Rookie Mistakes

[ScottyB 2,086]

We are all only human and sometimes make mistakes, although some more than others

This thread is to share some silly mistakes you have made

I will start by what inspired me to make this thread, it's not that bad, but I rarely make mistakes (at least that's what I think haha), and this is a stupid simple mistake that in hind site, you go what the hell was I thinking!?

Last night I cooked some rissoles in a frying pan and there was a bit of oil (or so I thought) left in the bottom of the pan. I poured it into the sink, over some other dishes as well. I was trying to get some burnt bits of the non stick pan before they stuck..

It turned out to be fat or grease, and I stupidly left it over night as well and it's now over everything and it's a pretty tall order to get it off. I don't have a dishwasher so it's all by hand and I just keep smudging and spreading it everywhere.. Boo. It's now soaking in boiling water and dishwashing liquid to hopefully it cleans it up a bit for when I try later

Edited April 9, 2015 by ScottyB88

[djw180 7,005]

The first time I ever traveled overseas on my own was to a conference in Prague when I was a student in the early 90s. When it came to going back I got the bus to the airport. The thing was, when I had arrived it was at night and someone was there to meet me and I never really got a good look at where the airport was. So going back, early morning, I get off the bus at what I think is the airport, walk up to the main doors and they are locked. I had given myself loads of time to get there, and not being an experienced traveler I just assume it's not a very busy airport and isn't open yet. So I wait, and wait. No one else is around. I start to think this might not actually be the airport. Eventually someone turns up. I speak no Czech, he speaks no English, but we both speak a little German. After a while he seems to understand the situation and offers to drive me to the actual passenger, international, airport. I had got off the bus at what I now think must have been the freight terminal.

 

Moral of the story, take a taxi.

[ronin 596]

Came close to a fire at the house twice.

Once I was heating up oil in a pan to fry some food, forgot about it and before I knew, it caught fire. Think flames were like 2-3 feet/1 meter high. Put a lid on it and immediately took it outside.  That was the last time I heated up a big amount of oil without a thermostat or me leaving the kitchen when food is on the stove. That stuff is really scary !!! 

Second time was me leaving the iron on in the morning. Quickly ironed a shirt, left for work and came home 10 hours later to find a red glowing iron in the laundry room. Luckily it was standing upright and not flat on the board.

 

Ever since those two events I got super careful. I even go through a little 'checklist' every time I leave the house now.  And it avoids people like Ern to get hurt for someone else's stupidity

 

@scotty:

whenever you got grease, melted butter or oil, once you're done cooking, you're better of by putting it all in a bowl when still liquid. Easier to clean afterwards and you avoid clogging up your drainage system. That stuff will block everything after a while. Last year, I paid a healthy bill for cleaning all of my drainage system because the previous owners had put all kinds of crap down the drain including oil and fat. 

[ScottyB 2,086]

@DJ hopefully you made the flight! I've always had transfers or caught a taxi so I haven't really had that problem. I hate public transport at the best of times and trying to do it in a foreign country, while exciting in its own way can lead to problems as you experienced

@Ronin My GF has had similar issues with stoves. She tends to be very clumsy and forgetful so I usually balance her out haha. One time at her parents house she turned on the wrong stove top and left it to preheat the pan. Her parents had an electric frypan on the stove, and for some reason she left it there while cooking in the other pan. After not long the plastic legs of the electric frying pan were well alight and it destroyed the electric frying pan but luckily there wasn't too much damage else where haha.

I'm pretty sure it's illegal to tip oil and crap down the drain for environmental reasons on top of it being bad for your drainage system. I don't really cook fatty stuff ever so I haven't come across this issue much. It only looked like a little bit of oil left over and it was hot so I just thought to pour it out. Lesson learnt for next time though, hopefully

[Jaggy 2,811]

Not sure where to start.

 

One time, many many years ago... probably when I was 12 or 13 years old...  I mistook powdered sugar as flour.

 

That's all I can really think of right now.  After growing old and baking/cooking more often, I've figured out the differences between powdered sugar and flour.

[Torrid 653]

I once used baking soda instead of baking power when making pancakes. They sucked.

[G37 3,445]

I once tossed a Twix bar into the freezer because it had began to melt (Summer day). Few hours later I came back to eat it, obviously couldn't. So I threw the Twix bar, still in the wrapper, into the microwave. Turned it on for about 20 seconds to melt it a bit. Bad idea.

