What's your worst microwave disaster?

I've heard of measuring cups of water exploding when the user tries to remove them from a microwave (the water becomes superheated and doesn't boil).

But my worst disaster was many years ago when I was raising chickens. I decided to feed a bunch of chopped-up, hard-cooked eggs to my chickens.

I placed a couple of dozen eggs in a heavy-duty garbage bag and zapped them. Pretty soon I heard explosions in the microwave (the eggs were exploding). I stopped the microwave and removed the bag, but they would still occasionally explode as I was trying to take them outside. Let me tell you, exploding eggs are dangerous and no joking matter. They were like little hand grenades, complete with shrapnel and pieces of very hot egg white slicing through the bag. Can you say, "WMD?"

Moral: don't do that.

Biggest disaster is what it did to my moms cooking. From a decent, if disinterested cook, she lost all understanding of what real food tasted like through it's use. I recall one week, where we had Chicken leg, jacket potato and sweetcorn each of the seven days... with each item in the same position for every meal. AAAARRGGHH!!!

You'll not be surprised to hear I don't own one!

regards

Ian

I can't top that one, but never try to reheat brussels sprouts in the microwave unless you want to scrape hot brussels sprout "salad" off the microwave.

By the way, I am assuming the exploding eggs were raw when they went in. You can't microwave already boiled eggs either. The outcome is similar to the aforementioned brussels sprouts.

My wife rarely nukes eggs. I have a plastic egg nuker and she decided to try it out, but I'd never told her it was de rigeur to pierce the yolk.

The yolk was definitely on her (by the time she'd cleaned all the hardened egg off the inside of the oven).

Most macabre nuke incident - a relatives kids decided it would be such fun to give little Hammie, their pet hamster a ride on that thing in the microwave oven that turns around. Uh...wrongo

[img]http://users.telenet.be/eforum/emoticons4u/violent/sterb202.gif[/img]

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/techno/microwavedpet.asp

Yes, Stuart, I know they don't explode - it just seemed an apt image to append.

They did, however have to change it's name from Hammie to Snuffie, as the ride did cause the hapless varmint to expire.

I imagine it to be a painful way to go.

My comment wasn't meant to be about the image, it was just a fun link. There must be an updated version of the stoned babysitter legend, with a microwaved baby substituting for the baked one.

I've heard of measuring cups of water exploding when the user tries to remove them from a microwave (the water becomes superheated and doesn't boil).

But my worst disaster was many years ago when I was raising chickens. I decided to feed a bunch of chopped-up, hard-cooked eggs to my chickens.

I placed a couple of dozen eggs in a heavy-duty garbage bag and zapped them. Pretty soon I heard explosions in the microwave (the eggs were exploding). I stopped the microwave and removed the bag, but they would still occasionally explode as I was trying to take them outside. Let me tell you, exploding eggs are dangerous and no joking matter. They were like little hand grenades, complete with shrapnel and pieces of very hot egg white slicing through the bag. Can you say, "WMD?"

Moral: don't do that.

Uh, Larry? The microwave incident was bad enough, but tell me this:

Why did you think it would be a good idea to feed...eggs...to chickens?

Think about it. Eeeeeeeew.

My comment wasn't meant to be about the image, it was just a fun link. There must be an updated version of the stoned babysitter legend, with a microwaved baby substituting for the baked one.

I have my own version of the stoned babysitter story, but it doesn't involve microwaves....

Chickens eat anything. What about bugs? Eewww.

I used to drop a cicada into the flock and watch all hell break loose when one chicken (with the cicada) would run around with all the other ones after her trying to snag her treat.

Chickens eat anything. What about bugs? Eewww.

I used to drop a cicada into the flock and watch all hell break loose when one chicken (with the cicada) would run around with all the other ones after her trying to snag her treat.

Oh, I don't mind bugs. And being originally a farm boy, I'm not even overly concerned with the crap (literally) that they'll eat.

It's just that some people might find it odd that you're feeding chickens minced up chicken fetuses for their delectation. I know, I know, the chickens don't mind (because a good case can be made for chickens not having a mind), but....I mean, gosh.

And isn't that how Mad Cow disease got started???

Of course, I also heard that Tom Cruise was planning to eat the baby's placenta, so what the hey!

