Mama Diaries

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

A Present for the Mama

I came home last night for orchestra rehearsal and smelled something awful.  Clearly someone had burned something.  And this time it wasn't me!

I didn't see anything on the stove that gave an indication of what might have happened.  I went in search of my husband to ascertain what had transpired during my absence.  He was parked in our home theater, watching a movie.

"Hi," I said.  "There's a rather fowl odor upstairs.  What happened?"

He glanced at me.  "Oh, that. I tried to warm up the Matzoh ball soup, and it kind of burned.  There's a present for you in the sink."

I couldn't wait to see what it was.  Sure enough, one of our stainless steel pots was sitting in the sink, covered with calcified black ash.  Kind of burned? I had no idea soup could burn that badly!  (Fortunately, the husband was attempting to soak it.)

So here I am, still trying to clean that pot.  All I have to say is, Oy gewalt!

38 comments:

  1. haha go away for a few hours and all heck breaks loose

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    1. Yep. Things get mighty chaotic when the Mama is not around!

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  2. How like a man, get him to have a go at cleaning the offending pot.
    Yvonne.

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    1. He did. Between the two of us, it took three days to clean that pot!

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  3. Lol, that's kind of along the lines of a cat bringing you the "present" of a headless rodent from the backyard.

    If you're still scrubbing, try boiling water and vinegar (almost equal parts), and then adding baking soda to the mix before rubbing it. It should help to ease your labors. Don't ask how I know this; I'm sure you can guess, anyway. :)

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    1. Thanks for the tip! I did that, and it definitely came off easier!

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  4. Hi Sherry, Many thanks for stopping by Pen and Paper, its been lovely meeting you.

    A disaster in the kitchen myself (I once set fire to a microwave oven) I have to say I have some sympathy with your husband burning the soup like this. However I'm not too sure how I'd react if my husband was to leave me such a 'present', probably not with as much good grace as you though.

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    1. He was just being funny. He did put a considerable effort into trying to clean it.

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  5. Ugh. I wish I had some tips for you. Lynda's sounds like a good one. I'm going to file it away—for no good reason, of course. ;)

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    1. Lynda's tip worked really well. You should definitely remember it!

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  7. a bill on the luxurious new set of pots and pans should be his return present from you :)

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    1. Actually, those pots were a present for our 10th anniversary a few years back. They weren't cheap!

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  8. Yes, I agree on the baking soda soaked pot for cleaning.

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  9. No, no, no. That's his pot to clean.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. He did make a commendable effort to clean it. He was just joking around when he said it was my "present."

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  10. Gee, Not only do I find myself cleaning my burned pots, but also the burned ones of the rest of the family... what's wrong here. Sometime I should write about our son burning up the microwave (at 1 AM)

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    1. Whoa! A midnight snack? Burned pots are the worst. I feel bad for you!

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  11. A fowl odor? Was there poultry in the soup? ;)

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  12. I do not like presents like that! So hard to clean pots with burned food. I hope the soaking helped. :)

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    1. It did - along with boiling it with a mix of vinegar and water, and then adding baking soda.

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  13. Glad you were able to restore the pot. Burned stuff is so hard to get off, but soaking does help a lot.

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  14. A wise woman once said: He who burns the pot, cleans the pot!

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  15. I hate cleaning pots with burned food. When I was younger and a real sloppy cook, I sometimes burned things so bad that I went ahead and threw some pots away instead of trying to clean them.

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    1. Ha! If the pot wasn't so darn expensive, I might've been tempted to do that!

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  16. I accidentally left the sauce pan on the stove on after cooking. Good thing my room mate noticed! That thing was still warm 25 minutes later.

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    1. I hate when things like that happen! Glad your roommate caught it!

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  17. There's a point at which I just decide I don't care. =) Supposedly if you boil some strange concoction in the pan, it helps loosen up the grime. Can't remember the recipe though. My hubby once burned peanut butter in the bottom of a pan. Peanut butter.

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    1. What the heck was he doing with peanut butter on the stove?

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  18. Oy is right!! Yikes. Thanks, hubby! ;) Thank goodness he tried to soak it :)

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  19. And it wasn't even your birthday! Than man of yours is so thoughtful! lol!

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  20. It did work - along with the boiling with water and vinegar.

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