What I Learned Today...About Garbage Disposals

Thanks to Shoes in the Freezer, Beer in the Flower Garden by Joan & Lydia Wilen (Fireside, 1997) I learned that to clean/degrease a garbage disposal: run the hot water, then slowly pour in a cup of baking soda until it's all gone. To sharpen the blades, put about ten ice cubes in the disposal, run the water, and turn on the unit.
I also learned not to read something once, put the book on the shelf, and try to do it from memory. I learned that multi-tasking leads to potential disaster. So here's how not to do it: Do not dump half a box of Baking Soda into the disposal, then run the hot water, start the disposal, and add the rest of the box for good measure. Do not then decide to clean the ice tray out by dumping the entire contents into the sink, and shoving all the cubes down while running the water. If you do, the disposal will choke and begin to regurgitate nasty, brown, murky water at an alarming rate. However, if you find yourself in this same predicament (there is a 0.027% chance), run the hot water, and eventually the disposal will burp and slurp everything back down.
All's well that ends well, as Will would say. I have fresh ice in the freezer, and my disposal is cleaner and sharper than ever. But maybe next time I'll follow the Wilens' directions....