Burning Down the House

I've been burning a lot of the food I've been cooking lately. I'm normally a good cook so this is a trend I'm noticing and frankly it's a bit disturbing.

First, it was bacon. Which can be tricky anyway. I had to throw that out. None of it was salvageable. So, I tried again and watched it more closely or so I thought. There were still burned bits but I ate it anyway. It had a maple brown sugar flavor added so it wasn't too bad.

Next came the grilled cheese and ham. None of those came out golden. I ate those too.

So, I tried something new and put a lid on the pan. Because what often happens with grilled sandwiches in the frying pan is that the bread burns but the cheese doesn't melt and then, well, what's the point? You're making it this way because you want cheese melted on bread and you want it fast!

The lid gave me a false sense of security. Meaning, that I could leave the room altogether and expect perfection once I returned. It was a disaster. But it was the last of the bread and so I ate it anyway.



Then yesterday plain grilled cheese. I used the lid again, which really does work well for trapping heat in order to melt the cheese. I obviously did not learn a blessed thing from the first lid experience because as you can expect that one had one black side and one nice golden side.

And finally, today, in fact the thing that made me notice this charcoal food trend, a simple BBQ beef Hot Pocket. They aren't kidding when they say microwave cooking times may vary. We have two micros in our kitchen at work and one, the one on the top, always turns out a Hot Pocket that is moist and delicious. The other one on the other hand doesn't work that way ever. And I'm sure you'll say, well, use the top one and you'd be right. But you have to use the one that's available when people are waiting to use them and a line has formed.

Anyway, I think I'm distracted and that's why I'm burning and eating sub-standard food. Which I've concluded is HEAVY distraction mind you. Especially when you can't pay attention to the smoking frying pan stinking up your kitchen.
My mind is apparently full of more things than you can shake a stick at and can't be bothered with the nuances of cooking a grilled cheese properly.

You're probably asking yourself why did I just read this whole thing about burned food? Well, I don't know, why did you? Were you hoping for a better explanation for the distraction? I can indeed give you one, but the basic underlying theme is a distracted cluttered mind full of decision-making and juggling and avoidance and sadness and dare I say it melancholy.
But let's leave it at that because I think the funny will die if we don't.

So just remember that if you are burning your food a lot in one week then you should check your mind and de-clutter it because charcoal is bad for you.