almost won the Darwin award earlier tonight. I asked the guest, who was cooking dinner, if he wanted me to light the oven, but he said he could figure it out, so I went back to my programming. a couple or three minutes later he said "jc, the oven isn't getting hot" so I got up and looked, and sure enough there was no flame. mind you the gas had been on full blast for that time and there were two stovetop flames going. but, there was no smell at all, and the gas here in Mexico has mercaptans added, same as in the Estados Bandidos north of here. still, I exercised a little caution. I shielded my face as I clicked the sparker a couple times in front of the open oven. then I figured "what the hell", turned the gas back on, and lit it. and it looked OK. maybe 20 seconds later, FOOM! I smelled burned hair, both top burners had gone out, but we were both obviously still alive and no obvious damage had been done. I just woke up a few minutes ago with the realization that the gas must have all gone into the walls of the oven, where the insulation is, and that's why the delayed reaction. weird and worthy of mention.
anyway, then we did what I should have done the first time, opened up doors and windows and let the place air out for a couple of minutes after turning all the oven and stove valves off. then relit everything and he got on with his cooking.
another thing that popped into mind while in bed last night: tourtiere pie is a Canadian meat pie served around the holidays, and something I haven't had for years though I did have a somewhat similar Jamaican meat pie more recently, I think at Petaluma Pie last year. anyway, Mainers pronounce it the same as touché, the fencing term for admitting a hit. now I'm wanting an online excuse to post "tourtiere!". hee hee.
last updated 2015-03-04 11:55:50. served from tektonic.jcomeau.com