Something to Celebrate

Did you know that there's a holiday every year on June 13th called Kitchen Klutzes of America Day?  I didn't but now that I know about it I am so excited.  This morning when I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Months of Edible Celebrations, Klutz Day was mentioned and it was music to my ears.  After all, who doesn't love a holiday that they can really relate to?

I have a million funny klutzy cooking stories. The one I'm going to share now will give you a taste of what goes on in my house when I'm cooking dinner lest you think it's all gourmet food and three stars around here.

A couple of months ago my friend Janis called from California just as I was starting dinner.  Given the three hour time difference and our busy schedules, we don't often catch one another at the most convenient times to talk.  I was making dinner and she was in her car.  It seemed like a good time to catch up.

I had been uninspired about what to make for dinner so I had whipped up a butternut squash soup earlier in the day.  It was a little cool and rainy outside and I had butternut squash.  Problem solved.  I had a couple of nice pieces of cheese, and I made a salad but I hadn't gotten to the bakery to pick up a bread.

Enter the popover.  Kate loves popovers.  They're a happy food, standing all tall and puffy and they're foolproof, or so I thought.  Popovers seemed like an easy solution to the bread issue so I got to work.  (Did I mention that I was still on the phone, cradling it between my ear and shoulder?)

I got out all the ingredients and I started mixing up the batter.  I was still on the phone talking with Janis so I had somewhat limited stirring mobility.  At the time I didn't think this was a problem.  The oven was preheating and I started buttering the popover pans.   I popped the empty pans into the oven to heat them.     I was still chatting away as I added the flour, the melted butter, the milk, the salt.  All of a sudden, I smelled smoke.  I had forgotten the pans in the oven.  Uh oh.  This should have been my clue to sign off with Janis.  Nope.  I kept talking.

The smoke finally cleared and I started pouring the batter into the pans.  It didn't occur to me that since the buttered pans had been smoking the butter would be burnt.  The batter seemed a little thick.  Hum... maybe it's the weather, I thought.   Without thinking and using only one hand, I put the filled pans back into to the oven.  Looking back, it's a miracle the pans actually made it into the oven as they were heavy and very hot and I was doing all of this one-handed.

I turned on the oven light to check on the popover's progress and noticed that weren't  getting puffy.  What was wrong?  I looked on the counter (pretty much by accident) and there were the eggs.   I forgot to add the eggs!  This was not good.

The remarkable thing is that I DIDN'T GET OFF THE PHONE.  I just kept talking despite the popover disaster unfolding around me.   At this point, there was half cooked popover all over the place.  I was distracted and things were spilling and smoking.  Maybe this wasn't the same kind of klutziness as spilling milk or tripping over my own feet, but let me tell you, I am sure that I looked like a complete klutz balancing the hot pans with the deflated popovers.

I finally determined that I should probably pay some attention to what I was doing (and besides Janis had arrived at her destination) and we hung up.    I was left with a mess of epic proportions.  This was a scene from one of those kitchen disasters

So, I started again.  Eventually we had popovers and  I got a sink full of really dirty dishes.

Feel free to share your kitchen klutz stories with me in the comments section below.  Remember, you're in good company.

Happy Kitchen Klutzes of America Day!