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I was browsing through a previous copy of Good Housekeeping magazine that was passed on to me. Usually I find the recipes in this publication are quite good, and in this case the same was true – the recipe for peanut dan dan noodles that I tried was from here and it was really tasty. But in this issue they also had a short section of recipe ideas for students. And that really got my back up. Not because there was anything wrong with the recipe suggestions at all, but because instead of using the standard dessert spoon measure, in these particular recipes the writer had opted to use a ‘cutlery spoon’ instead. What the heck is that? It could be absolutely anything! Any spoon is a ‘cutlery spoon’. And anyone who has ever spent any time in student accommodation would know that they are normally equipped with a totally random selection of cutlery, often the really cheapest stuff in which case the spoons are almost flat, more like spatulas. In contrast a dessert spoon is a standard measurement of 10 mL, while a teaspoon is 5 mL and a tablespoon is 15 mL. If they thought students might not have dessert spoons to hand they could have said ‘two teaspoons’ instead, because oddly, they do use the teaspoon measure in the recipe. Or do they think that students are so ignorant that they wouldn’t know what a dessert spoon is? Even if that were true, they way you learn about new things is by finding out about them when you encounter them. Do you think this kind of instruction is helpful? All rights reserved. © Text copyright Fleur 2026.