Did You Know That Oatmeal Can Explode?

Now that the elections are over and all that hoopla is done and past, we can begin to concentrate on more important things. Like breakfast cereal.

Did you know that oatmeal can explode?

This morning I decided to forego the eggs and bacon in favor of a bowl of hot apple cinnamon oatmeal. Yumm. My mom used to make us eat it on cold winter mornings. “Your tummy will be warm all morning,” she would say. I didn’t like the Maypo she served at the time, but she was right, a warm bowl of mush on a cold morning does stick to your ribs. And this morning, Cape Cod is in the middle of a nor’easter… cold, raw, rain and wind. Miserable. And I have to go to the office.

So I grabbed the pack of instant oatmeal, poured in the required amount of water (maybe I poured in a little extra) and stuck the bowl into the micro. Only set it for 45 seconds and for some reason decided to stand and wait rather than go do something while the cereal cooked. Within moments the mass of mush began to rise like a loaf of bread before baking…. yikes! It got bigger and bigger and just as it reached the top edge of the bowl—a round dome of boiling brown bubbles about to burst, I hit the CANCEL button and disaster was averted.

These are trying times, and my heart just can’t take a messy microwave at such an early hour. How lucky I was nearby and watching. My breakfast was saved, my cereal still in the bowl, and still edible, and the microwave unscathed. Sigh.

And now my tummy is warm. Thanks Mom.  🙂