Shelby's Life and Whatnot

Burning Down the House

We had a kitchen incident a few nights ago. Kevin had some thinly sliced potatoes in the oven, but the problem was that by the time we were ready to eat, they were not ready to be eaten. I suggested transferring them to a Corningware dish and microwaving them to finish them off. So we did. After 5 minutes in the microwave, they still were not done. We decided to eat and let the potatoes cook a little longer. I set the microwave to "Go" for another 10 minutes and we blithely sat down. Mistake.

The first sign that something was wrong was the weird look Scout was giving me from the hallway. In retrospect, I'm sure she detected the burning potatoes instantly and was trying to figure out why we would do such a thing to food, glorious food. Anyway, I commented that Scout was giving me a weird look, and then Kevin said "Oh my God!" and leapt up. Smoke was billowing out of the microwave and had filled the kitchen (no dramatic flames, unfortunately--just smoke). We quickly opened doors and windows, turned off the microwave, and turned on the stove fan. I now understand why people are so often overcome by smoke inhalation. You really couldn't breathe in the kitchen.

Finally the smoke cleared and the charred bits of potato floated to the top of the dish when water was added, but the smell remains. Smoke smell is so hard to get rid of. And if you've ever wondered what over-microwaved potatoes smell like, I can tell you. It smells like really old, really stale cigarette smoke. Our kitchen now smells like the kitchen of a family of smokers whose 30 year habits have stained the curtains yellow with tobacco. It is, needless to say, gross. The cleaning lady came today and the kitchen does smell better, but I think it's going to take a while. Anyone have any remedies for smoke smell in the air?