It was to have been a simple dinner.

I had frozen hammaburger patties. I had American cheese slices. Martin’s potato rolls. Broccolini. And tater tots. Red onions and maters and pickles. Duke’s* and mustard. Good old comfort food.

I opted to pan heat the tots in a bit of olive oil. I put water on the boil to steam the broccolini. I threw the patties into a skillet. Soon, I picked up the salt shaker to spritz the patties. I immediately dropped it.

The thing is stainless steel. Do not. Store a stainless steel shaker. On the stovetop. They tend to conduct heat. Ow.

So then I tried to open the pickles, forgetting that most such jars have a plastic lining that you need to break first. I finally got the jar open. But not without a hell of a lot of effort.

In the meantime, the plastic collander I was using to steam the broccolini had caught on fire.

Fortunately, whatever polymer it was constructed of scraped off easily from the stovetop once cooled. Still. It is not good when things catch on fire. That is = epic kitchen fail.

The meal turned out and was an excellent accompaniment with which to watch tonight’s ep of Dexter. But still. As good as you think you are en la cocina, sometimes, the shit just hits the fan. (Which is not a good thing to happen in the kitchen.)

I did enjoy a nice Mondavi Meritage 2007 with the meal, though. I am not generally a fan of Mondavi. I think they’re just sort of “eh.” But $11 was a good price. And it is a pretty passable wine. Nothing I can come up with any adjectives for. But I reckon that’s the point of a Meritage.

*The official mayonnaise of the Sure Why Not Web log.

P.S. I think no comma in Sure Why Not. What do you think?

P.P.S. Oh, crap. Duke’s Chocolate Cake.