June 2003 “Cooking Tips” Winner —
Belinda Moore

To keep liquids from boiling over, take a stick of margarine and draw a line around the inside of your pot about a inch below the top. Liquids will not cross that line and you no longer have to worry about messy stoves and microwaves!

Belinda Moore

Prize:

• Cooking tips:
  2 Boxes of English Afternoon Tea
  Ahmad Tea of London

June 2003 “Cooking Disasters” Winner —
Gigi Larkin

Last Spring my brother and I went to Olathe, Kansas to visit a longtime friend of ours, Vicki. One evening we were eating in and she was cooking dinner. She had some fried chicken sizzling on the burner and in the oven, her famous scalloped potatos were bubbling away. Suddenly I noticed that there was a thin stream of smoke wafting up from the back of the oven. I asked her, "Hon, you think those potatos are burning"? She said no, they hadn't cooked long enough. Then my brother walked in and said, " Um Vicki, I think something is on fire." With that we all looked at the stove observing that the waft of smoke was getting thicker. My brother went over to the oven, opened the door and flames shot out of the stove clear to the ceiling! They died down a little and he reached in with hot pads and grabbed the boiling-over casserole and brought it to the surface. She had filled it too full and the heavy cream boiled over and ignited. Smoke filled the kitchen and we opened the door in the kitchen which leads out into the garage. The garage leads out into the cul-de-sac where Vicki's neighbors were all gathered outside for an evening chat. As the smoke poured out of the door, into the garage and out into the neighborhood, my brother opened his mouth and at the top of his lungs yelled for all her neighbors to hear . "Vickeeeeeeeeeee's COOKING!" Suddenly a roar of laughter came from the cul-de-sac and we howled with laughter. Needless to say, the casserole had a slightly smokey burnt taste but the fried chicken remained unscathed. Actually, this is Vicki's worst cooking disaster...but it is the best one I ever witnessed.

Gigi Larkin

Prize:

• Cooking Disasters:
  Vanilla Nut Cream Coffee
  Coffee Masters

Previous Winners

Click here to see our previous "Cooking Tips" and "Cooking Disasters" contest winners!