Pressure cookers are not for soup

Despite lacking many useful items, I braved my way into the kitchen to cook my first dish: Eastern European Lentil Soup (I know, I know, not an Indian dish, but the only dish I had all of the ingredients for). One of the 'useful items' I don't have is a stockpot, which comes in handy for soup. The kitchen did come stocked with a pressure cooker; the only item large enough to hold the amount of soup I was cooking. It was all pretty uneventful until the last 10 minutes of simmering. I checked the pot, stirred it, and decided it needed an additional 5 minutes. I put the lid back on (*ahem, the pressure cooker lid) and unknowingly latched the lid. For those who have used a pressure cooker, you know that latching the lid is what guarantees the "pressure" part...

I'm sitting in the living room, checking email, when I hear a hissing sound. I stop, concerned it is the soup, but then resume my emailing when I decide it isn't. I keep hearing it. I stop again, this time deciding to glance into the kitchen. The closer I got to the soup, the louder the hissing got...I realized it was the soup. I quickly unlatched the lid and a subsequent "BANG!" was heard. My soup had been effectively pressurized.

This all came after Neil and I spent some time on our rooftop enjoying the stars and thinking thoughts that only come when one is under the stars. The kind of thoughts you don't have time to think about during the rest of the busy day. Ironically, one of those thoughts for me tonight was, "What happens if I burn the house down while cooking? We have no insurance here....hmm, I hope that doesn't happen."

Thankfully, I was spared tonight.

-c