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Burnt bowls
I managed to destroy two plastic bowls in one day while trying to melt a couple of chunks of white chocolate. The first one burnt right through the bottom when I heated the chocolate in the microwave for a couple of minutes on 'defrost' setting (at which point the edge of one chunk had reached boiling-sugar temperature and burnt to charcoal honeycomb, whilst the rest of the chocolate hadn't even softened yet), and the second one had a hole melted through its side when it came into contact with the metal saucepan of boiling water in which I was attempting to melt a replacement portion of chocolate. And those pudding-bowls are *designed* to be boiled for hours in metal saucepans, so I don't even understand why it would suddenly melt this time.
Possibly, I think, because it was a small saucepan (albeit it was a one-pint bowl!), and the edge of the bowl was thus able to project over the naked top of the metal, instead of being 'cushioned' by the steam surrounding it. But I'm pretty sure I have had those plastic bowls sitting *on top of* pans of boiling water many times in the past, when preparing lemon curd/egg custard etc, without any ill-effect providing the pan doesn't boil dry.
And I have certainly melted chocolate in the microwave in the past, multiple times. The only other time I've had any problems was with a bar of cheap 30p white chocolate, and I told myself I deserved it for buying chocolate that was almost entirely sugar instead of being meltable cocoa butter, and thus burnt rather than softening. But this was specialist cooking chocolate, and I've melted sections from *this same bar* already without the slightest problem...
My iron has also broken -- I think -- while I was in the middle of using it. I managed to iron a pillowcase and at least one shirt before discovering that it was getting less and less effective, and in fact was cooling down without the power light being on any more. I thought I might have tripped an automatic shut-down by refilling it with too much water or something, but once it had cooled down entirely and been emptied, it became apparent that the iron, having been working earlier on, was no longer heating up at all. Switching it on and off at the plug does cause a solenoid click inside the handle (so it's not the fuse), and the power light does sometimes come on in a flickery way, but the only part of it that heats up is the handle :(
Since I also thought I was getting electric tingles from a sharp bit in the flex which could have been a broken wire projecting through the woven cover -- I'm still not certain if that was a genuine electric shock, or a prick that left an unexpected tiny pain, but it didn't seem to happen once the iron was turned off -- I think I need to buy a new iron. I managed to complete the most urgent bits of the vast ironing heap by digging out my old (1990s vintage, and hence *tiny* and almost weightless compared to modern 'extreme ironing' models) travel iron, but I really need the steam function, and that little iron was never designed to stand up to sustained large-scale use; the hinged handle won't survive, quite apart from anything else.
I managed to simulate the steam old-style by ironing over a damp tea-towel, and I must say it's useful to have a *small* sole-plate when trying to do the fiddly bits round shoulders and cuffs -- makes me think of Elizabethan goffering-irons. But I am very tired (and stressed) by Everything I Own Always Being Broken... not that there is any mystery to that, since everything I own is old and/or second-hand.
Speaking of 'old'-but-not-second-hand, my pyjama trousers finally went. When I took them off I found they were hanging open down the back, having ripped through in the 'classic' place across the seat. Probably at some point when I crouched down to inspect my plants. I was actually expecting the casing for the waist elastic to rip off the rest of the garment, since it had reached the stage of having dozens of tiny perforations all round where the gathers had chafed through with age; that stage was extremely imminent, so it was a relief in a way for them to expire 'normally' first! So the next time the corresponding pyjama jacket, which I have mended so many, many times needs darning again, I can instead tear it up for rag with a clear conscience.
It means I'm going to need a spare pair of summer pyjamas before next year, though. (By external evidence, I acquired those pyjamas no later than 2016. So they were at least six years old when they expired of sheer old age -- doesn't sound all that impressive, but of course they do get worn an awful lot, more than any other individual garment including all my underwear...)
Possibly, I think, because it was a small saucepan (albeit it was a one-pint bowl!), and the edge of the bowl was thus able to project over the naked top of the metal, instead of being 'cushioned' by the steam surrounding it. But I'm pretty sure I have had those plastic bowls sitting *on top of* pans of boiling water many times in the past, when preparing lemon curd/egg custard etc, without any ill-effect providing the pan doesn't boil dry.
And I have certainly melted chocolate in the microwave in the past, multiple times. The only other time I've had any problems was with a bar of cheap 30p white chocolate, and I told myself I deserved it for buying chocolate that was almost entirely sugar instead of being meltable cocoa butter, and thus burnt rather than softening. But this was specialist cooking chocolate, and I've melted sections from *this same bar* already without the slightest problem...
My iron has also broken -- I think -- while I was in the middle of using it. I managed to iron a pillowcase and at least one shirt before discovering that it was getting less and less effective, and in fact was cooling down without the power light being on any more. I thought I might have tripped an automatic shut-down by refilling it with too much water or something, but once it had cooled down entirely and been emptied, it became apparent that the iron, having been working earlier on, was no longer heating up at all. Switching it on and off at the plug does cause a solenoid click inside the handle (so it's not the fuse), and the power light does sometimes come on in a flickery way, but the only part of it that heats up is the handle :(
Since I also thought I was getting electric tingles from a sharp bit in the flex which could have been a broken wire projecting through the woven cover -- I'm still not certain if that was a genuine electric shock, or a prick that left an unexpected tiny pain, but it didn't seem to happen once the iron was turned off -- I think I need to buy a new iron. I managed to complete the most urgent bits of the vast ironing heap by digging out my old (1990s vintage, and hence *tiny* and almost weightless compared to modern 'extreme ironing' models) travel iron, but I really need the steam function, and that little iron was never designed to stand up to sustained large-scale use; the hinged handle won't survive, quite apart from anything else.
I managed to simulate the steam old-style by ironing over a damp tea-towel, and I must say it's useful to have a *small* sole-plate when trying to do the fiddly bits round shoulders and cuffs -- makes me think of Elizabethan goffering-irons. But I am very tired (and stressed) by Everything I Own Always Being Broken... not that there is any mystery to that, since everything I own is old and/or second-hand.
Speaking of 'old'-but-not-second-hand, my pyjama trousers finally went. When I took them off I found they were hanging open down the back, having ripped through in the 'classic' place across the seat. Probably at some point when I crouched down to inspect my plants. I was actually expecting the casing for the waist elastic to rip off the rest of the garment, since it had reached the stage of having dozens of tiny perforations all round where the gathers had chafed through with age; that stage was extremely imminent, so it was a relief in a way for them to expire 'normally' first! So the next time the corresponding pyjama jacket, which I have mended so many, many times needs darning again, I can instead tear it up for rag with a clear conscience.
It means I'm going to need a spare pair of summer pyjamas before next year, though. (By external evidence, I acquired those pyjamas no later than 2016. So they were at least six years old when they expired of sheer old age -- doesn't sound all that impressive, but of course they do get worn an awful lot, more than any other individual garment including all my underwear...)