Kitchen Disasters

[Birdmom]

Good advice. I ought to pin that one on my refrigerator!

 

[babetoo]

i am a short person, so many things are to high for me. if i can touch it i can wiggle it off the shelf. had a huge container of plant foods up high. walked it right off onto the floor. bottle broke, you get the pictures. took the paint right off the wall
funny now, but now then.

 

[Birdmom]

i am a short person, so many things are to high for me. if i can touch it i can wiggle it off the shelf. had a huge container of plant foods up high. walked it right off onto the floor. bottle broke, you get the pictures. took the paint right off the wall
funny now, but now then.

I'm also very short (under 5 feet) and it's already a stretch getting things into the cabinet. I also sometimes have to wiggle things off the shelf to where I can touch them. I'm just a klutz in the kitchen anyway, if there's an accident waiting to happen, I'll probably be there

 

[Claire]

Interesting where this line has gone. I'm tall. Not Julia ChildTall, just 5'9". BUTall counters make me bend over to work on them, and give me a back-ache. I swear, if I ever got rich, I'd have my counters at least six inches taller. You have to realise that your average kitchen counters are meant for women who are 5'2" to 5'4" tall. When I cook I'm bowing over my food, not standing up to it.

 

[Birdmom]

It would be nice to be taller than I am. When I grocery shop, I always have to ask someone to help me when I have to get something off a top shelf, and it seems like the things I buy most are stocked there.

 

[TheMetalChef]

Hi Michelle - I'm just following up on your long ago post (don't ask), but how did things end up?

Bob

Let me introduce you to my friend, the egg separator.

You crack the egg into the top of his head, turn it forward, and the whites slide right out his nose, leaving the yolk safely behind.

 

[Pembroke]

I once made 50 litres of pozole for the grand opening of a restaurant (Si Senor) in London, the Mexican Ambassador was the guest of honour. Instead of breaking the pozole down into small batches to aid the cooling I left it in one big container....next morning it was bubbling!

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Short Cooks Rule!

Interesting where this line has gone. I'm tall. Not Julia ChildTall, just 5'9". BUTall counters make me bend over to work on them, and give me a back-ache. I swear, if I ever got rich, I'd have my counters at least six inches taller. You have to realise that your average kitchen counters are meant for women who are 5'2" to 5'4" tall. When I cook I'm bowing over my food, not standing up to it.

The very first kitchen I ever worked in was in my Great-Grandmother's house. My Grandfather (her son-in-law) had totally rebuilt her kitchen with 2 foot wide ramps and walk around the cabinets and stove. He re-cut all the cabinet doors to fit over the walk. While some storage space was lost, short folks could reach everything. Grandma was 4' 10" tall and a wizard in the kitchen.

 

[her_name_is_ed]

I left the kitchen for a minute to answer the phone. I got a bit caught up giving directions to some friends from out of town. When I got off the phone I remembered that I had a pan full of cooking grease on the stove. The grease caught fire, which then lit the fan above the stove on fire..then the ceiling was ablaze and so were the curtains. A neighbor came rushing in after she heard me screaming and put the fire out with an extinguisher and the fire dept. had to come. Worst day ever.

 

[Birdmom]

Yikes! I definitely cannot top that one! Ouch, I can't even imagine the cleanup involved.

 

[victoriabc]

Not wearing gloves when cutting up hot peppers, then taking out my contacts that night!

 

[Birdmom]

Ouch! That makes my eyes water just to think about it. A couple of weeks ago, I was chopping what I thought was a green pepper for a batch of enchiladas I was making. It turns out what I had gotten in the bin with the green peppers was a chile pepper, and after chopping. I rubbed my eyes and around my nose. I was in agony for 30 minutes before the heat dissapated, so I do know how you feel, although I don't wear contacts. I used to always keep some surgical gloves around for just such occasions, but when I moved, my box somehow didn't make the trip with me.

 

[lilianblythe]

Ow, guys! Ow!!

I had two bad ones that I can recall:
One, I wanted to make this wonderful sweet potato and asparagus soup recipe that I have for my (then) boyfriend. I think my sweet potatos were old or something, because the whole pot came out paint-grey. Yuck!

