Is that some sort of melted plastic?

Oh my... looks like you've melted something that you weren't supposed to :-o
Is it a plastic spatula that you've left next to your cooking hob ?
Oh well it happens to everybody once in a while I guess :-)

Hi there, you probably put a non microwave proof tupper thing into the microwave and that's what the lid looked like when you opened the bowl. At least that's what it looked like in my kitchen when this happened to me last time ; ) btw: Your Bulgur Salad is really great! We loved it!

Maybe its some sort of smoke, ehm perhaps you burned something...

A plastic spoon you forgot on the hot plate?

use a cutting board as a hot plate again?

I agree with Biggie: you microwaved tupperware you weren't supposed to.

well? what happened? I am now dying of curiosity. My guess is you tried to make cotton candy...and you ended up with that.

Cutting board on hot plate! And believe me, it's not funny if it's a wooden cutboard... Almost burned down my kitc...hen

Reminds me of the white stringy "beard candy" sold in Hong Kong.

The cord you used to stick the asparagus together was not suitable for cooking?

Controlled double mini atomic explosion in your kitchen (again?)
OR
Saying to your neighbours „just come along for soccer viewing” - forgetting that they are jellyfishes.
OR
discovering two new roommates when you are bathing (jellyfishes again)

Jetzt will ich aber wirklich wissen, was das Ding dort oben ist (die Geschmolzenes-Schneidebrett-Variante ist ja immer noch die beste, meiner Meinung nach)!

looks very nice

Interesting, it took me a while to figure out what it was. So is that a spatula or what and how did it happen?

Back several years ago I was in the middle of closing a very big contract. I'd been awake for over 48 hours and lots of things were happening - and in the mists of all iof this I made myself a cup of coffee. Thing is - I took the electric kettle and placed it on the gas burner. A few minutes later I was looking at the same thing.

My first visit to your food blog...so Hi

As for the cutting board....
As a chef and food writer I am forever vexed at the lies that circulate the cooking world. Such as margerine is healthier than butter...or plastic cutting boards are more hygienic than wooden ones.

In several university studies on both sides of the Atlantic it was found not only that bacteria grows more slowly on a hardwood cutting board than on a plastic one. It was discovered that there is a natural bacterial inhibitor in hardwoods.

Plastic cutting boards are harder to clean, and are rarely scrubbed before putting in the dishwasher to be sanitized.

They blunt your knives and hold onto grease more profoundly than wood.

Perhaps your innerself (the witty and intelligent one) was trying to get you to change your cutting boards to wooden ones.
regards
Kevin Ashton
chef and food writer

I think you have microwaved tupperware plate etc.

Thinking back I recall I moment when I filed up the electric kettle and placed in on the gas stove to heat it up. Within minutes I was confronted with a similar problem. In my defense I was up for more that 48 hours working on a contract negotiations and my mind was not at all focussed on practical matters.

Are you sure thats not a portuguese man-o-war jelly fish ?

I too have left a dish or two too close to the burners and been drawned to the kitchen by the "burnt chemical" aroma. Luckily, nothing I find too prized has been destroyed.