Monday, November 13, 2006

Lita's Lagniappe

For those of you who are not multi-lingual, "lagniappe" is a French/Cajun word meaning "a little something extra." Today's post is just that, information that might come in handy at some point in your life.

Lagniappe #1: A solid surface cooktop is very convenient in that it provides a level space to expand your countertop.

Lagniappe #2: NEVER set anything on this area that you do not intend to COOK.

Being such the Susie Homemaker that I am, this morning I decided to brown some stew meat before placing it in the crock pot. Mind you, it was before my second cup of coffee, when my brain was still not functioning on full capacity. Who are we kidding? If you're over 50, full capacity brain function is a relative term. My stew meat, still in it's cellophane wrapper and styrofoam tray and on top of the plastic grocery bag, was sitting next to my skillet. You know where this is going, don't you? A few minutes later, when I figured the oil would be hot enough, I discovered that I had turned on the WRONG burner. The plastic grocery sack along with the styrofoam tray were melted onto the the burner and the meat was already starting to cook!

Lagniappe #3: A combination of baking soda, Bon Ami, and Oops, together with strong thumb and forefinger nails will remove melted plastic and styrofoam from solid surface cooktops. However, once the aforementioned nails become wet, you will need to let them dry in between scrapings else you will only bend them to the point of breakage.

1 comment:

Shelly Collins said...

Don't feel bad Lita, my brain doesn't function at full compacity already! I'm blaming it on the lack of uninterrupted sleep. I bought a meat thermometer last week and stored it in the package inside a roasting pan in the oven. I don't know why exactly, I guess at the time it seemed like convenient storage until I was ready to use it (I was planning on roasting my first chicken in a day or two). I thought, "I'll remember that's in there." Nope. Blake decided to preheated the oven to make some cornbread and soon realized the whole kitchen was smoky and smelled like burned plastic. Yeah, I had to buy a new thermometer. :)