feta-tomatos-olives-red onions) is also pretty tasty. Use dressing, or season with olive oil and vinegar.

2. Rice with tuna fish and tomatoes. Drizzle a little olive oil and vinegar, chop up some tomatoes and instant meal.

3. And if you're going for the Spanish gazpacho route, don't overlook that other mainstay of the no-cook Mediterranean meal: melón con jamón. Just slice up some melon (honeydew or cantaloupe is fine) and serve with thin cut proscuitto or jamón crudo.

By: maloon

maloon — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 17:40:54 -0800

deli platter & stick bread supper!

By: caddis

caddis — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 17:45:23 -0800

The microwave is your friend. It heats the food, not the environment. Next the toaster oven or the frying pan, but low heats. Boiling liquids is not good and of course the oven is just right out. Best of all, cold food -time for salad and gazpacho!

By: tomble

tomble — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 17:51:23 -0800

Lots of fresh salads, interesting dips, varied cheeses, cold meats from a delicatessen, long cold glasses of ice tea, beaded with condensation.

Brrrrr.... (It's winter where I live).

By: cabingirl

cabingirl — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 18:33:58 -0800

Enough with the gazpacho...how about ceviche?

By: jldindc

jldindc — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 18:44:54 -0800

Put one of these homemade air conditioners in the kitchen then make whatever food you want.

By: ejaned8

ejaned8 — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 18:50:54 -0800

Freeze some grapes (instant mini-popsicles). For pasta, couscous (boil water, add, then let sit 5 minutes).

By: knave

knave — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 18:53:33 -0800

^ Where's the ice water come from? If it's coming from your freezer, you are heating your home more than cooling it.

By: amtho

amtho — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 19:10:41 -0800

Sounds like the perfect time to explore raw foods. (I don't know much about raw foods, that's just the first link Google gave. Some foods are, I understand, more nutritious when cooked...)

Sandwiches are exactly what you need. Also melon, cucumber wedges with salad dressing/dip. Fancy salads with beans (cooked the previous night or weekend mornings) on them. Pickles. Popsicles, especially the all-fruit kind. If you're young enough to deal with the sugar, the little freeze-your-own ones in the plastic envelopes aer handy and delightful. Nuts and peanuts are good for protein. Hummus. Cheese, if you're into that. In other words, why cook at all? You'll be using electricity that's at such a premium.

I find that mineral (fizzy) water is better than flat water for replenishing me after being out in the heat.

Back when I was in college and riding the (Atlanta) buses to work in summer, I'd sometimes carry a damp washcloth in a ziploc bag to cool myself off with while walking to/from and waiting in the bus station. On truly stifling nights with no AC (not often), I'd use rubbing alcohol to cool my body. Probably horribly unhealthy, but so cooling.

By: hooray

hooray — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 19:40:28 -0800

In the summer, I crave vietnamese summer rolls! I usually buy them, but you only need to cook (boil) the shrimp and soak the vermicelli in hot water. There's a recipe here.

Also, cold showers with peppermint soap (like Dr. Bronner's) is really refreshing.

By: TungstenChef

TungstenChef — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 20:25:49 -0800

You can make a perfectly good pasta salad by cooking the pasta in the microwave. Put the pasta in a bowl with just enough water to cover, and start it for 10 minutes. Check for doneness and continue cooking in 1 minute increments until you're satisfied. You aren't going to end up with French Laundry perfect al dente, but it cooks up surprisingly well.

By: jiawen

jiawen — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 21:29:00 -0800

Another not-food idea: In Taiwan, where it got really hot and really humid pretty much every summer, I started 1) taking two showers a day and 2) filling the sink with cold water, then putting my face in and blowing bubbles. Doing the latter really made me feel cool for a couple minutes, although it didn't help the rest of my body much.

By: drstein

drstein — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 21:53:28 -0800

Get a little spray bottle and fill it with cold water. Spray yourself with the mist every so often while laying in front of the fan. Works for me!

By: essexjan

essexjan — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 02:06:32 -0800

Half-fill a 2-litre plastic bottle with water. Freeze it. Before you go out, take it out of the freezer and top it up, so you have ice water to drink (at least until the ice melts). If you freeze a full bottle either the bottle will split or you'll be waiting too long for the ice to melt and will end up with tiny mouthfuls.

By: gg

gg — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 05:04:41 -0800

Get a George Foreman grill for cooking meats and vegs--heats up the kitchen much less than an oven. Put it outside and do all your cooking out on the patio with your microwave, grill, toaster oven, whatever.

Do laundry at night, and try to hang clothes out to dry in the sun instead of running the dryer.

By: phatkitten

phatkitten — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 06:01:48 -0800

Another no-heat-involved meal: wraps. I take a tortilla, spread some cream cheese on it (I prefer chive and onion or plain sprinkled with Mrs. Dash), layer it with spinach leaves, a nice-sized roasted red pepper and some lunchmeat, and wrap it up. Especially delicious with iced tea.

By: omidius

omidius — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 10:30:55 -0800

A persian food classic:
Take yogurt, ice cubes, walnuts and raisins and mix together in a large bowl.

Find the lowest part of your residence like a basement. turn off the lights, sit still and chomp away. Think of breezy places.

By: theora55

theora55 — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 11:14:50 -0800

Blender drinks. Strawberries, some frozen lemonade or limeade concentrate, ice cubes. Tequila, vodka or rum is optional.

Gazpacho and good french bread.

If you make pasta salad, add frozen peas to cool the hot pasta quickly. Spiral pasta + tuna, black olives, red peppers, peas + your favorite dressing or 1 envelope of salad dressing mix and some mayo.

By: marsha56

marsha56 — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 11:31:07 -0800

I like this cookbook, Cool Kitchen. My favorites (can't remember the actual names) are a) dates stuffed with herbed goat cheese and b) bulgar wheat with smoked chicken, olives, raisins and pine nuts (I make it without the chicken). Unusual flavor combinations, not for the timid palate.

By: Caviar

Caviar — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 21:52:14 -0800

Two suggestions, one cooking and one not.

1) The Kuhn Rikon Durotherm thermal pans are great for not heating up your kitchen in the summer. The pans have integrated insulation, so you blast them with a little heat on the stove, and they continue to cook the stuff inside after you remove them from the heat. They are not, however, cheap (even for high quality cookware). You can, as I did, occasionally find them on sale at high end kitchen supply stores. It takes a little practice to get the timing down, but I've gotten good results. They are particularly good for grains, where the timing is not critical.

2) Chillow. (link goes to my full review.)

By: jldindc

jldindc — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 09:46:13 -0800

For the homemade air conditioner option I mentioned above, yes, you'd have to go to the store to get a bag of ice. Most people probably go past a store on their way home from work, so maybe this is not such a hard thing to do.