Sometimes I don’t understand how certain events happen, even when I’m the one making the choices.
I blame the toaster.
The toaster HATES ME.
I started a late breakfast this morning with two slices of toast; the toaster rattled angrily, did its best to char the toast, then as a final FU, flipped the toast onto the floor… where the small schnauzer ate it. That’s all right; one of those slices was for him, anyway.
But I didn’t feel like dealing with the angry toaster again, so I stuck a croissant into the oven to warm up. Then I forgot about it, until the thought crossed my mind, that hey, I was hungry, wasn’t I making breakfast? And turned around to see the black smoke STREAMING out of the oven vents.
(apparently my coffee scent overrode the burning bread scent… and to be fair, the kitchen already smelled like burnt bread because of the toaster)
Opening the oven revealed the croissant was on fire. Yay. Some foods are great with a flambe. Croissants, not so much. The usual dither ensued: what do you do with the giant flaming smoking thing to a) keep the smoke alarm from going off and b) stop the fire.
I grabbed the pan, opened the back door, and flung the flaming croissant through the air.
Jeffrey, the small schnauzer, and Ursula, the… adorable dog thing, nearly kneecapped me racing out to CATCH THE FLAMING CROISSANT!
Jeffrey is a schnauzer! He has a beard! That should not catch on fire! Cue panic. While still holding the scalding pan, and smoke filling the room, and the cats deciding maybe they should rush outside also….
In the end, the hot pan went into the doggy dig pit (full of sand and snow melt); the cats got shoved inside (full of indignation); and Jeffrey grabbed the flaming croissant, and QUICKLY dumped it into a mud puddle. Then he ate it.
No one is on fire. And the smoke alarm did not go off. Jeffrey does not seem to be suffering from a stomach ache.
I’m taking it as a vaguely embarrassing win. And a sign that my great plans for baking Sand Tarts/writing complicated confrontation scenes in the novel at the same time are not a “go”. No multi-tasking for me, today. At least… not before a LOT more coffee.
lane robins 