Banana drama
So, I almost burned down my kitchen.
Not really, but it felt like it. It all started out so simply - I had a craving for banana bread. My mom makes banana bread, and it's wonderful, so I asked her for her recipe, and she sent it. Last night, I began to gather ingredients. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough bananas (or so I thought), and I definately didn't have any eggs, so the actual baking would have to wait until today (Saturday).
I went grocery shopping, and got the missing ingredients, and came home, excited to bake. I pulled out my brand new loaf pan, set out all the ingredients, and began to cook. It was very lumpy when it was all mixed together, but that kind of made sense, after all, banana bread has chunks of banana and walnut in it. I poured as much as I could into the loaf pan (mistake number 1), and set it into the preheated oven (mistake number 2).
In case those of you who don't bake are wondering what happen, this is it: as the bread began to bake, the excess batter overflowed. I hadn't thought that would happen, so I had just set the pan on the rack. 10 minutes after it went into the oven, I looked at my bread through the window. And that's when I saw the globs of banana bread batter oozing over the side, dripping on to the first rack, the second, and then finally falling right next to the coil which makes the oven hot. I did not think this was a problem (mistake number 3).
10 minutes after that, I had begun to cook my lunch when I noticed smoke starting to come out of the oven. I opened it up, and more globs were falling on top of the charred remains of the first globs. I think I was so desperate for banana bread, that I just ignored that, turned on the fan, and went back to my other meal. The next time I looked at those globs, they were on fire.
Now, I'm not being overly dramatic when I say that for a fire, it was not insubstatial. This was the kind of fire you would be able to roast marshmallows over (if it were outside of my oven), and it was quickly spreading to the other uncooked globs littering the bottom of my oven. I didn't know what to do. So I closed the oven door, and turned the fan up.
The next 45 minutes were a mix of me opening the oven door, moving my loaf pan away from the fire (although it did catch a little bit towards the end - I blew it out), opening my porch door, turning on fans, waving my kitchen towel at the smoke alarm the 5 or 6 times it went off, and calling various people (my dad, my mom, my roommate, and finally my sister) to cry about what happened. Of course, the regular cordless phone wasn't really working for the call to my mother who had given me the recipe, so I wasn't REALLY able to talk to her, and I didnt really tell my dad about the fire, so there's no way for him to have helped.
In the end, when the baking time was nearly up, I turned off the oven, left the pan in, and just closed the door and prayed. The fire went out, the smoke started to dissipate (thanks to the helpful hints of my roommate), and I pulled the bread out. And then I cried. For 15 minutes, I just sobbed. There was no good reason to cry - the fire was out, the pan wasn't ruined, I was safe, the alarm was off, and even though I had a lot to clean up, I would be able to clean it up. But it was just awful. I didn't stop crying until I finally talked to my sister and she was able to just say nice things, and then distract me with another topic of conversation so that I wouldn't dwell on my burnt banana bread.
And the irony of all of this - the bread didn't cook all the way through.
Not really, but it felt like it. It all started out so simply - I had a craving for banana bread. My mom makes banana bread, and it's wonderful, so I asked her for her recipe, and she sent it. Last night, I began to gather ingredients. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough bananas (or so I thought), and I definately didn't have any eggs, so the actual baking would have to wait until today (Saturday).
I went grocery shopping, and got the missing ingredients, and came home, excited to bake. I pulled out my brand new loaf pan, set out all the ingredients, and began to cook. It was very lumpy when it was all mixed together, but that kind of made sense, after all, banana bread has chunks of banana and walnut in it. I poured as much as I could into the loaf pan (mistake number 1), and set it into the preheated oven (mistake number 2).
In case those of you who don't bake are wondering what happen, this is it: as the bread began to bake, the excess batter overflowed. I hadn't thought that would happen, so I had just set the pan on the rack. 10 minutes after it went into the oven, I looked at my bread through the window. And that's when I saw the globs of banana bread batter oozing over the side, dripping on to the first rack, the second, and then finally falling right next to the coil which makes the oven hot. I did not think this was a problem (mistake number 3).
10 minutes after that, I had begun to cook my lunch when I noticed smoke starting to come out of the oven. I opened it up, and more globs were falling on top of the charred remains of the first globs. I think I was so desperate for banana bread, that I just ignored that, turned on the fan, and went back to my other meal. The next time I looked at those globs, they were on fire.
Now, I'm not being overly dramatic when I say that for a fire, it was not insubstatial. This was the kind of fire you would be able to roast marshmallows over (if it were outside of my oven), and it was quickly spreading to the other uncooked globs littering the bottom of my oven. I didn't know what to do. So I closed the oven door, and turned the fan up.
The next 45 minutes were a mix of me opening the oven door, moving my loaf pan away from the fire (although it did catch a little bit towards the end - I blew it out), opening my porch door, turning on fans, waving my kitchen towel at the smoke alarm the 5 or 6 times it went off, and calling various people (my dad, my mom, my roommate, and finally my sister) to cry about what happened. Of course, the regular cordless phone wasn't really working for the call to my mother who had given me the recipe, so I wasn't REALLY able to talk to her, and I didnt really tell my dad about the fire, so there's no way for him to have helped.
In the end, when the baking time was nearly up, I turned off the oven, left the pan in, and just closed the door and prayed. The fire went out, the smoke started to dissipate (thanks to the helpful hints of my roommate), and I pulled the bread out. And then I cried. For 15 minutes, I just sobbed. There was no good reason to cry - the fire was out, the pan wasn't ruined, I was safe, the alarm was off, and even though I had a lot to clean up, I would be able to clean it up. But it was just awful. I didn't stop crying until I finally talked to my sister and she was able to just say nice things, and then distract me with another topic of conversation so that I wouldn't dwell on my burnt banana bread.
And the irony of all of this - the bread didn't cook all the way through.