I will never again . . . (Part 4)

[Darienne]

MelissaH, any chance you would share your spreadsheet freezer inventory?  I can always use a better idea than the one I am currently using.  Thanks.

 

[lindag]

I'm ashamed to admit that I have two big, bulging freezers that are totally out of control! 

Things are always falling out, and I can never find anything I need until I buy its replacement.

What's worse is that I have a Schwan's order coming next week in addition to an order of frozen dog meat and I don't know how I'm going to shove all that in too!!!  I guess I'll have to get busy in the next few days and do some serious culling.

[AlaMoi]

I will never again become engaged in a discussion of how sharp a knife should be.....

[MelissaH]

Really, it's just a spreadsheet. Nothing fancy, just columns for Class, Specific, Approx Wt, How Many, Location, and Date. Everything below that is entered and modified as added or used. The advantage of the Google spreadsheet is that everyone in the house has access, and we can make changes via phone or tablet.

[Shelby]

You guys are making me feel terribly disorganized.  Stop it.

 

 

[ecclescake]

Thanks to everyone who has shared their learning experiences to help preventing others from sharing the same fate and to those who have provided advice on how to prevent or mitigate said fate if the situation comes up despite that.

 

Here are a couple of mishaps that have not yet been mentioned.

 

I will never again melt some butter to grease my springform cake tin which I had lined with baking paper in said tin. I heated the cake tin for a while on the stove. I thought it was a bit strange that the butter was taking so long to melt, but it was not until I smelt the fumes of overheated non-stick coating that I realised what had happened. I had lined the tin by putting baking paper over the bottom and  locking it into place with the spring ring, this held the paper taut slightly above the bottom of the tin, thus creating a lovely insulating layer of air.

 

I will not cut with a chef's knife without a cutting board underneath, I got a lovely cut mark in my newly resurfaced table.

 

I will not leave a mug of bean cooking water (or other hot liquid) near the edge of the bench where a small person could reach it and pour scalding liquid all over his face, arm and chest (he was fine after a long lukewarm shower, but, it was quite a shock).

 

I will not turn on the stove elements of the stove my portable induction units sit on. (I read of someone else doing that on another forum, so I have taped all the stove knobs up in the off position with blue painters tape so that I, and especially my houseguests don't turn them on by mistake).

[lindag]

43 minutes ago, ecclescake said:

 

 

I will not turn on the stove elements of the stove my portable induction units sit on. (I read of someone else doing that on another forum, so I have taped all the stove knobs up in the off position with blue painters tape so that I, and especially my houseguests don't turn them on by mistake).

 

I did the same thing only mine was an electric pressure cooker sitting on top of my (then) glass top range.

Went outside to get the mail or something and came in to find that I'd bumped the knob on the range and the burner under the PC was glowing hot and the pot was melting! 

 

[liuzhou]

My portable induction cooker has a very prominent sign warning against using it on a stove top. But I still do sometimes. I have caught myself turning the gas on underneath it more than once, then rethinking.

[Anna N]

36 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

My portable induction cooker has a very prominent sign warning against using it on a stove top. But I still do sometimes. I have caught myself turning the gas on underneath it more than once, then rethinking.

 When I was using  portable induction hobs on my stove I simply removed all the knobs from the stove. You may not have this option. 

[Tri2Cook]

On ‎1‎/‎20‎/‎2016 at 8:48 AM, Shelby said:

You guys are making me feel terribly disorganized.  Stop it.

 

 

Me too. My freezer organization system involves opening the door and saying "Huh... wonder how long that's been in there?" Or sometimes the even more scary "Huh... wonder what that is?" It's odd to me that my organization skills with my home freezer are the complete opposite of what I do at work. So to tie in with the subject at hand... I will never again publicly admit that I have no real idea as to what's going on in my home freezer.

[Darienne]

Ah yes, Tri2Cook...but we will remember...

[kayb]

...Order from Amazon at 4 a.m., after I've awaked and read a recommendation in eGullet, from my phone. I had forgotten I had put two potential candidates for cleaver purchase in my cart, waiting to hear what the recommendations were. So, I inadvertently ordered THREE cleavers, $160 worth, instead of one $25 one.

