Tuesday, March 4, 2008 - First Impressions...
I'm sure by now you all have probably noticed I've forgotten about updating my blog again... the truth is that I've been really busy lately! I guess blogging just sort of slipped my mind. :)
Today and yesterday we had family visiting from out of state. The came out to our house this morning; and since they hadn't ever seen it before, we especially wanted it to look nice and neat and make a very favorable impression. Well I guess the story starts rather on Saturday afternoon when I tried a brand new recipe. It was a cake that you pore a pudding like mixture over the top before you bake it. The idea is while it is baking, the pudding mixture sinks to the bottom, and leaves the rest of the cake very moist and delicious. Well, somewhere along the bottom of the recipe it suggests that you may want to place the cake pan on a cookie sheet, just in case the topping may somehow boil over. I admit I somehow missed that part when I actually put the cake in the oven. About five minutes before the cake was finished baking, I wandered into the kitchen to check on it, and noticed that on one side of the cake, the cake had lifted up and the filling was systematically leaving the pan, some what like a slow volcano-like eruption. Needless to say, the oven was quite a mess. So back to my original story, this morning I decided to bake chocolate chip cookies for our guests, and it would make the house smell lovely as well. I cleaned up the oven as best as I could, but some of it was baked on rather hard, and I couldn't get it all cleaned up. Assuming it wouldn't be a problem, I went on with what I was doing. As I was preheating the oven, I noticed that it smelled pretty awful. I figured it was just the extra lemon filling on the bottom of the oven. After a few more minutes the smell was getting worse and so I turned around noticed smoke pouring through the oven vents. A little alarmed I opened the door and saw the filling quite happily on fire. I grabbed the baking soda and put the flames out, but as you could imagine, by that time the whole kitching/dining/living room area had become quite thick with smoke. That was not at all what I had planned to welcome our relatives! So as my sisters and I decide to open all the doors and windows, I realize there is still snow on the ground, not exactly open-window weather. :)
So, to make a long story short, (or, shorter), as our guests were running a little late things turned out fine. Our guests did not even comment that our house was a little smoky, or chilly for that matter. :)
The moral of the story? I'm not sure.... either : Check your oven for lemon pudding before baking cookies..... Or: Always keep the baking soda on hand!