 

Once when I was little (13?) my mom called to have me get dinner started because she was going to be late. We were having pasta that night. Both of my parents came home (former smokers) later. I had turned the stove top on (gas) to boil water and the flame never ignited, just kept filling the house with gas. Apparently it was enough to knock someone out but I was fine in the other room. Had they entered the house with a cigarette .. we'd probably all have been in little pieces

Edited April 9, 2015 by G37

[Jaggy 2,811]

I once tossed a Twix bar into the freezer because it had began to melt (Summer day). Few hours later I came back to eat it, obviously couldn't. So I threw the Twix bar, still in the wrapper, into the microwave. Turned it on for about 20 seconds to melt it a bit. Bad idea.

 

Once when I was little (13?) my mom called to have me get dinner started because she was going to be late. We were having pasta that night. Both of my parents came home (former smokers) later. I had turned the stove top on (gas) to boil water and the flame never ignited, just kept filling the house with gas. Apparently it was enough to knock someone out but I was fine in the other room. Had they entered the house with a cigarette .. we'd probably all have been in little pieces

 

This explains a lot.  

[LN-MLB 2,583]

I've made far too many, but...

 

When I was about 19, I had an apartment with a dishwasher.  I had ran out of the powered detergent for the machine and reached for the bottle of liquid detergent that you would use to wash dishes by hand.  I decided to let it run and I left the house for the day.  When I came home, to my surprise, my entire kitchen and living room floor was flooded and there was soap everywhere--including the walls.

 

When I was about 15, I used to mow lawns around the neighborhood to make spending money.  Once, while mowing our back lawn, I noticed a slightly sunken area where bees were hovering around.  Knowing that I couldn't get around it while mowing and being deathly afraid of being swarmed in the first place, I decided to grab the container of gasoline, soaked the nest and the ground surrounding it, and lighted it on fire.  Fortunately, I did not blow myself up, but I pretty much destroyed a portion of our backyard and managed to narrowly escape being stung (and probably killed).  Needless to say, the bees all died and they never came back.

 

I was in San Francisco a few years ago, and my ex-girlfriend decided that she wanted to wait until the last minute to make our way to the airport.  We boarded a BART train to the airport and while sitting there on the train, I noticed we were passing places that I had never seen before.  Quickly looking at the map, I noticed we were going in entirely the wrong direction and had only about an hour before our flight departed.  I jumped off the train, was fortunate enough to find a cab, and ended up making it to the airport less than 15 minutes before the flight departed.  The fare was about $70 and I had no cash in my wallet.  The driver didn't take credit cards, so I had to actually stop at some shady fuel station in Oakland to use the ATM in order to pay him.  I agree with djw--always take a cab, but also remember to carry enough cash to pay the driver and never listen to anyone when they say, "we don't need to be at the airport THAT early."  On this same trip, I left my debit card to my primary bank account in the ATM machine on the first day and the machine destroyed it.  Needless to say, it was kind of a lousy trip when I think about it.

[ScottyB 2,086]

I've made far too many, but...

 

When I was about 19, I had an apartment with a dishwasher.  I had ran out of the powered detergent for the machine and reached for the bottle of liquid detergent that you would use to wash dishes by hand.  I decided to let it run and I left the house for the day.  When I came home, to my surprise, my entire kitchen and living room floor was flooded and there was soap everywhere--including the walls.

 

When I was about 15, I used to mow lawns around the neighborhood to make spending money.  Once, while mowing our back lawn, I noticed a slightly sunken area where bees were hovering around.  Knowing that I couldn't get around it while mowing and being deathly afraid of being swarmed in the first place, I decided to grab the container of gasoline, soaked the nest and the ground surrounding it, and lighted it on fire.  Fortunately, I did not blow myself up, but I pretty much destroyed a portion of our backyard and managed to narrowly escape being stung (and probably killed).  Needless to say, the bees all died and they never came back.

 

I was in San Francisco a few years ago, and my ex-girlfriend decided that she wanted to wait until the last minute to make our way to the airport.  We boarded a BART train to the airport and while sitting there on the train, I noticed we were passing places that I had never seen before.  Quickly looking at the map, I noticed we were going in entirely the wrong direction and had only about an hour before our flight departed.  I jumped off the train, was fortunate enough to find a cab, and ended up making it to the airport less than 15 minutes before the flight departed.  The fare was about $70 and I had no cash in my wallet.  The driver didn't take credit cards, so I had to actually stop at some shady fuel station in Oakland to use the ATM in order to pay him.  I agree with djw--always take a cab, but also remember to carry enough cash to pay the driver and never listen to anyone when they say, "we don't need to be at the airport THAT early."  On this same trip, I left my debit card to my primary bank account in the ATM machine on the first day and the machine destroyed it.  Needless to say, it was kind of a lousy trip when I think about it.

