I Drank Citronella (And lived to tell the tale!)

I read a few years ago that people who don't eat breakfast every day are like 90% more likely to develop adult onset diabetes. Given that adult onset diabetes runs in my family and that I historically was disinclined to eat breakfast, I decided that it had better be priority number one to eat breakfast.

Somehow, oatmeal became my breakfast of choice. Albertson's was having one of those ten for ten sales, and I literally purchased a lifetime supply of Quaker Instant Oats for 10 bucks. I found that mixing the oats with raisins and brown sugar was quite tasty, and my new commitment to breakfast was off to a fantastic start!

For my birthday last year I received some Tiki Torches, and I love them. As you all know, Tiki Torches run on citronella, the ingredient in those candles that safely and effectively dispatches of mosquitoes. It's the stuff they started using after DDT got such a bad name in the eighties.

I am working with limited space, and (silly, foolish, I know), the citronella ended up being stored in the same cabinet as my oatmeal. This would not have been such a problem if I hadn't inadvertently spilled it. The citronella sat in a puddle for weeks before the odor caught my attention and I cleaned it up. In the mean time it sat soaking into all of my non-perishables, unbeknownst to me.

It must be said that I did not eat any oatmeal for a few weeks, so it hadn't occurred to me that it might be unsafe for human consumption. But one morning I woke early with one thing on my mind...The Quaker!

Two or three bites in, even with the sugar and raisins, something was amiss. What is this flavor I am tasting? And why is my nose burning? I wondered. It had been several weeks since "the spill" and I had forgotten all about it.

You know, this tastes like...

Oh shit.