Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Salmon to die for…

Ok, that is a terrible title…but it makes me nervously chuckle a little in reflection.

I went to yoga last night and upon arriving home, Mike worked on making an incredible dinner. I am sorry, I didn't take pictures…I should have.

On the menu:

- Baked salmon (in a cast iron pan with lots of yummy seasonings) with a buttery sauce that had little shrimps in it (butter, bacon, shallots, chives and heavy cream)

- Brussel Sprouts with salted, sweet cream butter and salt/pepper…since I now love them.

He worked very hard to make a delectable meal…and it was delectable! I swear, I am so lucky to have such a talented chef in my life. We watched 24 while we savored each bite. Then I started to fade…I got tired, curled up and fell asleep next to Mike as he watched reruns of Conan. We shuffled off to bed around 11:30 or so. I went to the bathroom and thought I smelled natural gas…but couldn't find the source, so I shrugged it off and went to bed.

I woke up around 4am to the overwhelming smell of natural gas. I bolted out of bed and ran immediately to the kitchen. Sure enough, the front right burner was turned on low…but there was no flame. How we left that on, I have no idea. We are usually very careful with that stuff. We were, however, inadvertently filling our home with gas all night. I opened the doors (our windows are painted shut) and bundled up. The ensuing breeze was very cold. I tried to go back to bed, but the smell was still pretty strong. Mike was a little loopy (dunno if it was from the gas or just grogginess…he was pretty fast asleep when this all started happening) but didn't seem to think it smelled that strong. I got the dog and took her for a walk. I needed the fresh air. Did I mention it was very cold? BTW, cotton Miller Lite pajama bottoms are not good for cold weather doggie walks.

When I got back to house, the odor had dissipated considerably. I gave the dog a treat and curled up in bed. We turned on a fan. We left the wooden doors open to make sure it all wafted out. (We have wrought iron screen doors that were closed and locked, tho) After a few minutes, I felt satisfied that the gas was gone and Mike got up to shut the doors. We both fell back asleep. I had weird dreams before finding this and again after going to back to bed. Weird. At least we caught it when we did.

Long story short, we are both ok. We both feel kinda stupid…but we aren't freaked out or anything. Adding a new "To Do" to our evening checklist before going to bed! I am also tempted to look into Carbon Monoxide alarms. Yikes, though. I really don't want to be added to a Darwin Award list. Sigh. Made me think of # 8 AND #9 in Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint - Avoid Trauma and Avoid Poisonous Things. Grok would be shaking his head.


5 comments:

Jason Harx said...

Yikes, this is why I <3 all-electric homes.

I don't think a carbon monoxide detector would help you much with natural gas until after it ignited...which would be a bit too late.

Beckbee said...

I love using a gas stove...it cooks much better than electric. We just need to be a bit more careful. :)

I think I might look into the natural gas detector thingie...not ALL of the danger is from combustion, ya know!

Jason Harx said...

Hmmm... I guess I'm confused. You cook with a stove? I thought those were just there as a fancy counter. What do you do with the microwave then???

Beckbee said...

you are a dork.

Azura said...

A carbon monoxide detector is always a good idea if you have any gas in your house (stove, furnace, etc).

Don't let him fool you. He hasn't figured out how to make good pasta in the microwave, so he has to use the stove. ;)