My favorite story is one we tell on one of my sisters. She was in charge of dinner (I think we were teenagers) and beef stew was on the menu. Everything went well until the point of thickening the liquid. You're supposed to use flour for this step. She got in a hurry and grabbed a yellow box -- yep, the baking soda! She thickend the whole pot with about a half-cup of baking soda! Needless to say, we threw out every bit and went out for dinner that night.