Kitchen Disasters
I'm never been known for my housekeeping skills, a problem somewhat exacerbated by my ability to cook with abandon, or in other words, make a huge mess. Sometimes the mess is simply that - lots of dirty dishes, a countertop and stovetop that need to be wiped off, perhaps a spill or two. Other times, the mess migrates into a full-blown kitchen disaster.
In my history of cooking, there have been a few notable kitchen disasters. Several years ago, I was outside tending to the bbq and sent Suzette and Rudy into the kitchen to take the baked beans out of the oven. Suddely, I heard a thumping sound, after which Suzette gasped loudly and Rudy said "oh no!" Turns out he lost control of the pan and baked beans ended up on my newly mopped floor. Lesson learnt: clean floors after the party, not before.
Once in the process of making a cake, the mechanism on the hand mixer that made both whisks move broke, leaving only one functioning whisk. In the middle of beating batter of egg yolks or something quite liquidy. A splatter effect resulted, with cake batter all over the kitchen and me. Another time I made a dark chocolate pie with marshmallow topping. The marshmallow somehow consumed my entire kitchen (luckily, I was in a small galley kitchen at the time and I haven't tried homemade marshmallow since).
Last night was pretty much the mother of all disasters. As I pulled a perfect pizza out of the oven, it somehow slipped out of my hands and landed face down on the floor, managing to also connect with a half open drawer. Red sauce, hot cheese and perfectly cooked veggies (included garlic scapes, yum!) had completely taken over part of my kitchen. I suspect that I'll be wiping red sauce off of my cabinets for many months. No lesson to be learned, unfortunately, unless maybe to hold onto my pizza a little better when taking it out of the oven. Carrie got a voice mail from me after: "Perfect pizza. Dropped on my floor. No choice but to still eat. Will margaritas kill any bad germs?"