In Which Ms. Bean Answers Mr. Monk’s Question + The Names Of Measuring Spoons & Cups

January 11, 2022 / Ally Bean / 197 Comments

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“How many pinches in a dollop?”

We’ve been watching the TV show MONK at night. It’s currently streaming on Amazon Prime. The show is silliness wrapped around a mystery, so it’s light and entertaining.

Just what we like.

For anyone unfamiliar with the show, Mr. Monk is a detective who suffers from so many phobias & foibles that half the show is watching him freak out, while the other half of the show is observing how he solves a mystery, usually a murder.

In one episode, “Mr. Monk Goes To The Circus” [Season 2, Episode 4], while attempting to make a mug of cocoa Mr. Monk asks Sharona, his beleaguered assistant, the question shown at the top of this post. It seems like it might be a rhetorical question, but in fact it is not.

There is an answer that I shall now tell you.

Ready? Here goes.

FIRST you need to know these two facts about measuring spoons:

a PINCH is 1/16th of a teaspoon

3 TEASPOONS is 1 tablespoon

PLUS you need to understand that:

a DOLLOP is 1 + 1/4th tablespoons

THEN you need to do the math:

Knowing that 16 pinches are 1 teaspoon and that 3 teaspoons make 1 tablespoon, I determined that 1 tablespoon is 48 pinches [16 x 3].

But what about the 1/4th of a tablespoon, you might be asking yourself? Well that’s where it gets more complicated but I figured it out.

Remembering that 1 tablespoon equals 48 pinches, I was able to determine that one fourth of a tablespoon equals 12 pinches [48 ÷ 4].

Thus I added 12 to 48 and arrived at the answer:

60 pinches make a dollop

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The Names Of Measuring Spoons & Cups

a DROP or a NIP is 1/64th of a teaspoon

a SMIDGEN or a SHAKE is 1/32nd of a teaspoon

a PINCH is 1/16th of a teaspoon

a DASH is 1/8th of a teaspoon

a TAD is 1/4th of a teaspoon

a HALF is 1/2th of a teaspoon

a DESSERTSPOON is 2 teaspoons

a TABLESPOON is 3 teaspoons

a DOLLOP is 1 + 1/4th tablespoons

a WALNUT-SIZE is roughly 2 tablespoons

a SPLASH is less than a drizzle

a DRIZZLE is about 2 tablespoons

a GLUG is more than a drizzle

a HEN’S EGG is 3 to 4 tablespoons

a FISTFUL or a WINEGLASS is 1/4th of a cup

a HANDFUL or a TEACUP or a GILL is 1/2th of a cup

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Sources:

What’s the Difference Between a Pinch, a Dash and a Shake? via Taste of Home

How big is a dollop? via AnswersToAll

A Walnut-Size of Butter via Bygone Food and Recipes

I Am Colorful, I Am Manifesting Potatoes, I Am Positive

January 4, 2022 / Ally Bean / 171 Comments

Hello again, my gentle readers and kind lurkers!

This image represents the predominant colors found in my IG account photos during 2021. I used YEAROFCOLOUR.COM, an app, to create it.

After the strangest warmest Christmas Day on record [69ºF] and the oddest gloomiest New Year’s Day I can remember [rained all day], we here in Chez Bean are ready to get back to doing normal things this week.

Well, normal as it is now defined. That is, we are fully vaccinated, wearing masks when out & about in public, keeping away from people in general– and doing our best to not spread a deadly virus.

You know which one it is.

This is what @MAGICKMOODS, found on IG, says I am currently doing. Who knows, maybe blog posts are really just potatoes… and I’m making a hash of it here?

To wit, Z-D is back to work on a hybrid schedule of 2 days downtown in his office/3 days at home in his upstairs bedroom office. He likes the idea so it’s all good*.

This will be happening while I’m back to writing my usual flapdoodle & twaddle. I never know how much longer I’m going to be writing this blog, but muse is with me and I’m feeling groovy so I shall keep going.

Plus I took a fast online test, a task as they call it, that measures verbal creativity. The average score was 78 but mine was 93. Not to brag but as the consummate B+ college student who was never quite smart enough to earn an A, I’m chuffed by this number. Ha!

While I’m not known for being a relentlessly upbeat Pollyanna, these particular words from WORDSTACKS, a game on my phone, resonated with me. So I share them here.

And with that I’ll end this post by asking: what are you manifesting today?

* Zen-Den can be a bit of an absent-minded professor. He went into work yesterday, on 1 of his 2 days in the office, but came home early. Few people were around, he said, but he got a lot done. On further reflection, and a quick check of the company’s 2022 scheduled holidays, he realized he had the day off. Uh huh 🙄