Have you ever forgot you were cooking something?

[comabri]

I know I can't be the only one. Last night, I decided to make a big batch of the microwve rosermary potatoes from March (I think). Did all the prep work, popped em in the microwave, woke up this morning, opened the microwave to nuke my water and there they were. Two pounds of red rosemary potatoes. Now 12 hours old. Yuck.

I'm not normally that absent-minded. But how in the heck did I forget that? Oh well. At least it wasn't the oven or stove...

[GayeC]

Yes, I recently left a loaf of bread in the oven for about 2 hours!

[MrsReber]

comabri- my husband is ALWAYS doing that! I'll go to use the microwave and I find food in it from the previous day or the coffee that he was warming up that morning. Blech!

[funnybone]

I made some chocolate bread in the breadmaker a few years ago. My sister was visiting us from Canada, and it was a new recipe I wanted to try. We went out that night, and we forgot about the bread. The next day she was flying back and I finally remembered about it when I came back from dropping her off at the airport. She remembered about it on the plane. So, not only did I forget, my sister forgot too!!! LOL.

[sneezles]

I thought I was going to have to admit how many times I've set off the smoke detector! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif I have often left things in the microwave(and probably too many to name)-guess the glass should be clear so we could see into it even when it's not running!

[tovie]

Actually my worst one isn't really mine but my brother's, although I was the one who suffered the consequences. Family and friends still tell him, after 10 years, that he's lucky he wasn't there when it happened or he wouldn't be alive today ;-) It was a favorite story to tell his wife-to-be and warn her not to let him near the kitchen.

I shared an apartment with my brother for several years. I turned the oven on to preheat to bake a batch of cookies and then went downstairs to start a load of laundry. I was standing there, calmly folding laundry when both smoke alarms went off (I was kind of like "huh? I haven't started cooking yet, why are those going off?"). I ran back upstairs to find the place filled with greasy black smoke and flames shooting out of the vent at the back of the stove. I turned the oven off, then tossed baking soda and a wet towell over the stove. When everything cooled off, I discovered that he'd grilled in the broiler a couple days before and left tinfoil and a pool of grease sitting in there. Fortunately for him and unfortunately for me, he was off on some military thing, so I got to clean it all up too. Scrub out the stove. Scrub down the walls and kitchen ceiling. Take all the dishes out of the kitchen cupboards,wash them and the cupboards. Wipe off the top of every picture in the house. Wash all the curtains and clean the tops of windowsills and doors...

[cindyluwho]

I can't even count the number of times I have been cooking a pot of something and it has burned! Probably the weirdest incident was when I was boiling water in my dad's kettle on an electric burner and let all the water boil out. When I remembered about it and went to pick up the kettle, the kettle was so hot that the entire bottom of the kettle came off and stuck to the burner! I had to pry it off later. Strangely, this propensity seems to run in the family because my sister did the same thing to my dad's kettle. Our poor dad! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[Wendy w]

I had a close one about 6 months ago. I was browning some chopped chicken for soup in my pressure cooker pan when my roomie called me out into the garage to ask me something about recyclables as the next day was trash day.

Next thing I knew, I was pitching in and helping her when it struck me that I had something on the stove. I got there just in time as it started to catch fire. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/eek.gif http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/eek.gif I immediately grabbed the baking soda and put it out. It really freaked me out as I don't usually do things like that. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/eek.gif http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/eek.gif My roomie has also learned not to bug me when I have something on the stove.

[Chefmom]

Oh my gosh yes!! I was being the "good little wifey-pooo" and making my husband some tea. He drinks about a gallon a day in the summer (takes it to work), so I make it during the day sometime for the next day.

Well, at that time I would dissovle the sugar in the water and then bring to a boil and steep the tea bags, then dilute with water and refrigerate.

Does anyone know what happens to 6 cups of water with a cup of sugar in it after several hours over the burner!? I was in the living room (kids in school) working on the newest sewing project and I smelled something off. Well about 10 minutes later I looked up and noticed a "haze" in the room. And the smell was stronger.

All of a sudden it hit me and I realized I had forgotten the tea on the stove. I ran to the kitchen and my Visions saucepan was FILLED with a black airy, lava looking stuff. What remained of my favorite nylon spatula was glued to the handle and there was this tiny flame in the center.

Well, I didn't even try to clean it, I just pitched the whole thing. I now make my husbands tea with just water and I add a simple syrup to it AFTER the tea bags have steeped.

Live and learn.
Tami

[BarbaraL]

One of my "tricks" is to put the veggies in the steamer too early (while preparing the rest of the meal; frequently running up and down the steps to the outside grill). When I smell a terrible smell, I know the water boiled off, the veggies are ruined, and the pan is a blackened mess. I'm convinced all of the stories in this thread are a result of our harried lifestyles and too much multi-tasking -- our brains get fried! Now, I always put on a kitchen timer if I have something going on in the kitchen, so I don't forget. I also only heat water in the whistling tea kettle.

