Having the grandies over is one of the sweetest joys of life, but it can be distracting. The other day they stayed for supper and insisted on helping me prepare the meal, every.step.of.the.way. Washing the broccoli, handing me potatoes, washing dishes … finally all was ready and we went to play while the meatloaf cooked. Towards dinner time I got the broccoli started cooking--planning to go turn it down in a minute as I was just in the next room and we were so busy building roadside rest stops (because we had lots of small pieces) with the Lincoln Logs. See Little Brother here reading one of his dad's Richard Scarry books. Wouldn't you be distracted?
In time I thought I heard some rather loud gushing sounds and an odor began to fill the room. Actually smoke began to fill the room. Man! Had I started cooking the broccoli? I had totally forgotten. How long ago had that been?
The kitchen was filling with smoke and an awful burn smell and steam was spewing out of the pot. I removed it quickly and placed it on a small cutting board which immediately turned black. I threw open the windows. With it being 20 degrees outside I couldn't leave them open for long. We brought in fans and did the best we could but the smell just filled our nostrils. Later when I took the kids home their dad sniffed and said, "Where have you been?" He stripped the kids right in the laundry room, started the washer and took them up for a bath. Yes the smell of burn was in their hair.
The tutorial is this: How to get rid of the scent of burn on a very cold day (researched). Wash all linens, take a shower and wash your hair, remove all burn remnants from the house, run fans, boil cut up lemons, place open dishes of baking soda in adjoining rooms, place chopped onions in a bowl of water and set out to absorb odors, and spray F*breze (sparingly). This was my favorite: line a jelly roll pan with tinfoil and sprinkle sugar and cinnamon over it along with a tablespoon of butter. (This might also work when your house is on the market.) Place in 200 degree oven for four hours. Mmmmm. It worked. Dinner cooking in the crock pot all the next day also helped. I'm guessing I'm the only one in the whole wide world that has ever done anything quite so stupid ...
so sweet and so funny. you have so much patience!
ReplyDeleteWell.....I have burned plenty of stuff, just not so badly that it left a lingering smell. What I do sometimes now is set the timer on the stove to remind me I have something on it that I need to keep an eye on. But it seems my hearing isn't as good as it used to be.....oh well....I guess I need to keep a timer in my pocket now.
ReplyDeleteBroccoli smells on it's own accord (although I love it), let alone when it is burned...lol! Oh my goodness, are you saying that you did ALL of those things or those were just a list of things to try? At least it made for a great blog post!
ReplyDeleteOh that made me smile...smiles have been rare here lately. Oh no, you are not the only one to have burned something. I have a photo of a blackened pot somewhere on my blog to prove it. The grands' father's comment made me laugh! (For my increasing senior moments, I have a very nice Flylady timer that I can carry with me. As long as I remember to set it, it works like a charm.)
ReplyDeleteOh dear. That would have been an awful scent but I like your various ideas to get rid of the burned smell. What about burning a beeswax candle? I wonder if it would clean the smell out too. They work wonders for fish smells. I can see that any grandchildren would be distracting while cooking. :)
ReplyDeleteNot the only one!
ReplyDeleteOh no- it's more like join the club..you aren't the only one...LOL!
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ReplyDeleteSo sorry for the deleted comment, I was logged in on another gmail
I think all of your readers are smiling and nodding yes, we have all burned something, just the other night my lima beans overflowed into my burner what an odor. Thanks for the tips.
Sue
Definitely NOT the only one. Playing with the grands can be distracting!
ReplyDeleteI think we all have done the same, for most bad smells I use orange and lime oil it's pretty strong and smells lovely.
ReplyDeleteMerle............
I think we've all had the experience of burning something at some point, although not necessarily with witnesses as you did. :-)
ReplyDeleteMy late father once burned the bottom right out of a pot one time and guess what he got for Christmas every year?
I'll have to try the cinnamon trick! I think our house could use a cozy smell right now!!
ReplyDeleteOh, poor you...and just when you were having such a good time with those sweeties too! I definitely have a one track mind, so I can identify with the idea of losing track of something like broccoli. :)
ReplyDeleteWhen my first child was a baby, I had some plastic baby bottles boiling in a pot on the stove to sterilize them. Then I got a phone call from my mom, went into another room, and forgot all about them. When my husband came in from outside, he smelled a strange smell and lifted the pot lid to see what it was...poof! A flame shot upward and scared him to death, and he threw the pot out of the back door! There was absolutely nothing left of the water or the bottles. Not a trace. Just a blackened pot to show that anything had happened.
Oh Dotsie, I feel sure you're not the only one ever to have done something like this. It happens when we're distracted, believe me. I'm sorry you had to deal with the unpleasant smell, but it sounds like you found some good solutions in your research. Isn't the internet a wonderful thing? :)
ReplyDeleteI hope you have a good day!
Blessings,
Denise
I'm sure many of us have burned something badly. I haven't burned broccoli, but I can tell you, if you are toasting coconut, like for a coconut cream pie, and you forget about it and it burns.... it smells EXACTLY like skunk!!! Been there, done that!
ReplyDeleteYikes, we have all had those cooking disaster!!!!! I just hate when that smell gets in your hair! Thanks for sharing the smell reducing tips, I'm sure I will need them at some point!!!! Laura
ReplyDeleteOh my--I know how chaotic grandchildren can make dinner preparation. Mine always need help to go to the bathroom and I have to keep shutting off the stove when I leave the kitchen or else I'd also end up with a burned dinner. It makes dinner take forever to cook!
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