Wanna come over for dinner?

[Madrigal]

Today I wanted to make some panzottis for lunch, and I needed a big pot to boil them in. I realized the pot was in the refrigerator, and had some old leftovers in it from long ago. You might probably want to know that my refrigerator isn't working too well recently, and it isn't cold enough for some reason.

Anyway, I opened the pot, which used to have some old chicken in pink sauce, and much to my horror, I found an entire ecosystem in there. This is what I saw:


Little white worms everywhere.
Some things all over the inside of the pot that looked like green insect eggs or something.
These bigger black things that looked like slugs, I didn't check them out too much so I can't say what they were.
Lastly, some flying little insects.


Now, I can't describe what it smelt like, the only thing I can say is that it smelt like pure and concentrated EVIL.

I must admit, I know that I'm very ignorant about all of this. I realize some fundamental aspect of my education was skipped somewhere along the line. That's why I'm asking you about this. My refrigerator is perfectly clean on the inside, and the pot was sealed with a metal lid. Now, how in God's name did those creatures sprout up in the chicken under those circumstances? Please explain it to me like I'm a six year old.

By the way, I had to clean the whole pot out, and I'm making the panzottis right now. So if you never hear from me again... :D

[Google Monster]

By the way, I had to clean the whole pot out, and I'm making the panzottis right now. So if you never hear from me again... :D

Awww, I was going to request a picture.

[Madrigal]

Awww, I was going to request a picture.
Oh, sorry, I didn't have my sister's digital camera with me. It would have been a good idea.

[CoHo]

I had something similar happen when I was a kid, like 6... except in my story I didn't notice until the 2nd or 3rd spoonful.

Hah, it still makes me shudder

[MuseedesBeauxArts]

I'm sorry you had to clean that out. ECK! I would have been tempted to throw out the pot.

About the nasty ecosystem you grew...you might actually find some interesting stuff if you look up "Spontaneous Generation" (or perhaps abiogenesis?). You've probably heard this stuff before in history of science--people used to believe that (for example) maggots were generated from meat as it decayed. The recognition that the flies had to lay the eggs for the maggots to develop was an important scientific discovery at the time. (end pedantic mode ;))

Anyway, I hope you still have an appetite!

[last_caress]

Nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.

[Google Monster]

I'd say with a little anti-baccy cleaning stuff your pot is safe to use for future use. There is a little ecosystem growing on a plate in my room that I should take care of soon.

[kuranes]

That sounds nasty. Nothing like that has ever happened to me. I've seen mold appear over time, which is explained by spores constantly floating around. I've never had insects appear in my fridge.

People used to talk about putting certain meats in soda pop and having the trichinosis type worms react to the pop's acids and come out. But this may be a story passed on from older times, too. Not sure how prevalant those worms are these days, in first world environments.

If the chicken was exposed to flying creatures at some point during the "chain of custody" between the bird's death and your purchase, they could have laid eggs, which would have responded to your fridge warming up. Otherwise the eggs would have died in the digestive system of whoever ate them. Unless they were designed to endure such interior hazards, as certain parasites are. I just finished the book "Parasite Rex" a month ago.

[Ka.avik]

I must admit, I know that I'm very ignorant about all of this. My refrigerator is perfectly clean on the inside, and the pot was sealed with a metal lid.

Those two are related. Whatever insects/spore / etc got into your refridgerator, obviously only found the one source of nutrition. And while they either were trapped initially or crawled in through a crack in the lid, they either never made it back out (or you'd see dead flies on the floor of your frindge ...but not neccesarily anything else) or they just weren't able to crawl back out the way they came -- or, some insects die after they procreate, so that could explain why they didn't try too hard.

as to the 'slugs' I'm pretty sure it was a fungus; closer to mushrooms than most of the hairy stuff, which is more like moss. But it was all just mold of various species, and a few happy insects. Might have only been a single fluke; that a single preggers fly made it in through the lid, and both the maggots and the eggs were descendants who had never figured out how to reach great outdoors.

or maybe they just figured they head reached the promised land, and didn't need to work, any more. :D :ph34r:

[kwis]

It always sucks when I try to drink a glass of milk on my desk and its half cheese'd.

[Google Monster]

Keep on churning!

[joft]

thanks, I was eating my lunch when i opened this thread

[bergenski]

This explains why you keep getting food poisoning.

[Eileen]

*horrified*

*goes to clean out her refrigerator with her eyes closed*

[Google Monster]

Don't be such a wuss joft. Talking about nasty stuff doesn't stop me from eating.

[peter pan]

Yes, I want you to invite me for dinner. And no I do not want leftovers

[Madrigal]

Thanks guys. I didn't die btw. :)

[SensEye]

One might suspect the chicken was infested with eggs before refridgeration, which calls into suspicion the hygene standards of wherever you got your chicken from. I'd think cooking would have killed them, but you never know, maybe you didn't cook it that thoroughly.

PS> If your fridge isn't cooling and it's an auto-defrost module, check the defroster is working (failure is a common problem). If it's not, ice build up on the cooling coils can reduce cooling ability. The easy way to check this is to unplug the thing for 24 hours or so (let it defrost naturally) and see if it cools better once restarted (if you notice lots of water, its another sign the auto-defrost isn't working).

[PlayerOfGames]

And what was the real lesson? Don't leave things in the fridge.
Or maybe "nothing good ever happened to me when I trusted others."

[Melody]

weird al yankovic - livin in the fridge