I made candy for the first time. But not on purpose. I put a pot on the stove with water and sugar to make hummingbird nectar, then promptly forgot I had done so. Next thing I know, the smoke alarms are shrieking like mad things and I’m running for the kitchen. Sadly, the whole mess had to go into the garbage, as it was too burned to be of any use, but at least I got the tarry mess out of the pan before it solidified.
The worst part of all this is that I’m constantly after my wife not to leave something on a burner without being nearby, so I had to stand shuffling my feet and looking stupid for a bit.
I’m sure I’m not the only person to have issued dire warnings and then done exactly that stupid thing.
My wife has me make h-bird water constantly; I buzz the water in a big Pyrex measuring cup until boiling then dump in the sugar and stir until blended, then into a sink of cool water until cooled off a bit (don’t want to burn their little tongues). If your (actual) method is preferable, enlighten me, please.
Even the people on The Great British Bake Off burn their sugar from time to time! And they’re among the best amateur bakers in Britain. I always cringe when I see them starting to boil sugar, or melt chocolate, and look away. Of course they know way better than me what they’re doing (and are under a time crunch) but when I do it I’m always standing there staring.
A few years back my daughter enrolled in community college. She had a mandatory meeting the summer before she started, a meeting scheduled on a Friday at 1pm. She didn’t have a car at the time, and I agreed to take her. However, I had my own obligation at 1 most of the way across the county, so I told her we’d have to leave at noon, even though it wasn’t more than a ten-minute drive to the campus. “Noon,” I said, “got it?”
She said she got it. Then she disappeared. She didn;t answer her phone (turned out it was out of power). Noon came and went. If it hadn’t been a mandatory meeting… I finally tracked her down at about 12:15–she was visiting the woman next door. She didn’t see what the fuss was about. I did. I spent the drive to the college talking pointedly about being organized, paying attention to the time, all like that. I waxed indignant and downright angry. “Now I’m going to be late for my appointment,” I said, “and it’s because you couldn’t be bothered to plan ahead…”
And then there was a roadblock ahead. Oh, great. I slowed down. An inspection check by the local police.
You’ve guessed the rest of the story: my inspection sticker was three months out of date.
I’ve always been a time nazi and badgered people about being on time or even early. Many moons ago, my ex and I had planned a trip from LAX to the midwest with the kids. Got the tickets and all and then harangued everyone about packing their shit, and badgering my ex because she was (and is) a world-class procrastinator. Practically flogged them to get to the bus station on time so we would get to LAX on time for the flight.
Finally got there, dragged all our shit up to the ticket counter, and plunked down the tickets. The counter person checked the computer for the booking and kept looking and looking, and finally said “I don’t see your family on our booking info. Can I see your tickets?” Sure, and I handed them over. “Oh,” she says. These are for tomorrow." :smack: :smack: :smack:
I did EXACTLY what the OP did. Started boiling sugar water for hummingbird food, forgot about it, started reading a book, gradually became aware of a strange odor, then suddenly smoke alarms and smoke drifting through the house. I grabbed the pot and set it outside, luckily having the presence of mind not to open the lid which I’m sure would have caused a sudden flame up. And I have certainly chided my wife about such forgetfulness in the past. Although as it happens, she was deceased at the time of this incident.
Beckdawrek, the prepackaged mixes often have ingredients harmful to hummingbirds. They shouldn’t eat anything except water and sugar, no dyes or anything else.
I knew a woman who once climbed up a tree to demonstrate to a friend how her dumb bother had climbed the tree and fallen and broken his arm. She fell out of the tree and broke her arm.
Until the past couple of years, I would regularly melt spatulas by putting my egg pan on the burner, turning it on, and going to read “just one thing” on the internet.
I finally stopped that by fiddling with the oven timer and the stove knob until I found that 10 minutes and the knob set to a smidge above “2” would get the pan at just about the right temperature to make eggs. It’s a second or two early, but that covers the times I am in the bathroom when the timer goes off.
