When fondue becomes a fondon't

Did I mention in my previous post the amount of alcohol I consumed? I didn't think it was that much, until I woke up. I was hurting. I have to start remembering to drink more water and stop making my own drinks, LOL. I had plans to go to breakfast with Ritchie but we saw each other the night before and neither of us wanted to get up early so Javier made me breakfast. I had tentative plans with Dave but those fell through. The night before Javier had to leave to go to a fondue party which brought up the topic of fondue. I love fondue. Of course, I've only done it once but I love it, LOL. Brian L mentioned he had a fondue set so he invited me over for lunch and Steph too if my plans fell through for lunch so I gave him a ring and it was on!

Steph, Julie and I made a mad dash to Trader Joe's to pick up some supplies, the parking there is a madhouse! We shopped while Steph tried to park. Julie also brought her leftovers from the party so we showed up with 3 bags of goodies and 2 plates of cheesecake! Luckily Brian's gf Sabina was cool about us popping in, LOL and we just started unloading. As much as I tried to I was pressed into service, cubing bread for our dipping. Steph did the cheese, Julie read the recipe, Sabina was preparing everything and Brian was posting. It was a lot of fun. Us gals were very weary from the night before and by us gals I mean Julie and I, Steph is younger, LOL. But we were all having fun chit chatting, sitting around the table and knoshing on the veggies and hummus that Julie brought. Brian brought out some homemade pesto that was delish! I have to get that recipe. Anyways, we had 3 kinds of cheese and wine to fondue up. Sabina was taking care of the cheese and Brian was toasting the bread. Julie and Steph were drinking the wine, I was chugging water, no hair of any dog for me! Music is playing (Brian has a great song selection) and it's just a casual relaxed atmosphere around friends. Really fun! Then it's time to light the burner.

Well brian went to light it on the table and nothing happened. So he took the burner into the kitchen and pulled out the fondue fuel (who knew there's such a thing as fondue fuel) and he's chatting with us, showing us womenfolk how it's done as he is pouring the fuel into the burner when the next thing you know flames are leaping up his arm towards the fuel! Apparently there was a small flame in the burner that we hadn't seen. Brian reacted as any person would when there's a fire leaping around his hands and through the burner and the fuel down. He handled it all really coolly. He turned to us to make some kind of comment but then had to turn back around since we were screaming that the kitchen was on fire! The fuel had spilled and the flames were following it. Unfortunately Brian did not have a fire extinguisher so for the longest minutes of his life he was putting it out with towels and water. He was a rock star. One of the bags behind him had started to burn and Steph just stomped it out, pretty cool. My ineffectual hitting at it with a rug was not doing the trick, LOL. Julie was keeping a cool head as Sabina jumped in to help put out the fire. Julie was the one directing them and pointing things out. I went outside to find some sand but all I found was dying little plants so i didn't want to add kindling so I stayed out of it. Finally after thinking it was out a couple of times it was. They pushed the towels and such out the back door just in case anything decided it wanted to burn again. The fuel was tricky. Amazingly enough, nothing was damaged in the kitchen, even the floor was fine. I don't know what kind of flooring they had in there but it looked like just the fuel on top of it burned. Brian was able to keep it from reaching the cabinets or curtains thank goodness!

Once the fire was out we resumed heating up the cheese, what else are we going to do? Actually, Brian and Sabina handled the almost burning down of their house quite wonderfully. Both were mellow afterwards and if they were shaken up they handled it well. Unfortunately, Brian did burn his hands and singe some of the hair on his arms but all in all, nowhere near as bad as it could have been. We were worried about the disposal of the towels and such so we called the fire dept and they came out (goodie firemen!) but they seemed disappointed that it was all after the face, LOL.

When everything had calmed down and we got most of the cheese melted we sat down and had a wonderful cheesy meal. Brian's last fondue party and I was there. I haven't sworn off fondue, I've just decided if I ever do fondue it better be an electric pan, LOL. I'm avoiding fondue fuel at all costs! The lesson here is make sure you have a fire extinguisher that and if you don't have one then at least have marshmallows so we can make smores.
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About Leiha

I love to eat and sleep. One thing is more fun to blog about than the other. In between eating and sleeping I love to travel, spend time with my family and talk about myself. :)
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1 Mannions Speak :

Leiha said...

Woo hoo, you do know the way to my heart, LOL!

Thanks for the heads up on what I could use. Seriousely, we were all wracking our brains trying to figure out what to use because we knew we shouldn't be using water.