Tis the week of near misses

Tuesday evening brought another round of excitement to my week. This time it was no deer in my headlights, it was a near fire in my microwave! Long story short, I'd never used this particular rice cooker before and took a friend's advice on how long to set my microwave for. Of course, I didn't realize her microwave has sensors and auto shut off. So I put the rice and water in the microwave, set it for an hour and then put my ear buds in so I could listen to my MP3 player while preparing the rest of the meal.

Once I smelled the burning, it was too late! The microwave had enough smoke inside to set off my smoke detectors and the entire building is hard wired because of the restaurant downstairs. So mine went off and theirs went off. I was able to fan mine with a towel and get it to shut off but what I didn't know was there was actually smoke downstairs in the restaurant and they didn't know where it was coming from so they called 911! 3 firetrucks and the fire chief showed up...all over some burned rice! I was so totally embarrassed. I chose brown rice since I am concerned about getting enough vitamins for women these days and thought brown rice (even though it cooks longer) would be better nutritionally than white minute rice. I am still of the same belief but I will change my preparation! LOL

This picture was taken with my cell from my living room window. I'm so glad everything was ok. Upon further inspection after the rice cooker had time to cool, I discovered it actually had been on fire inside of it. Scary!!!