December 4,
2009Springerle are another cookie that will last from the beginning of the month to the end. They are a two-day cookie, requiring half an hour of beating, then an hour of resting, rolling out, and another 12 hours of drying. If you have no Springerle mold, you can use any cookie stamp.
This craft is particularly timely, as the news reminds us every day that it is cold and flu season, and have we washed our hands yet? These little glycerin soaps made in an ice cube tray will make the job less onerous — and us less odorous.
I set my kitchen on fire about once a year. Well, not the kitchen per se, but something in the kitchen.
When I lived in West Virginia I learned that a gas stove top can heat a pan so hot that olive oil poured into it will spontaneously ignite. (If you have a pan fire, grab a potholder and the pan lid, and cover the pan. Easier and more certain than trying to figure out what you should throw on it.)
Whenever I make yakitori or other meat-on-stick dishes, the skewers smolder and blacken, occasionally bursting into flames. That was probably what I set on fire that had the flames coming out of the oven vent under the burner. (I really should soak those skewers longer, but often I've forgotten.)
Sometimes in the few minutes between reading the recipe and setting the timer for the oven, I convert one minute into five, and set the quesadillas on fire. I did wonder that time if I'd need to use the extinguisher under the sink, or just tell my three-year-old to dial 911.
Similarly, I switched to a whistling tea-kettle, and then to an electric kettle, after leaving pots on the burners too long. The non-whistling kettle melted on the bottom.
You'd think everyone would want me out of the kitchen. And yet, I'm still the one to make dinner at night.
![[My sister Mary taking a photo of me with her new camera.]](/images/MaryChristmasCamera.jpg)
Copyright 2009 Susan J. Talbutt; all rights reserved.
Last updated November 30, 2009