Burnt Bacon

RB does not cook...for the most part. If he can make it in the microwave then he might cook it right. The most recent adventure RB & I had involved bacon. I love bacon! I asked RB to cook some bacon and he went at it.

RB went to the kitchen and found a pot to cook the bacon in. He put the bacon in the pot and returned to his computer. He claims it was only a minute or two, but his bacon burned. Wait, burned isn't the right word, it disintegrated. The smoke began to rise upstairs and spread throughout the house. We could have rented the house out for a party stating there was a built in smoke machine. It became hard to breathe or even see through the smoke clouds. We proceeded to open the back door & windows and turn the fans on. The end result was a horribly disgusting stench. The smell lingered for days! You could smell it before you even entered the house.

RB decided he wanted to give bacon another try. When I came downstairs to check on him he told me he messed up again. My first thought was "Ugh, we're not going to ever have bacon!" I asked how and he said the bacon was stuck to the pot. RB told me he forgot to add vegetable oil. Uhhh, oil for bacon!? His first few pieces in the oil were already burning.

I told him that you don't need to add oil to bacon, it will make it's own grease. Next, I turned the burner down. The grease was popping pretty high and RB put on sunglasses to protect his eyes! In the beginning, he got distracted and didn't turn the bacon soon enough and it would burn.

I am proud to say that he successfully cooked the rest of the bacon. Of course I remained close by to supervise the bacon making. We enjoyed delicious bacon for two days. These kitchen adventures are becoming highly entertaining. He teaches me, I teach him.

The Can Opener Fiasco

I'd like to think of myself as a talented person with a good head on my shoulders. There are plenty of things I can do well and then there are some I fail miserably at doing. They say people can be book smart yet lack common sense. With that said, the use of a very common household item escapes me.

I am nearly 25 and am just learning to use a manual can opener. You're probably wondering how I got by in life not being able to use a simple contraption. Well, when I was a child we had two manual can openers. We had the big bulky one and the plain silver one. I had seen my mother use both on many occasions and never caught on how to do it myself. Once my mother began teaching me how to cook she expected me to open cans. She gave me lessons on using the can opener and I just couldn't get it down. After watching me fail several times my mother gave in and got an electric can opener. *Hallelujah!*

Having an electric can opener meant never having to use a manual one. I became very dependent on the electric one. Whenever I needed to open a can, I stood in a corner forcing my can onto the machine. The thing is I couldn't even always get the electric can opener to work right! Sometimes it would take me a couple of tries, but I always succeeded.

Recently I was forced into a situation where I had to use a manual can opener. I asked for help with the can opener and got "You can graduate college but can't use a can opener!?" Instead of doing it for me, RB attempted to teach me. He showed me several times how to do it and even explained each step. I became beyond frustrated when I couldn't open the can. I'd get a hole in it and then not be able to continue turning it. A couple of times I would get the can partially open and require help for the rest.

Due to the help of RB, I was able to use a manual can opener on my own for the very first time. I was so proud I put it as a status on Facebook. I'm pretty sure someone read it and thought "This has to be one of the dumbest things I've read!" Ah well, my friends got a good laugh. I haven't had to use the can opener again, but I'm hoping I am successful on my first try.