On burning pots and getting better
I just microwaved some popcorn. Then I sprinkled chocolate chips on top of the piping hot popcorn. Now I'm eating it. Damn, that's good stuff! While the popcorn was plunk plunking away in the microwave I remembered a story. A story I'd like to share with you.
Once upon a time there was a child old enough to be let near the stove, but not yet old enough to have cooked much. She asked her mother if she might make popcorn. Her mother consented. She told the girl how much oil to add to the pot and how much kernel corn. (This story takes place in ye olden times before microwaves existed. Or possible they existed but the girl's family didn't one. This girl's family didn't own a microwave until Christmas 2006. Can you imagine?")
So the girl put the lid over the pot and shook the pot handle so that the pot moved back and forth across the electric coil burner. "How do I know that it's done?" the girl asked.
"When the pooping noises stop," her mother told her.
So the girl shook the pan back and forth and the kernels began popping. And every now and then when she though the popping was over another small "pop!" would sound, so she kept shaking the pan. Until acrid smoke rose and her mother rushed in to ask what had happened.
"It kept popping," she explained. And so it had. There are always stubborn kernels popping at the end (and beyond).
The pot was burnt beyond use. The girl didn't understand. She'd done just what she was told (keep going until the popping stops.) Traumatized by the ruining of a pot, she didn't try to cook again for many, many years.
Lessons learned:
Be careful how you instruct children as they are of a literal mind bent.
Just because your first kitchen attempt failed abysmally, doesn't mean that you should avoid the kitchen for fifteen years.
Popcorn+chocolate chips=delicious