Thursday, October 28, 2021

If Only . . .

 Yesterday morning after breakfast, I wanted to refill the bottle of maple syrup I keep in the refrigerator in the kitchen from the half-gallon jar of syrup that's stored in our spare refridge.

When I opened the half-gallon jar, I noticed two little spots of mold on the surface of the syrup.  Hmmm, I've never had that happen before.

So I scooped out the bits of mold and poured the rest of the syrup through a strainer into a big saucepan intending to bring it to a boil for a few minutes thinking that would kill any mold spores that might be left.

I put the pan over a low-medium flame to warm up the cold syrup gradually and set the timer to remind me to keep an eye on the process.

Can you see what's coming here?

I continued whatever I was doing in the house, going from room to room, and when the timer dinged, I went to the stove to find the maple syrup had boiled over.  Over the burner, all over the inner workings of the top of the stove, down through the stove where it had formed a good-sized puddle of syrup on the floor.

Either purchasing a new stove . . . or moving . . . came to mind.

My dear husband jumped in to help with the massive clean-up.  I told him he didn't need to as I deserved to do it myself as punishment for being so careless, but he insisted.

Did I take pictures?  No, thanks.  I don't need anything to remind me of the occasion.

If only I had stood right next to the stove washing the dishes and cleaning up other breakfast things as I had planned while boiling the syrup.  If only.

20 comments:

Lady Locust said...

Ooohh Nooo! More and more, I stand to watch a pot boil for that very reason though it's usually boiling the water out of a kettle and the funny smell that comes from melting ceramic (Blek!)

Nursejoan said...

Darn, darn, double Damnit! Been there, done that. Another waste of something so darned good. Cleaned the gas cooktop, too. :-(

Goatldi said...

Talk about a sticky situation 😩

What a nice guy! I do understand your not needing any reminders of the event!

Carla said...

I chuckled out loud while reading this. I can laugh without malice as I have done the exact same thing, only with other equally messy things.

Someday I'll learn (or maybe not).

Love the way you write. I could picture it all.

Granny Sue said...

Oh dear. I think many of us have been there, sad to say. I remember once telling my former husband to heat up the honey, as it had crystallized in the jar. He set the jar right on the burner. You know the results. That burner never did work right again.

Mama Pea said...

Lady Locust - I'm kinda famous for boiling over milk prior to using it to make a new batch of yogurt. At least that isn't as hard to clean up as the syrup was. Time for me to make myself do as you do and stand in front of the stove until what I'm doing is done. Properly!

Nursejoan - And the thing is is it's such a dang stoopid thing to do! When will I learn to stay right in front of or at least next to the stove and not go get involved elsewhere??

Goatldi - Very funny, my friend. And sticky it was. And then some!

Carla - Thanks so much for the nice compliment! I hoped the post would bring a (kind and understanding) chuckle out of a few people who could relate. What can you do but laugh?? (Well, after those couple/few bad words and thoughts escaped.)

Granny Sue - OH, NO! Trying to clean up the honey and resurrect your stove top would have been even worse than I had with the syrup! (What was he thinking??)

Anonymous said...

Funny this is your post today as I (after putting it off for three weeks) decided to clean my stove top from all the spill-overs from canning this summer. I spritz with a little diluted bleach water and make a paste of comet. I have a little square bamboo scraper that works perfect on the stove top as it does not scratch the porcelain. After 45 minutes of cleaning, the stove top looks brand new. Of course, you have to wipe with a clean sponge several times to get any remnants of the comet off. Hate that job!

Sherry said...

Oh No! that's for sure. Glad your hubby helped, we have all been in that mess.

Rosalea said...

Haven't we all done something similar??!! I set timers to remind me of things on the stove, as so often, I get distracted doing something else and sure need that reminder!

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Oh my. I once set eggs to boil, took them off the heat and put a lid on them, set my timer, and forgot about it. I went to the porch and read a book and got so into the book my eggs cooked away.

Katie C. said...

Oh, no!!!

I feel your pain. I had some jalapeño jelly boil over when, I swear, I only turned my back for a minute. Since it’s all so hot, you have to wait for it to cool too. Hot sugar can produce some awful burns.

Retired Knitter said...

... and the mold?

haha - ok, not important!

What a guy you are married to!!!

Michelle said...

One, your guy warmed my heart when I needed confirmation that there ARE heart-warming guys, and two, sob, I HATE to think of all the wasted amber goodness!!!

Mama Pea said...

Anonymous - Did you encounter any boiled over maple syrup on your inner stove top? No, I'll bet not. ;o) Cleaning the inner stove top is a task I can avoid forever. Except when I can't.

Sherry - You're right. When we cook for a number of years, boil overs and real messes are bound to happen!

Rosalea - The fact that I did set the timer, added to the frustration! Either my flame was too high or I grossly over estimated how long it would take to bring the syrup to an easy boil!

Kristina - I do remember that once years ago I boiled some eggs dry in a pan. Oh, that smell!

Katie C. - Yes, when I found my terrible mess, my first instinct was to dive in to mop it up, but knew I had to just stand there (kicking myself) until it cooled enough to even start cleaning!

Retired Knitter - Since more than half the syrup boiled away, I figured there couldn't be any mold spores left. Hope I'm right. Time will tell!

Michelle - Yep, I've got a good guy who is always ready and willing to jump in to help me out of any trouble or messes I've made. I'm gonna keep him. I've avoided even thinking about figuring out the $$ cost of the maple syrup I wasted!

wyomingheart said...

Maple syrup in a microwave and me out in the garden distracted…. Do you know how many syrup filled holes there were in a microwave? …I didn’t have a Poppa pea to help me, however! Jus sayin! Lol !

Mama Pea said...

wyomingheart - Good golly! Who knew maple syrup was such a dangerous liquid with which to deal?? I can't imagine how you even began to clean out all those holes in your microwave.

Jean Ellen said...

I recently was standing next to the stove, with my back turned to it, washing something in the sink. The oven was preheating for dinner when I smelling something burning. I thought to myself, I need to clean the oven out to get the burnt bits out. When I turned around, 2 dishtowels were flaming on top of the stove! Even standing next to it doesn't always work out.

Mama Pea said...

Jean Ellen - Now that could have been much more serious than my boiled over maple syrup! I once knew a gal whose husband related that she set a dish/hand towels on fire at least once a week. Hope he kept a good watch on her!

Ratana said...
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Lisa B said...

EWWWWW