We don't need no stinkin' instructions...

Oh, but we do...

I've been going just a little more crazy than usual lately and it manifested in a very concrete way for me today when I went to fix something for lunch.

I've come to love the taste and utter convenience of the Lean Cuisine Paninis. Thanks to my loving co-worker who recently restocked our supply, I was able to pop open a box, perform the carton gymnastics required to "toast" the sandwich in the microwave. I had the frozen, soon-to-be-a-meal balanced on the inside out packaging and realized that I hadn't refreshed my memory about the cooking time. "No worries" I foolishly thought as I punched in the cooking time. Mind you there is a freezer full of these puppies, so I could have easily double-checked the cooking time - but did I?? Of course not, because I had another need - an urgent, gotta make a pit stop NOW kind of need. So I started the micro-nuker and I "ran" off to the potty. (well if you can really "run" with your legs crossed)

Chicken Club Panini Grilled white meat chicken strips with crumbled bacon,tomatoes,cheese and ranch sauce on sourdough bread

(Looks & sounds yummy - doesn't it? They usually are!)

If you've never had one of these panini things, there is a "toasting" disk that the frozen bread sits on so you can get the "grill marks" on your bread. I've never been overly impressed with them in the past, but this one looked different - so I thought "Aha - some market research and they came up with something that maybe will work better." I was reminding myself to make sure to let it cool down before I tried eating it - didn't want to injure myself on the molten-hot cheese.

I finished my "business" and was standing watching my sandwich spin on the revolving tray in our microwave and noticed the edges of the bread seemed to be curling up. "Wow - those new toasting pads seem to really be doing the trick". And then it struck me that the cheese didn't seem to be bubbling. I hit the Stop button and pulled out the thing that was supposed to be a sandwich. The cheese had turned into a brown layer of mortar-like substance and the bread - well it was toasted into the consistency of a crouton - don't get me wrong, I love croutons, but I just wouldn't make a sandwich with one - well, until today, that is...

Anyway, the moral of the story: ALWAYS verify your microwave cooking times an never, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES should you double the cooking time!!!

Bon Apetite!!