green bean explosion
Today was a weird day.
It was definitely one of those days where I felt "off" the whole time - weird things kept happening (including one particular incident that threw off my entire day) and kitchen disasters kept occurring. Weird, yes, but also frustrating.
I was determined that today I was going to can green beans. No big deal. This is not my first time canning them. I thought that maybe it would just take half of my day.
Nope. Longer than that.
Part of this was due to the fact that I realized that the bands for the jars where really nasty and rusty. So, I rode my sister-in-law's bike up to Kroger's to get more. (This adds levels to my frustration since I invested money in this and added time by riding my bike). Sidebar - this was actually the first time I rode a bike up to the store. It's not that far, but even though Morton is a small town people don't really ride their bikes places. I mean, they go on a "bike ride" just for fun but people don't use it as a normal form of transportation (even though they just installed a new bike lane on Jefferson) - at least not that I've seen.
Anyway, after I got back I was all set for the pressurize stage. Okay, so I borrowed two pressure cookers from Janice's mom - one small one, one larger one. I got the larger one all set up, called my gram twice and then let it go. and it was fine.
Then it was time for the small cooker. um. I don't know what happened really. The pressure thing had just started chirping when something started smelling strange. I went over to the stove to see what was happening when all of a sudden part of the pressure cooker SHOT OFF! A tower of steam literally went all the way up to the ceiling making the kitchen look like a dangerous water park. I manged to pull it off the burner, open a window and turn off the stove top, but not before that area of the kitchen was covered in strange brownish water. ew. Thankfully the babies were not near by and my brother's pc which was, was not covered in water.
So that was four pints of beans went down the drain (actually into the compost pile).
But here is my latest problem. The larger pressure cooker will not open. I let it cool for a long time, pressed the top to see if there was any pressure that needed to be let out, and since there was none, tried to open it. When it wouldn't budge, I got out the manual which told me the thing locks when there is still pressure inside it. Okay. it's fine. So I went out to my friend's house to have a bonfire and s'mores, thinking that when I got home it would be cooled down enough to "unlock." False.
Ugh. Hopefully tomorrow it will have "unlocked" or I can figure out the secret to getting this thing open. I hope my pints aren't ruined.
Yeah, weird day
It was definitely one of those days where I felt "off" the whole time - weird things kept happening (including one particular incident that threw off my entire day) and kitchen disasters kept occurring. Weird, yes, but also frustrating.
I was determined that today I was going to can green beans. No big deal. This is not my first time canning them. I thought that maybe it would just take half of my day.
Nope. Longer than that.
Part of this was due to the fact that I realized that the bands for the jars where really nasty and rusty. So, I rode my sister-in-law's bike up to Kroger's to get more. (This adds levels to my frustration since I invested money in this and added time by riding my bike). Sidebar - this was actually the first time I rode a bike up to the store. It's not that far, but even though Morton is a small town people don't really ride their bikes places. I mean, they go on a "bike ride" just for fun but people don't use it as a normal form of transportation (even though they just installed a new bike lane on Jefferson) - at least not that I've seen.
Anyway, after I got back I was all set for the pressurize stage. Okay, so I borrowed two pressure cookers from Janice's mom - one small one, one larger one. I got the larger one all set up, called my gram twice and then let it go. and it was fine.
Then it was time for the small cooker. um. I don't know what happened really. The pressure thing had just started chirping when something started smelling strange. I went over to the stove to see what was happening when all of a sudden part of the pressure cooker SHOT OFF! A tower of steam literally went all the way up to the ceiling making the kitchen look like a dangerous water park. I manged to pull it off the burner, open a window and turn off the stove top, but not before that area of the kitchen was covered in strange brownish water. ew. Thankfully the babies were not near by and my brother's pc which was, was not covered in water.
So that was four pints of beans went down the drain (actually into the compost pile).
But here is my latest problem. The larger pressure cooker will not open. I let it cool for a long time, pressed the top to see if there was any pressure that needed to be let out, and since there was none, tried to open it. When it wouldn't budge, I got out the manual which told me the thing locks when there is still pressure inside it. Okay. it's fine. So I went out to my friend's house to have a bonfire and s'mores, thinking that when I got home it would be cooled down enough to "unlock." False.
Ugh. Hopefully tomorrow it will have "unlocked" or I can figure out the secret to getting this thing open. I hope my pints aren't ruined.
Yeah, weird day
Sometimes the old ones just get STUCK. And you simply have to use all your God given elbow grease. Or as my mother would say, "Get mad at it!" Put your anger into energy to open it. Try doing it with another person. You pull one direction, and have your brother or sister-in-law pull the other until it releases.
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