Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Getting to Know Us
What fun. I'd considered asking for foods we would never eat together but I think we covered that too. Some of my DH's family would never drink milk when eating fish because it would kill you. Seems that a relative did this one time and then had a heart attack. This just made me think of another cause and effect story my neighbor told me. The newly married daughter decided to cook ham and beans. She wanted to make it just like her mother did so she cut the big ham shank bone in half. She was curious why her moth did this and asked her. Mother said she did it because Grandmother did it. Grandmother said they would have to go ask Great-grandmother who said it was because the bone was too big to fit into the pot. *VBS*

What was your big cooking or eating goof?

When I was in high school, I decided to do a good deed and make my neighbor a chocolate cake. I produced a pretty good looking round layer cake with chocolate frosting and was feeling very proud. When I presented it, they insisted I have a piece with them. She got out a knife and cut, then tried again with another knife. I had lined the cake tins with wax paper and forgotten to remove it from the cake. I was so embarrassed but they were nice and said the cake was good anyway. Just had to peel off paper from each bite.

7 comments:

Carolyn said...

I have a similar story. When I was young, my mother used a Corningware coffee pot to make iced tea in. She would boil the water on stove, then use a big spoon to add sugar, drop the spoon into the pot and add the tea bags. After I got married and made my own iced tea in my own Corning coffee pot, I did the same thing. My husband finally asked my mother why the spoon was dropped into the pot. Her answer? The spoon got too hot and was too short, so she just dropped it in a pulled it out later. So much for the mystery of the spoon!

Thanks for the memory,
Carolyn

Linda C said...

My parents and younger siblings had all gone off on vacation somewhere leaving we three older kids at home (all in our teens) because we had to work and could not take off. Okay, my brother buys a gorgeous t-bone for his Sunday dinner. He asks ME how to cook it. I tell him Mom puts the meat on broil (oh that was so wrong!!!) and then we go off for church service. (My dad pastored the church and we lived right next door) A hour and some minutes later he comes out with the rack and was hunting me down---the charred bit that remained blew away with the breeze. Of course, all the congregation standing outside saying their goodbye's heard and saw this interchange. I forget what we did eat for lunch that day but it sure wasn't t-bone steak---that was literally gone with wind.

You know, I still cannot cook steak properly? Normally it entails setting off the smoke alarm. If and when we have steak we let someone else do the charring.

Finn said...

It's a fun thing to do Katie...this sharing. Right now I'm hard pressed to think of any really great blunder in my cooking.
Altho when newly married I was faced with frying an egg(a new one for me), and DH said "over easy". I knew what that meant, so I attempted it. The first yoke broke so I just slid that egg in the garbage and tried again, and again, and again, and again...LOL. He finally came out of the bathroom, ready for his eggs to find none were ready. Boy, did he think I was a greenhorn cook..*S* Plus I totally offended his German thriftness of waste not. But hey, I had to get it right didn't I??? Hugs, Finn

Eileen said...

I love pecan pie, so I volunteered to make it for Mike's family Christmas day get-together. This was about 4 or 5 years ago.
I followed the instructions on the Caro syrup bottle to the letter. Put the pie in the oven for whatever time it said. Well, it didn't look done so I left it for 10 minutes. Still not set. Another 10 minutes. We had to get going because it was an 85 mile trip to my brother-in-law's house. I put the pie in a box in the trunk, figuring I'd put it in the oven for a while until dessert time.
It was definitely set by the time we went to cut it. It was hard as a rock. We ended up using a meat tenderizer hammer to break it up like peanut brittle, and ate it that way. Thank goodness there were several other desserts. Now we bring the soda and chips.

Libby said...

When we were newly married, I presented my husband with the most perfect looking plate of fried chicken. It was camera ready it looked so good. Hungrily he bit right into it, gave me a look, and put it right back on the plate. I was a little crestfallen that he didn't like what I had prepared. My mom's fried chicken was the best and I prepared it just like she always did. When I looked at his plate I could see the chicken was just as raw in the middle as it was when it came out of the fridge. I was operating under the theory that my sweet husband would die of starvation if I did not get his dinner on the table quickly. So I cooked on the highest heat possible. When the food looked perfect on the outside, I served. I soon figured out he would not wither up and blow away while waiting for dinner to cook. Now I am complimented on my chicken just like mom and everyone is much happier.

Shelina said...

I've heard about that pot story from many different families.

My mother wouldn't eat fish with milk either. It was a very big taboo among several families I know, so I think it is cultural rather than just family trait.

Jeanne said...

My husband's (Italian-American) family won't drink milk with pasta -- a variation on the fish.
Jeanne