er, oops?

[burntcopper]

Some of you may remember the fact that very early on in this flat, I managed to remove all nose hair and eyelashes by trying to light the grill.

Today, I got it working again, because there was red pesto lurking in the fridge, I only know one thing to do with red pesto, and I didn't want to fry the peppers for the sauce when they should by all rights be chargrilled until they burn. It was a decent thing to experiment on, because I've also been eyeing a recipe card for kebabs I grabbed from waitrose and going 'hmmmm'.

However. I forgot one thing : when you have two gas rings going, one of which is cooking bacon, and the grill is going as well, and you're purposely burning the food under there, it is a wise idea to close the kitchen door. Because otherwise you set the smoke alarm off. (oddly, I didn't manage to set the one next to the kitchen off, I set the one at the end of the hall off) I have, admittedly done this once before in this flat. Both together, but different recipe.

New rule : when using the grill, close the door.

My main problem is that I was raised in a house where my father cooked. Strange and interesting things, and I'm still puzzled by the fact that though I've had no training whatsoever, I appear to have learnt all kinds of techniques by hanging around in the kitchen chatting and watching. And he had a .... rather interesting approach to the smoke/heat alarm. In that it was there to be *used*. We had the typical middle-class giant gas burner set, complete with industrial cooker hood, but ours tended to be *used*, and the time the cooker hood stopped working, the bloke who came round to service it couldn't believe the amount of gunk we had up there that he had to clean out. (I was on tea duty at the time) Pointed out that this was because we used the damn thing. And even though we used it, and immense amounts of heat and smoke used to emanate from the kitchen, Dad very rarely closed the door, unless it was for Cajun Blackened Chicken, which created smoke and poison gas and screams of 'Close the Door!' could be heard. (yes, really. The reason your eyes and throat burn when someone's cooking chillies? That's poison gas.) And thus we never actually had to test our smoke alarms, because they went off at least twice a week. I may have picked up this habit.

Ooops.

Watched half the Mckay and Mrs Miller ep so far. Am officially in love with Jeannie Mckay. Also, casting siblings as siblings works *so* fantastically, it really does, because, well, body language, and the sniping is completely natural. There's this moment where they both turn and say 'sorry' in this exact same tone that's perfection. I've only seen the casting siblings as siblings done once before, and that was the McGann clan - Paul McGann is something like the middle brother of five - and it was a drama about the early Irish rebellion. Didn't watch much of it, but the sibling dynamic was very obvious.

Comments

[mrslant]

We always knew Mum's chips were ready when the smoke alarm went off... :-)

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

:nostalgic harrumphs: We got chips maybe once in a blue moon. Lucky sod.

[mrslant]

Well, we didn't get them all the time, in a desultory attempt to feed us a healthy diet. But the smoke alarm dinner gong generally also worked for anything grilled. :-)

BTW now you're living in London you should come along to the Broken Drummers. Next meet is 2nd Oct I think. Don't be put off by the photo. :-)

[beccaelizabeth]

gas appliances that work wonky worry me.

do you have like a poison gas alarm too?
I've got a carbon monoxide meter. it never has gone off. so I'm not sure if it still works.

smoke alarms in my block eventually set the main fire alarm off and makes everyone have to go outside, which is sensible and good, right up until the point someone seems to be using them as a timer.

Smoke alarms at my mums house go off rather a lot.
My brother is autistic, and the last time the smoke alarm went off my other brother was trying to get him out the house, and yelled at him "What do you think it means?"
Daft sibling says, all innocence, "Dinner?"

*facepalm*

[sabremeister]

I've only seen the casting siblings as siblings done once before, and that was the McGann clan - Paul McGann is something like the middle brother of five - and it was a drama about the early Irish rebellion. Didn't watch much of it, but the sibling dynamic was very obvious

I think I saw that one too - the potato famine one, with all five (seven?) of them? That was good, that.

[davidcook.livejournal.com]

I keep trying to explain to rwrylsin, you can't properly cook a steak without smoke (but I usually remember to close the kitchen door before the alarm goes off).
A few years back, my parents got a smoke detector fitted - in the kitchen. And then I visited, and managed to set it off doing toast, never mind cooking actual dinner. (they moved it eventually)

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

... you're one of those people who actually believes in *cooking* steak, aren't you? :suspicious look: Honestly, some people... (believes in allowing hers in the same room as the flame. But not for more than 30 seconds.)

[davidcook.livejournal.com]

Guilty as charged ! I like mine medium or medium-rare.
Your steak preference reminds of the guy who, when asked how he'd like his steak, replied "Lop off its horns, wipe its ass, and whack it on a plate".
(then again, at the average British pub, if you asked for that, you might just get something that has some colour left in it!)

[gerriparker.livejournal.com]

seriously - who actually remembers to test their smoke alarm every 6 months? Cooking to set it off is a fantastic way of making sure it still works :)

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

Well, considering my response when it goes off is yelling 'Sorry!', grabbing the nearest chair and disconnecting it, closing the door, opening the windows and continuing cooking, I may not have the attitude to smoke alarms that the fire brigade would like.