Popcorn Pandemonium
My wife and I are big ‘pop-it-yourself’ popcorn eaters. It is a simple procedure really. I mean, 1. place oil in hot pan, 2. place corn kernels in pan, 3. wait till they are all popped, enjoy. There is not much that can go wrong in this limited, very simple operation. But rest assured if there is a will there is a way; not only did I ruin the popcorn, I nearly burned the house down. “David, don’t you have an electric stove, how could you possible burn anything?” Why, yes I do have an electric stove, and yes I did cause FLAMES to spring up from the cook top.
Apparently water and oil do not mix and my the pot I was using had water droplets in it – I had just a few minutes earlier washed it out due the fact I burned my previous batch of popcorn and this was the redemption run. Well give it about a minute of cook time and boiling oil is spitting out of the corner of the lid. At this point I am nervous and slowing backing away. I begin to encourage my wife, who is sitting in the other room waiting for popcorn, that everything is fine but if she wanted to come and help that would be great; I also turned off the heat – thinking that would help. Upon smelling the plume of smoke filling the living room, Kristen immediately perceived the situation and without hesitation opened the porch door and yelled ‘throw it out!’. Assuming she meant the pot, I grabbed a towel, picked up the oil spattering, smoking pot. As soon as I lift it, the oil ran over the side of the lid and contacted the burner below, SETTING THE STOVE ON FIRE.
Well eventually the situation calmed down but here are some pictures measuring the drastic nature of the event.
Yup, there is my popcorn – little, black balls of ash. Smoky and tired I ordered pizza to complete the night.
November 24, 2008 at 9:55 am
Nicely done. I’m impressed.
December 12, 2008 at 10:21 pm
If you could please refer to Kristen solely as Kristen as opposed to ‘my wife’ I would really appreciate it. I haven’t seen you guys together enough for it to be real to me.
January 10, 2009 at 9:06 am
“The best laid plans…” and all that… As much frustration as an appliance such as a stove can cause, I cannot fault you for wishing it a firey demise. That being said, it does serve its purpose quite faithfully (sometimes).
Have you tried Microwave popcorn?