Melting Pots

Melting pots - what comes to mind?  This country which is a melting pot of nationalities?  Fondue restaurants which provide a romantic fine dining experience?   Candles - melt the wax for a fragrant home?

Oh any of these could be what you think of.  Not my family.  Oh no - they think of me!  Melting pots - watched pots.  Yes - they go hand-in-hand for me.  I know that you know that old saying "a watched pot never boils".  You sit (or stand by the stove probably) and wait and wait and wait and still that pot just never comes to a boil so you can make your tea or add your pasta. 

I, however, am one person who literally has to stand by the stove and never leave it until the pot does come to a boil.  Not a silly quirk I have. I don't time how long it takes.  I do it for a matter of safety.  This was brought to my mind last night as I did a kitchen safety talk to my granddaughters Girl Scout troop.  One of the rules they needed to know was "never leave the kitchen with something on the stove."

Oh sure, we all learned this as a child but we are adults now.  We have very busy lives and we multi-task.  Let's get this on the stove then go get a load of laundry put in.  Take a phone call.  Not a problem.  For most people.  Not for me.  Now I can talk on the phone while I am watching my pot come to a boil but I WILL NOT leave the room for any reason.  Don't put a pot on the stove and walk away thinking I will be responsible.  The only time I am responsible is if I am the one who put it on the stove in the first place. 

I do actually burn pots and tea kettles because I forget I have put water on to boil for tea and leave the kitchen.  Poor Gary, I have ruined some of his best pans.  Good thing the last set I bought him had a heavy duty base.  It may not look as nice as it used to but it does still work. 

This is not a recent occurrence because I am getting older.  I have had this problem for several years. I know that Gary and I have been married for 18 years this month and it has been a problem at least that long.  I put a tea kettle on to boil some water because I wanted to make a pot of tea. (See Gabe - I do drink tea - not just coffee).  I put the pot on and left the kitchen to do other stuff in the house.  Not a problem because I had a whistling tea kettle. 

Now a whistling tea kettle should alert you to the fact that the water is boiling.  However, you have to actually be within hearing distance of the tea kettle to hear it whistle.  And in my defense - if you leave the house to run to the store - you are not near enough to hear the tea kettle whistle so I dont' think you can really be held responsible.  Yes, I admit - I came home and took groceries to the kitchen to find that my brand new whistling tea kettle was now a pool of melted liquid on my stove top.

Did I learn my lesson?  No, I continued to boil pots dry and ruin them until I made up my mind that if I put a pot of water on the stove I was going to stand right there and wait for it to boil.  Now, unfortunately for my family it took me until about 4 years ago to decide that I better STAND BY MY POT OF WATER.  (A slight reference there to singer Tammy Wynnette and her song Stand By Your Man). 

Now, I get a lot of reading time in because I will watch my pot until it boils.  I don't have a chair to sit on - all I can do is stand and lean against the counter until the pot boils and I can turn it off. And that, my friends, is why my family thinks of me when they think of Melting Pots.