 

What a deceiving name, "dishwashing liquid". I made the same mistake too haha, but not as bad. My parents were away on holiday and I used it not knowing the difference. When i went back out into the kitchen is was exploding with bubbles haha.

 

Petrol in itself is extremely effective at killing bees. It will stop them dead in their tracks, no need to light it on fire haha. Dont spray them with any insect spray as they just get angry and take ages to die. Never tried it but i have heard stories lol.

[rumdig 957]

The only car I purchased new was a Mazda Protege. After owning it 10+ years, one cylinder began giving me fits (spark plug was shorting due to a water puddle sitting in the plug cavity). Instead of spraying a lubricant such as WD-40 to initially break the rust I just loosened it. Upon doing so the ceramic broke into pieces, and once the plug was removed these said pieces fell into the cylinder. Long story short, after $100's of dollars later I sold a perfectly running 3 cylinder car

[Athena 112]

The first thing that pops into my head is when I was 18, in the Army and stationed in Germany. I had never used a microwave before (this was in the early 80's). I brought in some leftovers for lunch. I guess I stirred it up before putting it in, because I left the spoon in and stuck the whole thing in the microwave. Well, you all know what happens when you put silverware in a microwave. Needless to say, my fellow soldiers weren't very happy with me. It took awhile to get a new microwave.

[ronin 596]

@Ronin My GF has had similar issues with stoves. She tends to be very clumsy and forgetful so I usually balance her out haha. One time at her parents house she turned on the wrong stove top and left it to preheat the pan. Her parents had an electric frypan on the stove, and for some reason she left it there while cooking in the other pan. After not long the plastic legs of the electric frying pan were well alight and it destroyed the electric frying pan but luckily there wasn't too much damage else where haha.

 

 

How to be a proper Belgian.

 

Lesson one:

 

In theory: if there is a rule or law, learn how to bend it.

 

In practise: it's pretty much illegal to poor down nasty stuff down the kitchen sink. But hey, is there some government official standing next to you when you do that? Nope. Sooo .... Who cares anyways , etc etc

 

 

 

Lesson two:

 

In theory: beer !

 

In practise: u know the drill ... oh, that also comes with a lot of rookie mistakes. Love to lure foreigners into a Duvel or 2, 3, 4 ......

[ScottyB 2,086]

I was cooking a stir fry the other night, and got confused by which spice was spicy (paprika or cayenne pepper). My GF and I don't really eat very spicy foods, and usually a pinch or 2 of the cayenne pepper is enough to set your mouth on fire, and I put in what would have been close to 4 teaspoons (I just poured it all over it ).

It was super intense and my mouth was on fire and didn't stop burning for a fair while. Luckily I was ok the next day. Lesson learnt; cayenne pepper is HOT!

[JustHatched 12,123]

Hard way to learn a lesson Scotty

[Jaggy 2,811]

I think it's funny since cayenne pepper really isn't that hot.    

[zztop911 1,609]

While in Hawaii, I found a beautiful 1970 Torino GT with a 351C 4V engine that had tons of undercoating and it had been in storage for just over 12 years. A little old lady was selling her dead husband's car. Cosmetically it was in outstanding condition. Mechanically it was very sound, but needed quite a bit of work. Among the many replacement and upgraded parts, I upgraded to modern stuff the intake manifold, carb and distributor. This was my first 351C engine to own and work on, so when installing the new plug wires, I used a 351W firing order from memory. Naturally that was wrong, but at the time I didn't know it. I figured that I had the distributor stabbed wrong. Unlike a Chevy of the same era, you can be any number of degrees off, not 180 out like a Chevy. I spent two frustrating days trying to figure out wtf was the problem. This was pre-internet and the manual for the Torino was not available on the island and on backorder. Luckily my Chief was a Ford nut and had the same car when he was young. In less than 30 seconds he found the problem and in 10 minutes we had the car purring like a kitten.

I sure wish I still had that car!

[ScottyB 2,086]

I think it's funny since cayenne pepper really isn't that hot.    

 

Yeah we aren't very good with spicy stuff. I still ate it but it was a new burning fireball each time i had a mouth full. My GF couldnt eat it though. Its a different spicy to chilli. I dont mind a mild amount of chilli in my stirfrys but she cant have really any at all haha.

[zztop911 1,609]

Yeah we aren't very good with spicy stuff. I still ate it but it was a new burning fireball each time i had a mouth full. My GF couldnt eat it though. Its a different spicy to chilli. I dont mind a mild amount of chilli in my stirfrys but she cant have really any at all haha.

You'd starve at my house!