Or if you’re in Argentina, um, happy Monday?
It’s very odd to be living in one place, but in touch with so many people in another place, i.e., the US. Mainly because everyone there is celebrating a three-day weekend — going to the beach, lake, or lazing about a quiet city, barbecuing, enjoying 80 degree weather (and, of course, celebrating the incredible generosity of all people who are serving or have served for our country) — and I’m here freezing my buns off on a chilly Monday afternoon in the southern hemisphere.
And to top it off, I totally messed up tonight’s dinner. The kid’s been on a bit of a hunger strike, so I thought, Aha! I’ll make zucchini pie. He cannot resist the zucchini pie. And seeing as how I make this all the time, I was all cocky and thought, I don’t need to check the recipe; I know this one back and forth. Yeah. And then I put 1-1/4 cups of oil in instead of the 1/4 cup called for.
Needless to say, the resulting pie was, um, ever so slightly greasy. As in, LADEN with grease.
And the thing is I noticed that the batter was really wet and thought I’d maybe put in one too many eggs (which I had, by the way). So I added a bunch more flour and still, I didn’t check the recipe. Just forged ahead. And now I’m sorry. Very sorry. Because now I have no dinner.
So I called my mother to ask her how to potentially salvage this travesty, and funnily enough, while she didn’t have a solution (she said to throw it out; I tried to fry it into some semblance of a hash-type thing…nope. Final solution: the dog. He’ll eat pretty much anything — including poop. But that’s not Table Talk as my mother would say. And…back to Mom. Full circle!), she told me a little story. Just that very morning, she was making bread in her bread machine for my brother, who was coming over for brunch. And she neglected to put the little mixer piece/dough hook thingy back in the container before baking said bread, which came out resembling something akin to, well, half-mixed, uncooked bread dough. This made me feel much, much better. It’s nice to know I’m not the only bozo screwing things up (or as Mom put it — more diplomatically — we all make mistakes).
Lessons Learned Today:
Lesson #1: CHECK YOUR RECIPES! Even if you’re sure you know it by heart (because sometimes you think you do and you don’t).
Lesson #2: Everyone screws up. If it’s just dinner — and not, you know, your entire life — don’t sweat it. Move on.
Lesson #3: If you’re having a bad day, call your mom. She’ll make you feel better.
I like to learn. Even if it’s from my mistakes. Happy Monday indeed.
