Cooking jambalaya last Thursday, I managed to spill olive oil in the kettle.

This was not actually the amazing feat of stupidity it sounds like. See, we keep the olive oil in an old pinot grigio bottle, on top of the microwave. It oozes a bit, like olive oil receptacles always do, so we have it on a plate. We're getting towards the bottom of the bottle, so there's quite a bit of ooze on the plate. So when I picked it up to dribble some into the pan with the onion and garlic, it dripped a bit from the bottom.

Which would've been fine - messy, but fine - if not for the fact that the flight path from top-of-microwave to pouring-position went directly over the kettle. "Oops," said I, and wiped the oil-spill off the top and handle of the kettle which was, in my innocence, all the damage I thought had been done.

Until I made myself coffee on Friday morning. When I took a mouthful, frowned in utter perplexity at the cup, and then realised.

Olive oil in the kettle. MUPPET.

Of course, there's no way to get it out. The kettle's an electric kettle, and there is NO way to get inside and clean it. I filled it to the brim, boiled it, boiled it again, and then emptied it out (which, incidentally, did wonders to warm up the house on a FREEZING Monday morning), but am not entirely sure whether this has worked. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. Or rather, in the cup of coffee. Which I shall now make...