Oven 1, Pot holder 0
Jul. 8th, 2007 10:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nockergeekI set a pot holder on fire today.
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the_z was baking banana bread this evening, but Andi was being very fussy due to a slight stomach ache, so Z stepped outside to get a bit of extra warmth on her in hopes of making her sleepy. Along with the loaf of banana bread (her third of the night), she had a cookie sheet with some chicken fingers for dinner, and asked if I could pull them out in a few minutes. Easy enough request. A few minutes passed, and the chicken fingers were sizzling and ready to be removed. I open the oven door, grab a pot holder, and reach in to remove the cookie sheet - something I've done numerous times in the past..
And somewhere, the cosmic gamer who plays me in a (horribly boring) RPG campaign rolled a 1 and botched spectacularly.
Somehow, before I can grab the cookie sheet, I slip and drop the pot holder. It lands right on top of the oven's heating element, laying right across it as nicely as you please. As my mind takes a split second or three to assess this new situation, it catches fire, yellow flames stretching up a few inches as the poly/cotton blend of the pot holder blackens and peels away. I now have a conundrum: I have to remove the pot holder from the oven, but I have to avoid both the flames and the element, which is glowing a nice vibrant orange. Quickly, I reach for the first thing that I can think of - an oven mitt.
Yes, I reached for a cloth oven mit to pick up a flaming piece of cloth on glowing-hot metal.
Fortunately, the gamble paid off this time. I was able to grab the pot holder by the part that had not yet caught fire, pull it out of the oven, and transfer it quickly to the sink, all without catching the oven mitt on fire. Turning the faucet onto the flames, I was able to put out the fire before it went from minor catastrophe to apocalyptic conflagration. One unfortunate side-effect was that the oven mitt was now wet, and wet oven mitts do very little to protect you from hot pans. I discovered this fact when I used the oven mitt to complete the original task of removing the chicken strips from the oven. Fortunately, I didn't burn myself, and the chicken turned out fine.
I brought the soggy, charred remains of the pot holder out to Z and explain the whole calamitous affair. She'd had a rough day, and I was worried that this might be the straw that broke the camel's back, but I figured it was better to be upfront about it. To my pleasant surprise, she had a good laugh about it, and said that it wasn't quite as bad as the time she was making tea on my parents' stove when it suddenly caught wire due to frayed wiring. I remembered the panicked call I received at work that day, and I had to agree.
Still, I failed at "remove item from oven," at least for today.
the_z was baking banana bread this evening, but Andi was being very fussy due to a slight stomach ache, so Z stepped outside to get a bit of extra warmth on her in hopes of making her sleepy. Along with the loaf of banana bread (her third of the night), she had a cookie sheet with some chicken fingers for dinner, and asked if I could pull them out in a few minutes. Easy enough request. A few minutes passed, and the chicken fingers were sizzling and ready to be removed. I open the oven door, grab a pot holder, and reach in to remove the cookie sheet - something I've done numerous times in the past..And somewhere, the cosmic gamer who plays me in a (horribly boring) RPG campaign rolled a 1 and botched spectacularly.
Somehow, before I can grab the cookie sheet, I slip and drop the pot holder. It lands right on top of the oven's heating element, laying right across it as nicely as you please. As my mind takes a split second or three to assess this new situation, it catches fire, yellow flames stretching up a few inches as the poly/cotton blend of the pot holder blackens and peels away. I now have a conundrum: I have to remove the pot holder from the oven, but I have to avoid both the flames and the element, which is glowing a nice vibrant orange. Quickly, I reach for the first thing that I can think of - an oven mitt.
Yes, I reached for a cloth oven mit to pick up a flaming piece of cloth on glowing-hot metal.
Fortunately, the gamble paid off this time. I was able to grab the pot holder by the part that had not yet caught fire, pull it out of the oven, and transfer it quickly to the sink, all without catching the oven mitt on fire. Turning the faucet onto the flames, I was able to put out the fire before it went from minor catastrophe to apocalyptic conflagration. One unfortunate side-effect was that the oven mitt was now wet, and wet oven mitts do very little to protect you from hot pans. I discovered this fact when I used the oven mitt to complete the original task of removing the chicken strips from the oven. Fortunately, I didn't burn myself, and the chicken turned out fine.
I brought the soggy, charred remains of the pot holder out to Z and explain the whole calamitous affair. She'd had a rough day, and I was worried that this might be the straw that broke the camel's back, but I figured it was better to be upfront about it. To my pleasant surprise, she had a good laugh about it, and said that it wasn't quite as bad as the time she was making tea on my parents' stove when it suddenly caught wire due to frayed wiring. I remembered the panicked call I received at work that day, and I had to agree.
Still, I failed at "remove item from oven," at least for today.
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no subject
on 2007-07-09 03:01 am (UTC)FIRE BAD!!! *crashes through wall*