Each morning I make myself a bowl of oatmeal in the microwave oven. A few tablespoonfuls of oatmeal, three-quarters of a cup of water, and a dash of salt (optional, says the instruction on the box).
Following the directions for timing and power level usually does not get the oatmeal to the desired consistency. On cold days like this, about another minute at full power may be needed. The extra sixty seconds are critical ones, for they demand your total and undivided attention. You may at a critical point have to jerk open the oven door to prevent the oatmeal from boiling over.
Well, I was not attentive this morning. When the buzzer went off, I found that the oatmeal had made a mess inside the oven. It also made a mess of the bowl, leaving a hot, mucilaginous encrustation all around it. Cleaning up required many squares of paper towels to dispose of the hot oatmeal, half of which lay outside the bowl. It had been like a miniature volcanic eruption in there, and it took a while for the magma-oatmeal to cool down enough to be touched.
Oatmeal is good for you, they say. Gives you your daily fiber requirements. Keeps you regular too. Only you have to pay close attention when you cook it the way I do. By failing to be watchful enough, I was saddled with many minutes of unpleasant extra work.
What is most annoying, though, is that this has happened before. And probably will again.
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