I'm an early riser for the most part. (Here is where I need to point out that getting out of bed doesn't necessarily mean that I'm functioning.) I like getting up a bit early and having the house to myself; the quiet mornings before the dogs bark and the birds start vocalizing. My usual routine is to make/drink some coffee, check my messages, stare blankly out the window. You notice that coffee is the first thing. Yesterday it wasn't.
Lesson One:
Do not attempt anything requiring concentration until coffee has been consumed.
While waiting for the coffee to brew, I looked at the pot of tangerine/orange peels on the stove and thought it would be a good time to give them a one last little simmer while the kitchen was still cool. I then took my finished cup of coffee to check my messages, thinking 15 minutes should be just perfect for the peels to come up to temp and simmer for a bit. In theory. While my brain kept telling me that I turned the heat on to medium low; reality showed me that it was on medium.
This is what greeted me when I returned to the kitchen:
Lesson Two:
Never, NEVER walk away from a pot of cooking sugar (regardless of cooking temperature).
Where have we heard this before? In the January 18 post where I confessed to the same offense having boiled citrus-ginger marmalade all over the stove.
I knew this and did it anyway.
So the recipe I was conjuring up with the candied peels? Well, there's been some change to that plan. The peels themselves were not salvageable. I did, however, save the burnt orange syrup and am thinking of incorporating it into a caramel. Not sure how yet, but it will come to me. And maybe I'll have learned not to walk away while the caramel is cooking. I can only hope.
