I have never made this kind of mistake my whole life. But as the saying goes, no one is above mistake.
Sometimes ago one Saturday morning, before I woke up mum had gone to the market to get, fresh pepper, turkey, stock fish and other food stuffs. She went early because Grandma came visiting for the weekend and she had a wedding ceremony to attend.
In Nigeria, Saturdays are know as a day of ceremonies. There were lot of occasions thay Saturday, Dad will be attending the burial ceremony of one of his friend's dad. Paul's sister was also celebrating her birthday that Saturday. Paul is my child hood friend. We attended the same college, our houses are just two Street away from each other.
I woke up and saw mum and dad dressed up already. I checked the time and realized it was 10:00am already. What happened? it must have been the painkiller drug I took the night before. I got up and went straight to the sitting room. They had told me a night before that they were both going to ceremonies, so I didn't bother asking them unnecessary questions.
Mum told me "I have gone to the market to get foodstuffs, make sure you cook the turkey stew and the stockfish stew for your grandma, you know she doesn't eat turkey"
Grandma is allergic to eating turkey. She gets irritated when she sees it on her food. I wonder why she hated it so much, but I still don't know why. So we do cook her stew seperately whenever she comes visiting.
Dad and mum left for their various destination.
I walked into the kitchen to start the cooking. So as not to keep Grandma hungry.
Mum trusted me to make the stews, because she knows I'm a good cook, an I Know that myself (smiles). This is not my first time of cooking in that house, If I choose to count the number of times I've cooked in that house, I'll loose count.
I started with Grandma's stew. I spent about 45 minutes cooking the stock fish stew. I served grandma's food and took it to her upstairs. I put the turkey in a pot, added the seasonings and placed it on the electric cooker to boil before making the stew. Instead of me stay close to the kitchen till the turkey is cooked, I went into my room to pick up my phone. On checking my phone, I saw 5 missed calls. Why is Paul calling my phone? As I was about to call him back, I remembered his sister was celebrating her birthday. I immediately ran into the bathroom, brushed my teeth, took my bath and dressed up. He mustn't know that I forgot, because he has been constantly reminding me days before.
I took my side bag and face cap and hurriedly ran out of the house so as to get to his place on time, forgetting I was cooking turkey.
I got to his place, he asked me why I was late, I told him I was doing the house chores.
We partied, we danced, we ate and we drank a lot. Sister Rachel's birthday was fun,a lot of people came and it made the avenue lively. By 2:30pm we were just rounding up.
We finished the party, I was tired and filled that I walked home slowly like a snail.
I've almost gotten home, I could even see our house from distance when I remembered I left the turkey I was cooking on the electric cooker.
I was scared, I ran as fast as I could, even if Usain bolt competed with me, I would have won him then. I ran inside dropped my bag on the floor in the sitting room, ran into the kitchen and found mum in the there.
Oh my God!!! I knew I was in trouble. I greeted her, she didn't reply. I looked at the pot and saw burnt turkey.
Then Dad called me angrily. I said ''sir!!!!'' I ran into the sitting room. I didn't even noticed he was sitting on the sofa when I ran into the house earlier.
He asked me where I was coming from. I began to scratch my head and said I was coming from Paul sister's birthday
Then he began; ohhh you went to jan-jin-jan birthday (mocking what I said) and left the turkey on the cooker. Do you know you almost got the house burnt
I said I was sorry. Then he told me to go and beg my mum in the kitchen, because I wasted the turkey she went to buy. I walked into the kitchen knowing she was still angry. I knew how to get her, once i just call her twice, it's done. I said Mummy Mummy, she began to smile. I said I was sorry that I forgot to put it down before going to the birthday party
She then told me never to make that kind of mistake again.
I realized I put the whole house at risk, it could have burnt the whole house like dad said, thank God it didn't. Ever since then, whene'er I'm cooking in the kitchen Im always close to it. Once bitten twice shy...
Special thanks to @HappyBoy , @tired_momma @adereign
Thanks for reading ❤️
I experience this too when I cooked fish that ah it's a fried fish. While I was busy on something else I forgot the fish so I immediately check it. But I was too late the fish is already burned. And my father called me to prepare the table so we can eat our dinner. I was so devastated I feel shy for sure they are angry on me.My father said look what you done? Do you think we can still eat the burned fish? You are wasting the money and wasting the food . He was very angry at me. That serves as a lesson to us, we learn from our experience. From that day I did't leave the kitchen when I'm cooking.