[carolyn.1]

I have alittle story, Hurricane Hugo came thru in 1989, my kitchen was destroyed. After 3 months of building a new house (kitchen included) my family moved back in. I was so excited, I had custom built cabinets with beautiful glass doors, all new appliances. etc. etc. One particular day when I was at work and hubby was home that cold winter day, he decided to fry some home made eggrolls on my NEW stove in my NEW kitchen. The door bell rang, someone wanted to look at the boat in the yard my husband had up for sale. Needless to say hubby burnt my kitchen to the ground.So months later here we go again. My two labs hid under the bed. He is forbidden to fry eggrolls again.. Ha
Carolyn--

[jmarie]

Just last night....toasted pecans...the house smelled terrible...took the whole pan and put it in the yard...lots of other times, too...As my dear old ma says..."You all are just too busy! You can't keep up with anything anymore!...SLOW DOWN!" yeah right! just gettin old! HA!

[Mamasue]

Oh, yes...I am famous for forgeting about the last batch of cookies in the oven. I start to clean up while the last batch is in and before you know it about 20 or 25 minutes later the cookies are burnt and have to thrown away. I used to forget about water boiling in a kettle and come back to kitchen to find out that all the water has evaporated or close to it. Now I have a new whistling tea kettle...so no more burnt water! Hehe http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

[JHolcomb]

OK, as absentminded as I am, I shouldn't even be allowed to cook. Once I put a pot a pot of pintos on the stove to cook and fell asleep on the couch. I woke up an hour later to an apartment filled with black smoke. The water had boiled out and the beans were on fire. It was sickening. I threw the beans, pot and all in the yard (after putting the fire out) and had to evacuate for a day or two. It was a bad scene.

Another time I left the broiler on and forgot about it. I went to sleep and woke up to an apartment filled with black smoke (a different apartment!). See a trend here? Anyway, it broke the stove(which was 50 years old to begin with). The landlord replaced it, which he needed to do anyway because it never worked right in the first place.

By the way, I buy fire extinguishers in two packs.

[kwormann]

I cant tell you how many times DH has gone downstairs at night for milk, ice cream, etc and Ill go down in the morning and find it (milk, ice cream) sitting on the counter......

Kim

[This message has been edited by kwormann (edited 04-05-2001).]

[mandarin2j]

I was distracted by a phone call while prepping broccoli for steaming. When I got off the phone, I tossed the broccoli into the steamer basket in the pot, turned the unit on, and walked away. The problem? I forgot to put water in the pot. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/frown.gif My Revere Ware pot was black on the bottom by the time I noticed what I had done, and the broccoli was a smelly, burnt mess.

I learned one great thing about Revere Ware, though: you can put it through an awful lot! I recently burnt the same pan all to heck making CL's Chipotle Mac 'n Cheese, and a little Easy Off made it all better. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

[Beth]

You mean something like putting spaghetti-o's on the stove for the 4 yr old who swears he's too hungry to wait for dinner and then going out with DH (who just arrived home) to survey the relandscaped flower bed you were both working on the day before and then walking into the house and wondering why it smelled like something was cooking only to discover that the noodles and sauce had cooked to nearly the same mushy consistency -- except for the crust on the bottom, of course. Not moi! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif Not today anyway.

[This message has been edited by Beth (edited 04-04-2001).]

[clairea]

I may have the worst story yet! A few years ago we threw a Christmas party, and I put half of the artichoke dip out in a chafing dish and left the other half in the oven on warm to keep it hot in case we needed it (we didn't). After the party a friend stayed to help me clean up and turned off the oven but (understandably) didn't check to see if anything was inside. After all the cooking for the party, I certainly wasn't going to do any more for a while, and didn't find this until 4 days later http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/eek.gif Needless to say, the whole thing went in the trash, casserole dish and everything.

[Jewel]

I have a bad habit of putting water on to boil...for pasta or whatever, and then walking away and forgetting about it. I'll remember 20 minutes later and race into the kitchen to find a half inch of water left in the pan! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/eek.gif

This BB also seems to be causing me trouble in this area! How many times have I put something in the oven or on the stove and gone to log in to this BB 'just for a minute' and found myself still tapping away an hour later, while little tendrils of smoke are wafting their way down the hallway? DH is threatening me with a timer in the kitchen with a big loud bell on it, and telling me I can't leave the kitchen anymore without setting it! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/tongue.gif

[Don]

Can I identify with this post! I frequently defrost meat in the microwave, forget what I am doing, and discover it the next morning when I go to make breakfast. Needless to say, the meat then heads for the trash can. My other famous error is forgetting to put toppings on salads. One of my favorites is topped with cashews. I can't tell you how many times I have served that salad and left the cashews sitting in the kitchen. My friends accuse me of being stingy, since they know how much I love cashews. Now, when I serve a salad, everyone says "is there supposed to be anything on top of it?"

[Gail]

Ah yes... you remind me of an old family joke.

Our toaster broke when I was a little kid, and my family never bothered to replace it, my mother opting instead to do her toasting in the broiler. I can't tell you how many times we'd be forced to interrupt kitchen conversation with the line, "The toast is burning!" My mother's reaction was always the same; she'd drop whatever she was doing, dashing frenziedly across the kitchen, whipping open the oven door to reveal two wizened and charred remnants of smoking bread.

One evening, we'd gotten into a heated debate which was going nowhere fast. When I realized we'd reached an impasse, I interrupted the conversation by saying, "Why are you standing here arguing when the toast is burning?" Right on cue, my mother turned tail, made a beeline for the oven, and threw open the door.

...did I forget to mention we weren't having toast that evening? http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/tongue.gif Well, apparently she hadn't remembered, either.