There's been a few threads on the ingenuity of our pp's and how they adapt objects for their needs. Well, I would like to add this to that list.

On the black market, my pp acquired an onion, pepper, a large chicken leg, cheese and noodles. He used a bucket of salted water which had an extension cord and paper clips - called a Stinger - immersed into it to cause the water to boil (maybe someone could explain to me how exactly this works!!!!)). He then placed the food in a large potato chip bag and proceeded to make a dish called 'Chi Chi'!

Ain't that clever! It made me smile as I thought of him tucking into his specially prepared dinner for 1 :-)

Very Clever!!

Rose sounds like your pal knows how to eat right! Gosh I have no idea how the paperclip extension cord thing works but tell him to be careful, it sounds dangerous! also if he would like some recipes i know plaster cat may have some to share ..he helped me out in the past when former pal needed some cooking ideas.

wow

I would be a little leery about using the old paperclip trick, too. :-) However, I would assume that it works just like a simple immersion heater that you can use to boil a cup of water for boulion, coffee, tea, etc.
Water with minerals in it, such as salt, conducts electricity (distilled water doesn't conduct electricity). When you immerse the two paperclips, electricity flows from one to the other, thus heating the water in between them. He must be using a small bucket, because it seems like it might take about a hundred years to bring 5 gallons of water, to a boil. :-)

Rose,
I have a silly question for you.
Is your pal allowed to have one of those tiny cooking pots in his cell? I know my former pal was allowed to have a small crock like thing that warmed food...he made Ramon noodles and was able to cook alot of different foods. Has anyone else heard of this?

gilly, it's called a "hot pot" and they can be purchased from most canteens in facilities, they usaually cost sround 30 dollars and are well worth the investment. And yes, I have several jailhouse recipes that easily made and somewhat tastee...

Xray, I take it you learned the paper clip trick in the service, it does work, but only as Xray says, use salt water and not just tap, else you're gonna cook more the food, lol.

Thanks X-ray for explaining that to me - I was rather dire in science classes! That is so clever though!

Gilly, I'm not quite sure if he's allowed to be doing those kind of things in his cell. He's hopefully on his way out in a couple of weeks and some of the things that he tells me make me think that he isn't living in the strictest of regimes! He loves cooking so no doubt he will be over the moon to see an oven/hob again!!

Plastercat,
I never saw the paperclip trick in the army. A lot of times we didn't have electricity when we were "camping out". :-)
We used something much safer. We burned plastic explosive . . in small amounts (about half the size of a marble). It burned hot and would heat up a canteen cup full of water in a hurry. You can also screw the detonator out of a hand grenade and pop the cap off the other end (It is pinched on, like the cap on a bottle of soda), so that air can get in from the bottom. When ignited, the explosive shoots out a flame like a blow torch. That works well for heating up a bunker on a chilly morning.

LOL Xray...my dad was a career Army man (Chief Warrant Officer First Class, 30 yrs active duty). He was very resourceful as well, but the gernade thing is a new one one me. And I can just imagine your "camping trips" being somewhat primitive...no Holidays Inns or anything out there, huh? It's good your survival training paid off! =)