Observe before rinsing
Record time, basin material, strainer type, moisture, arrangement, and the plausible meal of origin.
Method note · Revision 4.2
How we read a sink
With care, limited confidence, and an unwavering respect for the distinction between food caught by a strainer and food merely visiting a basin.
Separate catch from remainder
The strainer is the primary archive. Larger basin pieces are secondary evidence, never discarded from the interpretation.
Interpret lightly
Every reading is a literary hypothesis, not a diagnosis. Certainty is the enemy of a good crumb.
Core taxonomy
Three places a snack can be.
Location changes meaning. A caught grain is accidental; a half biscuit in open porcelain may have been placed, dropped, or postponed.
The Catch
Small edible fragments visibly stopped by a basket, mesh, or perforated strainer. The canonical sink snack.
The Remainder
A larger edible piece left elsewhere in the basin: crust, peel, bitten fruit, biscuit, cheese rind, or toast corner.
The Conjunction
A Catch and a Remainder in the same observation. Conjunctions often reveal sequence: preparation below, decision above.
The Orbit
Small fragments arranged around rather than inside the drain. Usually created by rinsing, sometimes by an owner with suspiciously geometric habits.
The False Snack
Non-edible material that resembles food: cork, sponge fiber, paper, candle wax. Logged, then excluded.
The review scale
Five measures, none of them nutritional.
Legibility
How clearly the fragments suggest their meal of origin. A fusilli and basil leaf score higher than anonymous beige sediment.
Arrangement
The compositional quality of the evidence: accidental constellations, dramatic diagonals, and exceptionally eloquent single crumbs.
Owner signal
The degree to which the observation advances a repeated habit or a documented change. One tea leaf says little; the same Assam blend every Tuesday says more.
Strainer fidelity
How completely the snack honors the traditional definition by residing in the strainer. Basin pieces can still earn high overall marks through narrative value.
Afterimage
The likelihood that the observation will be remembered after the sink has been rinsed.
No entry is used to infer health, income, character, guilt, or the correct way to load a dishwasher.