Two, I was making a caramel sauce for duck and I was day dreaming about something. Out of habit with other sauces I stuck my finger in to taste the sauce. I had a blister for weeks! I mean, what an idiotic thing to do! lol

 

[her_name_is_ed]

Ow, guys! Ow!!

I had two bad ones that I can recall:
One, I wanted to make this wonderful sweet potato and asparagus soup recipe that I have for my (then) boyfriend. I think my sweet potatos were old or something, because the whole pot came out paint-grey. Yuck!

Two, I was making a caramel sauce for duck and I was day dreaming about something. Out of habit with other sauces I stuck my finger in to taste the sauce. I had a blister for weeks! I mean, what an idiotic thing to do! lol

Oh no, Oh no! Ouch!

 

[Birdmom]

I'm forever grabbing hold of the handle of a hot pan, so I do understand those awful kitchen burns.

I think, though, that Monday I topped my all time kitchen disaster. I had gotten up to get ready for work, and had let the dogs out. On the way back to the bedroom to put on makeup, I passed my hand-held mandoline sitting on the counter. I accidentally knocked it off, and the proceeded to grab it with my left hand. I took off a large sized flap of skin off the end of my finger and ended up in the emergency room. The doctor had the more or less graft the flap back to the skin, so we're waiting now to see if it will take or not. How can anyone with any sense not know that you don't grab hold of any kind of falling blade?

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Capsaicin Burns

Ouch! That makes my eyes water just to think about it. A couple of weeks ago, I was chopping what I thought was a green pepper for a batch of enchiladas I was making. It turns out what I had gotten in the bin with the green peppers was a chile pepper, and after chopping. I rubbed my eyes and around my nose. I was in agony for 30 minutes before the heat dissapated, so I do know how you feel, although I don't wear contacts. I used to always keep some surgical gloves around for just such occasions, but when I moved, my box somehow didn't make the trip with me.

Research on the Web says to wash hands with warm soapy water to remove the hot on your hands after chopping peppers. I've found that if you wash your hands first with a baking soda paste and then with soapy water you have a better chance of neutralizing the sting.

 

[Bellavista]

I received a lot of really good grapes - all very ripe - and so i decided to make some grape jam....which was so hard it was actually like a bottle of rock candy!!! It would have been ok if i didn't give some to a friend first before i realized it was IMPOSSIBLE to spread or even get out of the bottle!! haha!!

 

[Birdmom]

Research on the Web says to wash hands with warm soapy water to remove the hot on your hands after chopping peppers. I've found that if you wash your hands first with a baking soda paste and then with soapy water you have a better chance of neutralizing the sting.

Thanks. I'll keep this tip handy!

 

[leeniek]

I've got a couple good ones...

First one was at a friend's house. She was making spaghetti and I suggested we put some wine in the sauce, so she did but left it on high. We got into the wine, burned dinner beyond help and ended up going out to eat.

Second is pretty embarassing. We lived in a triplex at the time and we were having company for dinner. I was making chicken cacciatore and I put my casserole dish that was pyrex and not corning ware on the stovetop to saute the chicken and veggies in before baking it and you guessed it.. the thing broke and I had a small fire on my hands. I put out the fire but our apt was filled with smoke so I opened the door and had the fans on and I opened the window at the the top of the stairwell (we were on the top floor) and the neighbours in the basement (they were drunks) freaked out and called 911!!! I had to explain to the nice fireman what I had done and endure a lecture on safe cooking!!

 

[Pastaprincess]

Haha! My worst kitchen disaster has nothing to do with food but it did happen in the kitchen. I bought hair removal wax which you pop into the microwave for 1minute and then it is melted and ready to use. My microwave at uni took exactly 1 minute and then you could stir the wax for a bit and then only would it melt the rest.
But then I shoved it into my mum's fancy new microwave. I walked away for a couple of seconds. When I returned, less than 45 seconds later everything melted away...including the container. It was such a mess to clean - you have no idea!