Kitchen After-Laughs

Kitchen disasters are fun stories to tell and to hear about. I call them, "after laughs" because nobody laughs 'till long after the disaster.


My worst kitchen disaster was when I was about 23 years old. I started 4T of oil and three kernels of popcorn sizzling around in a heavy pan (for those of you who have no idea how to make popcorn grandma's way, you wait until the three kernels pop, then you add a cup of corn and swirl it around until it is popping like crazy, reduce the heat and keep shaking until the popping stops).


Because I had a mild case of 'attention deficit' (before it made the news and after I found out that it can come in handy when one has screaming toddlers) what do you think that I did right then?


Guess.


I went outside to help my son and I forgot to go back into the house.


Soon the black fog came rolling out of the kitchen window, I ran to the scene which, by now, was flames shooting two feet above the pan! and like a silly young girl, I grabbed the pot, ran outside with it, and flung it down into the gully!


Thankfully, I did not trip over the dog with the scorching oil and nobody was burned. 
I was able to repaint my kitchen that week to cover the horrible smell.


However, my four-year-old son had to enlighten all the neighbors, my family, and friends as to why I was painting my kitchen.
"Momma almost burned down the house and all she was making was a snack!"


Years later, I learned that in a case like that, a lid dropped on it would have stopped the drama quite quickly with little risk to me, my son or the dog.