MORE KITCHEN MISCALCULATIONS

I had unexpected company, so I hid my dirty George Foreman grill in the oven. I totally forgot about it until I smelled it burning when I was preheating my oven the next day. Lesson learned: Cords in 350-degree ovens melt in about a half-hour—so watch that you don’t overcook them!

LISA LINDOW BRIDGEVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA

When I was still living at home, we referred to Italian dressing as salad oil. After I got married, I decided to make a cake, and the recipe called for salad oil— so, you guessed it, I used Italian dressing. Oh, what a disaster.

BONNIE JUDY HUMPHREYS CONNEAUT, OHIO

I wanted to make a rhubarb pie, so I went to the local farmers market for ingredients, and baked up a beautiful pie. Too bad I had gotten Swiss chard instead of rhubarb by mistake!

MAKAELA MICHAEL KING MANASSAS, VIRGINIA

When I was about 18 I decided to make peanut brittle. It all went fine until I had to pour the candy. The recipe said to pour it onto a “nonporous surface.” Well, the counter is nonporous, isn’t it? When my mom came home, she couldn’t believe what I had done. We had to chisel the brittle off the counter, and we were still finding little bits of it months later. On the plus side, it tasted fine.

STACY ESLICK McKNIGHT HELMOND, NETHERLANDS