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Welcome to austinagrodolce … My family and I garden with more intention and enthusiasm than allocated budget or overall design plan. It shows. Wildlife populations don't seem to notice our lack of cohesive design, they just like the native plants here. It seems by growing local we've thrown out a welcome mat. Occasionally, we're surprised at who (and what) shows up.



Thursday, March 5, 2009

In Dis(H)tress

Have you ever had not one but perhaps an entire series of culinary failures?

I have, and it sometimes makes me think I ought to limit my attempts to feeding the Hub to take-out or packaged pre-processed meals.But wait, that can't be right. Everything I've read about eating and nutrition suggests I am supposed to avoid much take-out fast food or those pre-processed "everything is in the box" meals that have ingredient lists that read more like the evidentiary list from a meth lab bust.

Recently I have had the following flops to my (dis)credit:

Tuna Stuffed PeppersThese were missing something although they had a lot going on ingredient wise already. Maybe too much.

Goat Cheese Croutons with Maderia Mushroom SauceA recipe I thought held such promise.

Cream of Braise SoupThe soup actually wasn't so bad - it was dragged down close association style by the Goat Cheese Croutons. I served some of this soup up to ChefSon a day or so later and he managed to eat it easily, without incident, criticism or spontaneous combustion.

Beef Braise reheated with Sauteed Mushroom MedlyAfter eating reheated lasagna which triggered my saying something along the lines of "this just gets better" I heard back "yeah - not that beef though - I didn't like it as much the second time". The "second time" meaning the reheated leftover braised beef with the mushrooms added in right before serving.

*sigh*

It shakes a girl to have so many flops, that much is sure.

Last night? We ate OUT. (It was delicious and the kitchen looked great when we got home.)

What is for dinner tonight? I am clueless, people. Just don't have any idea at all where the afternoon will take me inspiration wise.

Right now I am heading in for a nap and hopeful to wake up refreshed and past that, amnestic with regards to recent cooking failures.

How about you? Have you ever had a series of kitchen failures that left you wondering if you ought to simply step away from the spoon? Tell me if you will and we can console each other...misery may not really love company per se but she is always up for a comment or two.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That sucks. I don't know what you claim to have done wrong, but those goat cheese croutons still look fine, albeit a little burnt maybe?

Kitchen disasters certainly are distressing; my heart's still racing from my own an hour ago.
I had been making some creme brulee on a tight schedule. Apparently, though, the towel I used to make sure the ramekins didn't slide around trapped a little bit of air.. One of the ramekins tilted and water rushed into it. In my haste to save it, scalding water filled and ruined the other five ramekins :'(

Oh well. I guess we're just going out to eat dinner and dessert, too.

Anonymous said...

Great post! I've learned quite a bit from recipe disasters, even if they aren't too fun in the moment.
And eating out is the best remedy - especially if a nice glass of wine is involved!!
Best wishes on future success!

TexasDeb said...

Anon - I will give you extra credit for being willing to make creme brulee for starters. I am hopeful the scalding water didn't burn you to add injury to insult.

Sue Bette - you are right. Eating out IS the best way to overcome kitchen failure. I didn't have a glass of wine that night (I was driving) but I did thoroughly enjoy a delicious ceviche that somebody else had to make AND clean up after. Win/win.