I can’t top some of these stories, but my worst mishap was recent (and I’ve never done anything like this before in the 20 years I’ve been cooking). I was checking the amount of water in the pan of ham and green beans, boiling heartily. For some reason instead of just lifting the lid and jiggling the pan a bit, I picked the pan up off the stove and headed for the sink, thinking I’d need to add MORE water. I turned the pan toward me en route and, it having profuse amounts of liquid already, anointed my upper left …um… "chest" with the boiling juices. It was awfully painful for an hour or so, and pretty gross for a couple of weeks. (I didn’t think I’d need to see a doctor, but the next day I went, and it turned out to be a second degree burn, requiring special dressings and 2 follow-up visits!) I’m thankful, since its location, while rather embarrassing, could have been MUCH worse (if I were less endowed it might’ve hit my knee or foot where I could HANDLE another scar! Or it might have missed me altogether!), but I now have a nice little (permanent tan) reminder of the incident that may (or may not) fade with time. Another source of amusement for my husband.

Perhaps the worst of all, my 20th high school reunion was a week later, and I had served on the planning committee, so was really looking forward to the evening. So much for that cute lower-cut top I had planned to wear! Somehow, I didn’t think my classmates would find sterile white bandaging too sexy.

When I got to the medical clinic, where I was a patient and had also worked recently, one of my pals there (less endowed than I) told me never to try stirring with "those things" again![:I]

JulesF