made a big pot

of bubbling hot

french onion soup

ladled it into little bowls

topped it with

buttered french bread slices

gruyere cheese

broiled it until it was just so

fully enjoyed it

though i knew

my big pan

was going to be tough to clean 

after caramelizing the onions

and 

cooking it for

such a very long time

to create a rich flavor

so 

after our meal

and

emptying out

the rest of the soup

i remembered 

an old kitchen trick

 reheat the pan

on low

with a little

water and dish soap

to unstick the brown bits

making for an easier cleanup

and

went off to work

on an art project

in the other room

music playing

windows open

nice breeze on a hot night

a familiar scent filled the air

wondered why the neighbors

were grilling out so late at night

took a break from the art

to get a drink of water

realized the 

‘grilling’

was going on right in my own kitchen

apparently

i’d forgotten about

my clever cleanup trick

that was fully in process

the water had cooked down long ago

the pan was almost on fire

inside was black and crackling

i quickly turned off the heat

grabbed the pan

with hot pads

put it into my sink

too hot to add any water

let it cool down overnight

in the morning

finally decided to

tackle the scrubbing job

now made so much harder

with the ultra char-grilled pan

went to pull it out of the sink

it seemed a bit stuck

wrestled with it a bit

finally used all of

my upper body muscle power

snapped it out of there

 flipped it over to see why

it was sticking

and

voila!

it had been so hot

that it had melted right to my sink

and when i yanked it out

it took some of the ceramic with it

 now

i need

a new pan

and

a new sink

but

damn, that soup was good.

—

“the only real stumbling block is fear of failure.

in cooking you’ve got to have a what-the-hell attitude.”

― julia child