I love oatmeal & I've had it explode once - the only time I've ever cooked it in a microwave. Normally I cook it with water & serve it with buttermilk & bananas, no sugar cos bananas are sweet enough. But dates sound wonderful - I love dates ...

We were camping & I was in a line of folks holding cereal bowls of water & oats. I'd never used a microwave, & when it was my turn I was told the amount of time needed to cook it (seconds) so set the timer, waited, opened door & faced the overflowing bowl.

Oops, said my friend, I forgot to say open half way thru & stir.

Then I cleaned up while the queue of folks holding their bowls waited, dunno why I didn't ask him to clean up the mess.

Next day I didn't have oatmeal.

sandra