That was a close one!

Good thing you found it before it started burning. My dad managed to leave a frying pan with fat on the cooker and just went upstairs to get something. When he came back, the pan was on fire and his attempt to extinguish the fire with a special cloth for that purpose ended rather badly: the cloth started burning and by the time the fire brigade had arrived, the ground floor was destroyed.

I remember you telling us about the house fire, Kaylee.

Three times in the past 25 years we have smelled something burning in next door's house, an electrical smell, a chip pan on fire and a cake burning in the oven. For some reason the smell creeps through between the two houses (which are joined by a double brick wall). Fortunately, nothing serious has happened.

I have pretty much always had a fire extinguisher available since I have lived away from home. I would not have left the oven much longer before putting the food in, either way. I also never leave the oven unattended for more than a few minutes and certainly never go out when it's on.

I have also used a deep-fat fryer for a long time now as they are much safer (chip pans are the main cause of kitchen fires).

The oven is also a handy place to store fireworks, paraffin oil, matches and dynamite

That reminds me of last week. I'd baked a cake on Thursday night and left it in the oven. On Friday we were lazy and decided to heat up a frozen quiche we had in the freezer. DG had turned the oven on and after a while I could smell pastry and I was thinking to myself mmm that quiche smells nice. Then I was thinking to myself that it was just a little quick for the quiche to be already smelling, didn't we just start heating up the oven? Then I thought oh it's the smell of my cake that I baked yesterday, probably the warmth is bringing out the still residual smell leftover. Then I realised that the cake I baked had never been removed so it was the smell of my cake baking again that I was smelling! Apparently I had quite a horrified look on my face.

But was the cake OK, RB?

I should have thought the cake could stand being heated up again, at least for a while. The question remains, of course, "Why are you making quiche when you have a cake ready to go?"

I often put bread in the toaster and then start doing other things. I get distracted and then, a few minutes later wonder why I can smell toast and consider making some.