Thursday, January 29, 2009

Fire!

Here kids, a story with a teachable moment:

Uncle B loved chicken tacos. Homemade. Grandpa's special recipe. He always bugged Grandpa to make them for him. Once, when he was still living at home in their old Escondido house, he made them for himself. He was maybe 17? Wait! Wait! In order for this story to be more effective, you need to know that Grandma and Grandpa FINALLY had made some improvements on their older home. They remodeled the kitchen and were enjoying the new cabinets and appliances. Grandma thought her little kitchen was so pretty at last.

Okay, so Uncle B decided one day that he could make his own tacos, complete with crispy shells cooked in hot oil. The secret to yummy taco shells is really hot oil. So Uncle B heated that oil up until it was nice and hot. He put the tortilla in the pan and went into the living room where HE FELL ASLEEP (remember the narcolepsy?). And caught grandma's new kitchen on fire. He woke up to the smoke and smell, ran back into the kitchen, threw water on the fire (A HUGE NO-NO with grease fires) made it worse, then in desperation grabbed the skillet pan, ran it to the side door and threw it flaming outside in the grass. He stepped on the burning corn tortillas with his bare feet. This is a true story. I guess it is not so funny after all. He did put out the fire. The house did not burn down.

Grandma's new kitchen was black and stinky. But her son was alive. I don't think he ever made the crispy shells again. From then on, I only remember seeing him microwave flour tortillas! And here is the the teachable moment for my kids: Let Grandpa make you his crispy chicken tacos!

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WARNING! Tissues Required-Video Slideshow of Bryan's Life-Sorry the music was muted!