Goodness Gracious!

We had a little bit of drama in the kitchen last night. We were having a friend over for dinner, so the three of us were in the kitchen chatting while Mitch stirfried the veggies. Very calmly, he interrupted with, "Ummm, there are flames." He pulled the wok off the burner and sure enough... you know that sound a fire makes on TV when it ignites, kind of a poof?

Well, there was a poof and a flame shot up through the burner, then disappeared. There was another poof, then the third time the flame shot up, it was three feet high and kept burning. YIKES! We were all a little slow on the draw, but after contemplating the aesthetics of the flame and pondering whether the source was likely to be oil, electrical, or food particles, I grabbed a pan and covered the burner.

The kids had seen the fire and ran to their rooms, screaming in terror. I took them for a walk around the block while the guys finished putting it out. (The fire was in the tray under the rangetop, so all the burners had to be covered.) By the time we got back the smoke had cleared, although it still smelled like we'd had a barbecue in the kitchen.

Surprisingly, supper still turned out fine and there were no nightmares last night. Still, I think I'll take a pass on the next stove fire opportunity.