My comment wasn't meant to be about the image, it was just a fun link. There must be an updated version of the stoned babysitter legend, with a microwaved baby substituting for the baked one.

I have my own version of the stoned babysitter story, but it doesn't involve microwaves....

The way I heard it, the babysitter wasn't the only one stoned at the time.

[Jenise]

Biggest disaster is what it did to my moms cooking. From a decent, if disinterested cook, she lost all understanding of what real food tasted like through it's use. I recall one week, where we had Chicken leg, jacket potato and sweetcorn each of the seven days... with each item in the same position for every meal. AAAARRGGHH!!!

You'll not be surprised to hear I don't own one!

regards

Ian

Ian, Larry's question immediately conjured up a bad memory of a mother-in-law meal but after reading your account, there's no point. You've got me beat by about four days.

[quote="
Oh, I don't mind bugs. And being originally a farm boy, I'm not even overly concerned with the crap (literally) that they'll eat.

It's just that some people might find it odd that you're feeding chickens minced up chicken fetuses for their delectation. I know, I know, the chickens don't mind (because a good case can be made for chickens not having a mind), but....I mean, gosh.

And isn't that how Mad Cow disease got started??? [/quote]

I like to weird out people by referring to their eggs as boneless chicken or unborn chickens.

In my case, the eggs weren't quite minced-up fetuses because I had no roosters. And don't forget that eggs are pretty complete nutritionally, with the exception of Vit C. I also added the ground-up shells back in their diet to help replace their calcium from egg-laying.

Mad Cow (BSE) was started by adding meat supplements derived from another mammalian species (sheep) that were suffering from scrapie, a related disease--otherwise, we'd have to worry about those disease-causing prions every time we ate eggs or even fish fetuses (caviar).

Before our kitchen remodel we had a huge clunker of a microwave that we could put foil wrap into. So, when I got my cute, little, built-in Kitchen Aid microwave, I put a piece of foil wrap inside with some fish. The foil wrap was touching the side of the unit and sparked. It turned the finish all black where it was touching. I was sick. We cannot remove the mark, I had the microwave guy out to check my oven and it was fine, except for the black mark. It bugs me every time I open the door. I think I put something in there with plastic wrap one time, and it melted all over the food. The only thing I use it for is reheating leftovers, and defrosting.

You should see the sparks if you accidentally leave in a twist-tie that is tied into a loop.

Mad Cow (BSE) was started by adding meat supplements derived from another mammalian species (sheep) that were suffering from scabies, a related disease--otherwise, we'd have to worry about those disease-causing prions every time we ate eggs or even fish fetuses (caviar).

Wasn't it scrapie?

Scabies is my biggest fear in life. We learned about it graphically in health class in 9th grade and I've never gotten over it lol

This isn't worthy of inclusion here, but this is one of the best threads of the year and by chiming in I'll get emails about other great contributions.

My worst experience was the day the damn thing literally exploded and then burned up.

I had warmed plates in the microwave for four years, at least 800 times.

Then it exploded.

I was pissed off.

Took it to the repair place.

Sadly, told them what happened.

"Everyone knows you have to have food in a microwave."

"But the instructions read "Never run the microwave when it is empty.""

"So."

"There's no water in plates."

"So shouldn't it say never run it without somehthing water in it?"

"Everyone knows you have to have food in the microwave. This one is scrap. Not worth fixing."

***

I spent $70 bucks to fix a $90 microwave, and bitched for two years trying to get a credit. Finally, I got $45, and they actually re-wrote the instruction book.

***

Then, Janet said she was sick of the old one, and bought a new one on sale at Costco for $65.

Better than the old one, but I couldn't get rid of it. I keep it in the basement and warm up bottles from the wine cellar on their way upstairs -- with a wet towel underneath the bottle.

Regards, Bob

Not a disaster, but every year at Easter time, we always put a couple of marshmallow Peeps in the MW. Its fun to watch the shapes they form.

Of course, I also heard that Tom Cruise was planning to eat the baby's placenta, so what the hey!

Well, so much for breakfast. Thanks Hoke.

Wasn't it scrapie?

Scabies is my biggest fear in life. We learned about it graphically in health class in 9th grade and I've never gotten over it lol

It was, indeed, scrapie, not scabies. It was a typo; my brain said scrapie and my fingers typed scabies. Maybe I have a touch of mad cow, myself.