What do you think makes the perfect gift for Valentines Day? I like flowers, but they die too quickly and I hate washing the vase afterward. Chocolate is my favorite treat, but the NY Times just ruined that one when they declared sugar as a poison. But, never fear, I think I have found my perfect gift... Dinner out!
Yesterday, Abby and I estimated how many dinners I have made since I married Eric. (This is great math work, if any of you have fourth graders.) The grand total came to 6,023 dinners.
We then estimated that out of those, probably 2,713 turned out!
My first venture into cooking for a Comstock started with a tri-tip roast and a story Eric had told me about a time when he had enjoyed one. Wanting the perfect romantic evening, I tried to duplicate everything I could from his story. Unfortunately, he left out the part about how the tri-tip was prepared and I, never having cooked any roast before just stuck it in the oven at 350, no liquid at all.
Other memorable dinners include Julie's Original Washed Chicken Salad. Another BBQ sauce debacle, but we were young and poor and instead of giving up the chicken with the yucky sauce, I washed it off and made it into chicken salad the next day. I'm not even kidding!!
The first time I cooked Thanksgiving for my parents, I didn't know how to make gravey yet and so I simply omitted it. This is doubly ironic, because while my dad was carving the turkey, he found a bag of premade gravey, along with the neck and giblets still inside.
Residing in Utah, jello is a serious tradition. Except for our family. I gave up on it years ago! I have never made a jello that wasn't juice!!!
Another celebration called for a cake for a church event. The woman in charge of the event brought over cake mixes to make it easy on us volunteers. Somehow, my cakes did not turn out. They were flat. I called my mother. She said I must be over stirring them. I bought more cake mixes and tried stirring them less. They were still flat. I called her again. I tried a third time. I had made 6 cakes when she finally came over and made them for me.
But tonight, I am off! Tonight I don't have to yell, "No homework questions now, I'm trying to make dinner." This is an actual rule at our house and literally means, don't ask me right now or the answer to your math question may be the amount of salt that gets added to your dinner..... 24 tablespoons anyone?!