 

Discovered mistake about two-three hours later and canceled the first two, which still show "attempting to cancel" on the order status. Thank God for Amazon's excellent customer service. I can at least return them if the cancellation doesn't go through.

 

Three cleavers. Sheesh.

 

[Shelby]

@kayb  Well, you obviously were seriously ready to chop the crap outta some stuff  

[IowaDee]

I have seen three cleavers used to juggle with.  Probably not the best career move though.  I agree, Amazon customer service rocks.

[Okanagancook]

The cleavers could come in handy if you encounter threè blind mice 

Opps, "chopped off their tails with my cleaver knives"!

[Thanks for the Crepes]

15 hours ago, Anna N said:

 When I was using  portable induction hobs on my stove I simply removed all the knobs from the stove. You may not have this option. 

 

Thanks for this tip, Anna N.

 

I hardly ever use the tiny rear burner on one side of my old GE electric stove. I keep all the electric coils covered with matching white enameled burner covers when not in use. Many more times than one, after more than twenty years, I have turned on the wrong burner. It's so easy, because the pattern is weird to me. Left to right it goes: Left Front, Left Rear, Oven On/Off/Broil, Clock/Timer, Oven Temp, Right Rear, Right Front. Somehow, I have never gotten used to this configuration. I don't do it as often as when I first moved here, but it was still happening occasionally.

 

So, many thanks to Anna, I can now confidently say that I will never again scorch and crack the enamel on my good quality burner covers by turning on the left rear burner inadvertently.

 

I took the control knob, gently popped it off with a spoon handle, and stashed it in the drawer with the oven thermometer and mitts. I can always slide it back on for Thanksgiving or whenever I need it.

[Darienne]

Interesting discussion about stove knobs.  Since our whatever-it-was stove died a few years ago, Ed has been buying second hand stoves so I've had a few.  It seems to me that every stove has a different knob pattern from the one before and I have to say that I don't like it.  So there. 

[kayb]

Grab a plastic baggie filled with what I thought were bread crumbs out of the freezer and dump them in herbed butter with sauteed onions and garlic, only to discover they are graham cracker crumbs. From now on, I will check first.

 

Grrr.

 

[blue_dolphin]

34 minutes ago, kayb said:

Grab a plastic baggie filled with what I thought were bread crumbs out of the freezer and dump them in herbed butter with sauteed onions and garlic, only to discover they are graham cracker crumbs. From now on, I will check first.

 

Grrr.

 

 

I can't remember if I posted this one or not but much like @kayb, I opened the freezer, grabbed 3 cubes of what I thought was sun dried tomato purée and plopped them into my sauce.  Oops.  Chipotle chile purée. Both handy to keep on hand but not interchangeable.  That was one spicy pasta dish!

[Smithy]

I once mistook a container of frozen lemon juice for a container of frozen chicken broth.  Oh my, that was a tart pilaf.

[Rebel Rose]

On 1/31/2016 at 10:05 AM, blue_dolphin said:

 

I can't remember if I posted this one or not but much like @kayb, I opened the freezer, grabbed 3 cubes of what I thought was sun dried tomato purée and plopped them into my sauce.  Oops.  Chipotle chile purée. Both handy to keep on hand but not interchangeable.  That was one spicy pasta dish!

 

Oh Lord, I made the same mistake the first time I opened a can of chipotles. Dumped the whole thing into the chili. Inedible!

That was many years ago and I still remember it--it was a huge pot of chili so I froze it in batches and later tried to break it down and dilute with fresh ingredients and beans. But there's no recovering from a whole can of chipotles.

Edited February 7, 2016 by Rebel Rose (log)

[cyalexa]

Put lobster shells in the food processor (older KA ), No matter what the lobster bisque recipe says.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Set the oven temperature correctly for the recipe and then neglect to turn the oven on.

 

Not a big deal ordinarily, I suppose, but I have to leave for work in not that many hours and I really would like dinner.

[liuzhou]

...mistake a rubber washing up glove for my oven glove.

[Anna N]

44 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

...mistake a rubber washing up glove for my oven glove.

That is awful. How bad is the burn?