Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Wednesday, December 2, 2020

A Little ‘Sear’ Pressure


Note the pressure 'bob'. It's there for a reason . . .
During their early years on the ranch, my parents sponsored several German immigrants.
They all proved to be wonderful, industrious, conscientious people.
Eager to work and to become 'Canadians'.
One of the girls, Erica, was helping Mom in the house when my next older brother was born.
She proved to be invaluable with the household chores and cooking, but struggled at learning English.
Mom knew a little German, however, so they managed to muddle through.
On a few occasions, though, the language barrier proved to be just that.
A barrier.
Erica was fascinated with the pressure cooker.
That miraculous appliance that could cook food in a fraction of the time.
The microwave of the 50s.
Apparently, though they were widely used in Canada, they hadn't caught on in Erica's part of Germany.
Mom had tried to school Erica on the proper use of this amazing new contraption.
She had managed to get through steps one through four.
  1. Food and a small amount of water is placed inside
  2. Seal adjusted
  3. Lid screwed on and, most importantly,
  4. Pressure bob applied.
  5. I should point out, here, that those are the easy steps.
Then comes the actual cooking part.
And this was where Erica always came to grief.
She couldn't seem to grasp that, if the rings are up on the pressure bob, the kettle is full of . . . pressure.
Up to this point, Mom had always been there to divert disaster.
But on this particular day, Mom was still in town running errands.
Erica decided to cook dinner on her own.
What a glorious opportunity to try out the fabulous new invention!
All went well.
The pressure cooker . . . pressure cooked.
Other pots alternately steamed and bubbled.
Dinner was nearly ready.
Erica pulled the large pressure cooker off the stove and gave it a quick dunk under a cold stream of water.
Then she wrenched off the lid.
Oops.
The lid and released steam hit her. Full. In. The. Face.
And beets flew everywhere.
Erica screamed and blindly ran outside.
Dad heard her screaming and come running. There he found the poor girl, confused and in obvious pain.
Her nose was bleeding profusely and she had obviously been scalded.
He got her into the bathroom, where he started her soaking her face in cold water.
When Mom came home a short time later, she bundled Erica into the girl's bedroom and applied teabags to the exposed areas. They proved to be quite soothing and she was able to rest.
Then Mom was able to start on the kitchen which was giving a good impression of a slaughter house.
Beets were everywhere.
Mom even found one on top of the knick-knack shelf in the far corner.
Remarkably, miraculously, Erica healed without a mark.
But Mom was taking no further chances.
Though the pressure cooker remained in plain sight, the pressure bob, the little gizmo that made everything dangerous, was hidden in a very secret place.
Never store the gun and the bullets in the same cupboard.

10 comments:

  1. Wow - I remember those old fashioned pressure cookers and they scared me to death. I used one - once. This made me shudder.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think I used one. Once. This story scared the snoo out of me and I wasn't about to try again! ;)

      Delete
  2. I was always afraid of ours and ever brave enough to use it. Discretion was definitely the biggest part of my (non existent) valour.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Better to just plan ahead and use the old and unexciting, am I right?!

      Delete
  3. That poor girl! She probably never used a pressure cooker again. I'm thankfully ignorant of them, seeing I would've done the same thing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Huh. You know, I never asked! She certainly had 'what not to do' literally drilled into her head!

      Delete
  4. Pressure cookers take time, attention, and practice, with a skilled person doing it with you at first. Never got the knack myself.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think you should just leave it to that skilled person!

      Delete
  5. I've read about pressure cookers exploding even without someone removing the lid, there's a chapter in one of my novels where "the deep impression of the pressure cooker lid remained forever as a reminder"
    A reminder to never use the cooker again?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yikes! I think steam pressure belongs on a locomotive.

      Delete

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