The One with My Cooking

Last night I had my family over for dinner so that we could all look at pictures from the Alaskan cruise my sister and her husband took. For those of you that don't know, cooking is not something I do very often. Mainly because I live alone, and it is just easier to pick dinner up or microwave something. Also, I am not very good at cooking. When I say that I don't mean that the food I cook tastes bad. It actually turns out pretty good. It's just that I cannot cook without causing either property damage or personal injury, sometimes both.

For example, in college I had just moved out from my mother's and was living in an apartment. I was making a Mexican layer dip to take to a work function. I needed some cumin to mix into the bean layer and was trying to pry the little plastic shaker part off so I could remove the seal. I was using a knife to accomplish this feat. SMART! So, I end up taking a big chunk out of my thumb. It took several months to heal, and I still have a scar.

Another and more traumatic incident occured when I was living in San Antonio for cyto school. I making was Chicken Parmesan, only I had the oil too hot. As soon as I put the chicken in, it turned black. I took it out and turned off the stove. Then the oil started to smoke, and then it was in flames. So, I know all sorts of things to do in this situation, number one being to put a lid over the pan to smother the flames. However, I started to panic and all of this knowledge just flew out of my head. I happened to have my patio door open, and my first thought was to carry this pan of flaming oil all the way across my dining and living rooms and dump it out onto the grass which I did. Some of the oil splashed out onto my foot and the carpet, but I just kept going. Once I had dumped the oil, I noticed that my carpet was on fire, so I put it out with a dish cloth. Then I noticed that the grass outside was on fire, so I put this out with a glass of water. The whole time the fire alarm was going off and screaming in my ears, but no neighbors came to see if I was alright. Everything turned out ok. My apartment didn't burn down, I had only minor burns on my foot, and I managed to air the place out. However, my carpet looked like it had an acid burn, and I did not get my deposit back when I moved back to Austin, not that I expected it. Also, I have not attempted to fry anything since.


Most recently I had friends over to watch the Texas vs. Ohio State game. I was making pigs-in-a-blanket only really it was more like cows-in-a-blanket because I used beef smokies, but I digress. I had put one pan in the oven already and was moving it to add another one. I used my bare hand to accomplish this because I didn't think it would be that hot already. Touching the pan is not what hurt me though. It was when I reacted and jerked my hand away hitting it on the rack above and causing the nice little burn that you see pictured here. The game was a really good game, and Texas won, so it was all worth it.

Back to last night, I made a Beef Stroganoff dish , a salad, steamed petite green beans, and garlic bread. It was all very delicious, and everyone had a nice time. I managed to cook last night without any incidents much to my surprise. I had even perpared a Chocolate Cream Pie on Friday night that was also scrumptious despite the fact that the crust cracked, and I didn't have all the vanilla extract the recipe called for. That's it in the picture up top. Very pretty! So, that's my cooking story. Now I'm going to go have leftovers for lunch!