boom boom

Going into winter... bye bye yummy chestnuts =(

My chestnuts were merrily roasting away (tho not over an open fire, and no jack frost nipping at my nose either... this is California)... when I heard a 'boom' from the oven. I stroll over to discover one of my happy chestnuts decided it had had enough of the heat and exploded. And explosion *IS* the right word... itty bitty fragments of chestnut all over the place!

Of course, the greedy palate of mine decided no way was I going to let one chestnut deter me from my yummy goal. Shortly thereafter, another 'boom'... chestnut #2 met its end. Thankfully, there were no more after that (tho having them all explode might have been exciting). I'm not sure what went wrong. Of course, I did make the x's in each chestnut to let steam out. And I've roasted chestnuts many times before without any drama... guess they were just too impatient this time :-/

How could something so small (walnut-size) make such a big mess?! Certainly can't put off cleaning my oven anymore...