Tackle it Tuesday - 4/24/07

I don't have any pictures. But my tackle, that I did at about 1 am, was cleaning the microwave.

I buy TV dinners for when I don't feel like cooking. Evan does all the microwave cooking. He is the Microwave Master.

Yesterday I decided to microwave a burrito. In gladware.

I read the directions. They said, for a frozen burrito, cook time was 4-6 minutes. So I put it in there for 6 minutes because whenever I cook stuff for the shortest amount of time it's not hot enough.

So I was sitting down watching Charmed (or something) when the microwave beeped. I figured it was about time for a commercial, so I decided to wait to go get the burrito.

I started smelling smoke.

So I got up and went to the microwave. The kitchen had some smoke. When I opened the microwave, 150 cubic feet of smoke poured out. I slammed it shut. Then I got a potholder and got the gladware out of the microwave and put it in the sink of soapy water.

It was all melted. LOL. Funny how I always tell Evan to "be sure to use a ceramic plate" when he's microwave cooking, but I forget.

I had to open the back door and turn on the fan above the stove to try and get the smoke out.

Anyway.

When Evan got home from school, he smelled the burnt smell. He asked what happened.

Me - I burned a burrito
He - How long did you put it in there for?
Me - 6 minutes.
He - 6 MINUTES?!?! You're supposed to put it on 60 seconds for one burrito
Me - But it was frozen
He - Obviously not that frozen
Me - Shut up, Mr. Smarty Pants.

The inside of the microwave looked coffee colored. So last night/this morning while I was up I bleached the heck out of it and used some baking soda & stuff. I didn't want to use BAM! or anything more 'toxic' because we heat food in there, you know?

Now it's lightly tea colored.

I tried boiling some lemon water in there because it still smells like smoke. It didn't work. I think I'll have to park some baking soda in there, when it's not in use, until the smell is gone.

But that is my Tackle it story for this Tuesday.

*Update* I've found this site that had suggestions for removing microwave smells. The lemon didn't work for me, but I'm off to try vinegar. I'll let you know if it works.

*Update 2* The vinegar didn't work. It got a little cleaner, (the sponge I was using to wipe it out kept getting dirty), but the smell is still there. So, since I don't have any newspaper (follow the link above...), I've stuffed it with crumpled printer paper and I'll leave it in there overnight. I don't think it will work completely as the paper is less porous than newspaper, butI hope that at least helps!!! I might have to go buy a paper tomorrow, LOL.