The Question Is

The other morning when I awoke, I had the strangest inkling to do something different.  I pondered my options for a few minutes but couldn’t come up with anything definitive.  After a few more moments passed and still no answer, I had to ask myself: The question is….?

I kept repeating that line over and over and finally hit the jackpot and settled on: The question is, should I bake or microwave my fingers?  As you can imagine, that is not as simple a question to answer as one would first think.  I mean, after all, it makes a huge difference if one is going to bake their fingers or microwave them.

Having baked my fingers before, I knew the agony involved and the painstaking waiting for them to cook fully without burning them.  I had never attempted microwaving them and just the thought of sticking my fingers in there and pressing the buttons without any full knowledge of what would happen kind of turned me off.  I have heard of others who microwaved their fingers and the horror stories they shared about the results. 

They spoke about burning them until the top layers bubbled up and practically melted to the sides; while others mentioned how they seemed to build up a smell that wasn’t at all enticing.  Still, others said that even when they didn’t burn them, it was hard to tell when they had had enough cooking time and how the microwave had turned the insides to a squishy mushy consistency. I’m not certain, but I honestly don’t believe I heard anyone say they had reached any level of success microwaving their fingers.

Normally, I would shy away from doing something where everyone I knew had failed, but this dilemma intrigued me and I found myself sincerely debating on the issue of whether to bake my fingers or microwave them.  Both methods sounded okay, but I like my fingers to be just right.  For that matter, who doesn’t?  Thinking about it, I believed no one wanted to have their fingers burnt, or deformed or turned to mush.  Nor did I think anyone would want their fingers crunchy.  Needless to say, I spent the next twenty minutes or so debating this problem.

Then, a simple yet brilliant solution came to mind and I wondered why I hadn’t thought of it right away --- I could try both avenues and then compare the results.  The only problem with that however, was the fact that I had some experience baking my fingers and none at all with microwaving them.  The question then morphed into how I could handicap the microwaved versions because it seemed only right that I couldn’t make head to head comparisons when I already had experience in one area and not the other.  It was bad enough that I didn’t have a whole heckuva lot of experience baking them without adding new dimensions to the process.

But, I finally pulled myself from the bed, had my breakfast and then set about experimenting with my fingers.  Once into the process, I started to become like the mad scientist thinking of different ways I could prepare my fingers to be cooked.  I decided to try some plain; some with frosting; some half-frosted, half-plain; some with filling and frosted and a wide variety of flavors.  I even tried putting peanut butter on my fingers first but once the heat reached them, the peanut butter melted and I was left with a mess and I have to tell you that super heated peanut butter burns like hell when it comes in contact with your fingers.

When all was said and done, I had successfully baked three fingers and microwaved three and the difference between the two pretty much equaled out in preparation time, cook time, and with the taste and texture.  The mess, however, was another story and I’ve decided that when I get another brainstorm like the one I had that day, I already know the outcome….Don’t answer the question.

   Chelle Munroe©

   September 29, 2013