Well, At Least We Know The Fire Alarm Works

Yesterday I decided to try a new recipe for Pot Roast from The Pioneer Woman. She's my go-to gal for new recipes. (I also made her garlic mashed potatoes and OH MY GOSH they were the best I've ever had!) Anyway, her recipe directs you to brown onions and carrots in VERY HOT oil (I should have known...me and hot oil don't mix), then quickly sear the roast. Things were starting to smoke, so I opened the porch door. Then I added the (cooking) wine, and all HECK broke loose. The fire alarm was blaring, feeling like a punch in the gut each time. I grabbed a towel and tried waving it in front of the smoke detector - no dice. This went on for over a minute, me waving the towel, pushing random buttons, throwing my shoulder out in the process, Libby following me around with her hands over her ears, sobbing from the noise, when something made me flip the cover of our inactive security panel open and I spotted an OFF button. And I hit it. And the noise ceased. I have never heard an alarm like that. If I hadn't been so frantic to get it turned off, the noise seriously would have made me vomit. And you know what? The pot roast was so not worth the noise. Against my better judgement, I followed her directions to cook the roast one hour per pound. The meat was tough and underdone. The flavor was great, so I'll try it again cooking it 8 hours instead of 3...and using only slightly heated oil!