a merry meringue mishap

I have had many disasters in the kitchen. I've had glass pans shatter, have dried out noodles, spilled things, dropped things, overcooked and undercooked things, and made many messes. In the past year, my cooking has become good and tasty, which (my whole family) is actually thankful for. I haven't had any more mishaps or spills, though I admit to quite a lot of messes.

But (there's always a but -- you should know this by now, especially if I'm talking), yesterday, I had my first Christmas Disaster. I hope that it'll be my first and last, but you never can tell. Especially in the holiday season. You see...we've been making meringues lately (probably six or so batches), and I was determined to make a batch that would set properly. Every batch of mine I had overwhipped, so while they tasted good, they weren't melt-in-your mouth or fluffy. (if you're friends with me on facebook, you know where this is going)

So there I was, whipping my meringues and contemplating life (ha!) when the meringue batter (what do you call something that's just egg whites, sugar, and peppermint extract?) started spraying everywhere. And I mean everywhere. The counters, floors, cupboards, and everything in the surrounding area, including myself, got a nice thick splatter of sticky white unbaked meringues.

I frantically tried to turn the handmixer off -- instead of just pulling the plug like a smart fast-thinking person would -- and only when the whisk stopped whisking did I notice that one of the tines had broken off and was sticking straight out. I quickly cleaned up the mess on all the surfaces, while the egg mixture dried in my hair (groooss). My shirt was splattered with white like I got into a bad snowball fight and I was sticky all over.
And I smelled like peppermint. So that was a...plus?

I would have shared some photos from my cooking escapade, but I was so stunned (and sticky) that I didn't take any -- ha! -- so I'm sharing some of sweet Sam. Have you had any holiday or cooking disasters? Or (bonus!) both? I'd love to hear them! We can laugh about them together. And then I'll wash the sugary egg out of my hair (kidding -- as soon as the kitchen was cleaned, so was I). Happy Friday!