Fire in the oven.

Let’s just say it was a pretty interesting day at the facility on Saturday. The day started fine, really. One of the staff had called and asked if someone could work a double and I volunteered to do that which meant that she would take my shift on Sunday. It’s been quite some time since I had a whole weekend day to myself. So, I ended up working from 6:30AM-10PM. The interesting thing about the day was a fire broke out in the oven and some of the residents got more than a little excited and concerned. You see, I had put some chicken in the oven to be baked and when it came out, it was not cooked in the middle and it was pretty close to supper time. My colleague quickly grabbed the pans and put it back into the oven not realizing that under the pans were hot pads. Before we knew it, smoke was coming out of the oven. When I opened the door, there was a mini fire. By this time, some of the residents were getting more than a little anxious and were concerned about the smoke. I grabbed the fire extinguisher and put out the fire but kept the oven door closed as there was bound to be smoke. All the doors and windows were opened so as to not set the fire alarm because that would have been a major pain. Some of the residents were concerned that they would not have dinner. We assured all of them there were more than enough leftovers to go around. I had made goulash that afternoon and there was quite a lot of leftover. What I found interesting is how fast some of the residents panicked or got anxious even though we had everything under control. One resident voiced her concern because the fire alarm did not go off. She was also afraid that the oven was going to explode and kill everyone in the facility. I spoke to her and told her we were trying out very best NOT to set off the smoke alarm because it would have been too much protocol to worry about and reassured her that there was never a time when anything was out of our control. Oven fires do happen and you just roll with the punches and deal with it. My colleague was feeling really down because she felt extremely responsible for starting the fire. I informed her that anyone could have done what she did so she should not feel bad about it. At the end of the day, everyone got fed and after an hour, things were pretty much back to normal. Pretty exciting stuff, eh?!

On Thursday, the young adults came over to my apartment and we had our dinner. Since it’s Lent, I informed everyone that we’ll have a low key meal by having a pot luck. I had some salmon in the freezer that I’ve been dying to cook so it gave me a great opportunity to get that taken care of. Conceptually, I knew what I wanted to do and it all sounded great and it looked great in my head, but execution wise it did not turn out as well as I had hoped. Instead of baking the salmon, I decided to broil it and I guess I did not broil it long enough. Some of the flavors were there but it just was not up to my standard. Those who ate it said it was fine, but I think it could have been much better. That’s the beauty of cooking – you learn from your mistakes and hope you don’t make it again. I also have to say that I was rushing a little to get the salmon prepared so that could have been one of the reasons. All in all, we had enough food to eat and everyone was happy.

The Newman Guys sang on Sunday and there were not as many men as usual, but we sounded just fine. I had to coordinate the coffee and donuts after Mass and helped put the mikes and mike stands away. Needless to say, it was a little busy day for me. I got my haircut after Mass because my hair has been bugging the heck out of me and I’m glad I got that taken care of. The weather was nice enough that I got to wear my sandals when I walked over to the library from my apartment. It was definitely one of the nicer/warmer days before it started to get cold again. Today (Monday), we’re supposed to be getting more snow. A number of people have commented that it’s been a pretty long winter and more and more people just can’t wait for spring to arrive. I keep telling them that spring will be here before we know it. The rest of my Sunday was spent in my apartment watching the television, reading and just relaxing. It was indeed a very quiet and relaxing day for me.

This week, I’ll be going to a play entitled, “Defending the Caveman” which is supposed to be a comedy and on Saturday to a classical concert at the Art Museum. I’ll be a good week. I can already predict it!